Small Road / Gravel / Adventure bike (not expensive!)

dfriel2

My son now wants his first road bike, and as he's now reached 5ft he would probably be able to fit the smallest adult size frame. Very tempted to buy a Carrera, as there's some good deals and past experience has been generally positive. Need to also consider that he's still growing and the budget has to reflect this. However, he also needs to be able to use it on gravel tracks and would need some wider / suitable tyres, and I don't think that the Carrera frame would work.

Has anyone found a reasonable compromise given these requirements??? Thanks if you can help.

roger_merriman

dfriel2 wrote:

My son now wants his first road bike, and as he's now reached 5ft he would probably be able to fit the smallest adult size frame. Very tempted to buy a Carrera, as there's some good deals and past experience has been generally positive. Need to also consider that he's still growing and the budget has to reflect this. However, he also needs to be able to use it on gravel tracks and would need some wider / suitable tyres, and I don't think that the Carrera frame would work.

Has anyone found a reasonable compromise given these requirements??? Thanks if you can help.

rather depends on what you mean by gravel tracks really, 25/23mm slicks certainly can cope though if the underlining surface is lumpy it can get fairly jiggly, plus gravel does seem to cut up slicks and find a way in remarkably often.

Other options are cheaper CX bikes such as the 13 CX bike from halfords http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/13-innate-alpha-cyclocross-bike-2015 clearly it's a fair bit more expensive at £400 vs £250 I have a Revolution CX which is similar in price/spec.

it is barely any slower than the road bike I had before, but can handle gravel tracks and even single track, with out too much effort.

at 5ft he probably will find most of the small bikes slightly too large, most are intended for 5"2-5"7

Giraffoto

I've fitted 28 section tyres on a Carrera Virtuoso. No tyre rubbing issues there.

dfriel2

Giraffoto wrote:

I've fitted 28 section tyres on a Carrera Virtuoso. No tyre rubbing issues there.

Thanks, that might be the solution..

alan_sherman

Hoy Meadowhill from Evans:
https://www.evanscycles.com/hoy-meadowm ... e-EV230928

gabriel959

How about an Islabikes Luath?

http://www.islabikes.co.uk/products/bik ... -700-large

I think they are fairly good value considering all the children specific components you get like handlebars, chainset, etc. They also have a good resale value so you could possibly sell it for more than 50% of what you paid for it after a year or so.

dfriel2

Thanks for the suggestions.. we had a look at a few bikes today, and Harry is definitely now too tall for any kids (26 wheel bikes). He needs a small 700. The Isla is the obvious answer, but just need to get over the inital cost (the youngest has an Isla, been great and will have excellent resale). Will also check out the new Wiggins range, but need to think about tyre width.

DeVlaeminck

There are a few alternatives now aren't there - as you say the smallest adult frames would fit - my daughter had a Specialized tricross I built up with old bits I had in the garage and a 160mm chainset I bought. There are some cheaper Islabike copies too - the Frog, the Dawes and I was working in a school the other day that had bought a small fleet of youth cross bikes that quite impressed me but unfortunately I can't remember the make - it was one I'd never heard of before.

dfriel2

I've just reserved one of these:

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/r ... -bike-2015

As it was down to £159 today, I thought we could test it out for the summer and not much to lose really. Will get some 28c tyres onto it, and see how it goes. Will just need to cover up the "Femme" sticker!

dfriel2

dfriel2 wrote:

I've just reserved one of these:

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/r ... -bike-2015

As it was down to £159 today, I thought we could test it out for the summer and not much to lose really. Will get some 28c tyres onto it, and see how it goes. Will just need to cover up the "Femme" sticker!

Picked up the bike, and several test rides completed. Amazing value (got the British Cycling discount to take it down to £143!), and a perfect size for my son with room for growth. Swapped onto 28c tyres, and there's bags of room for a larger tyre.