In a few weeks time we need to get a new bike for my daughter’s 6th birthday. She’s mastered her 16″ wheeled Ridgeback which is now way too small for her and looking at some size guides she may even make it onto a 24″ wheeled bike. Test rides are a certainty of course and at the moment Isla bikes are in the lead but at around 300 quid for the Isla Benin 24 it seems mad not to look at what else there is.

The thing is the Isla bikes seem well sorted. No dodgy suspension forks to add weight and faff, proper short cranks, single chainring with a good range cassette and most importantly relatively low weight.

The downside is the straight (sloping) top tube which make it look less like a girls bike and I guess will reduce the standover. She’s a girly girl who currently has a pretty basket and tassles on the bike so looks and colour choice will be a factor.

Looking at the competition (Ridgeback / Kona/ Specialized / Scott / Giant) prices range from 220 to 310 but they all weigh a lot more and seem less sorted for kids if that makes sense.

Reading this post tells me to book the test rides down at Isla Bikes and be done but am I missing something else, any proper real world feedback out there?

Ta.

Reading this post tells me to book the test rides down at Isla Bikes and be done but am I missing something else, any proper real world feedback out there?

Ta.
Answered your own question there st, dilemma over 😀

Am sure Islabikes would do you a custom pink model. In the club I am involved with there are Islabikes being traded regularly, CX bike just before Xmas e.g.
Reckon as good as the other bikes are the weight penalty the biggest neg point against them and the resale value of Islabikes would appear to be another + for them.
My grandson and his mates are fans(5yr olds)

We are big fans of Islabikes.

There are two sizes of 20″ flat bar model as well as a 24″. If you ring them with the child’s height and inside leg they’ll be able to give you a pretty accurate suggestion over the phone. But if you can visit the shop near Ludlow it is highly recommended. There’s the Ludlow Food Centre and a nice café next door too 🙂

Even with the suspension fork, something like a Spesh Hotrock isn’t exactly heavy and kids suspension forks can actually be made to work pretty well with a little ingenuity.
What height is she? most 6yr olds (even big ones) will fit 20″ wheel mtbs, jumping straight from a 16″ wheel mtb to a 24″ one doesn’t sound right at all.

My now 7 year old daughter went on to a 20″ hotrock last year. I don’t think she would have coped with a 24″ at that stage.

A boy her age at her local clun turned up with a 24″ and it seemed to be hard getting the bigger wheels moving (+ the extra weight) and more difficult to manouver.

If you are set on a Hotrock etc look out for them 2nd hand. I bought ours for £85 ish and it was as new. I’d expect we’ll get a good chunck of that back when we sell it on.

Her next one will be an Islabike.

My 9 year old daughter has just moved onto the 26in beinn. Great service, really nice people to buy from and the bikes are fab. So well thought out and – for £300 – properly light. It’s definitely lighter than the 24in Spesh Hardrock (rigid) she’s outgrown.

We had our first ride in the woods last week and she was riding stuff/climbing hills we’d never managed before.

I wanted to buy her the Islabikes MTB but was talked out of it by Isla. Just put some chunky tyres on the beinn and she’s good to go.

My eldest (11) has a lovely spesh Myka but I wish I’d bought here an IB too as she doesn’t really need the suspension, 3 rings, etc.

Ive just got my girl a Scott Scale 24, she loves it and cant wait for Mayhem… What have I started!!! 🙄

6 years old and she’s ready for a 24″. Blimey! I thought my daughter was tall. She’s 6, tall for her age and finds her Carrera Luna 20 perfect.

Its a nice bike. Not too expensive, not too heavy. Decent Suntour suspension fork. Sloping toptube so good stamdover. Decent SRAM drivechain (she’s mastered the gears now already)

They’re on offer at the moment so make for a really good buy:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_729063_langId_-1_categoryId_165630

Why not consider it, or something similar as a stop gap before the Isla. I know that for my 6 year old, a 24″ would have been a bit much of a handful. She’d have struggled. Better that she works her way up.

As people have pointed out, you’ll get a decent re-sale price on a decent bike

my 8yr old has the 24″ luna (and a 24″ Hotrock) it’s very good VFM.. not too far off as good spec as the spesh but was half the price.

still wondering how tall this 6yr old actually is 😕

We took my Wife’s very sceptical Sister & her hubby & daughter over to Islabikes a few months ago. He was very much against spending such a sum, but the quality of the Islabikes product, & the service at the shop sold them on it. They got their daughter a 24″ Beinn for Xmas. The staff over there are excellent, sizing up the bike & getting them riding around the test track.
We took our eldests Cnoc 14 with us, to see about him trading up to the Cnoc16. Rather than go for the 16′, they adjusted a 20″ Beinn small to fit him, & got him doing some laps on that. I was keen to buy straight away, but they adjusted his 14′ & said to wait a while longer. They said it could damage his confidence pushing him to upgrade too soon, even though he was ok on the test track. So theyre certainly not about high pressure selling, like some of the other places we tried.
We’re planning a trip over in March, as I reckon he will be ready then. Agreed, the colours arent very gender specific, but its more about the bike than making it all pretty & trendy. The lack of suspension, front mechs & overly knobbly tyres makes them a bit easier to ride.
Might be worth giving them a call. They had a really good open day last spring, where you could try all the bikes out. They had all the kids riding up & down a barriered off road. Simply seeing other kids riding (learning) spurred our eldest into riding on his own for the first time.
And the Cafe next door is nice. 😀

+1 on the Carrera bikes. We now have a 20 and a 24 in the family. Much as I hated getting a bike from Halfords I could not get anywhere near the VFM on these.

