A Cycling & bikes forum. CycleBanter.com

Go Back   Home » CycleBanter.com forum » Regional Cycling » UK
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Opinions on new bike for 12-yr-old boy



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #21  
Old February 20th 07, 10:52 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Tom Crispin
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,229
Default Opinions on new bike for 12-yr-old boy

On 20 Feb 2007 13:00:45 -0800, "David Martin"
wrote:

I don't find that particularly long. It gives about 5cm more
adjustment than we had on the Giant so probably a 250mm or maybe 300mm
seatpost. I replaced it with a 350mm seatpost that is almost long
enough for me to ride it properly.


5cm more adjustment would be 62.5% more.


I would disagree as you have failed to take into account the crank
length ;-)


I think I'm still missing something.

A 26cm frame (approx 10.5") will only take about 23cm of seatpost, so
with 13cm of adjustment 10cm of the seatpost will still be in the
seatpost tube, probably the minimum recommended for a secure fit
inside the seatpost tube. Indeed, the seatpost itself is almost the
same length as the seatpost tube, and I know this to be the case
because only today I removed the seatpost to replace the seatpost
clamp with a quick release clamp.


Yup. But with Alan's bike, he outgrew the original seatpost rather
quickly and it was the most cost-effective way to keep him
comfortable.


Yes, it seems a sensible and practical solution.

I am going to look into this option. The minimum and maximum inside
leg measurements for the Beinn 20 are 47cm and 60cm respectively. The
minimum and maximum inside leg measurements for the Beinn 26 are 64cm
and 74cm respecively. If I can get a 5cm longer seatpost for the
Beinn 20, children can progress from the 20" model to the 26" model.

Isla Rowntree herself will be the person to ask.

I'll be looking for a 20" kids bike soon. Peter is almost ready to
leave his 16" Raleigh behind. Possibly have it taken down south for
the other cousin.


At £150, £200 if you want mudguards and a rack, the Beinn 20 isn't
cheap. But its a very robust machine and children find it very easy
to ride. I have no hesitation in recommending it if you are prepared
to spend that sort of money.


I'll wait and see. If he protests too much at Rachel's as a hand me
down, then I might have to get something. Mudguard and rack sounds
good but £200 is a lot of notes. Have to find out how many returns she
has in her reconditioned bikes..

The other bikes get passed on into the family. We have the oldest
children.


So you spend the money!?
Ads
  #22  
Old February 21st 07, 12:02 AM posted to uk.rec.cycling
John B
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 484
Default Opinions on new bike for 12-yr-old boy



"Colette A. O'Brien" wrote:

In message of Mon, 19 Feb 2007, John B writes
I would strongly advise you learn how to roughly size a bike to your son.
You could ask your LBS how to adjust the saddle height and bars - it
really is quite simple. They should be able to show you.


I am more familiar now with making sure the bike saddle and bars are the
right height, and I often tell other kids when I think their bikes are
badly adjusted. I am just no good at things like brakes and anything
involving cables!

I would love to do a course in basic bike mechanics as we are building
up quite a collection of nice bikes and I want to look after them
properly. But I haven't found any courses locally.


If you are in the Hampshire area you could try:
http://www.hampshirecycletraining.org.uk/

They run courses for exactly what yu require, personalised to your needs.

If you live elsewhere I am sure if you contact them they will point you in
the right direction.

John B
(I must express an interest)

  #23  
Old February 21st 07, 12:54 AM posted to uk.rec.cycling
David Martin
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,059
Default Opinions on new bike for 12-yr-old boy

On Feb 20, 9:52 pm, Tom Crispin
wrote:
On 20 Feb 2007 13:00:45 -0800, "David Martin"

wrote:
I don't find that particularly long. It gives about 5cm more
adjustment than we had on the Giant so probably a 250mm or maybe 300mm
seatpost. I replaced it with a 350mm seatpost that is almost long
enough for me to ride it properly.


5cm more adjustment would be 62.5% more.


I would disagree as you have failed to take into account the crank
length ;-)


I think I'm still missing something.


The length you are adjusting is from the saddle to the foot. With a
10" frame you have about 250mm + the saddle height (say 50mm) + the
crank length (110mm), so about 400mm to start with. You can adjust by
about 130mm which gives about 30% adjustment (depends whether you
measure as a proportion of the maximum. I've measured as a proportion
of the minimum) Upping that by 50mm would give about 45% extension.

A 26cm frame (approx 10.5") will only take about 23cm of seatpost, so
with 13cm of adjustment 10cm of the seatpost will still be in the
seatpost tube, probably the minimum recommended for a secure fit
inside the seatpost tube. Indeed, the seatpost itself is almost the
same length as the seatpost tube, and I know this to be the case
because only today I removed the seatpost to replace the seatpost
clamp with a quick release clamp.


Yup. But with Alan's bike, he outgrew the original seatpost rather
quickly and it was the most cost-effective way to keep him
comfortable.


Yes, it seems a sensible and practical solution.

I am going to look into this option. The minimum and maximum inside
leg measurements for the Beinn 20 are 47cm and 60cm respectively. The
minimum and maximum inside leg measurements for the Beinn 26 are 64cm
and 74cm respecively. If I can get a 5cm longer seatpost for the
Beinn 20, children can progress from the 20" model to the 26" model.



This is effectively what Rachel has done, going from a 20" to a 26".
We could have done with the extra 5cm, and having an aheadset style
stem allows rapid resizing of the front end as well.

