Viewing 17 posts - 1 through 17 (of 17 total)
  • First Pedal Bike (upgrade from Isla Rothan)
  • chomp
    Free Member

    Having spent this weekend with the little un out and about on his Rothan, I think he’s now ready for pedals.

    I’d love to get him a CNOC 14 but they’re pretty rare (one on classifieds at the mo which I’ve expressed and interest in) so was wondering what my other options are?

    I’d prefer to look for 2nd hand if poss, so nothing too rare. I also would like to look more like a proper bike if possible.

    Anyone got any recomedations (other than Isla Bikes)

    DoctorRad
    Free Member

    Isla do part-exchange deals, so may have some second-hand CNOC-14s. They really are the best in the business from what I’ve seen, and should hold their value well.

    igm
    Full Member

    We just ordered a Cnoc. He tried it at the York bike show and the bike is generally very nice, with everything you need and nothing you don’t, but the brakes stood out as being superb. Just well thought out and manufactured for small hands. And it seemed a lot lighter than the Giant Animator he’s been borrowing.
    I’d ring and check out 2nd hand ones from Islabikes – which I forgot to do. Doh.

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    chomp
    Free Member

    I knew they did a trade in but as the Rothan is being put away for when the littler one is ready I didn’t think they’d have anything.

    I’ll give them a bell to see if they have any 2nd hand ones knocking about

    mcboo
    Free Member

    Stick with Isla……I’ve tried a bunch of others for my tribe and nothing comes close.

    nickc
    Full Member

    Nice bike, but £150?

    Pricey

    mcboo
    Free Member

    They are more expensive than other brands, easier to swallow if you have more than one nipper. Have 3 so the younger 2 will be inheriting for ever.

    First one we got was a tiny GT 14 inch job i got from Evans online. My hardtail XL weighs 26lb, the GT weighs 27! Horrible thing, total rip-off at £100……kids cant even reach the brake levers

    mavis
    Free Member

    Picked up a CNOC from the “factory” on Thursday, Little M was very impressed and coming from a like-a-bike has already learned to brake!! Pedalling is the only realy new thing to learn.

    I was expecting a good bike, but I am seriously impressed with the quality and build.

    We are keeping the like-a-bike until she is really comfortable on the new bike, she can’t really reach the ground on th CNOC yet…she was riding round the local bmx track on the like-a-bike on Sunday evening, I had to push her on the upslopes, but she was loving the speed on the downslopes and whoops!! 🙂

    DoctorRad
    Free Member

    My girlfriend’s 3-year-old missed out on a Rothan, so is on her CNOC-14 with stabilisers… oh well, she’ll learn to ride properly sometime just to keep up with her brother.

    igm
    Full Member

    My impression was similar to mcboo’s. Lighter (and at 3 years that makes a big difference) and the brake levers’ design is re-thought for smaller hands not just scaled down. On the test ride my son got the brakes almost instantly – unfortunately what he didn’t get was that if you jam the brakes on hard enough, you stop and fall over – think comedy SPD moment. He’ll learn.

    scott_mcavennie2
    Free Member

    My son has just started properly riding his CNOC14 that he got for christmas. Absolutely flies on it, complete with some rear wheel skids.

    He had a Rothan beforehand which we kept hold of until he found his feet on the pedal bike.

    We went up to Islabikes and ended up buying an ex demo bike with a nice discount and no delivery fee.

    Unfortunately he seems to have inherited my ‘tongue out concentrating while riding’ face:

    MoreCashThanDash
    Full Member

    Depends what size wheels he can manage – we lusted after Isla bikes, but ended up getting a secondhand Ridgeback MX16 off ebay, normally 60-80 quid on there.

    Took the pedals off, he was scooting down hills in two days (from not having touched his old stabiliser bike for a year), 1 month on he is pedalling pretty confidently.

    Good, light bikes with sensible kid friendly spec.

    skyhigh_71
    Full Member

    Definately stick with Isla bikes. We are on about our 5th now, ever increasing in size. Just sold a Cnoc 14 about 3 months ago for 75% of new cost. If you can find a used one and look after it, you’ll probably sell it on for what you paid. Definately a good prospect if you have more than one child. No other manufacturer has this attention to detail. Everything is perfectly scaled to fit the child – i.e. correct crank lengths, small bars, grips, short reach brake levers etc etc.

    heihei
    Full Member

    Another vote for the Cnoc here – my daughter mastered it in 10 mins on her 4th birthday after moving across from her Scoot balance bike.

    prettygreenparrot
    Full Member

    OK, should be on classifieds but I have a specialized girls’ 12″ hotrock and a Gary Fisher 12″ something. May be too small for what you want? My children have just moved to 16″ after mastering 2 wheels. They’re 1m-1.1m tall.

    aracer
    Free Member

    Hadn’t really thought about there being anything special with Islabikes brakes – but almost 2.5 year old mini a-racer can do skids with the one on his Rothan without any problem (skids are after all for kids). That’s with the reach wound right in to make it as easy as possible.

    Given the saddle height on his Rothan is now only 0.5cm below the minimum leg length for a Cnoc 14, I’m wondering just how optimistic I’m allowed to be (he is after all now complaining about not having pedals)…

    chomp
    Free Member

    looks like I’ll be on the hunt for a cnoc then 🙂

    we’ll be cascading them to the littlest one so they are good value considering they will outlast the kids

    love the pic Scott 🙂

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