Help for a young cyclist

Hi guys, there is an 11 year old lad at the local cycle club, he loves his cycling. For his birthday he got a 'road' bike, it IIRC is like this..

Problem is he does not like the thumb shifters which are mounted on the bar flats up by the stem... I rashly said that I would try to find a better alternative... But after some googling about it seems that 7 speed Brifters are like hen's teeth, and even if you find a pair, they cost about the same as the whole bike did..... Could I make this into an 8 speed? Or would bar ends do the job? Anyone have an old pair knocking about the shed? (or even just a RH Brifter?, I could leave the LH as it is with the thumb shifter).. Any advice or suggestions welcome..

I guess you probably could convert it to 8 speed if you got an 8 speed cassette and brifters. Seems like an expensive upgrade for such a cheap bike though. If you are going to do an upgrade you might as well use parts that could be transferred to a better and bigger bike one day.

Should be possible if you can find a cheap pair of shifters - might take a little bit of time until they turn up though.

I'd go for Sora - I think they're the only Shimano ones to have a reach adjustment, which might be good for 11-year-old hands.

7-speed might turn up on the bay, but it's probably going to be easier to get hold of 8-speed, then either add an 8-speed cassette (if the bike is cassette rather than free-wheel), or just run it with the 7-speed block as the indexing will be close enough (cogs are 5mm apart for 7-speed, 4.8mm for 8-speed, so if you set it right in the middle, it's only 0.6mm out at either end. Sure, there's an extra click, but the mech limit screws take care of that - it's close enough for government work ...).

Might be a freewheel on that which should really only be 7-speed or less.

You could fit bar end shifters.

8 speed shifters will work with 7 speed spacing happily, and the old 105 and 600s come up on here and ebay. Expect to pay 50 or 60 notes. Look after them and you should be able to sell them later for a similar amount.

^^ true about the 8-speed shifters. They'll work ok if that rear mech is accurate enough.

^^ my typing is too slow

easy. just remove derailleurs and gear cables.

leave him with a lighter ss bike.

Pretty sure it's a freewheel - the website doesn't say for the 24in wheel version, but the adult bikes are freewheel not cassette.

Like I say, I'd go for Sora because of the reach adjustment issue: I'd probably be thinking of bidding on #120986721709 or #320979581945 - the mech ought to index well enough to get them working fine.

Kids "road bikes" like that are totally pointless. Kid would ride just as fast on a little (rigid) ATB sort of bike with flat bars, and also be able to throw it around off road, the brakes in particular but probably all of the parts would also be better at the same pricepoint if you got something mountain bike shaped.

An unhelpful post I know, but personally I would not bother in seeking out brifters and just swap out the drops for flat bars with rapidfires instead. For extra hand positions (honking), some bar ends would suffice. Lower end brifters in particular are large and clumsy for small hands.

An unhelpful post I know,.

Indeed, I watch kids race on these every week. You are wrong.

Indeed, I watch kids race on these every week. You are wrong.

• 1, get used to drops as early as possible
  

Gripshift?

He'll get used to them as they are.