How much is too much to spend on your kid's bike?
Little backstory first... Me and my son are heavy into MTB. I started riding mostly park this summer when I got my FS, and he joined me on about half those trips (Mountain Creek, Killington, Thunder).
That's about $700 just in rentals for him, and I anticipate we'll go more next season.
He'll be 17 and if he isn't already, he'll soon be done growing. He's saved up $2k so I told him I'd match him dollar for dollar.
Discussion for another day, but not going the used bike route.
My LBS sells Pivot and Santa Cruz, so the Bronson and Nomad (Pivot's entry level enduro bikes start closer to $6k). Both are NX builds and come in just over $5k. All things being equal, I'd buy it there cause of the relationship I have with them. I trust them.
$4k with Commencal gets me much better components on an alloy frame, which I'd actually prefer. And there's a local Trek dealer, and we've been looking at the Slash 8.
Ultimately it'll be his decision, but he's nowhere near as picky as his old man. And it's a big expense for both of us, no dentists in this household!
So as these bike prices get higher and higher, where do we draw the line? Is it unreasonable for a 16 year old to ride a $5,000 bike, or is that where we are right now?
Little backstory first... Me and my son are heavy into MTB. I started riding mostly park this summer when I got my FS, and he joined me on about half those trips (Mountain Creek, Killington, Thunder).
That's about $700 just in rentals for him, and I anticipate we'll go more next season.
He'll be 17 and if he isn't already, he'll soon be done growing. He's saved up $2k so I told him I'd match him dollar for dollar.
Discussion for another day, but not going the used bike route.
My LBS sells Pivot and Santa Cruz, so the Bronson and Nomad (Pivot's entry level enduro bikes start closer to $6k). Both are NX builds and come in just over $5k. All things being equal, I'd buy it there cause of the relationship I have with them. I trust them.
$4k with Commencal gets me much better components on an alloy frame, which I'd actually prefer. And there's a local Trek dealer, and we've been looking at the Slash 8.
Ultimately it'll be his decision, but he's nowhere near as picky as his old man. And it's a big expense for both of us, no dentists in this household!
So as these bike prices get higher and higher, where do we draw the line? Is it unreasonable for a 16 year old to ride a $5,000 bike, or is that where we are right now?