This popped up on my social media feed this morning…

http://hopeacademyuk.com/

Hmmmm, that is indeed most interesting.

What a brilliant idea. Wonder if it will be rolled out to full size bikes too.

Seen this on fb a little while back. Figured it would be an inroad into getting some short cranks for minilugz. My good lady received a negative response from hope.

Wish this had been around a couple of years back 🙂

Great scheme!

Wonder if it will be rolled out to full size bikes too.

have you seen the prices? you can get full size bikes considerably cheaper…

Website no worky on iPad.

I have been thinking about this but doesnt really make sense for me.

£20 a month for lets say 2 years, £480 and nothing to show for it at the end…

You can buy a very good kids bike for say £500 and probably sell it for at least £250 at the end of 2 years so in reality it is much cheaper, yes it wont be covered in hope stuff but It is just bling really and wont make you kids ride better than any other decent kids bike. (says someone who has spent a lot of money on hope bling for their own bike)

OK, so £29/month for the nice 26″ hard tail with a really quite decent spec. In terms of price, a 27.5 or 29er would be barely any more expensive to produce, possibly even cheaper because parts like the forks, rims tyres get a better price with larger volumes.

If there wasn’t any prohibitive damage charges on return, I reckon loads of people would snap their hands off.

They’ve been really quick to steal IslaBikes’ concept haven’t they? 🙂

The bikes look lovely but pricing just doesn’t add up for me
I’m looking at a 20″ bikes this
year.
The hope is a similer spec to the early rider 20 trail 3 but slightly lighter, with chain drive and hope bling
If you keep it two years its £384
(Although they do replace tyres and work out parts for this)

Early rider is around £500 new
And I would expect to get more than 50% back on that

Also if you don’t get one straight away you may get a refurbished one in which case a second hand isla beinn would be a better option for around £280 with a normal 70% return price.

If the hope 20″ was around £10 pm then I would certainly consider it though as that would be in line with the overall cost of other options

Ideal for the car park poser.

As above the major problem I have is that it’s really poor value compared to buying and reselling IF you can afford the upfront outlay. And if you can’t afford the upfront then it’s quite a lot to commit to paying monthly anyway.

And with a few decent kids ranges about now there’s a fair bit of choice and competition so I suspect 2nd hand prices may calm down.

They’ve been really quick to steal IslaBikes’ concept haven’t they?

I’m thinking of that bloke on here who got shredded a few years back after he started a company offering to lease you just about any bike you wanted.
Bet he’s wishing now he’d decided to push kids bikes rather than adults.

Can’t see this working myself- most people will balk at paying £29 a month to lease a secondhand bike. Which is what will have to happen- Hope aren’t going to be able to afford to sell them off after the first user has finished with them.
There’ll be the costs associated with bringing them back in house, replacing wear and tear items etc.
And after two years or so there’s the problem of selling it off- who in their right mind is going to pay over a grand for a secondhand kids bike that they’ll only be able to use for a year or so.

mrhoppy – As above the major problem I have is that it’s really poor value compared to buying and reselling IF you can afford the upfront outlay. And if you can’t afford the upfront then it’s quite a lot to commit to paying monthly anyway.

I’d imagine there are more affordable finance deals out there for those who cant afford the upfront.

They’ve been really quick to steal IslaBikes’ concept haven’t they?

Almost like they might have thought about it 1st maybe?

Can’t see this working myself- most people will balk at paying £29 a month to lease a secondhand bike. Which is what will have to happen- Hope aren’t going to be able to afford to sell them off after the first user has finished with them.
There’ll be the costs associated with bringing them back in house, replacing wear and tear items etc.
And after two years or so there’s the problem of selling it off- who in their right mind is going to pay over a grand for a secondhand kids bike that they’ll only be able to use for a year or so.

The plan I believe IS to bring them back in house, fully refurb them and then re lease. When I say refurb, I mean repaint/sticker and replace ALL components.

