veloellen

My son loves competing in triathlons (youth) and does quite well. He presently rides a TREK kdr with 24 inch wheels (40cm) but its getting too small on him. These next 2 years or so are tricky since in a short time he will certainly outgrow any bike we buy him now. Do I go with 650 wheels or 700's? The advantage of 650 wheels on a 43 cm frame is that the top tube is smaller and will fit him better this year and next. However, a 43 cm bike with 700cc wheels may last longer and have a better resale value. There are 2 bikes I'm looking at now, both TREKS, similar costs (about $700 used)...thoughts here or suggestions?
I should add we are a road bike family not a tri family so our mind set is 700cc if you know what I mean...
Thanks!

carpediemracing 

I haven't really looked but aren't 650 bikes/wheels kind of cheap used? Low demand kind of thing. You get less back when you sell but it's less to start.

My first thought was, "Oh, it'd be cool to do a long wheelbase 24" wheel, a la US National bike from 1984". You could do a level top tube, normal bar/stem etc, and work in some growth factor.

not my blog but I googled for you:
https://lopro.blogspot.com/2011/09/la...a-usa-usa.html

You could do a frame (without a fork) from Tsunami Bikes for $750. I had him build me two frames.

waitforme

My boys are 10 and 12, they both currently have 26" wheel MTB's (13" & 15.5") but are starting to ask for road bikes. My approach is 700c wheel bikes used from either Craigslist or ebay. They grow so quickly at this age I just don't see the point of a new bike, also if your kids are like mine and don't really take good care of their stuff, a used bike already has a few scratches and dings.

TrojanHorse

Somebody else on this board did something similar a year ago... he had a bunch of components laying around so he just bought an appropriate sized frame from bikes direct and built it up. The end result looked pretty good. You could just swap out the frame every 2-3 years as he grows and move the components over.

Homebrew01

My worry with kids is when they need to stop quickly, and have trouble hitting drop bar brakes in time. Might be good to add interrupter brake levers (?) on the top of the bars.

slowandsteady

I'd go with the 700c tired bike. I am short and ride a 44cm 700c road bike. I like having the larger variety of tires. So few tires are available in 650c. Plus it will be much easier to sell.

roadwarrior

You can get spacers that fit in the top of the hood and move the handle closer to the drop. It requires resetting the cable tension, but they are used on shimano equipped womens bikes.

Srams are adjustable and a much better solution but more expensive and for a kid probably not an option.

roadwarrior

MDont know how big he is...suggest Giant as the xs defy is a 43cmish...but given their geometry you can grow a littel on that bike versus another and the defy 5 is around $600 has a steel fork but that won't matter to him. Thats a new bike with a full warranty with 700 wheels.

Back when trek made a new 43cm it had 650 wheels...from the factory anyway.

For growing people i always recommend giant.

merlinextraligh

we did that with my daughter's bike when she was 11, a Trek 1500 with 650 wheels fwiw.

veloellen

Thanks for EVERYONES input. My son is on a youth tri team and they are suggesting 650c tires. Agree with the resale - 700 more demand. I've looked at Giant due to the compact frame. But even with that he is very stretched out. I have 2 road bikes that are 48cm bikes and he is so stretched out - we might not have a choice but to go 650. He rides a 40cm trek with 24 inch tires. there is a 43 on ebay but not sure how long that would last... Like the dea of adding brakelevers on top regardless. My husband could probably do that himself... Decisions decisions...

Hendricks97

I knew my son was tall, but reading this makes me think hes a giant. Hes riding a 49 right now, both in a road bike and SS/FG. Last winter (when he was 10) he rode a 17" Mukluk for a weekend without any problem

RacerOne

I just bought my almost 10 year old a used Trek KDR1000 with 650's. He's 4'-7". I made it as small as possible and it fits pretty just about perfect. He's loving it.

pmt

Cannondale SuperX 44cm. Then he can use it both for road and cyclocross, and since it's 700c, tire selection is easy. Just be sure that you set it up with junior gears if he's going to race road.

greatlakesguy

Greeting,
I am looking to buy my 8 year old son a road bike for christmas. If you are interested in selling yours, let me know. It would go to a good home.
Thanks

twdwelle@gmail.com

youcoming

I bought my son a 44cm with 700's when he was 12, he rode it for two season. My youngest a 24" when he was 9. Don't worry about resale, if there is a cycling community in your area they will sell in a hurry I hhave a waiting list for mine.

Sidney Porter

We are talking resale on a used $700 bike? Assuming you son doesn't tear it up it will sell for close to that price in 1 to 2 years when he out grows it. I actually think that the 650 will have more demand because youth road bikes are rare.