16″ to a 24″ is a big jump.

Thanks for the comments everyone. I was surprised by the sizing to, I have our daughter down for a 20″wheel too and will make sure we get test rides in. She’s around 120cm tall and the isla bikes site shows the minimum height for the 24″ as 116cm but I’ll take expert advice over getting a bike she can grow in to for sure. Will also look at Halfords (albeit whilst shuddering)

Ta.

My boy is 6 now and I wanted to go to 20″ wheels for him but didnt really think he needed the added hassle of trying to master a rear mech. Having ridden a BMX for most of my youth I felt 1 gear was ok for most situations, and if its steep he will push anyway. After looking at a lot of kids bikes I thought the trek jet 20 suited him most. Its fairly light as all alloy very low top tube, Proper kids brake levers etc.
http://www.trekbikes.com/int/en/bikes/kids/ages_6_9/jet20e/
Its reduced at evans at the moment £144

. She’s a girly girl who currently has a pretty basket and tassles on the bike so looks and colour choice will be a factor.

You can fit a basket to an Isla if you want.

DSCN1324_2 by Matthewjb, on Flickr

We have two Islabikes. Really well designed. Great for getting the kids riding.

Another vote for Islabikes. I teach kids MTB, and these are by far the best of all the machines I see,

APF

After looking at a lot of kids bikes I thought the trek jet 20 suited him most. Its fairly light as all alloy very low top tube, Proper kids brake levers etc.

Before getting a Beinn my son had the equivalent Gary Fisher to the Trek jet. Another really well designed kids bike.

kids suspension forks can actually be made to work pretty well with a little ingenuity.

Do tell us what you have done?

this is very light and good value!
http://www.cycle-world.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b0s10p9638

toys – Obviously it depends on the fork. but in the same way as a grown up fork it won’t work very well if the spring rate is wrong or it doesn’t slide smoothly, so take it apart, clean and grease it regularly and fit a suitable spring. since almost all kids forks have no damping pre-load is a big no-no and a negative spring can help stop horrible top out, modified elastomers can add a very slight amount of damping too. I’ve even seen crappy kids forks with a bodged oil bath, just use some ingenuity.
they obviously don’t need world cup suspension performance but kids shouldn’t have to put up with a pointless heavy POS fork either.

Sounds interesting, so which forks did you do this on and what did you do exactly?

Thanks again all, plenty of food for thought.

I don’t like the idea of trying to tune a basic fork to make it work mind you. Having the option of a proper test ride with staff who know wht they’re talking about is a big draw for the Isla bikes but having said that I do have the option of trying Giant and Ridgeback at my local shop so there are options.

One further plus of going to Isla bikes could be some advice on how to fit a brake to our son’s older model Rothan…

Mind you looking at some of the options posted above there are some pretty stylish alternatives that I hadn’t found before.

We have three kids so have been through all of this. I think the Isla stuff is really well thought out and works well.

Daughter has ridden Beinn 20 for couple of years. Main attribute is lightness, esp if kids are going to embark on any ‘serious’ days out. Age 6 my daughter regularly rode 10-20 miles in Wales, Peaks etc on good trails. All the other Specialized, Giant, Trek, Ridgeback offerings were heavy in my estimation. I think the Isla helped her enjoy these days out.

My son never had an Isla, he is now 9. He managed on heavier bikes but was always a little bit stronger than the girls and the distances never bothered him. One of the best bikes we got was a no name brand from LBS that was well constructed and felt reasonably light.

We tried a Giant XTC1 24 at Cannock and it wasn’t a bad bike at all, the forks did actually work.

In the end though we went down to Bromfield and got my daughter a Beinn 26, lovely bike and equally good on road as off it with a change of tyres.

When my son needs a bigger bike I might look at the Giant again.

For the vast majority of kids, the isla bike is by far the best IMO. light, tough and well thought out. They do pink graphics on the girls version. If they need/want suspension I found the hotrock to be the best.

Unless you are going to spend air Reba/Recon money, I’d stick with a rigid fork.

The Trek MT220 though is not a bad bike, my son had one (at 6/7) after his 20″ Raleigh. But Isla Bikes weren’t going then. And at 12 he still uses his Trek as his street bike; don’t really want his expensive stuff laid around.

Unless you are going to spend air Reba/Recon money, I’d stick with a rigid fork.

that depends really, two years ago we spent the summer in the pyranees riding the bike parks. My son had a isla bike and could only manage partial runs due to being battered by the braking bumps.Last year we did the same but he had a hotrock (all of 1.5 inches of travel!)it took the edge off the trails and he could ride full runs pretty much all day.