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My 10 year old lad has just done his first triathlon, which he loved.
However, he lost a lot of time on the bike section because he was using his mountain bike. It was round a park on grass but the fastest boys were using cyclocross type bikes.
No problem, I thought, I'll get him some cyclocross tyres for his road bike - one of these-
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Except it has 650c wheels and I can't find anywhere that sells cyclocross (or indeed any type of knobbly tyres) for a 650c rim.
He'll only do 2 or 3 triathlons a year so I don't want to spend a fortune, but the cycling is losing him a lot of time - swimmimng and running he's as fast as anyone his age.
Any advice? Would a different wheel size (26"?)fit?
Moda seem to have cx type tyres on their junior sports bikes but I can't find anywhere that will sell the tyres without a £500 bike attached!
Any help gratefully received,
Mike
Its a road bike, I doubt you'll get any chunky tires under the brakes anyway.
EDIT: Cant see what bike it is, or what calipers they are, you might be able to change them for more clearance, but depends how much the frame has.
I checked that, there is a fair amount of clearance - not enough for full on mud tyres but plenty more than the 25c tyres on it currently.
Google suggests they might be long drop calipers, so not easy to get longer (cheap anyway).
650c is 571mm
26" is 559mm
So 12mm difference diameter, 6mm radius. Can you move the pads down 6mm?
Would let you run [url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/schwalbe-cx-pro-cyclocross-bike-tyre/rp-prod24614 ]these[/url] maybe.
Probably easier to get faster tyres for his MTB though.
There looks to be 6mm left on the brakes so that is an option, I'll have a dig in the garage to see if I've got an old 26" wheel I could test fit.
Thanks for the advice!
The mtb is only 24" wheels, fine for charging down Queen Elizabeth country park but will never be particularly quick, even with skinnier tyres.
Lots of the kids use road bikes and skinny tyres even on grass - they only loose out if it's wet