Yes, the bike is SOLD. THANK YOU Ellen, you won't be disappointed.

Thank you everyone else for being so supportive of a great bicycle. I also ride a Racer-X and my parts are not as good as my son's. I'll tell you why, which covers the "other" discussion.

First, with only a small number of kids (compared to bmx or baseball) who competitively race mountain bikes and road bikes, all of the parents are really into it, and all of the kids have nice bikes. For my son, it's not about an "expensive bike", and whoever said the kids don't understand money, that is true, they don't. But it really isn't about money, it's about weight.

My son started racing mountain bikes when he was 8 years old and about 60 lbs. He started out on a 24" IBEX something with 18 gears, and yes, no granny in front - 34x44. Then this thing weighed like 35 lbs. I don't know how many of you have mountain biked in Flagstaff, AZ, but the rides start at 7,000'. Then there are two ways to ride, up and down. So he is 60 lbs., riding a 35 lb. bike, at a 1x1 gear ratio, trying to go up the mountain. How much fun do you think he had?

Then when you get into racing, the promoters are designing the courses for professional mountain bikers, not 8 year old kids, so again, climb-climb-climb. Nobody likes to walk their bike, that's no fun, so what do you do? You build the lightest bike possible which still doesn't even come close to an adult to bike weight ratio. Then what happens when you try to build a super light bike, the cost goes through the roof. It sucks. I'm not a weight weenie, just want my kid to participate and enjoy a really cool sport - sure beats psycho baseball parents. lol

Catriona - were you riding your yard sale special up a 10-15% gradiant, 1 mile single track climb, then coming down that same mountain, at a National Championship Mountain Bike race in Mammoth Mountain, CA as a 10 year old. Probably not. lol

I won't bother to mention the specs for my son's road bike and TT bike. We'll be racing mtn and road bikes in AZ, CA, CO, and OR this year so the bikes are cheap compared to the travel budget. Our kids are only kids once and we only live once. If the impossible happens and he is a pro cyclist, then at least the traveling won't be a shocker, it's just part of the deal. If nothing else, cycling will probably be part of his life forever.

Running Mommy - we'll be at the Valley of the Sun Stage Race TT in Buckeye this Friday afternoon if you want to see some serious fast kids from AZ, CA, CO, TX, and UT! And yes, we do get pro deal on some items, like the Cobalt wheels, which does help the cost. Thank you to Crank Bros for that.

And the coolest thing about all of this is ...... when your 12 year old son starts to drop you down a technical single track descent which you've been riding before he was born!! Amazing!!

Thanks all, this was fun.