am I an idot spending for an isla bike?

another big fan here.

Stoner Jr Sr’s Rohan is now being used by Jr Jr. His Cnoc 14 is in bits in the shed ready for a complete rebuild/refresh ready for Jr Jr to grow into next spring and Jr Sr is now the proud owner of a new Beinn 20 Small. In limited edition MANGO colour!! Woop!

They are great bikes. Hold their value well. Extremely well built and hold together as well as not going rusty crappy from being left in the rain.

pink cnoc16 ordered!!!! hope she likes! up in the lost until christmas

I lost round one of “New Bike for Christmas” and my then, 7 year old got a gas pipe special which was heavy and the gears too stiff to shift. Consequently he hardly rode it.

My wife noticed how heavy it was and why he wasn’t interested in riding anymore. 2 weeks later a shiny Islabike arrived….

Awesome colour Stoner.

They only come in blue or red for boys now 🙁

Who needs advertising with reviews like these? I don’t think any other brands manage. Friends kids have islabikes and all love ’em. The owners are also my neighbors and bloody fast on a bike…

AlexSimon – Member
Can someone save this thread for posterity – there seems to be a general consensus!

😀

Ok, for a bit of balance.. well not really..

I looked at the Islabikes (she had a smaller range at the time) and ended up getting Daisy a second hand Scott:

One of the few that doesn’t weigh a ton and nice size, geometry and kit..

but.. in the end, for lots of reasons, wish I’d gone for the Islabike!

I ended up changing the brakes, shifters and rear mech. Even on such an expensive bike the forks were pretty much useless and despite my efforts to swap internals etc proved un-improvable.

The wheels weighed a ton. I spent ages trying to swap them for something better and in the end got a pair from…. .. Islabikes.

True to her ethos I found her wheels the only properly sourced set of 24 inch wheels. Nice rims, spokes and build. All for a great price too.

I sold the Scott on for a good price, in large part because of the Isla bike wheels (which I made sure to include in the ebay description).. I got the impression there are loads of people who look for ‘Isla bike’ in search terms.. for good reason 🙂

Now I realise by the nature of this forum that the majority of you guys just want any excuse to spend a fortune on bikes, and I also know quality kids bikes still fetch good money on Ebay but……….kids out grow their bikes often in a year. They use and abuse them, abandon them where ever, fling them down etc. Do you want to be that parent screaming at your kid because he/she has thrown their £200 bike down on the drive, or left it up the street.

My 10yr old daughter now has a semi decent 24″ that will last 4/5 years and she looks after it, but my 7yr old son has a 20″ MTB ish thing that was a fiver off Ebay. A couple of new tyres and a fettle and its just fine. When he’s finished with it, it will…..yes be back on Ebay, and I’m hoping to make a profit!

Oh, and I’ve no idea where he left it last night, nor has he!

Awesome colour Stoner.

They only come in blue or red for boys now

Islabikes only received their limited edition mango colour Cnoc’s and 20″ Benin’s in early October (from memory they didn’t advertise this colour on their website – it was mentioned on their Facebook page)

If you want the mango colour you should give them a ring, as they may still have some in stock.

They are also planning on releasing other limited edition colours in the future.

I did, they didn’t do other colours in the Beinn 24 unfortunately

I see your point Andy. Mine are 2 and 3 so at the moment, and for a while yet I’d imagine, won’t be out on their bikes without supervision. For the moment I’d prefer to pay more for something they will want to spend more time on, and given resale value it’s a bit of a no brainer.

Once they’re old enough and firmly indoctrinated I’ll probably switch them to something cheaper, but until then it’s Islabikes all the way. If I have the money to spend I’ll still get them Isla’s but I don’t expect to have that luxury!

Do you want to be that parent screaming at your kid because he/she has thrown their £200 bike down on the drive, or left it up the street.

No, I want to be the parent teaching my children to respect and look after their property and to make sure that objects of value are adequately secured.

Andy – good point and an area of concern in our house. Our solution was a pair of crappy bmx’s off gumtree for when they are kicking around the houses with their mates in the street and the Islabikes used for ‘proper rides’. Works a treat for us, got the bmx’s for £40 each and they get used and abused for the short jaunts around the estate, abandoned at the swings etc. Islabikes are used weekly and remain in better condition, plus if the kids have 4 bikes in the garage then my 4 don’t look too excessive 😆

they have a good marketing dept by the looks of it.

