Road bike for 9 year old girl?
 

Hi, I have been an avid cyclist my whole life. My 9 year old daughter has been riding a 20" Specialized Hotrock for a few years and we enjoy mountain biking together. However, she is close to outgrowing it and told me recently that she would really like to have a road bike. I have been looking on major brand manufacturer's websites and can't find much in the way of youth or children's road bikes.

Can anyone make any recommendations?

The only suggestion I have would be along the line of finding the smallest model of drop bar road bike available from some manufacturer and then adding specific parts to assist fit as she grows into it.

In my own case, my son wanted to join on rides during a time that his growth cycle would have resulted in three different bikes in as many years. We made some changes to a rigid mountain bike with a drop top (mixte-like) bar that was too big for him, and he grew into it up to the point that growth slowed down enough to buy a decent starter road bike. Smooth tires, clips, and a slightly more aggressive rear cluster did the trick for a couple of years.

I'm assuming this means a proper road bike with drop bars. Frog bikes makes child-specific road bikes with 24- and 26-inch wheels. I thought Specialized had an Allez Jr. but I can't find it on their site, maybe it was replaced by the 44cm size. Unfortunately, there are no economical solutions unless you get creative and do a partial build yourself.

https://rascalrides.com/best-24-road-bikes-kids/


I thought fuji used to make them as well. But I couldn’t find anything when I searched.

Because she is growing she will likely outgrow any bike you get her in 2-3 years.

This is one situation where it may make sense to buy used, local Craigslist is Plan A and ScamBay is Plan B.

Diamondback Podium 24
 

Diamondback used to make the podium for juniors called podium 24. Note this is different than the podium junior. It was by far the best value bike for kids costing $250 new

It came with 24 inch wheels ( so the geometry was not askew) Claris drivetrain even a compact compact double!

Check Amazon or Craigslist for this bike. The one that came in red, the 2015/2016 model, was a step up than the later models. Later models came in white, and we'll put it Lee do it but just not as good as the ones in red.

Take your daughter to the shops and let her pick what appeals to her and somewhat fits her whether child or small adult size. Nothing would turn me off more when I was a kid than having someone else pick for me or overly steer me to choose. I needed to make my own mistakes and learn from them.

If she is going to be going through a significant growth spurt, then I'd buy something you can comfortably afford to replace at that time.

For me a road bike is a road bike not matter how the manufacturers advertise them..... race, endurance, fitness, etc. They all need to be "tried on" by the rider to see if they are the road bike for them

The DB Podium 24 also fits larger tires
 

Forgot to add that the DB I mentioned has V-brakes. It comes with 25mm tires which are great for pavement but they can easily fit 32 and even 40mm tires for doing some gravel riding. Importantly it fits an ISO 520 tire so there are tire options.

I too am rather surprised that Trek and Specialized do not make children specific road bikes. If you don't start them out young where are you going to get future riders? Are you going to expect teenagers who want a car to start riding bikes?

Are you sure 24” wheels are appropriate for a 9 year old? My 9 year old son rides a bike I bought him off of Craigslist and it fits him well with 20” wheels.

24” wheels allow for a geometry that WILL for a 9 year old. Wheel size ≠ bike size.

Here's one from Bikes Direct:

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...ikes.htm#gsize

https://www.target.com/p/giordano-ki...k/-/A-14566432

I picked this up from amazon under 350.00 in 2016

I did blow another 150 - 200 bucks or so to make the bike shift and brake better.

the stock parts work but I just had to upgrade.

she has since out grown this bike
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c3d2ac5cde.jpg

Deda 38cm bar and 80mm stem
TRP front brakes for front and rear
Kool Stop pads
160mm crank arms
Tiagra front and rear derrailluers
CLaris shifters
Fizik bar tape
25mm 24inch tires
presta tubes with presta adaptors for the rims
Pink Housing
Pinkish kids saddle
Lower profile platform pedals
elite bottle cage
(I am not including the cateye stealth 50)

Get this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Piedrahita-...53.m1438.l2649

I've seen some 24" and 26" youth bikes on ebay recently. The frog bikes that were already mentioned are excellent and these bikes tend to be easy to resell when kids outgrow them.

Yep
 

What ever you do, don't buy one of those 43cm (or smaller) bikes with 700cc wheels. The geometry on those is tough to get right, and most frames end up putting the rider way behind the pedals so they are riding it almost like a recumbent.

The problem is not the wheel size but the frame size. If the child can't comfortably straddle the top tube, the bike the too large. Maybe that's what you are saying in some coded way. Another point is I'm not spending $400.00 on a bike he'll outgrow in a year. That's why CL or other used sources are best at this age unless money is not an issue.

