Any alternatives to an isla bike?

Looking to get junior a isla bike but wondering if any alternatives worth looking at?

Ridgeback dimensions are good. As are frog bikes.

Early rider belter.. lighter than islabike and ticks niche box as its belt driven

My daughter had a frog 52, she loves it
Same basic concept as the Isla bikes, ie lightweight with components the correct size for the bike
They are just a bit cheaper, not quite as light and are available at your lbs

Frogs are loads cheaper:

Frog 52 20″ £250
https://www.frogbikes.com/lightweight-kids-bikes/hybrid-bikes/frog52.aspx

Isla Beinn Small 20″ £330
http://www.islabikes.co.uk/products/bikes/item/beinn-20-small

I struggle to see how the Isla’s are lighter as the Frogs have a Alloy fork vs the Cromo fork on the Isla…

Chris Hoy has launched a range of kids’ bikes. I’ve seen them in a bike shop but don’t know anything about them

How generous are you feeling?

http://www.merlincycles.com/transition-ripcord-24-kids-mtb-bike-2015-82341.html?utm_campaign=googlebase-GB&utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=shopping&utm_term=Kids+Bikes&ucpo=21283&gclid=CMip8riN48YCFeHMtAodkB8FSA

What age? I was all ready to buy my son a Cnoc 14 for his 3rd birthday, but the price went up from £200 to £250 overnight. I was also looking at the Specialized Hotrock 12 and had justified the extra £50 for the Isla bike, but a £100 premium seemed pretty steep. Ended up with a Hotrock and no regrets so far, he can now ride it without stabilisers – coaster brake seems handy for small hands which might struggle with a brake lever.

Found this an interesting read (for small kids):

http://www.twowheelingtots.com/specialized-hotrock-12-review/%5B/url%5D

Can’t recommend Frog bikes highly enough. Awesome things, and built tough. My boys (3 and 4) are both excellent littler riders now, and more importantly, they love it. Only caveat is the stand over for the tadpole balance bike isn’t quite as low as the isla. Mainly because the saddle isn’t as scooped. Don’t worry about them being slightly heavier, it makes no difference at all. We’ve had both balance bikes, I prefer the Frog.

Depends on size.

For proper off road both 20″ Frog and Isla are geared too high (as are most others).

For little ones I’d set up with both brake options – when they don’t weigh much it is easy to get feet bounced off pedals on lumpy downhills. With coasters they then have no brakes…..

Both of mine are now on 26″ (13 yr old is as fast as us. 11 yr old rapidly catching up). Investment in decent bikes and lots of mtb time is now really paying off.

And when they do Bikeability at school on BMX BSO they suddenly appreciate how good their bikes have been.

Chored +1

Our Hotrock 12 is under child no. 2 currently and still maintenance free other than a new pair of cut down good quality grips and some big bar end plugs.

It could do with a headset regrease at some point.

And again a vote for Frog 52. proper off road being done on our eldests bike.

Conti do a couple of older tread but genuine off road tyres in 20″ too

We also had a saracen bolt in between which was good after upgrading the brakes for XT parallel push v brakes…in fact I think I might put those on his new bike.

We also had a zoooom balance bike (I think made by ridgeback). Again through two children who used it a lot. Just rebuilt the bearings before passing it on soon.

If you do look at reviews beware because when CTC reviewed it they gave the brake a bad write up.

It was plenty effective for both our children. When I looked at the picture in the article I think I could see why…

the bars had obviously done a complete 360 spin and the cable was right around the head tube/forks/stem constricting it…

Ours did that occasionally and made the brake unusable. Made me wonder if noone had spotted it for the whole test….try before you buy maybe.

Islabikes are brilliant – mini jr’s Beinn 20 large is 1kg lighter than the equivalent frog. It’s well built, comes with decent tyres (Kenda small block 8s) and brakes that really work. She loves it and wants to ride it all the time which makes it well worth the money. Resale prices are great as well.

Islabikes are brilliant

Islabikes are OK but not amazing. My home made 26er frame (just one butted steel tube – everything else thin plain gauge), discs and sus fork is 1lb lighter than rigid vee brake Isla 24″ it replaced…..

I cannot work out how kids bikes are so heavy, even the so-called decent (and expensive) makes seem to be constructed of ultra-thick and heavy tubing.
Of the available options the Hoy bikes to me look the nicest.

OP, what age kid? Are we talking toddler or teen here? My recommendations in regard to Frog relate to their balance and smallest pedal bike. Perfectly happy with both. Can’t comment on the bigger stuff.

My eldest on his Frog 43;

My lad (5) is on a 16″ BMX.
A lot lighter than his Trek 12 he had.

It’s a tough bike, so I’m quite happy for him to knock it around a bit.

Son has a hoy bonaly. It’s brilliant

Raleigh and Dawes both do performance ranges now

My 6yo has been riding a Ridgeback Melody for a couple of years and it’s been faultless.

Do Isla bikes hold their second hand value any better than Frog?

It’s not something that would bother me, but it may others.

Don’t worry about them being slightly heavier, it makes no difference at all

Isn’t it funny what people write on the internet…

Seriously?

How long can you wait as rumour has it that Spawn cycles will be available in the UK soon!spawn[/url] have exploded here in BC. Properly proportioned Kids bikes that look like mini mountain bikes and let the kids ride mountain bike trails.

That would be cool, BearBack 😀

Not as cool as what your son rides, iirc. How is it going?

