Both my girls are getting to the stage where they are ready for 26″ wheeled bikes.

Have seen the following at Decathlon

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-51-2013-mountain-bike-grey-white-id_8231773.html

has anybody tried these or any other suggestions at similar price?

thanks

Saw loads of them in France, but they were just being used to get round the campsite.

No real world user experience, but my son and his friends (girls and boys) don’t seem to get on with grip shifters like the ones on that bike. I always seem to end up replacing them with thumbs style shifters which normally seem expensive compared to the cost of the bike which probably says more about the quality of the rest of the bike components that the cost of the shifters….

We have a fleet of the 2011 version for pupils to use for cycling activities at work. Quite impressed how well they have lasted, look like new when washed and have had to have very few repairs,just normal wear and tear from two years use, the twist shifters aren’t as nice as thumb shifters but do work, in two years of use by assorted ability pupils (some more subtle at gear changing than others !) i’ve only had to replace two broken ones.

Thanks, will be in the vicinity of a Decathlon tomorrow so will investigate further

My daughter’s had one for a couple of years, and it’s bee faultless.

It’s not been used for anything more taxing than the blue/green runs at Dalby but it’s required virtually no maintenance and still looks good.

On the basis of my experience I’m currently looking at getting one for my son for Christmas.

IMO you’ll really struggle to beat it as a first full sized bike.

Like all their bikes, look great value for money and never heard an owner complain at any price point.

I’ve got a 5.2 as a second bike. Looking at the range, it was the cheapest one I found that had a semi-decent groupset (entry-level Shimano throughout rather than some happy shopper guff) and a fork that wasn’t made out of cheese.

Only grip I had with it was that it was a display model rather than new (and I think they all are), and the gears had been set up by a gibbon. Five minutes in the car park to remove and throw away the comedy headlight and reindex the gears properly and it’s not put a foot wrong since.

Here it is, yesterday.

Last year’s colours though, and quite a bit more than the 5.1 it seems.