In article <9iv624la7mqluut62bpkhm38g5cobc1snl@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
John Forrest Tomlinson <usenetremove@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On Thu, 08 May 2008 19:49:35 GMT, Ryan Cousineau <rcousine@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> wrote:
>
>
> >With the caution that you'd be better off with her riding a bad bike
she
> >likes than a road bike she dislikes, you might consider a tiny CX bike,
> >if only for the top-mount brake levers.
> >
> >A hyper-enthusiastic 10-yo of my acquaintance desperately desired a
road
> >bike, and her father and I built a bizarro CX bike out of a 20" MTB
> >frame, a rigid fork, and various other cast-off parts (one
> >irreproducible find: a teeny tiny women-specific handlebar for cheap at
> >a close-out sale).
> >
> >http://flickr.com/photos/ttcopley/sets/72157594551105230/
> >
> >And notably:
> >
> >http://flickr.com/photos/ttcopley/419361041/in/set-72157594551105230/
>
> Drills it! That bike rocks. Cute photo and rider.
The kid is cycling crazy. She wanted a road bike bad, so she could be
just like her hero, Mandy Poitras (late of the now-defunct Symmetrics
women's team).
A few years ago, Mandy gave her that Symmetrics jersey, which then
became the main top little M. would wear on almost every occasion.
That kid once crashed the bike on a descent at over 30 km/h. She was
unfazed. She rides with grim intensity, and loves it. Not sure how soon
before she'll be old enough to do the 25 km/h dEVo rides, but not that
long.
Oh, one other tip for building kiddie road-bikes: Sora and R600 or 700
(variant Ultegra-grade) levers have a reach adjustment, which is really
practical for small hands.
--
Ryan Cousineau rcousine@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."
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