I know the answer to my question is the Islabike CNOC14 however my wife thinks it looks too grown up for our daughter and wants something more little girl!

Managed to compromise that we’d avoid heavy supermarket bikes for something proper but am only finding limited options.

So far I have :

Ridgeback Honey Linky
Cuda Blox Linky 2

Any further recommendations from the communal knowledge……

The ridgeback is a good bike, but IMHO 14″ is a redundant wheel size on kids bikes.
12 > 16 > 20 > 24 > God knows 🙂

Just get a pink cnoc14 and some extra girly stickers.
Its setup perfectly for a child to ride.. plus hold their value like no other bike.

I know I know… And there is a nice one on the classifieds on here…. Definitely not an option! As much as I’d love it to be.

Daughter is 102cm tall… Seems on upper limit for a 12″, but too short for a 16″, so 14″ seems sensible, albeit a bit of an inbetween size agreed

It looks “too grown up?” Even if it did, why’s that a problem? Someone (may have been the missus TBH) bought a pair of jeans for out 6-month-old. Jeans. On a baby.

Seriously, the Cnoc has two major wins in my eyes: the brake levers, and the durability. There are lots of other little things, but nothing else I found was so well suited to small hands, nor will anything else last like a decent adult bike or hold its value so well. Two years in on ours and I’ve had to oil the freewheel once. That’s it. It’ll be handed on to Sprog Two as a virtually good-as-new bike, and I still anticipate easily getting more than half the original cost back after that.

All the kids in the road seem to want to borrow it because they like it. If it’s “too grown up” then all the kids disagree – who’s the bike for? 🙂

FWIW, potential arm-biting opportunity: http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=87556&sid=230322727f858bc3736ca3432cfde7c8 (nothing to do with me)

but IMHO 14″ is a redundant wheel size on kids bikes.

This. Just wait a little longer. They do grow, the little darlings. My problem is spd shoes ;-(

Theres not many bikes better than this.. But wrong side of the pond.

spawn furi

smurfly13 – Member

I know I know… And there is a nice one on the classifieds on here…. Definitely not an option! As much as I’d love it to be.

Let me guess…you say “yes, dear” a lot! 😆

So, how much does your little angel weigh? The Ridgeback weighs 18.5 lbs FFS! 😯 Some on here have full size mountain bikes that don’t weigh much more (a rigid carbon bike, for example)! The Cnoc is 12.7 lbs. No weight given for the Blox.

What is your bike/body weight ratio, and how will that compare to the one for your girl?

Grow a pair and buy your girl the Islabike! 😡

I can make the one in the classifieds a little more girly if you like by throwing in a teddy carrier and some tassles !
Also anyone who says that 14″ is a redundant size is talking rubbish, my twins have just gone straight to Beinn 20 smalls without issue.
BTW, I sold her sister’s bike on the auction site yesterday for £175 so no problems with resale values.

Also anyone who says that 14″ is a redundant size is talking rubbish, my twins have just gone straight to Beinn 20 smalls without issue.

Depends on whether they were on 12″ wheeled bikes really.
12 > 14 is a bit indulgent and 14 > 20 suggests they were on 14s for too long, but each to their own.

Frog 43

I think it is a bit bigger than the Cnoc 14 – minimum inside leg of 43, cnoc is 38

It was your CNOC I was looking at Dave!

And grow a pair….. Does that really work for anyone, haha! Off to bike shop this week to try some so maybe they’ll all be unsuitable a will end up getting a CNOC anyway!

Just try not to overthink it. Ridgeback, specialized, carrera, cube all make decent kids bikes.
They may not have the resale/middle class image value of an Isla, but that doesn’t make them bad bikes.

“14 > 20 suggests they were on 14s for too long“

Really? I’m 6’5″ and as a fully grown adult I’ve frequently ridden bikes with wheels of 20, 24 and 26″. Granted, I’ve not won any races recently but I’m still curious which particular crippling adversity will beset a child left languishing miserably on 14″ wheels. Jeez, I didn’t even have a bike at that age. (That said, when I did get one it was a Raleigh Tomahawk, so it was probably that 11″ front wheel that ruined my dreams of smoking the field at Cap d’Ail.)

Perhaps the bike industry needs to market 15″ wheels.

😉

Perhaps the bike industry needs to market 15.5” wheels.

In all seriousness though, I just think that the 14 wheel size is put there to try and squeeze every bit of cash from naive relatively new parents. It’s an irrelevance if going from 12 > 16, in most instances. But then again, we are talking about the bike industry. 🙂

Dunno, 12″ seems too small to me – for a pedal bike, anyway. 3rd birthday seems roughly the earliest time to move to pedals, at which point 14″ wheels are fine and 16s are too big. That was the case for us, anyway. YMMV.

