My 5 year old son is mad keen about riding his bike,hes curently got a cnoc16 isla bike and he loves it,but he is getting more adventures now and im starting to look for a bigger bike for him in the next few months,prob 20″wheel so it smooths out the rocky stuff for him a bit. Any other good bikes out there except isla bikes?

My 6 y-o rides the verderers trail on his 20″ spesh hotrock, and loves it. Seems nicely built, good brakes, straightforward, light action gears etc.

(he takes the shortcut, btw, not the whole trail!)

My wee mans 6 and rides a mx20 ridgeback. Great wee bike

My lad is 3 and on a hotrock 16. He had a 12 before that. great bikes well made, even has cane creek aheadset.

My lad (4 in july) is riding a carrera blast 16. It’s a great bike, built well and looks fantastic. Suss forks might be bit pointless but they make him feel like he’s riding a proper bike, like daddy!!

I second the Hotrock, we’re running two. 6 y-o on a 16″ and (small) 9 y-o on 20″. They both stand up to some abuse but do seem to come up a bit long in the top tube IMO. Not had any problems with them except the odd crash damage.

Mine are on Felt bikes now. My son started with a Spesh Hotrock 16 and I then got him a Q20 when he was probably about 6 and I’ve just bought him a Q24 now he’s 9 so my daughter has moved off the Hotrock on to the Q20.

5 year old on a hotrock 20 and an 8 year old on a carrera detonate 24, spesh rock hopper 24 and ancient db joker BMX – more bikes than me!

Oh and all second hand!

MX ridegeback and a Kona something or other

I doubt it matter much at that age but I would say the suspension forks do nothing. I would probably avoid suspension if I was doing it again and take the weight save from rigid tbh.

Junkyard – I’m not so sure.
My lad struggles on sections of the Laggan reds on his rigid rock hopper that he cleans on the fs detonate.
Suppose it depends on how gnarly the trails are – and how good the suspension actually is.

Mine is riding his mother’s (14″ frame)Kona Caldera which she hardly used but he enjoys a lot..

Suss forks might be bit pointless a lot of useless weight

FTFY – I don’t think my 5yo has even noticed that his bike isn’t a “proper” bike like daddy’s (though to be fair I do normally ride a unicycle with him and that doesn’t have any either).

On which point, how much do all of these non-Islabikes weigh? Was looking at upgrading mine onto a Beinn 20, but happy to save a bit of money – though I have a suspicion the Isla’s have the advantage of being far lighter.

We’ve had a few Spesh Hotrocks in this household – can’t fault them they’re great!
My eldest (15) now rides a DMR Sidekick and my daughter (11) has a Scott Scale Junior which is proper nice. … beats the Grifter I had as a boy 🙄

lad has a redline flight mostly rides at heywood bmx club sat morning , great for bike control , good coaching and he enjoys it more importantly 😀

Spesh hotrock 20 here too, 7 year old girl loving it 😀

20″ Islabike is about 4lb lighter than hotrock, I doubt the suspension actually does much.

Both of ours started on Ridgebacks, little one still on her first before she moves onto her brothers old MX16.

He has just grown out of his Trek MT20 and is about to take delivery of a slightly battered second hand Hotrock 24 for his birthday, when I have tidied it up when he is away next weekend.

They know that if they want better, lighter bikes, they get second hand ones, and we haven’t lost much money selling them on third hand afterwards either.

my near 3 year old doesn’t have a proper bike yet but she does have some mini groovy cycles luv handles for when she gets her spesh hotrock shortly.

4 year old is about to move up from a Ridgeback 14″ to an almost identical 16″. As said above, they’re really nice little bikes. A lot cheaper than an Isla, and a lot pinker, which is important in some quarters. We’ve had Islas too, and my eldest moved up from a Beinn 24 to a lovely little Klein 26er from a nice man off here.

Bol – has it arrived?

