Looking for a bike for my 6 year old niece. Took her to Halfords just to sit on a few different bikes as her mum had said they'd recommended an 18". She's fine on a 20" and has taken a shine to the Wiggins Chatres - lovely bike, light but a bit pricey at 250. (225 with BC discount)
Other option is Wiggle's Vitus currently 176 plus 10 quid off for "new customers". Fair bit heavier and the top tube looks a bit higher which she may struggle with (she struggled with a few models at Halfords but the Wiggins jobby has decent standover).
Anyone have either? Wiggins worth the extra dosh?
I've looked at secondhand Islabikes and there are very few in my area and they all look like they've had a hard life!
Link to specs or post specs would be hand.
Got the wiggo bike... It's lovely. Nice and light, decent shifters (trigger shifters are good for the kids hands), and just feels 'well put together'.
Not seen the vitus in person, but go as light as you can!
I might get some knobblier tyres, as they are more 'road' than MTB, tbh
DrP
Good shout:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vitus-twenty-kids-bike/
https://www.halfords.com/kids-zone/kids-bikes/kids-bikes/wiggins-chartres-junior-bike-20-wheel
Got the wiggins 20 s great value. They had it on promotion at easter for 200 plus the bc discount so ppaid 180.
Been so impreed, that I bought a Wiggins 16 for my youngest too.
At 6 you can't be looking at much life in a 20" wheel bid (depending what you ride and how they grow)
We got a 20 at 5 and had changed to a 24 BEFORE 6... (Jnr is quite tall but not "giant" - unless you compare to me)
You can spend on the 20 or buy one, live with it and move on but its a question of how much you spend and for what.
You can spend a lot or very little depending WHAT the purpose and intention of the bike is and their confidence/handling skills etc. Mostly you don't know this before you buy... where and how will it be used? At 5 my lad had a new best friend every week, a new list of favourite foods and a new list of won't eat etc.
Looking back (20/20 hindsight) I ended up buying a new 20" ... and should have just got a used one... by the time he was big enough we new what we liked riding together a lot better and what we needed from the next bike.
IF you think you might upgrade then the obvious (retrospective) gotchas are cassette vs freewheel and disk mounts... and forks... in our case this all got shifted into the requirements for the 24".
Thanks all, just picked up the Chatres from my local store.
The sneaky buggers at Halfords have actually put the price up since the weekend to 310! I had a snapshot of the 250 price tag (wasn't a sale, just RRP) from last week and to be fair they honoured the price and threw in some accessories so with BC discount was 225.
For anyone else looking I'd not pay 300 quid for it and the Vitus has been reduced even further to 156 which seems like a bargain now if you can wait for delivery.
* I don't have a pound key on my keyboard 🙂
Sneaky, I bought my 8yr old the 26" a few weeks back for £330 (before the discount) and I'm glad I did now!
Sizing bikes for kids has such a large number of variables, even after you take into account their height. Ability, confidence and what they're going to do with them greatly influence what bikes work for them, and what works for one kid may be a complete disaster for another, even if they are similar build.
I just had a look through the bike history for my son, who is almost dead on average height (although skinny build) for his age. He's a very competent cyclist, so has always been able to jump sizes - very useful for racing where big wheels really help! I don't think we've really made any serious mistakes with what we've put him on - even the Modas which were bought very cheaply didn't really cost us anything and while the Islabikes are expensive, they are superbly designed bikes for younger riders. He's currently 9yr 6mo and is far too giddy about the start of the winter CX season this weekend!
3yrs, 2mo: Off stabilisers on a 12", then a 14" bike (Halfords specials!)
4yrs, 5mo: Beinn 20 Small (20" wheel rigid)
6yrs, 11mo: Creig 24 (24" wheel hardtail - replaced Beinn 20)
8yrs, 4mo: Moda Major (650c road)
8yrs, 5mo: Moda CX (650a - retired quickly due to the stupid wheel size and lack of tyres!)
8yrs, 7mo: Haibike bespoke (XS 650b FS frame with 26" wheels - replaced Creig)
8yrs 10mo: Scatto 28 (700c CX / road - replaced both Moda)
(The Scatto is a wonderful frameset and highly recommended to any younger riders who enjoy road / CX as they are incredibly versatile and very well sized indeed. Far superior to Islabike's 700c offering, IMHO.)
Hope this helps someone.
My 8 yr old grandson has a Chartres. He's had it a while and is starting to outgrow it but it's been an excellent first geared bike following on from his Frog. I pick him up from school on Mondays and we ride the couple of miles or so back to our house. He also comes on Cannock chase with us (there yesterday) and it's plenty capable. We've never found the tyres to lack grip. It's ok in the local skate bowl too.