Realise I’m at risk of being mercilessly ribbed about being a bit OCD about a kids bike, but just want to put the thought into it I would if it was my bike!

Looking at a few options for replacing my lads Isla bike (16 “wheel)with a 20” one (Isla’s too dear this time I’m afraid). Aside from the obvious question of colour, I was just wondering which component compromise was best decision from my shortlist (they all seem to have a compromise or two each):

fork – 30 vs 40mm. Preload Vs no pre-load, RST capa or 191 Vs SR M3000 30mm
BB – sealed cartridge Vs Cro Mo bmx style crank
Headset/Stem – alloy A-set Vs Quill

Other than that the ones I’ve found are all alloy frames, short reach brakes etc so should be good enough. Maybe I should just ask him which colour he prefers! 😕

The lightest will be best. The things you mention are just tinsel.

Yes – go for the lightest you can find. The only other really important factor is that he likes the colour 😉

Any cheap sus fork will just add weight and pogo. That said, it’s hard to find them without from companies other than Islabikes.

I agree that Islabikes have gone up in price just a bit too much. As I’ve got two boys it doesn’t seem too bad as each bike does double service. It might still be worth considering as they hold their value incredibly well (look at current ebay prices).

I would also look for the lowest gearing if you want him to be able to follow you on your trails.

As soon as we got to the 24″ wheeled one, everything came together – the gears are low enough and the wheels are big enough for him to really enjoy his riding (lee quarry, penmachno, local peaks rides)

If you get shot of the Isla – can I have first refusal? Bit cheeky I know but I’ve promised the wee lad he can have a new bike for his birthday in May.
Cheers
Matt

Fully rigid, light as you can find and in a colour that he likes.

Thanks for replies. I have been watching eBay and islabikes just haven’t been coming up. It was some average bikes going for best part of £100 which made my mind up on going new and trying to get best we can with budget. We have 2 boys too so get double use. My youngest should be moving on from rothan balance bike later this summer. So sorry magowen100 we won’t be selling the 16″ islabike for a while.

I ended up ordering a diamondback octane 20 today which is about £70 cheaper than spez hotrock with v similar spec. It weighs 22.5 lb. I checked as the website weight sounded v heavy for spec and is not correct.

Checked and young peddled likes the colour! Looking forward to getting him on the malverns.

Looking to get a bike for my boy who is 5 in may.

Will the octane be too big for him and where did you get the diamondback from at that price?

Cheers

Think it may be too big. My lads turned 6 just and he’s tall for age and only really just too big for the islabike 16. It was mailorderbikes.com

BMX surely, thats all kids want to ride!
A guy in my close who is mad on mountain bikes bought his lad an £800 Scott full susser, I’ve seen him on it 3 times! But he never gets off his BMX!

BMX surely, thats all kids want to ride!

the way it should be!

Giant do some half decent youth bikes, my lad had a fully rigid one in the 90’s which was cheap-ish (£160 new) and was quite light. Try their current XTC range.

It’s all well and good buying an Isla Bike but kids want disc brakes and a fork and cool colours. We know that its all B@llocks that adds weight but try telling your eight yr old that. I’ve just bought mine the cheapest 24″ carrera blast. Disc brakes, sus fork etc and most importantly bright snot green colour. 189.00 quid from Halfrauds. Worst put together bike we’ve had but the components are not that bad and its reasonably light. Will save the money from not buying an Isla and put it toward building him a proper bike when he’s a bit bigger.

Good brakes. Boys wreck brakes like no-one else can.

**** getting the lightest weight bike or branded suspension, you just need one with a back brake that does awesome skids! 😉

But.. if you want to get a bike that will add cmfort and confidence fit decent tyres, look towards BMX tyres rather than kids ones.. setting the bike up to fit them properly makes a difference too. this includes bar/lever angle, stem height and reach, setting up the levers to bite close enough and bending the brake springs to have a lighter lever feel.. other than the tyres all of this will cost you nothing!
oh.. and while I’m at it..

Any cheap sus fork will just add weight and pogo.

is not strictly true!
if you sort out the spring weight to sag appropriately for a child they only need a very slight amount of damping, this can be achieved in a number of ways. You’ll need to bodge a little but by using elastomers, oil etc you can get some kids forks not to pogo any worse than a RS fork from the 90s (no-one complained about it back then).

I fitted My daughters 20″ Hotrock’s fork with one spring (they come with 2) with an elastomer stack inside of the correct weight and it worked really well.. perfect spring weight and never rebounded too fast or uncontrolably (she’s lucky enough to have never felt fork top ;)). I could easily have gone further and added a crude damper in the other leg but she was so light it jut wasn’t needed.