What to look for in a bike for a teenager

In My Humble Opinion
1

Background: My younger brother (age 14) is graduating from middle school tomorrow. As a graduation present, my dad is planning to get him a new bike. It will mostly be used to ride around the neighborhood, probably with some other kids of similar age. My dad is leaning toward a mountain bike of some sort.

Query: What recommendations would you make in the shopping for/buying a bike for this situation? Any specific brands to look into/avoid? Any features you’d recommend? Any general bike shopping tips?

I’ve told him that (in his position) I would look around and talk to the salesmen at a bike shop or two and see what they had to say but not buy one yet. Given what I learned, I would then take my brother along to pick out a bike for himself. This would be a valid strategy, wouldn’t it?

2

[QUOTE=Lord Il Palazzo]
Background: My younger brother (age 14) is graduating from middle school tomorrow. As a graduation present, my dad is planning to get him a new bike. It will mostly be used to ride around the neighborhood, probably with some other kids of similar age. My dad is leaning toward a mountain bike of some sort.

Query: What recommendations would you make in the shopping for/buying a bike for this situation? Any specific brands to look into/avoid? Any features you’d recommend? Any general bike shopping tips?

I’ve told him that (in his position) I would look around and talk to the salesmen at a bike shop or two and see what they had to say but not buy one yet. Given what I learned, I would then take my brother along to pick out a bike for himself. This would be a valid strategy, wouldn’t it?
[/QUOTE]

Yes and no. Don’t buy Huffy. Do go to the bike store and ask questions. Don’t let the boy pick whatever he wants, pre-select a few that you feel are good bikes.

You’re looking for weight (lighter is better), repairability, reputation, and at a certain level, the right tech doodads for the cost.

A $1500 mountainbike will be fully suspended, have disk brakes, and weigh 30 lbs.

A $200 Huffy at Walmart will be fully suspended, have disk brakes, weigh 80 lbs, and fall apart in under a year, with ZERO recourse in getting it fixed by a bike shop.

A Specialised/GT/Giant/Marin/etc bike will be between $450 and $800, may or may not be fully suspended (IMHO full suspension is just an excuse to pound the crap out of the bike, front suspension means the kid gets at least SOME of the abuse too), have lever brakes (perfectly adequate up to the point he’s in full competition), weigh 45 lbs, and will be gladly worked on by just about any bike shop.

Picking a bike from that range will ALSO keep him from picking that slammed OCC chopper-style bike that’s heavy, un-rideable, and thus WON’T be ridden.

How big is this kid? At 6’5, 225 lbs, I bought a $350 bike in college, then proceeded to replace most components as I was really 50-70 lbs too heavy for that bike.

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[QUOTE=Unintentionally Blank]
Don’t let the boy pick whatever he wants
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that would be too much like, you know, a reward. Better off just buying him socks and underwear.

Other than that. I agree with Unintentionally Blank. Avoid the cheap wal mart bikes and get a reasonable priced bike form a bike shop. A few things to consider: Does your brother already have a bike? What type of bikes do his friends ride? Is he still growing (will he outgrow this bike in a couple of years)?

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[QUOTE=Dag Otto]
Yeah, that would be too much like, you know, a reward. Better off just buying him socks and underwear.

Other than that. I agree with Unintentionally Blank. Avoid the cheap wal mart bikes and get a reasonable priced bike form a bike shop. A few things to consider: Does your brother already have a bike? What type of bikes do his friends ride? Is he still growing (will he outgrow this bike in a couple of years)?
[/QUOTE]

You misunderstand. Eliminate the bad choices from the pool, then let him decide.. Snarky much?

The other thing that may help with a bike shop is: they need to move stock to stay in business. It’s entirely possibly you can talk a $900 bike down to $750 (or $600 down to $475). I ended up with a custom aluminum framed bike as the guy had a special order for the frame and the buyer never picked it up. So I got a 24" frame, reasonable components, and got it for $200-$300 less than if it was just a common bike sitting on the rack.

5

Well, you surely don’t want to go to Target, Walmart, etc. for a bike but I don’t think you need to spend $450-$800 for a decent bike he’s going to ride around the neighborhood.
You can get a hardtail cro-moly bike like the Trek 820 and many others like it for around $250.

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+1 Hampshire

7

The child is 14 years old. I think this needs to be borne in mind. I’d get an older bike second-hand. One cheap enough that it doesn’t matter too much when it gets scraped, bent, or stolen.

Don’t forget the padlocks and repair kit.

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[QUOTE=Unintentionally Blank]
You misunderstand. Eliminate the bad choices from the pool, then let him decide.. Snarky much?
[/QUOTE]

Not very often. Tell me, exactly how did you decide that an OCC chopper-style bike wasn’t right for this kid?

He’s going to be happy with the bike that he likes. If all his friends have that type of bike, he’ll probably want one too. And who are chopper style bikes for, if not teenagers?

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[QUOTE=Dag Otto]
Not very often. Tell me, exactly how did you decide that an OCC chopper-style bike wasn’t right for this kid?

He’s going to be happy with the bike that he likes. If all his friends have that type of bike, he’ll probably want one too. And who are chopper style bikes for, if not teenagers?
[/QUOTE]

Have you, perchance, seen one in person? They weigh a ton, they’re ergonomically unusable, and would spend more time rusting than being used. That doesn’t do anybody any good. Sure, he’s the envy of all his friends…but he’s then left behind because they can PEDAL their ‘less cool’ bikes somewhere.

