Never bothered with Islabikes just thought they are too much money for too little time!
Agree with DezB it’s not like they have any less fun on another decent brand IME: new Marin £200, 2nd hand Specialized £100, New Ridgeback £140, 2nd hand Merida £80. My two have all gone through these and we just got our hands on a Dawes Espoir as a loan bike from the club. All have needed little maintenance that an Islabike doesn’t also need having spoken to others. The Marin I bought 4 years ago and am now selling it for £75.

We had a couple of faults on our Islabike – their tech support guys couldn’t have been more helpful.

The 2nd hand value of the bikes we bought have meant running them cost something daft like £30 a year by the time we got rid of them.

Frog bikes do look good also.

and someone somewhere feels safe and secure that they can act all rufty-tufty without being wedgied in person for being an internet warrior.

200 for a 3yr olds bike IS a rip off.

Whereas Decathlon balance bikes are excellent value?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/what-balance-bike-or-other-wheeled-contraption-for-my-two-year-old/page/3#post-4289528

I think they’re a bit of a rip off too. With some clever marketing, they’ve become the STW parents’ darling. I’m not really sure how; their USP seems to be that they’re a bit lighter than others. No great sustainability policy, no fair trade/pay agreements, nothing. I’m sure that their Vietnam manufactured bikes are great for young people, I just can’t see why they are so much more expensive than the alternatives.

1 post and 45 replies – this new boy’s good!

Pricing up a parcel to Ireland (Republic) by a courier which would appear to offer insurance for bikes and suitable expedited and tracked delivery, based on correct, weight and volume of a 20″ Bike Box comes in at £67-£98 depending on the courier.

Glad to see Frog get a mention and yes,

Thing is though – (stating the obvious approaching) kids grow out of stuff all the time! Especially bikes as they start to use them at the time when they are growing the most.

So we do this with Frog bikes and a few others (yes it is self promotion but hey it’s unique):
Swanky Kids Plan
A few pounds a month for a good quality bike and it can be changed after 15 months for the next size up if the kid outgrows it.
Our goal is help get as many kids as possible onto good quality bikes as possible. Then maybe they’ll keep at it as they grow.
Of course, the other 2 purchase options apply as well.

legend – Member
1 post and 45 replies – this new boy’s good!
POSTED 27 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

New boy? Or maybe a old boy playing from under his bridge 😉

What’s the adult 29’er they do? Wouldn’t mind getting matching bikes for me & mini me

We bought an Islabike for £120 I think 6 years ago, they are now £200. Is it me or is that quite a big jump for that period of time? I thought it was a fair price then but don’t think I could afford what they are now. On the plus side when we come to sell ours we should got a lot of that back.

Simples…..if folks want to spend that on a bike for their kids then let them.

If folks want to spend their own hard earned on whatever they want but it happens to be more than you would spend on a similar item then so be it.

Similarly if you or your kids finished a charity bike ride or ‘race’ before folks who spent more than you on their equipment what of it?

It’s called free choice. We all make different choices so get over it.