good place to buy a quality used 20" bmx bike for my son...

[NewUser]

I bought my 8 yr old son a used 24" 7-speed Specialized HotRock (a $420+tax bike when new) on CraigsList for $180. It looked to have been barely used in 2 years. Not a scratch on it and the tires looked new.

Specialized Bicycle Components

[TheBigKahunaNC]

Originally Posted by local2rtp

Is there such a thing as a light mountain bike (a bike to go cycling in the woods)? I bought one at Wal Mart and one at CSH (Trek) and they both seem heavy. Any recommendations for a light weight under $400 mountain bike for a middle schooler and an adult? TIA.

Shop used. As has already been mentioned, in the world of bicycles, light weight cost big money. But one person's light weight bike is someone else's pig. If you're coming from a 35# Walmart clunker, a 26# semi-entry level name brand bike will seem quite light!

Make sure you get the proper sized frame for your height. The dept. store bikes come in one frame size. Decent bikes will come in several frame sizes per model of bike. There's no reason for a 6-1" person to ride a 15" frame, not a 5-3" person to ride a 21" frame.

You can get an aluminum bike that's a few years old, to even as far back as 10 more more years that's much lighter than the hi-tensile steel framed department store bikes.

Example: http://raleigh.craigslist.org/bik/4426483153.html

Kids "mountain bikes" tend to be VERY heavy. Most of them use cheap steel and the lowest end components available, and then add useless suspension. I'm shocked when people buy kids a 35# bike. Even with many of the name brand companies, the kids bikes are "cheap". I'd keep an eye out for a decent used 13-14" framed mountain bike by Specialized, Trek, Gary Fisher, GT, etc. Skip the suspension. It adds too much weight to kids bikes, and really is made from junk components that just don't work well. A lighter bike will be more beneficial to them than some cheap shocks.

[TheBigKahunaNC]

Originally Posted by pegotty

My boys, ages 6, 9 and 12 were just introduced to the bmx track by a friend a few weeks ago and they would all like bikes. They have cheap target bikes right now that are all in various stages of disrepair and the little guy has outgrown his and can't use it at all. So at the very least I have to buy a new bike for the younger guy to ride at home. Can you recommend a shop that can give me some advice on what to buy, entry level price?

Flythe, on Peace St seems to do well with the BMX crowd. The All-Star on Wake Forest Rd has BMX too. Your youngest may still be in the mini to Jr level bikes, depending on his height and weight. My son's mini BMX has a 90# weight limit. Start them out with used bikes if you can find some. You can drop $500-2000 on race level BMX bikes. You can find decent enough bikes to get started on for less than $300. Go to the track on Sunday, and look around. Talk to people, most are very friendly. Tell them you're trying to learn the size of bike your kids need. Many will probably offer to help you size them, and there are usually a lot of bikes for sell there too. A lot of those parents were in your position at some time in their BMX parent career!

This is an adult sized BMX. http://raleigh.craigslist.org/bik/4428102912.html

If a BMX has a front brake and pegs on the axles, it's probably a freestyle or trick bike and probably weighs 10-15 pounds more than a race bike. BMX is a very general term that is used to label several kinds of bikes.

[Ellen Pitts]

Originally Posted by TheBigKahunaNC

Flythe, on Peace St seems to do well with the BMX crowd. The All-Star on Wake Forest Rd has BMX too. Your youngest may still be in the mini to Jr level bikes, depending on his height and weight. My son's mini BMX has a 90# weight limit. Start them out with used bikes if you can find some. You can drop $500-2000 on race level BMX bikes. You can find decent enough bikes to get started on for less than $300. Go to the track on Sunday, and look around. Talk to people, most are very friendly. Tell them you're trying to learn the size of bike your kids need. Many will probably offer to help you size them, and there are usually a lot of bikes for sell there too. A lot of those parents were in your position at some time in their BMX parent career!

This is an adult sized BMX. Formula Solution Pro XL BMX bike Carbon Fiber Forks

If a BMX has a front brake and pegs on the axles, it's probably a freestyle or trick bike and probably weighs 10-15 pounds more than a race bike. BMX is a very general term that is used to label several kinds of bikes.

Thank you for the information. I had heard about people selling bikes at the races. We'll have to try to work Sundays into our schedule.