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My son turns 4 shortly and it feels time to move him on from his balance bike. It feels like there is so much choice out there. Brands people talk about are islabikes, frog etc. Whilst I don't mind paying for quality is it really worth investing nearly 300 quid in a child's bike?
Any other brands or websites worth checking out?
my 3 year old is on a second hand specialised riprock. £50, fairly light, good components.
its got a coaster brake, which he loves because he can skid it, but appears to put some folks off
With having 3 boys we've got all the frogs from the tadpole up to the 20" wheeled mtb type one and the 20" & 24" CX bikes, they're bloody brilliant and take the battering kids dish out to them.
Granted the tadpole is effectively worthless now, but its served us well.
We got our son the Islabike cnoc, he loved the fact it had brakes and pedals as that's what he had been asking for. It should last him easy a year or two and then i'll save it for the next kid. Could have picked one up 2nd hand for half the price but the Mrs wasn't interested due to covid/pregnancy/shielding etc.
Used Early Rider Belter.
Halfords Carrera cosmos or star.
Same weight, same kit, half the price of the trendy brands. Even cheaper second hand.
The star is the girls model and the crossbar is dropped and make learning to ride even easier.
Mine are 4 & 6 and they have Frog bikes.
Absolutely love them and they’re a world away from some of the bikes you see kids on.
Got them second hand because as you say, £300 is quite a lot for a kids bike but I’d rather pay £120 ish for a Used Frog bike than some of the new choices around that price range. Plus, I can Probably sell them on for a minimun loss when they’ve outgrown them.
Depends how you feel about second hand - I wasn’t enthusiastic about buying them used bikes. I always had new ones as a kid for Xmas but I don’t give them as birthday or Xmas presents. When they needed a bike, I found one that suited and just got them out riding.
Pinnacle and Vitus also do some good ones.
You'll probably need to think about whether you need 14" or 16" wheels.
The Isla Bikes are really, really nice. If you can afford it get one.
Outlay is bonkers for a kids bike but cost of ownership is very low. Bought our daughter a Cnoc 14 in 2018 and just sold it this week for the same price it was new (that particular colour is out of stock at the moment).
We also have a Frog and Dawes kids bike. They're really nice too - 90% as nice as the Islabikes I'd say and about 1000% better than any kids bike I ever had. They were great value 2nd hand buys but they don't keep their value as well as the Isla Bikes.
As above, we got a Dawes Academy 14 for our daughter because there was nothing else available. Depreciation is such that I'd sooner give it away than have someone rip me off. Its been in the classifieds and gumtree a couple of times now and not even an offer.
Not sure why Islabikes is any better, it does everything a Cnoc does and is just as light.
I’m thinking along the same lines for my little girl. Thinking of getting her first pedal bike for Christmas as she’s flying along on her balance bike.
I got her balance bike (Wiggins Pau) secondhand and then had the frame and fork powder coated pink and I applied paw patrol vinyl stickers on it. She loves the thing - and to all intents and purposes it looked like a new bike.
The Cnoc 14 in pink, or the Frog 40 in pink both looks ideal - but on principle it’s a lot of money for what they are. When you compare the Isla cost to what Calibre are managing to knock out for adults for barely anymore money it’s hard to see where the cash actually goes. Couple of v brakes and an alloy frame - no suspension - no gears etc.
Equally I don’t want to spend a still fairly amount on secondhand one that has knocks and scratches etc on it.
Wondering whether to try and find a tatty paintwork secondhand one around October / November time and go down the powder coat route again.
I don’t like the cosmos due to the colour of it (no pink - and she loves pink) - but £160 seems much more in the right price ballpark.
I'm trying to get my eldest an Isla Cnoc 16 for her birthday. None in-stock anywhere. 🙁
These seem nice bike also, lots of nice little features, and "5kg lightweight. The lightest series-production children's bike in the world" is an impressive claim
My son is on his second Frog bike and they have been great bikes, nice, light and good components. We get them through the bike club and pay about a tenner a month so when he outgrows one we send it back and get a bigger one. It’s a really good scheme.
Equally I don’t want to spend a still fairly amount on secondhand one that has knocks and scratches etc on it
But bear in mind you'll probably sell it on third hand for pretty much what you paid second hand!