We got a Thorn seatpost from the bandits of Bridgewater. A 350mm
seatpost would do what you want and, if ready fitted with a saddle,
would be about 10 secs to change.

The other bikes get passed on into the family. We have the oldest
children.


So you spend the money!?


It seems like it. But we are in Dundee and they are in the horribly
expensive South East. And I know what a decent bike looks like wheras
mostly they don't.
So my second oldest neice (age 5/6) has Rachel's old bike (Kobo 16).
I'm going to try to pass off the Raleigh Max (16") for my nephew who
is 4, the likeabike copy for the three year old nephew. And possibly
Rachel's old 20" bike for my oldest neice (who used to cycle to school
in Germany and is now a few hundred quiet yards away from school in
the south west of Reading) if Peter really decides he doesn't like it.

...d



  #24  
Old February 21st 07, 07:46 AM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Tom Crispin
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,229
Default Opinions on new bike for 12-yr-old boy

On 20 Feb 2007 15:54:19 -0800, "David Martin"
wrote:

I don't find that particularly long. It gives about 5cm more
adjustment than we had on the Giant so probably a 250mm or maybe 300mm
seatpost. I replaced it with a 350mm seatpost that is almost long
enough for me to ride it properly.


5cm more adjustment would be 62.5% more.


I would disagree as you have failed to take into account the crank
length ;-)


I think I'm still missing something.


The length you are adjusting is from the saddle to the foot. With a
10" frame you have about 250mm + the saddle height (say 50mm) + the
crank length (110mm), so about 400mm to start with. You can adjust by
about 130mm which gives about 30% adjustment (depends whether you
measure as a proportion of the maximum. I've measured as a proportion
of the minimum) Upping that by 50mm would give about 45% extension.


I think we've been talking about different things. This was my
calculation.

The Beinn has an inside leg min and max length of:
47cm - 60cm respectively.

Assuming the Giant has 52cm - 60cm.

[(60-47) - (60-52) / (60-52)] = 62.5% more adjustment on the Beinn
that the original Giant.
  #25  
Old February 21st 07, 11:54 AM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Alan Braggins
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,869
Default Opinions on new bike for 12-yr-old boy

In article , Tom Crispin wrote:

Long seatposts are cheap, but may not fit smaller frames if they need
to be set right down (so I would be surprised if the Islabike has
longer than 250mm, having a 10.5" frame) Buying a handful of seatposts
and saddles could be a good investment to stretch the smaller bikes to
the larger children.


I can see your point and the advantages in having a range of seatposts
and saddles, but I think that it would be preferable to have a range
of different frame sizes. Islabikes scale up the various components
for larger fames, so the pedals on the Beinn 20 and 24 are Junior
aluminium flats and on the Beinn 26 Intermediate aluminium flats, the
brake levers on the Beinn 20 are very short reach and on the Beinn 24
and 26 are short reach.


Also how much can you raise a saddle before you really want the handlebars
higher than the stem adjustment will allow for? They do at least have the
sort of stem where you don't have to take everything off one side of the
bars to change it for a different one.
  #26  
Old February 22nd 07, 11:00 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Mike Causer
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 301
Default Opinions on new bike for 12-yr-old boy

On Tue, 20 Feb 2007 18:58:42 +0000, Colette A. O'Brien wrote:

I would love to do a course in basic bike mechanics as we are building
up quite a collection of nice bikes and I want to look after them
properly. But I haven't found any courses locally.


Hmmm, north Somerset? Bristol isn't all that far away....
http://www.lifecycleuk.org.uk/events.php?id=161



Mike
  #27  
Old February 22nd 07, 11:07 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Colette A. O'Brien
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6
Default Opinions on new bike for 12-yr-old boy

In message of Thu, 22 Feb 2007, Mike Causer writes
Hmmm, north Somerset? Bristol isn't all that far away....
http://www.lifecycleuk.org.uk/events.php?id=161


Bristol is within easy reach. That course sounds perfect actually. But I
can't do Wednesday nights, I'm usually in Macclesfield on a Wednesday!
But I'll keep an eye on that website, looks good.
--
Rgds
Colette
  #28  
Old February 22nd 07, 11:21 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Mike Causer
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 301
Default Opinions on new bike for 12-yr-old boy

On Tue, 20 Feb 2007 18:58:42 +0000, Colette A. O'Brien wrote:

I would love to do a course in basic bike mechanics as we are building
up quite a collection of nice bikes and I want to look after them
properly. But I haven't found any courses locally.


Hmmm, north Somerset? Bristol isn't all that far away....
http://www.lifecycleuk.org.uk/events.php?id=161



Mike
  #29  
Old February 23rd 07, 10:03 AM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Paul Boyd
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,489
Default Opinions on new bike for 12-yr-old boy

Mike Causer said the following on 22/02/2007 22:00:

Hmmm, north Somerset? Bristol isn't all that far away....


It might not be in miles, but it's a whole culture away :-)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Bike Fit - Some Opinions? K-Paws UK 3 November 13th 06 06:14 PM
mountain bike opinions [email protected] Techniques 0 September 26th 06 09:43 PM
Opinions on versatile bike Fred Barney General 27 July 27th 05 10:56 PM
Opinions on the New Breed of bike DT UK 9 June 29th 04 04:05 PM
Opinions on bike-in-a-bag? Pyromancer UK 6 May 14th 04 08:15 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 07:22 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 CycleBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.