10″ starbike balance bike
12″ hotrock
16″ redline proline pitboss bmx
20″ hotrock ht
20″ unbranded bmx
24″ hotrock ht
24″ carerra luna ht
24″ apollo mx24 full sus
2x 26″ catalogue mtbs
700c Raleigh city bike

Aracer – the carrera blast 16 is 1kg heavier than the islabike cnoc 16, probably made up in those, lot of useless weight suss forks!!!

I spent a loooong time deciding weather or not to pay the extra for the name islabikes on a 3 year olds bike. But it just didn’t make sense to pay £75 pound more. The only bike I found lighter than the carerra was the isla, but i’m not a snob so decided on the heavier halfords special.

Oh, and why the dig about the ‘proper bike like daddies? If you have kids you will know they like to emulate their parents. He likes the fact that his bike (in his words (ish)) looks like a proper mountain bike like daddies!

I’m not a fan, but if you buy sh and resell, islabikes can work out cheaper than alternatives.

Anyone after a blue Hotrock 12 BTW. I have one for sale, just havent stuck it up anywhere yet. Email me if interested, its cheap.

Might be interested, How much?

Second hand isla’s when I was looking were going for about £150 my lads carerra will be used by his sister as well so I wanted to buy new, and isla charge £15 delivery on top of the £160. I got the carrera for £110!

GW, £50. Pompey area though. Email me for pics, dont want to turn thread into classifieds

That list in full…
12″ Raleigh Bluebell (RIP) 🙁
16″ Raleigh Kobo 16 (steel but nice – gave to neighbor)
20″ Trek MT60 – fantastic bike, very adjustable (sold)
24″ Kona Hula – again light and nice riding (gave to nephew)
650 Trek 2200 Road bike (2/3 scale 105-equipped loveliness)
26″ Specialized Hardrock (retrieved from the Thames, then stolen)
26″ Kona Blast Deluxe
20″ Kink Whip BMX (stolen)
26″ Marin Mount Vision (upgraded retro)
20″ WTP Trust BMX (replaced the kink)
700C Boardman Comp

Also a KMX Kart and I have just taken in a Specialized Hotrock 24 for nephew and niece duties when they visit.

EDIT: should say that I have two boys, 11 and 14 who are into road and MTB riding.

Oh, and why the dig about the ‘proper bike like daddies? If you have kids you will know they like to emulate their parents. He likes the fact that his bike (in his words (ish)) looks like a proper mountain bike like daddies!

Not meant to be a dig – sorry. Just not convinced you need to have sus-forks for it to look like a proper bike like daddy’s – fairly sure mine reckons his Cnoc-16 looks like a proper bike.

Second hand isla’s when I was looking were going for about £150

They’re £110-£120 on ebay – with the benefit that you’ll get most of that back when you come to sell on. Not sure I see the need to buy new because it’s getting passed on either – not with something decent quality like an Isla. Ours was s/h from my sister (we paid going ebay rate) and well used, but after plenty of use by mine it’s still in just as good condition as when we got it, and will be just fine to pass on to youngest when the time comes (before selling on again).

I shall probably stick with an Isla then – 1kg is a lot for a little kid, let alone the 2kg for a Hotrock. Time to start looking on ebay I reckon, as he could probably use a bigger bike with gears now.

Wheelybug (2)
Balance bike (3)
Decathlon 12 (3-4)
Hotrock 20 (6)
Redline Flite jr (6)
Cube Acid 26 14″ (9)

no stabilisers!

Daughter has a Beinn 20 at the moment. Can’t believe how easily a lot of the parts rust.

This…

Eldest has had Ridgeback MX 14 and 16, now being used by brother and sister.
Kona Stuff 2-0
Just gone onto this which I finished building last night.

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A b twin from decathlon 20 inch for £100 here, brilliant bike for the money. Liked Isla, specialised etc but couldn’t justify £250 > for a kids bike. Though tbh never thought of the second hand option!

Started on a clunky supermarket special…

Then went on to a Schwinn mini messa 20 inch. For sale BTW, email in profile. 😉

Then an Isla bikes Beinn 24…

And finnaly an on-one 456…