So, whilst buying him some swimming goggles, my 10 year old accidentally ended up sat on a Rockrider 5.1 tonight – would be his first 26″ wheeled bike.

For messing around with his mates, the occasional Sustrans pootle or blue routes at a trail centre, it may be a little lardy but I’m struggling to think of a reason not to ….unless you know otherwise?

Cheap bike

I’m interested in one of these too for a 10 yo.

I’ve bought decathlon bikes before (I even ride a triban 3) but so far they’ve always been about the £300 mark.

I’d be relatively happy that the 5.1 is good vfm and not too heavy but any real experience or alternatives appreciated.

10 years ago, these would have been serious bikes. Folk had good times on them. It’s not about the bike.

No one actually tried one yet then?

Tried him on the 5.2 but he said it felt too big and uncomfortable, so we looked at the 5.1 and he was really happy with it. Both were the XS frame size.

Plenty of mates have owned various flavours of Decathlon bikes and been happy, and the store is 10 minutes away if we had problems. Do I spend £160 on that or spend similar money buying and collecting a low low end Giant/Trek/Spesh that is 4-5 years old off ebay?

Last year I got very lucky with 2 xs treks for the kids from the lbs. Think I picked them up for 230 each with about 150 off each as I bought the last two. Might be worth a hunt round?

we looked at the 5.1 and he was really happy with it.

I think the answer is in there somewhere.

I bought 2 Rockrider 5.1’s for my girls (11&9) in September, first 26″ bikes – very pleased with them so far. Decent paint finish, gears have a nice action, decent weight.

The file tread tyres are a bit skinny and thin – might look at putting something on with a bit more tread, but they are fine for cycle path and canal towpath use.

Edit – I had spent some time looking at ‘branded’ bikes i.e. Spesh etc on ebay, but they were silly money for the condition they were in, and unknown history so decided to buy new from Decathlon

I got the Mrs a Rockrider 5.3 (double the price though) in the smallest size they do – Really good bike for the money in my opinion.

wrightyson – I’ve looked around for some small cheap sale bikes – you can get XS bikes from Trek etc for £250 upwards in the sales but only “ladies” step through frames, all the normal frame models seem to have sold out – hence numerous postings on the subject on here. MrsMCTD doesn’t feel he rides enough to justify going over £200 really, and she is probably right.

Rockrider looking like the winner – Decathlon may be on way home from work tomorrow now….