Kid's bike

[tpb]

We're looking for a bike for our 10-year old. She is used to hand brakes and is working to understand shifting (she has 6 gears on her current bike). She *may* be tall enough for the smallest adult bikes. I don't think she's ready for a drop-handle bar style bike so we're looking for something more upright. What would you recommend?

Thanks.
TB

[tpb]

I probably should mention how we ride...

As a family we take rides about 10-20 miles. Usually we're on pavement or packed, crushed stone trails (rails to trails, etc.) with a few rolling hills.

The kids ride and race up and down our street and driveway - they like to go full speed over the bump at the en :-)

I know I don't want to get a Walmart bike, but I also don't want to spend a lot on a bike that may be getting beat up a bit.

Thanks!
TB

[pinkbikes]

We got to this point when our daughter turned ten last year too. We were just starting to get her riding a bit on gentle paths in the forest and her old (Walmart equivalent) bike was too heavy for her to lug up the hills. We decided that if we wanted her to ride with us we needed her to enjoy it and that meant a little better bike.

We went to the LBS to look at the pretty girlie Giant kids bikes in the biggest size they had but found that she had very little growing room and would be out of it in no time. The LBS suggested a look at the very smallest sized adult bikes - a mountain bike with 26" wheels.

We ended up at another LBS and bought a Trek 3700 which ran out at a reasonable price and came in a 13" frame (smaller than the Giant's 14" frame). She loved that it was light(-er) and got used to the triggershift gears in no time flat. What we particularly liked about it was that the rear cassette has a genuine crawler gear which gave much lower gearing than all the other entry level bikes, which is very useful if you are trying to coax a young-un up a hill.

DD has ridden it plenty and did quite a bit of the training for our recent cycle tour on her own bike instead of the tandem, up to 35km or so. To help it roll along a bit faster for this "non-forest" riding I put a pair of DH's slick tyres on it.

Here is the link to the current model - hers is the red one from last year.

http://www.trekbikes.com/au/en/bikes/mountain_hardtail/3_series/3700/

And here it is on its first outing...

[Biciclista]

great photo, Pink!

[radacrider]

My son transitioned from a small Gary Fischer to a Trek SU100, more of a hybrid. It has growing room and he loves riding it around. It is a 13" frame. I'm not sure what the replacement model is, this is 2 years old now.

Full triple chainrings with 8 speed cassette.

[pinkbikes]

great photo, Pink!

Thanks - she really enjoyed that first ride on her bike - full of joy. The other alternative was this *very* serious one when she was practicing logovers in the park across the road from our house. She was just *so* impressed that there was an inch of air under her front tyre!:)

[abejita]

I love how excited she looks about her new bike!

[ms1]

We bought a 5 speed Specialized Hotrock (20" - tire size) from a LBS for my 8 yr old when she was 7 and she is comfortable, has good balance and keeps up well. And, the bike seems really durable.

Then, I found a 24" 7 speed Specialized Hotrock on Craigslist for an awesome price and bought it. It's still too big for her, but by around age 10, it should fit. The 24" Hotrock also comes in an 18 or 21 speed.

All around, we've been really iimpressed with the bike.

Of course, it depends on the child's hight. My girls aren't very tall, so a 13" would be too large for them.

You could also keep an eye out on Craigslist. I found a 13" Trek 4500 for myself, which I bought last spring, which was in great condition.