Bike suggestions for kids doing their first triathlons?

I volunteered at the local kid's tri last year and there were a couple with tricked out bikes more expensive than mine.

Of course, the little buggers were faster than me too, especially the next day when they raced the sprint in the 15 and under category.

If you can afford it, get them something other than mountain bikes.  They'll have a lot more fun being a lot faster! 

In her second triathlon my daugher (10 yrs old; 4 ft 8 in) rode a borrowed cyclocross bike, which she (and I) thought was great:

http://bikemart.com/itemdetails.cfm?catalogId=39&id=3027

It has 24" wheels and shifters for small hands so it fits kids well.  While a cyclocross looks pretty much like a road bike (few would know the difference), it's also designed to be ridden on dirt.  It fit her well and she really liked it, but it wasn't hers (and she'd grow out of it quickly too).   You won't find many good road bikes this small.

One of the 10 yr old boys that she "trained" with (who used to ride the cyclocross bike) rode a small women's road bike, I believe with 700 wheels.  The color scheme wasn't particularly feminine so I'm not sure he even knew it was a women's bike.

We just got my daughter the smallest size Trek 43 cm WSD with 650 wheels.  

http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/2008/road/1_series/12wsd/ 

It's a tad large for her now, but it should be good for at least another 4 or 5 inches of growth!  You occasionally find some great deals on 43 cm trek road bikes on ebay.

I hope this helps!

Brian 

A 24" like this would be good, ~$470 if that works.  I bought my 8 YO son the 20" Trek MTB last year for his 7th B-day.  He did a tri with a fixed gear when he was almost 7 and also started riding some trails with me.

My daughter when she was 10 did a kids tri on her regular kid bike to see many kids whizz by her on road bikes. She decided she wanted a road bike and she bought a Trek 1000 with her own paper route money.

When she does tris now she is usually one of the fastest on the bike without much riding either.

She is the oldest daughter so we have 2 more kids that can ride the bike. 

I was excited for her to get it as I had visions of Emily, my husband Kevin and I riding together. The other two do not share the same enthusiasm for riding as I do so we rarely do it but we have the bikes if the desire changes.

There are kids at tris with amazing bikes (often divorced families where the Dad tris so indulges his own passion for his kids) but it is all about having fun and if spending money on a road bike makes sense. You have lots of kids so stuff can be passed down. Maybe a bike off Craigs List or know a shorter triathlete that is upgrading to a new bike?