My 9 y/o (4ft 4in or so) just got a 24" road bike, we picked up a felt f24 from a club mate for $250, not a bad deal, it's a 2004 model, so bicyclebluebook would say I overpaid, but fact is kid road bikes are hard to come by and there have been none on the local market (I'm in Boston so you tend to be able to find just about anything). I quickly perused the thread and saw mention of frog bikes, giant produces a 24" CX model (which of course works well on road with different tires), you might be able to pick up a redline conquest CX bike (a local shop in my area still has it in stock, but they've been discontinued).
It is too bad there are more companies making bikes for kids, but if people aren't buying them then they won't produce them, especially if they're seen just as "race bikes" and neither parents nor kids are interested in doing competitive cycling, but that's a whole can of worms.
Best of luck with the search!

My youngest is 9.5yo and has been on a 24" mtb for over a year.
She is probably 4'3...not on the taller side of things.
I think the frame is 12".

Geometey is important, but yeah a 9yo for sure can comfortably fit and manage a 24" wheel bike.

https://us.woombikes.com/products/5
https://www.frogbikes.com/Road-Bike-...frame_color=19
https://www.evanscycles.com/hoy-mead...dium=Affiliate
https://www.islabikes.co.uk/product/...ute_pa_size=24
https://www.islabikes.co.uk/product/...ute_pa_size=24

Or craigslist/eBay for something like the scott speedster and other discontinued 24" road bikes. Local example to me is below.
https://desmoines.craigslist.org/bik...139508851.html


I don't think there is much(any?) benefit to a 9yo on drop bars from a practical perspective. If they want to rock drop bars because its what you ride and drops keep em engaged in the sport, i guess I can see that as a good reason?
drops are basically useless unless they are averaging over 13mph. Up to around that point, they just aren't being hindered by wind resistance, and it takes a good bit of power and correct gearing to keep a 24" wheel moving at 13mph.

Some of the links above are flat bar hybrid style bikes.
I think that more important than the style of bars is if the geometey is good and if the bike is light.
I would rather snag an 18# flat bar hybrid for my 9yo than a 27# fuji ace drop bar with low end paddle shifting and nutted wheel axles.
Quality components are way more important to me than the shape of the bar. No nutted axles. No riveted chainrings. No freewheel. No low end paddle shifters. No 3x drivetrain.

As for the comments about kids outgrowing bikes so the cost isn't worth it...
- I have 2 kids and bikes move from one to the next.
- quality bikes hold value and there is demand for them. The 'loss' you take is basically for using the bike for however long.
- many people spend plenty of money on activities and hobbies that others view as wasteful. This is no different.
- buy a kids road bike for $600 and sell it after 4 years of use between 2 kids for $300. Basically it cost $150 per kid for 2 years of use. Plenty of cheap big box bikes will cost that and get that length of use.
- travel baseball, aau basketball, select soccer leagues, equestrian jumping, gymnastics, etc etc etc- all this costs way more than $150 in equipment/fees for 2 seasons.


perspective is helpful. Good luck on the search.

Bianchi Darma?

Works fine if you have 2 kids. I have one.

Then it gets sold for more because it has less wear and tear.
...or it gets sold for the same as I mention and it as good of a deal.
Someone with 3 kids would find it an even better deal than how I laid it out.


This is one of those ymmv situations.

i just ordered a Specialized Allez Jr for my 10 year old daughter. I found a few on Bike Exchange, with the shop being on the east coast. There were 3 listed on the site last week when I ordered.

It sounds like a junior road bike is what would be best for your child. Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of options out there. There are several older models by brands like Felt, KHS, but finding 2019/2020 models are hard to come by. There are brands like Pinarello and Merida that make 42cm road bikes (Merida has 38cm), but you have to consider your child’s hands and whether or not the fingers can safely reach the brake levers.

good luck.

Last summer, I bought my daughter who was 10 yrs. old at the time, a used Scott Speedster Jr24. The bike itself was in excellent condition with the typical Sora drivetrain. But one of the best upgrades I did on my daughter's Scott Speedster Jr24 was removing the Sora shifters and replacing them with the Claris R2K shifters. The levers on the Claris shifters can be adjusted for reach and that made a world of a difference on my daughter's hands. She felt so much more comfortable and immediately noticed how much easier it was to shift and brake. Now, she's asking to go clipless so that is next on the list.

Reviving this thread to ask your thoughts on this bike for my 10 year old. I’d get the 26” version. This seems to be a good bike to hold him until he’s ready for a full size bike at a higher price point.
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