But the option has already been removed as I’ve never seen them for sale in a bike store. Wonder why that is?

The object is to give the kid a useful present. Sometimes that can conflict a little with what they want.

I’m talking about this, btw: Robot or human?

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[QUOTE=Unintentionally Blank]
Have you, perchance, seen one in person? They weigh a ton, they’re ergonomically unusable, and would spend more time rusting than being used.
[/QUOTE]

Seen one? I had what was basically the same bike for the times in the 1970’s: A motorcycle themed bmx type bike from the Sears catalog, built with crappy parts and a fake plastic fuel tank, ugly ass plastic fenders, and some sort of strut type front suspension fork (total travel, 1/8" if you hit something really hard). Guess what? I loved that bike. It didn’t stop me from from making other poor bike choices later. I bought a 80 lb Schwinn Varsity and I let the bike shop guys talk me into solid tubes. I rode the hell out of that bike too.

I have far better bikes today. But at the time those where the bikes I wanted and I was happy with them. If I had a big brother talk me out of what I really wanted, I’d resent it.

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Whatever. It’s an IMHO regarding the OP’s question, let’s agree to disagree and move on.

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[QUOTE=Unintentionally Blank]
The object is to give the kid a useful present. Sometimes that can conflict a little with what they
[/QUOTE]

No, the object of a present is to get them something that they would enjoy which is normally out of their grasp. Your prescription of its usefulness doesn’t enter into the equation - ultimately, the goal is to make the kid happy in this case.

13

As much as I hate to break up a good debate, I feel it’s worth mentioning that my dad would likely try to steer my brother away from a gimmicky, impractical bike (like the pseudo-motorcycle bikes) and toward something more traditional if the situation arose. That said, I don’t think my brother would go toward a gimmicky bike in the first place so it’s something of a moot point.

My dad is out looking at a few stores now. He plans to stop by a toy store that carries bikes, a sporting goods store that carries bikes and two dedicated bike shops to kind of get a good cross section of bike sellers. I believe he plans to take my brother bike shopping in the next few days and use what he finds out today to guide them through the process. We’ll see what happens.

14

I predict the same or similar bikes will be available in the sporting goods stores and the bike stores. Then you get to deal with the intangibles like keeping a small local shop in business.

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[QUOTE=Unintentionally Blank]
YA $1500 mountainbike will be fully suspended, have disk brakes, and weigh 30 lbs.
[/quote]
My $1500 dollar mountain bike is 27 lbs ready to ride (bike bag, and cyclometer)

Actually the heaviest one I have seen was 56 lbs (On a scale at a bike shop BTW)

Not unless you are carrying 15 lbs of lead on the frame. Expect no more than 30 lbs.

Go to a bike shop, look around. Ask the kid what kind of riding he wants to do. Buy a bike he will ride. The best bike is the one that gets ridden the most.

16

Bike shops can differ widely.

In my town there is one that has a Schwinn sign, tho they carry Raleigh and other brands. If you stop in there, they will show you a bunch of bikes between $200-500. If your brother is anything like my teenage kids, the most important thing will be color and appearance, rather than number of gears or quality of components.

There’s another bike store where I imagine you might be able to spend less than $750 on a bike, but you’ll get the distinct impression that they are - um - debasing themselves by deigning to sell such a pedestrian vehicle.

Just the other day my 19 year old asked me how old my bike was (Schwinn “trailish” 15-speed). I told her my wife and I bought them for $300 when she was a baby. Still going just fine. I believe most bikes are now made in China, and they are one product for which prices have not increased tremendously (of course, not talking about top end).

Having bought several bikes for my kids over the years, you definitely can get a fine name brand bike for under $400. I always buy my bikes from local bike stores. IME they:
-set them up well;
-they often will toss in a helmet/lock/bottle holder/etc.;
-they will service what they sold you;
-they will accept your bike as a trade-in should you care to replace it;
-their prices are generally pretty competitive; and
-I like to support local businesses when possible.

At 14 he may still be growing. Make sure you get a bike that will not soon be too small for him. And get a good lock and insist that he use it.

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[QUOTE=Unintentionally Blank]
Whatever. It’s an IMHO regarding the OP’s question, let’s agree to disagree and move on.
[/QUOTE]

Sure.

As for the OP, can you give us an idea of the price range your dad is looking at and how your brother is likely to use the bike?

If you can post information on certain bikes that are under consideration, then we can probably give opinions on whether it is a good deal or not or if there is anything really wrong with the bike. Other than that, people have posted as much as they could given the limited information.

18

I mostly agree with Unintentionally Blank. I suggest having a prepurchase talk with a guy at the bike shop, and then another immediately prepurchase talk with the guy at the bike shop talking to the prospective rider. That way you get a “bike authority” guiding his selection and not just “dad wants to get me bike x.”

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[QUOTE=Unintentionally Blank]
But the option has already been removed as I’ve never seen them for sale in a bike store. Wonder why that is?
[/QUOTE]

I’ve seen one each of two models in a single store. It’s not the thing shops plan on selling a lot of; it’s a novelty.

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[QUOTE=Unintentionally Blank]
A $200 Huffy at Walmart will be fully suspended, have disk brakes, weigh 80 lbs, and fall apart in under a year, with ZERO recourse in getting it fixed by a bike shop.
[/QUOTE]
Huh? I ride a second-hand, cable brake, no suspension Huffy that’s at least 15 years old.