[video]http://http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/beinn26.html[/video]

Apart from Isla bikes, are there ANY other decent manufacturers of kids bikes out there?

I appreciate a good quality product, especially if it means my kids will have a better experience on two wheels and don’t mind spending a little more for it.

the big manufacturers insist on covering kids bikes in all the rubbish of the day (including suspension, completely unnessesary in my opinion for children under say 10) which only makes a bike heavier and therefore less fun to ride.

Our two have both had/got old rigid Ridgebacks bought off here or ebay.

Eldest is now large enough to enjoy suspension, he’s had a 20″ Trek and is now on a 24″ wheel spesh.

Have to say that the Carrera kids bikes look decent spec, espcially good value on ebay.

Trying to get a child to enjoy the lightness and purity of a rigid bike rather than having a heavier one that bounces at the front like all their mates – and their dad! – have will always be a bit problematic.

Giant a pretty good especially the xtc jr range my lil brother has a xtc 20 inch and its ace for the money.

Bought a Felt Q20 for my son and was very impressed with the finish and components plus he loved it. Bought it from Wiggle and it came with setup tools and colour matched paint.

When he grew out of the Q20, I went and bought a Q24 for him.

Nobby Jr has worked his way thru’ the Spesh range.

Isla bikes are pretty impressive – survived 24hours of Mayhem Mud:

Isla Bikes at Mountain Mayhem by brf, on Flickr

I really rate the Orbea 24 Team mountain bike we got our son earlier in the year.

It’s really light and has some cracking running gear – Deore 10 speed shifters and rear mech, SLX 11-36 cassette, folding 24″ DTC Speed Block 8’s. It’s a single ring up front which is fine as the 11-36 rear cassette has such a broad range.

The only thing I might change is the brake levers which aren’t the best.

Trying to get a child to enjoy the lightness and purity of a rigid bike rather than having a heavier one that bounces at the front like all their mates – and their dad! – have will always be a bit problematic.

This IME is very true!
My two 8yo and 10yo girls are both on 24″ wheels now, one on a Kona Hula and the other on a Marin Bay View Trail. Before this they had Ridgeback MX20s.
The 10 year old, when she was 8 I tried to talk her into getting an Islabike as we were at GT and they were selling off hire bikes at the Hub – not interested at all. Didn’t like the colour or the fact it had no suspension 😐
The Kona and the Marin are heavy and the forks are crap but they “look” like proper MTBs and my daughters love riding them. 😀

Our Scott Racing Jr 24 is lighter than the Islabike, and geometry as good IMO- but is ‘bigger’ meaning they got on it later but stayed on it longer – just the parts were heavier.
For weeny 26″ bikes, the Islabike Beinn we have does seem to have slightly better all round geometry, but is heavier than the Trexk and the Cannondale F900SL (xs womens) we also own..
I do think the Islabikes do all round have the edge however….

Mine have had Ridgeback’s all the way, right up to the eldest (8) now being on a 20″ wheeled Kona Makena, which is pretty good, decent weight alu frame with a heavier fork, youngest will be graduating onto a Ridgeback MX20 at Christmas.

[edit – I’ve always insisted on getting the right sized bikes even if it means one a year. The resale value is usually not bad for decent brands, and I think right size is almost as important as weight because the gearing as wheel sizes increases goes up significantly]

theotherjonv knows what he is on about – just sold on the Ridgeback Honey he sold to us!

Kona makena and a ridgeback for my 2- both 20 ”

All good ones hold their value well – think I paid £75 s/h each for mine and would expect £50 now.
You would more or less get your money back with an Isla but it is a big initial outlay and that is what put me off.

IME the suspension forks dont actually do much but they wont swap to rigid which would save loads of weight and make next to no difference.