Carrera blast, or what ever the girls version is called. Great bike.

I did look at isla bikes but the fact that you couldn’t actually look at them and the delivery cost put me off. I’m sure they are great bikes but for that price you could get one of a few others that are as good and you can actually see in shop.

If you’ve got the money though they’ll be good for bragging rights down the park though!!

Buy one, excellent bikes.

they have a good marketing dept by the looks of it.

Or a very good product.

If you’ve got the money though they’ll be good for bragging rights down the park though!!

Most of the parents I meet down the park wouldn’t know an Islabike from a Halfords special so no bragging rights there.

Collectively we must spend the equivalent of the GDP of a small country on bikes for ourselves, is that for bragging rights or because we like to ride nice bikes and can tell the difference? I know which bikes I’d rather my kids were riding if I had the money.

We’ve just sold Jnr’s first Luath and didn’t lose too much on it over the 18 months he had it. Was going to replace with another Luath, just bigger, but got swayed by a lovely Condor bike with Campag kit on it 2nd hand (I ride Campag so have spares available). Much better specced than the Isla, and lighter. However, I ended up spending quite a bit to make the bike more child friendly. Jnr has ended up with a lovely bike that’ll last him a good few years, but from a pocket perspective I wish I’d just gone for another Isla!

Jase – I asked Isla about the gearing. They said they want to provide a good range of ratios on the Luath as not everyone races.

If you can afford one and the kid will use it enough to justify it, buy one. They are great bikes.

We couldn’t be sure the use would be had, so have always opted to buy second hand Trek/Spesh/Ridgebacks for around £100, and then still sold them on for £50-60

I wouldn’t buy another. Yes they might keep their value but the geometry is pretty weird for anything above the 16″ (super long back end that makes them really hard to wheelie, manual or jump properly) and the lightness comes at a price (not up to much abuse and no suspension make them rubbish in the mountains).

My son had a Cnoc 16 (which he snapped) but after that I steered well clear. Scott and Specialized are way better.

well I opened the box for a peek last night…WOW, I thought they would be well made but the build quality, design and components are top notch!

truly excited to see my little girl riding on it!

On the one hand they are great bikes, worth the money and have bombproof residual values.

On the other hand you will look like a middle class bike snob 🙂

As good as they are you can get very similar products for much less. Specialized are good but not much cheaper and always seem heavier. Giant Ridgeback and Trek do some decent kids bikes too.

One thing is that brand new and secondhand there is so little difference on an Islabike that you may as well spend the cash. Giant, Trek and Ridgeback offer much better value as secondhand buys – all my daughter’s current bikes were secondhand and £35-65 and they are all top kit, well made and ride great. The garage includes a £60 16 inch Ridgeback for my 4 year old who has progressed from a Hotrock 12 (bought £120 new 4 years ago and sold for £65 the other week), the 20″ Giant was £30 and appeared to have had more spent on a recent service at the bike shop with waxed chain, new cable set and tyres and finally my eldest’s 24″ Trek was essentailly a 2 year old unused bike without a scratch on it for £65.

I did buy a secondhand 20″ Islabike to replace the 20″ Giant and it was a fair bit lighter but my daughter wasn’t keen on the racier position and more immediate steering. So my bike snoberry was snubbed and I sold it on fleabay 2 weeks after buying it.

Collectively we must spend the equivalent of the GDP of a small country on bikes for ourselves, is that for bragging rights or because we like to ride nice bikes and can tell the difference?

Bragging rights mostly i’d say.

Get the Isla,

I don’t sell kids bike because they are almost all wrong one way or another, I direct customers to Isla.

Just picked up a second hand Trek Mountain 60 20″ for my daughter. Light ally frame, 6 speed, v-brakes, suspension forks*, Trek’s ‘dialled’ fit adjustability. £50 on the bay and a couple of hours of my time to strip, clean and service. It’s now as good as new, except for the usual scratches that well used kids bikes tend to pick up anyway. A few scratches mean it will be well used again without worry of further marks being too detrimental, eg to re-sale, hopefully I’ll get most/all of my money back when time comes to move it on. Not that my daughter isn’t taught to respect and look after her things, but kids being kids it’s likely to get some marks/scratches.