Perhaps a “46er” is in order 🙂

Perhaps a “46er” is in order

*PMs jameso a link to thread* 8)

Agree I’m not sure about a 14″ wheel, but both of ours have had 12″ and 16″ Ridgebacks bought second hand off here and they were great. Also easy to sell on.

I’ve taught literally dozens of children to ride from aged two upwards. In that time I only came across two 14″ bikes and found that the jump to 20″ for those riders, also twins, was a little large. The four inch jumps will accommodate just fine. Start them on 12″, teach them to ride without stabilizers on said bike#. Buy a decent 16″ bike from any recognized maker. There are few poor choices, including used. Many families now just pass them down – I have 12 nephews and nieces and am always sourcing bikes.

Islabikes are the Start-rite of the bike world 😉 We managed just fine on a steel Raleigh Kobo 16; V brakes, adjustable alloy levers, rigid forks, but more importantly, perfect fit. Then moved onto the then new alloy framed 20″ Trek as manufacturers realized that parents will pay for quality children’s bikes. It was not always so.

#I have never bought into balance bikes. Yes they teach balance, but there is still the matter of starting, stopping, pedaling and keeping up with other kids.

Tired… my kids have used balance bikes from 18months to 5 years old (even though they have a pedal bike they still like to pull out their balance bikes to play on). Kids love the simplicity of them.

It all depends how big your kids are and how fast they will grow.
My whole family is pretty short so 14″ has been perfect for aged 3-5.
16″ would be too big.. and we all know how hard it is to ride a bike that is too big… never mind being new to riding.
Buy the right size, helitape it up, pop the bike box in the loft and look after it. Think of it as an extended hire as you will get a chunk of your wedge back when you sell it on.

We have 3 kids age 1,3 and 5. A cnoc14, cnoc16 and 2 strider balance bikes.. luckily for the oldest she will get all the new bikes and they will progress down the line.

I’d never deny that balance bikes aren’t fun, just that they offer a different flavour of cycle training to pedals and brakes. Scooters offer almost the same training (it’s the same balance principle after all). I always ask if a child can ride a two-wheeled scooter. If they can, it’s time to remove stabilizers.

TiRed – Member

I’d never deny that balance bikes aren’t fun, just that they offer a different flavour of cycle training to pedals and brakes. Scooters offer almost the same training (it’s the same balance principle after all). I always ask if a child can ride a two-wheeled scooter. If they can, it’s time to remove stabilizers. The balance bike doesn’t seem to click for every kid – Our daughter (3yo) won’t look at it, hates it. But she loves her scooter, absolutely tans it round the place. It is not reinforcing the balance bike skills, in her case.
Thinking I’ll just put her on the pedal bike with stabilisers and take it from there.

It shouldn’t be either/or in my opinion.
Our 2 had access to balance bikes and 12″ bikes with stabilisers on them at the same time. They learned the balnce on the BB and how to pedal with the stabilisers. When the time came, I just whipped the stabilisers off and they were away. BUT all kids are differenct.

So those suggesting 14″ is redundant and kids should go straight from 12″ to 16″, should I have bought some 12″ pedal bike which was heavier and worse than the Cnoc 14 we do have to start my boys on? Bearing in mind that my youngest has been riding that for 18 months (since age 3 1/2) and is only now big enough to fit on the 16.

Personally I’m not quite sure what is wrong with spending money on getting my kids a decent bike which fits, doesn’t weigh much, has brakes which work and doesn’t depreciate (so in the long term actually costs less than something cheaper, heavier and worse). I’ve also seen the difference a balance bike makes.

Mine learnt on a 35 year old Raleigh Bluebell at 2 yo with solid tyres and integrated stabilizers. It was fourth-hand when we got it and is now sixth hand. Both kids learned pedalling, braking, balance etc with short rides up to a couple of miles. They then moved to 16″ and longer rides including a four mile ride to school a few times a week.

Buy what you like, but like shoes, try not to feel short-changed when they grow out of them too quickly.

Can’t say my kids have ever commented on the weight of their bikes 🙄

Unlike 2nd hand kids shoes.. Islabikes hold their value.
Kids will ride anything.. how easy you want to make it for them is up to you.

IMO a light easy rideable bike which they can use the brakes properly and pedal up a hill is going to make it as fun as possible. Make it hard work and a chore then they will slowly turn off it.

Give them a solid wheeled rim braked antique and they’ll grow up argumentative and have some deep seated bike envy issues that will only be corrected by years of counselling

Ah, it’s been a while since we had an Islabike related thread!