Just done this with with a Strider balance bike, got £3 more selling it on eBay than I'd actually paid for it a couple of years ago 👌
Recently bought a Cube Cubie 160 for our eldest. Nothing else available and even ebay was throwing up very little at the time as I'd have preferred an Islabike or Frog. I'm a tad disappointed, its heavy, I've had to swap the front brake out as it was useless (could have fettled it I suppose but had a v brake kicking about and the hard plasticky pads would have been bobbins on the painted rim anyway) and I'm torn on the coaster rear brake. Some schools of thought say for an first bike this is a plus rather than a minus. Maybe so, maybe not. Popular in Europe and the states apparently. I just can't get over what they want for kids bikes these days though, some proper lumps of pig iron out there for more than some entry level adult bikes.
The Cnoc 14 in pink, or the Frog 40 in pink both looks ideal – but on principle it’s a lot of money for what they are. When you compare the Isla cost to what Calibre are managing to knock out for adults for barely anymore money it’s hard to see where the cash actually goes. Couple of v brakes and an alloy frame – no suspension – no gears etc
They are a niche product and use quite a few bespoke parts you wouldn't get on a Frog, and also come a wide range of sizes (e.g. they do a 14" small and large). The narrower bars and grips alone are worthwhile upgrade, over say a Frog which uses standard bars.
The market for a £330 kids bike (that's what a Cnoc 14 is now) is going to be a lot smaller than a generic £300 adult's mountain bike.
I'm not sure if I'll buy another Isla bike but I like that they've pushed the boundaries on kids bikes.
my daughter went from a balance bike to a pedal bike on her 3rd birthday. I bought her a Commencal Ramones 14inch. Great bit of kit, solid, kiddy friendly brake leavers, grips, saddle etc.
Even has disc brakes so she looks uber cool.
Absolutely loves ripping around on it!
These seem nice bike also, lots of nice little features, and “5kg lightweight. The lightest series-production children’s bike in the world” is an impressive claim
This would have been ideal but they're out of stock until August. 🙁
What other lightweight bikes are there?
I bought an Islabike cnoc 14 for my granddaughter on eBay for just over £100 (a few scratches and it needed a cable and tyre). It's an excellent bike. The single best thing is the weight. When she was learning and pushed down on the first pedal stroke the bike immediately moved forward and she found it very easy to get started. So I'd suggest checking the weight of other bikes if possible.
My son is on his third bike, being a towering 10 yr old. His first ‘proper’ bike was an Islabike. This was well designed but crucially it was relatively light for his 5 year old legs.
At 7 years old he then moved onto a Frog 62. Again, this was well designed and reasonably light for his growing (but still little) legs.
He has just moved onto a 27.5 wheeled Octane hardtail, built from parts but with a new frame, chosen because I got a good deal and...it was light.
The theme amongst all of the above is that I tried to get light weight bikes that won’t put my child off riding. Some big brand kids bikes weigh as much as my adult bikes, even though they are not all cheap.
Another factor has also been that the Islabikes and Frogs retain a fair amount of their value as 2nd hand bikes, so the initial investment is worth it.
If I had a little boy rather than a girl I’d be all over that Commensal Ranones 14”. Not very girly though!
Early Rider
Islabike Cnoc 14 in the classifieds for £150, just in case you missed it ...
Early Rider Belter.
Great bit of kit, really light and very well made, with nice components.
Bought one for our daughter's 4th. Just about to outgrow it in time for her 7th.
Looks nearly as good as it did when new, and will do for our 2nd in a couple of years time.
Then I'll probably get about half new value back selling it 2nd hand.
My son went from an Islabikes balance bike, inherited from his big sister, to a 14” wheeled Decthlon robot bike to learn on. It’s been brilliant considering it was under £200 and not a top brand. It’s been light enough and robust enough for him. During lockdown he’s grown and has now maxed it out size-wise and noticed he’s spinning out easily.
Anyone know if the 20” Hoy Bonaly comes up small with the seat slammed, I’ve seen a bargain and I think he’ll be out of a 16” in a flash?
Had the same issue, hunted for CNOC 16s, or Early Rider Belters, but all were priced daftly and in most instances not that great nick, ended up getting a carrera cosmos which is pretty much just as light and spec'd as the CNOC 16, brand new from halfords they're 170 quid (153 after discount), so half the price of the usual suspects and available from pretty much any halfords or cycle republic in the country.