*I would say the suspension forks are probably a bit of unnecessary extra weight, especially as they are a bit stiff for her weight and barely move. But on the other hand she likes having a ‘bouncy’ fork like daddy has on his bike, and she is currently at the lower end of the bikes size/weight range anyway.

I would say the suspension forks are probably a bit of unnecessary extra weight, especially as they are a bit stiff for her weight and barely move.

I would say most forks on kids bikes are there for cosmetic reasons rather than functional reasons

I bought a CNOC14 for my son a couple of weeks ago. He’s 3 1/4 and had been doing well on the balance bike. I’m amazed at the focus he put in to learning that so he could earn his pedals!

This morning he asked to ride it to nursery. We rode on the cycle paths and I loaded it onto a cargo trailer and him into a child seat for the more dangerous road bits. It’s currently locked up next to my bike at work.

He’d been practising a bit on holiday last week and could start with assistance and stop using the brakes. (He couldn’t operate the brake on his cheap balance bike which frustrated him). This morning, with some prompting, he learned how to start the bike by pushing off on one foot and down on the pedal on the other, and was happy to be “stopping using the brakes like Dad”. He can ride up gentle gradients on it. It seems to run, even with him pedalling flat out, at a speed I can keep up with when running so the gearing seems right for him.

So for us an excellent purchase. We’ve not got the mudguards. I’m unsure if we need them as he doesn’t kick up that much water. We’ll order them if needed. It looks like a proper bike. The Islabikes look light and well made, the larger ones having more slender tubes than I see on many children’s bikes.

We also considered the Ridgeback MX16 – too big for him but looks good – and the MX14. The 14 looked more plasticy, heavier, but otherwise does look a reasonable bike. I preferred the look of the 16 of the two. In reply to a comment above, if he was bigger and an MX16 came up for £65 second hand it would be worth looking at.

In the end I’m glad we got the Islabike. He has two younger sisters to grow into it and it looks like it will last for them. If the lighter weight means he can go further on cycle rides with us that’s great. He’s only 18kg, so a few kilos is a lot for him. There are many bikes out there over half his weight! We’ve not needed stabilisers having gone the balance bike route. He seems to really enjoy it!

We’ve had a couple of Islas for my kids, although son was insistent he wanted a bike “with forks” so ended up with a Ridgeback MX24.

My daughter has a Beinn 26 small, which is lovely and light, lighter than the Ridgeback.

However, my son, who is two years younger can beat her up hill everytime as the Isla’s gears are not low enough. He can get up the long draggy climb at Llandegla, where as she is off and walking.

So it’s not that simple…

Another approach that a friend took is to build up a bike based on 26″ frame (small jump bike), 24″ wheels in 26″ forks etc, works really well and could be an option if you have lots of bits lying around.

My lad’s 3 in Jan – I picked up a CNOC 14 yesterday (eBay ‘win’) for him…
It’s just..nice! I giggled holding the tiny grips and brakes, and the v’s are really easy to pull – in comparison my parents kindly ‘picked up’ (i.e. a neighbour dumped it on them) and BSO for kids, and even I can barely pull the brakes or lift the thing!

Yes, it’s a bit ‘posh’ spending twice on a tiddler bike what most people would gawp at on a BSO for themselves, but for me riding is important, and I want him to be interested and play along with me!

Besides – when you compare it to footie strips and Nintendo DS’s, it’s not that pricey!

DrP – “convincing himself to spend lots on bikes since 2006….!”

If she’s really into it then go for it, otherwise a £70 Fury will do.

Moda bikes do nice kids bikes too if you’re after a road or cyclo-cross type bike.

They come with a 2*9 setup with STI levers.

I did have to swap out the cassette for a mountain bike one though.

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@richpips – will the Moda ‘cross bikes take mudguards and/or a rack?

@richpips – will the Moda ‘cross bikes take mudguards and/or a rack?

Yep a pair of eyelets on each side at the rear so you could run both. Mudguard fittings at the front.

You may have to use some cunning to avoid the canti cables on the cross version that we have.

Santa brought our lass a MX16 last year and it has been faultless , but she has outgrown it already. So this year he is bringing her a Cuda Mayhem. Being as busy as he is he asked me to build it for him and for £119 im impressed. I think the frame is the same as a MX20 but without the suspension forks. The only down side is that the v brakes are a bit cheap and nasty, but ill see how they get on.