My daughter is almost turning 3 years old and currently has a balance bike which she is really confident on and nearly outgrowing. I am thinking about going to the next stage and getting her a bike with pedals (skipping stabilisers).

I have read online to skip 12″ bikes if you have used a balance bike as they may be too small when you make the change. Has anyone here bought their child’s first proper bike and what would you recommend? We have a baby boy on the way so ideally a unisex bike.

Budget wise under £200 is ideal… possible closer to the £150 mark.

Thanks

I got the boy an Islabikes CNOC16 for his 3rd birthday but he is tall for his age so depending on size you may be better with a 14. They are expensive new but there is a Preowned Islabikes group on Facebook where I got one for £140.

+1
cnoc14 or if they can fit the cnoc16 as they roll better

You’ll find plenty of Ridgeback MX14s and16s around 2nd hand, and they’re about £120-140 new, light alloy frame and ideal for a first bike, we had both for my son (he grew out of the 14 pretty quick!). They do an MX12 too but you don’t see many about, they’re £100.

We’ve still got an admittedly fairly shabby but 100% operational MX16 going begging if you’re anywhere near Brighton, free to a good home!

Thanks, i have just sent a request to join the Facebook group. Are there any other brands/bikes i should consider?

Frog bikes, Islabikes or Early rider little belter

having just got my lad a 24″ wheeled Hoy bike, i was going to recommend those as a cheaper alternative to islabikes, but i see the smallest they do with pedals is 16″

Thanks jeff ill check them out, unfortunately were based in bedfordshire so a bit too far but thanks for the offer.

We went with an MX14

Lucked out with a badly advertised one for £60 on eBay just round the corner

dawes academy range very similar to an isla bike have the 24 for my 7 year old its great

Dawes Academy

Get a Ridgeback off ebay. I don’t see the point of buying new as she’ll grow out of it.

We do an ebay “trade up” about once a year at the moment and are currently running a Ridgeback MX16 (£40) for my daughter and a Carrera Blast 20 (£60) for the boy. Both are very nice bikes, especially the Ridgeback as it looks “proper”.

When they’ve stopped growing at such a rapid rate they can have something new and expensive.

Good advice Spider i may just do that method. thanks

I’ve got a Cnoc 14 that I’m selling, looking for £80 is if you’re interested. Emails in profile.

We have some Ridgebacks for sale as we are replacing all of our fleet, 14″,16″ and 20″. I would recommend a 16″ providing she’s not too short, I’m sure my daughter was 3 when she moved onto a 16″. She’s 7 and on a 24″ now so that would seem about right.

I had a look at a few bikes & ended up going for the Frog 43 (14″ Wheels) over the Isla bike, mainly because we sat him on it in the shop.

She is quite small so i think a 14 would be best suited as she also turns 3 in march. Ill keep an eye on eBay. It seems the choice is between Ridgeback, Frog 43, Islabike and the Dawes. I think the best route for me is to go second hand, were looking to buy one for her birthday 🙂

Fleet of frog bikes in my garage for the kids. No complaints so far.

My boys have both been on Halfords single speeds with v brakes (the horror), as long as the bikes stop, the rest isn’t a problem for normal riding to the park type stuff.

Early riders look pretty rad. Otherwise, something cheap with the same size wheels as the balance bike. This will probably only be required for a couple of weeks until they can move up. My eldest is 7, the youngest 5, they have 5 bikes of various sizes. If you put them on one too big they will probably hate it. Once you get to 16″ wheels get something decent, we have a Saracen bolt, pretty heavy but good quality and no suspension. The eldest has a Dawes red tail (£25 of eBay) this is pretty good, really long so super stable.

Another Frog fan here
We found the Frog 46 (16″) was a better for for my daughter than the equivalent Isla
Had we got an Isla she would have needed the 14″ whereas she fitted the 16″ Frog better
It seemed the better option to get the 16″ bike straight away than have to get a 14″ and the upgrade it again

after doing some research and recommendations here i have decided that the following bikes are for me

islabike cnoc 14
frog 43
dawes academy 14

now… does anyone have them for sale 🙂

I drunkenly bought my baby daughter an early rider belter last year – 16inch wheels, belt drive.

She’s currently 14 months and tiny for her age. I imagine it’ll fit her come her teens….

Son has (had – Pictonroad’s lad is currently smashing it up and down the street) a CNOC 14, and it’s great!

DrP

^^ that was a tiny bit too early to buy that 🙂 awesome bike though well out of my budget. I think the only way i can get a decent bike is to buy second hand.