“If I had a little boy rather than a girl I’d be all over that Commensal Ranones 14”. Not very girly though!”
Would you say that about adult female bikes?
I told my elder daughter they didn’t have her last bike in pink. She got the green one. A year on and pink has fallen out of favour (not exactly sure why) and green is still good. She wants a turquoise one next.
I am totally sick of the modern trick of selling children’s things in overtly gendered colours. It wasn’t like this when I was young but you can sell more things if you persuade everyone that boys’ things are dull colours with tractors and dinosaurs and girls’ things are pink etc with rainbows and unicorns. Why can’t boys like rainbows (my son does!)? Why can’t girls like dinosaurs (my eldest does, my youngest just likes things she can chew!)?
I recently got my daughter (4) one of Go Outdoors’ Wild Bikes and it’s fantastic, she’s knocked out a couple of 13 mile rides on the Trans Pennine trial with no dramas at all. Think it cost me around £185 so well worth seeing if your local store has any in.
@chiefgrooveguru x2 mine is into everything, let kids enjoy what they like.
She graduated to a matt black Orbea MX20, she loves it.
Open to negotiation on the Academy if anyone is interested.
I've put my two lads on cheap second hand bikes.
In this GIF thread, the first one is about 4 or 5. Tip shop Trek cost about 10 quid. Coaster brake, he loved it. The second one was on the first geared bike aged 6 or 7 (cost about 60 quid second hand from a bike shop). The younger one is now on that bike and i'll probably be able to sell it for 40.
The attitude is way more important than the technology.
They've both managed up to 10 miles of singletrack without gears or lever rear brake and now they're 6 and 8 and i can take them out to grown up singletrack techy xc stuff and they are great climbers. Occasionally i give the little one a push, although he's getting really good at climbing now.
My point is, it makes no real difference if you spend a fortune. Just like I can keep up with a mate on his Yeti SB when i ride my Cotic SolarisMAX.
I've just been in the same position.
We went for the standard but excellent advice of a secondhand Islabike Cnoc with the pedals off. He absolutely flies on it and I'm in no rush to put the pedals on. Will probably do so just before he's 4.
It will then go to sprog number 2 and then sold for most of what I paid to another lucky kid.
I am totally sick of the modern trick of selling children’s things in overtly gendered colours. It wasn’t like this when I was young but you can sell more things if you persuade everyone that boys’ things are dull colours with tractors and dinosaurs and girls’ things are pink etc with rainbows and unicorns. Why can’t boys like rainbows (my son does!)? Why can’t girls like dinosaurs (my eldest does, my youngest just likes things she can chew!)?
Yep it's grim. At least the lurid pink Isla bike and the green one are functionally identical - it's the girls clothes / shoes that are the worst. M&S went through a particularly depressing phase a couple of years ago when they were doing their boys jackets in functional styles in bold solid colours. The girls jackets were pink, frilly, sequinned and just generally hopeless for outdoor play. Same also for shoes.
I'd also recommend the Islabikes. Scaled down grips etc and very well made. Yes, they cost more up front, but you get that back when you want to sell it...
My 3.5yo has been zooming on Cnoc 14 for the last couple of months without pedals (using as balance bike) and we're just trying to get him to pedal but he's lazy so its going to take some time 🙂
Bike we bought second hand off facebook marketplace for £100 and I recon between £100 and £150 is reasonable price for cnoc 14 as you're likely to get 75%+ of that back when you sell in 1 or 2 years time.
Most important is sizing bike right for child so its comfortable. I wouldn't buy a new bike at that age.
On the pink / girly thing our daughter likes her pink bike and is into pink at the moment. Her choice! Her first balance bike was white with animals on it which she didn’t like as much as the current one.
Equally she has a red all in one and loves jumping in loads of muddy puddles and getting into a right state. Plus Paw Patrol isn’t actually that girly and she loves that.
The last couple of weeks I’ve taken her to the local pump track and the local common which has some little mountain bike trails off the side and she wanted to try it all. I personally wouldn’t have pointed her down what she found but she wanted to so I got her down it bit by bit! Pump track is now one of her favourite places to go which is great.
I’ve found the Pinnacle Kona 14 which is a bit lower priced than the equivalent Frog / Islabike but I don’t know if the weight quoted is light or not. As things open up a bit I’m going to try and find one in stock at Evans and go to have a look at it.