IMO, whatever the brand a 14″ wheel is a good option. Eldest had a balance bike and when he was almost tall enough I got him a 14″ wheeled bike. Since he’d never really bothered much with tricycles and only went through the motions on the trailerbike I put stabilisers on for two weeks. This gave him the opportunity to learn how to pedal (and unlearn how to balance/steer a little bit), after the two weeks I took off the stabilisers and off he went. I did have to use a different seat post and clamp to drop the saddle low enough for him to be able to put both feet down.

A 16″ would have been way too big and a 12″ pointless (and rubbish IMO). He’s now on a 16″ as his little brother just moved up to his 14″ – 1 week on stabilisers and then off they came. Not sure yet how I’ll manage the jump to a 20″ but I expect I’ll just move the eldest up as soon as he’s ready and the youngest onto the 16″.

As for kids not noticing weight or any kind of difference, my two play with 8 others in our street and they all have bikes of different sizes and brands. Maybe I’m a little biased but it seems to me that they all want to ride the Islas.

“Give them a solid wheeled rim braked antique and they’ll grow up argumentative and have some deep seated bike envy issues that will only be corrected by years of counselling…”

Or retail therapy. Teen1’s bikes in full:

Raleigh Bluebell
Raleigh Kobo
Trek MT60 and KMX Kart
Kona Hula and Trek 2200 651c Road bike
Kona Blast, Boardman Road bike, Salt BMX (all stolen)
Giant Trance, Cannondale CAAD8, WTB Justice

Not many arguments along the way though.

Yes 12″ bikes are heavy (even the Hotrock). My youngest learnt to ride ages before he was big enough for a 14″ though, and I was left wishing that Islabikes do a 12″ version.

I reckon as more and more kids have balance bikes (and getting them younger as well – I have seen a photo of a 9 month old on a Strider) the more people will be wanting smaller good quality pedal bikes. And maybe the industry will eventually follow?

My son was 83cm tall when he learnt to ride a bike, still 5cm too small for even the Rothan balance bike according to the Islabike size chart. Even now at 3.5 and 93cm the chart says he isn’t tall enough for a Cnoc14 (and looking at frog bikes he isn’t even tall enough for their balance bike yet!). He rides a 16″ btw…

My kid started with a 14″ specialised hotrock. When she outgrew it we upgraded to an islabike cnoc 16. The islabike was lighter and just better all round. Wish we had started with the islabike in the first place.

I’ve Just ordered a cuda blox in the 16″ wheel for my daughter. She is around the 110-115cm range, so the sixteen will be just about alright and should give us some scope for her to grow a bit with it.

I’ve seen and picked up the 20″ wheel version and it doesn’t seem silly heavy or anything like that.

Another 14″ believer.

My eldest kid started on a 12″ run bike, once he was off and going we popped a front hand brake. (my youngest didn’t fit the 12″ run so we borrowed a 10″ run while he grew)

Once eldest had mastered that, he went to a 14″ Spawn like above (not pink).. there was NO WAY he’d have fit a 16″ wheeled bike at that time, so it was the only way to get him on a pedal bike that he could touch the ground on.

He outgrew that after a year and moved upto a 16″ Spawn.. theres NO way he’ll fit a 20.

So, for us.. in our size/ability scenario.. the 14″ was a necessity.. the 16″ is a great progression and when he’s ready for the 20″.. he’ll be riding that.

Yes, splurging money on kids bikes as he’s riding bikes that fit, but his little brother will inherit them and then they’ll still be worth a bit of cash to put to the next bikes.
Spoiled? Yes…
Pushy parent? Hopefully not.. just providing the right tools so he can enjoy it as much as possible

Jeez, didn’t realise the STW wheel size obsession extended to kids bikes as well !

My daughters started out on balance bikes. By the time they were ready to move on I bought Cnoc 14’s because they were the right size for them at the time. geoffj, nothing to do with me being indulgent or the bike industry squeezing cash from me. As for going from 14″ to 20″ suggesting they were on 14’s for too long, I’d probably agree for the last 2 months they have been a bit on the small side but they could still ride them perfectly well. What would have been indulgent (or the bike industry conspiracy theory) would have been going 14-16-20.

Personally I think the isla’s have been great and if I had to do it again I’d do exactly the same.

smurfly, at the risk of offending the islabikes fashion police, here’s a pic of the bike decked out with tazzles and doll carrier that I’ll throw in the sale as well if you’re still interested.

* Queen Elsa and Princess Anna of Arendelle not included 🙂

I think I was quite lucky with the 16″ bike I found. It is a Merida Dakar 616 (the girls version) and the frame is smaller on it than most 16″ bikes, I would say. About the same dimensions as the Spawn 14″ bike (yes, I’m sad I checked)