Hi all,

My 3.5yr old has mastered his balance bike, and is now asking a lot about a bike with pedals. This is clearly exciting for father and son!

Any real world experiences of the pros and cons of the different options out there would be greatly appreciated.

Also, in an indirect wanted ad, please let me know if you’re anywhere near Winchester/Basingstoke/Southampton etc, and looking to get rid of one that would be suitable.

Cheers,

Tobsters

The stock answer around here is Isalbike, probably a Cnoc 14 or 16 at a push if your lad is tall.

I’ve had 4 year olds on a Cnoc 16 and a Carrera blast 16. The Cnoc has a bit more stand over and is lighter (rigid forks) but the Carrera was also a good little bike. You can pretty much buy a second hand islabike and then sell it a couple of years later for what you paid for it!!

Evans do some good kids bikes as well, and theres also others like frog and Orbea.

I currently have a 4 yr old on a Cnoc 16 and a 7 yr old on an Orbea mx20. Both great bikes.

We’ve had Ridgeback MX14s and 16s. Can’t fault them.

Not tried other brands.

Got the 16 off ebay for about £40. Wouldn’t buy new as it will soon be outgrown.

Depending on height.
Isla 16 or 14.
Mine got on better with the 16 we had once it was released for his use although he was in no way grown out of the 14.
Both would facilitate to a height that they can jump to a 20.

Early rider belter, low standover and very light.

Yup, Cnoc 14 here for my boys 3rd birthday, after a year on a balance bike. It was a little big for about a week, took him another week to get the pedalling and pushing off to start, now he’s blasting about with the seat raised 1.5″ just 4 months later.

My eldest went from his Strider balance bike to a Spesh Hotrock 14 which is not exactly at the heavy end of the what’s available. Bought it for him when he was three and a quarter, but its only now at three and three quarters he is getting used to it. The issue being the extra weight more than anything. On the balance bike he could just about scoot up anything, but to start with he could not get up any kind of incline.

The other issue is the pedal reach. He is smallish for his age so has to have the saddle low to touch the floor. However, this means his legs are very bent on the rotation so he can’t get the power through easily. He alternates between the two. It will come. 😀

Cnoc 14 here – done 2 kids between 2 1/2 and 5 1/2 or so (being used as a mini-BMX in the later years. There’s a lot of choice of good bikes now – not so much when we were buying.

Islabike if you want the nicest (tell yourself the resale value is great if you need to justify it)

Frog for a good bike at not exorbitant price.

Lots more to choose from that are good too – Commencal Ramones 14 looks nice, Specialized look nice.

In terms of 14 vs 16 inch wheels – go for whatever fits best now. No point hampering them getting going now for the sake of a very slightly longer life for the bike. We just had a 14″ and went straight from that onto 20″ at about 5.

Frog 43 or 48 (14″ and 16″ wheels respectively) my boy just about fitted the 48 at 4 so skipped the 14″ is flying around on it now only a few months later.

Miss Ransos has just turned 4 and has a Giant Animator. It’s far too heavy for her to pedal up any kind of hill. I’m looking at an Islabike or Frog replacement.

Second hand Ridgebacks for my two as well – bought for £70, got 3-4 years out of them, sold for £60.

Yes, Islabikes and Frogs are lighter and apparently better specced for small people, but my kids really didn’t notice/care. I couldn’t justify the extra cost.

And I didn’t want my kids to be referred to as “Islabrats” 😆

Good god man, you are posting on here so it must be an islbike, how will he feel otherwise ?

We couldn’t move in Cornwall last year for Islabikes, mind you we didnt help with our 4 ……

One point MoreCashThanDash, didnt you borrow my Rothan for your youngest ?

There is a good Facebook page for buying/selling Islabikes

Andyfla – yes.

But the OP is talking about pedal bikes, so your point was….?

😉

Thanks all for your responses. I’m looking to balance weight with price, which is kind of how we ended up with a Strider balance bike.

That Early Rider is lovely, but even more expensive than an Islabike!

Frog looks promising, and will check out all suggestions on here.

Agree with getting size right for his current height, I don’t want to push a slightly bigger bike on him and ruin his confidence.

Thanks again, any other suggestions welcome!

OK… Just bought a Cnoc 14.

Well done 😀