Yes, a lot better. Along with the weight it’s the big reason for getting one, as the depreciation is so low they don’t end up costing any more in the long run.

There’s a fair chance the cro-mo fork is actually lighter. Who knows – I guess the frame has thinner walls and is significantly lighter, but if there was any scepticism of Isla weights implied, then they’re pretty accurate IME.

V8ninety – Member
Don’t worry about them being slightly heavier, it makes no difference at all

thegeneralist – Member
Isn’t it funny what people write on the Internet?
Seriously?

Err, seriously, yes. I can confirm that both of my boys have used both an Isla bike rothan and a frog tadpole. The Frog is slightly heavier. IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL in any meaningful way to my boys, in that they have great fun and can now both ride bikes. The Frog was actually the preferred bike, due to its colour, and is still in use, whilst the Isla is sat in the shed waking for me to replace the brake cables and sell. What’s your point caller?

Bought a frog 62 for my 6 yr old today – she is on tippy toes on it, but once going is great

Well impressed with the bike itself, her elder siblings are both on bmx and shouldn’t have to wait for her to catch up anymore.

The bike came with a spare set of tyres and tubes, plus servicing for life.

She is as happy as the proverbial pig

wow some great responses, thanks:)

OP, what age kid? Are we talking toddler or teen here? My recommendations in regard to Frog relate to their balance and smallest pedal bike. Perfectly happy with both. Can’t comment on the bigger stuff.

He will be 3 in Oct.

Thinking ahead really, He has a puky at the mo so may just end up getting him the next one up until he can swing his leg over the top tube.

Will have a look through the response in more detail now.

Commencal do really cool kids bikes – not as light as others but sicker 8)

If he is tiny the Specialized Hotrock 12 is a very small pedal bike, but a bit weighty.

I’ve PDI’d a few Frog bikes and I’m not that keen on the quality of them. They look great though.

I don’t think either the Raleigh Performance range or Dawes Academy range have been mentioned yet have they? Having built those two up as well if rate them above Frox TBH. They’re nothing like the rest of their specific ranges.
Also Trek are making some nice 26in wheeled kids hybrids. They really are nice, but for slightly older kids (10+ ?)
I’d buy one of those like a shot.
Ridgeback Dimensions are very nice too. Put one of those together today actually!

Islabikes are OK but not amazing.

Depends what you want.

If you want bragging rights, and the ability to say, “Well, we took our little darling’s cycling seriously, I mean, who wouldn’t? Of course we got an Islabike. They’re just so much better, aren’t they?”

If you want a great kids bike and don’t care about the bragging rights, get a Ridgeback. They’re ace!

(Disclaimer – Little Miss CFH is currently shredding the gnat on a Specialized Hotwalk. Preferred it to the Ridgeback Zoom as it’s lighter (for carrying home!) and doesn’t have a brake, which I find speeds up speed and spatial awareness)

My 2 both started on the Islabikes Rothan and are now on Beinn 20’s. They both love riding theirs and that is the primary reason we’ve stuck with the brand. Another reason I like them (that someone else mentioned) is resale value. If you buy second hand you can expect to get very close to what you paid when you come to sell it. The recent price rise on the Cnoc meant that I actually sold one of ours on eBay for more than what we paid new. There is a Facebook site dedicated to second hand Islabikes – worth having a look. Others have mentioned the Hoy bikes and I saw those in Evans a few months back and thought they looked really nice too. Good luck with whatever you end up with.

I actually have never had an Islabike for my kids – couldn’t afford the initial outlay.

However I am glad because Islabikes now say “This bike has been designed to be ridden by children on smooth paved, grassy or dirt surfaces with moderate gradients. It is not intended for any kind of jumping.” My youngest has been jumping since he was 3!

I expect you’ll find that as usual with statements like that they’re just covering yourself, and other options are more likely to break than Islas. At least I hope so because ours have done lots of jumping. I heard that the warning came because adults rather than kids had been using them for jumping and breaking them.

boy has a carrera blast thats been modded. didn’t see the point in spending a load of cash on him if he wasn’t going to be interested in it.

I got a couple of Frogs for my kids. Direct comparison to equivalent Islabikes confirmed by suspicions that they are every bit as good. Isla bikes are good, so are Frogs. They are pretty equivalent from what I can tell from a side by side comparison. Weight was pretty much identical, certainly not the KG or so difference that is advertised when in actual riding trim (with pedals, mudguards etc. I’m not fussed about residuals – I hope my kids ride the arse off them and ride them to destruction. They’re there to be used and not molly-coddled. They are certainly better than the crappy Halfords things they had before, they didn’t want to ride those, but I can’t keep them off the Frogs. A proper quality bit of kit – every bit as good quality as any bike i’ve ever owned.

The problem with the Frogs seem to be that you can’t get them for love nor money. I’ve had a few people stop me when out and about and ask where I got them as they’ve been trying to get one of their kids for months, but they’re sold out everywhere. I must have lucked out, though couldn’t get the first choice colours my kids wanted, so I just got what I could and they’re over the moon.

You are right I suppose – my 4 year old is so light I doubt he could break a bike! I do know a kid (8 yr old) who has broken one though 😀

Most of the kids locally who mtb are upgrading from Islabikes by the time they are about 8. My 8 year old rides a Norco B -Line with 140 travel 😀

Yeah, I’m looking at getting a small 26″ wheel frame for my 8yo, and stripping my old bike to build it up. If anybody knows of any good deals on small 26″ wheel frames as I missed the last good one…