Isn’t the point of this that you start with the balance bike at £5 a month and work up through all the sizes as your kids grow, thereby doing away with the need to buy and re-sell several kids bikes along the way? Does it represent better value if you look at it like that rather than just the price of the most expensive bike?

I’ve got a 9 month old now who WILL be riding bikes when big enough, as she’s my first, I’ve no idea how many bikes she’ll go through as she grows!

Be interesting if they throw in lots of days out too.

It does take that hassle out of buying and selling but goodness they make you pay for it.

where can we buy those 135mm cranks?! – they’re ideal for a 5footer…

Yeah – but have you seen what the quoted retail value of their 20″ bike is (which is the smallest one specific to them)? 😯

At least 3 similar schemes around now – along with this and Islabikes, I’ve also seen one advertised which does a similar thing with Frog bikes.

Not really – because you’ll spend £60 over a year, which is more than it should cost you buying and reselling a quality balance bike. Ultimately schemes like this will always be more expensive than buying a bike and selling s/h on ebay, even if you buy new (if you buy quality bikes s/h then the depreciation is extremely low). Though they are convenient for people who don’t know much about bikes and/or can’t afford the capital outlay. Though I’m dubious the latter really applies to potential customers for this scheme as the total cost is so high and the bikes so blingy.

As a serial Islabikes owner, I do start to wonder whether I’m part of the target market anymore – I guess they’ve become much more of a fashion item amongst people with much more money than me, but less into bikes.

It depends on your outlook too.

Friend of mine bought an Isla balance bike because they could sell it for 80% of what they paid. I have a second hand decathlon which I can probably sell for 100% of what I paid.

Isla has an alen key to adjust the seat height but they never take it with them. Decathlon has a QR so I can always adjust the seat height.

They still think they bought the best bike…

Whereas you know that they’re wrong? 😉

(I can’t remember my children ever growing so much whilst out and about that I needed to adjust the seat height on a balance bike)

richardkennerley – Member
Isn’t the point of this that you start with the balance bike at £5 a month and work up through all the sizes as your kids grow, thereby doing away with the need to buy and re-sell several kids bikes along the way? Does it represent better value if you look at it like that rather than just the price of the most expensive bike?

Hoppy jr was on a balance bike for 3 years, (2-5) it cost £120 new, thats £70 cheaper even if I just bin it but I’d expect to get around £50 if I sell it. Works out at under £2/month. He had a cnoc 14 for a while 2nd hand which we lost no money on over a year. He’s now on a belter 16 (which admittedly granny bought) but I’d expect to last 2 years at least and I reckon will lose £150 max over that time (£6.25/month).

aracer – (I can’t remember my children ever growing so much whilst out and about that I needed to adjust the seat height on a balance bike)

I think both bikes had been hadn’t been ridden for about a month, combined with a growing spurt it meant my lad was zooming off while their daughter was tripping and dragging her toes shouting for him to slow down and come back. No biggie but they did comment a QR would have been easier as I think they’d had it too low for a good while.

I suppose leasing and having perfectly fitted bikes as they grow would have some value if my kids were potential future world Champions…
But they’re not, and neither are most other people’s kids…
I think this scheme will appeal to more to “Rad Dad” types, those with the money to demonstrate they’re living “the lifestyle” than anyone with a burning need for up to the minute spec’s and professionally fitted bikes for their kids…

Thus far the best bikes I’ve bough have been Used, a Hotrock 20″ from Fleabay for £50, and a Ridgeback ‘Melody’ 16″ for a tenner…

They get a spruce in the Garage, brakes sorted, a lighter pair of bars from the spares bin (maybe a couple of other parts) and they’ve good to go for at least another year, they’ll owe me, and their riders, nothing by the time they’re moved on and have presumably lost all of their “residual value” long before I bought them so we’ll be “Saving” hundreds Vs a shiny new Islabike or a lease deal…

I’ll be hunting for a 24″ bike next and I’m quite looking forwards to it TBH (Although there are lots of old spares I wish I’d held on to now)…

I think My eldest may be helping to chose, strip and rebuild her next bike (She’s gone and shown an interest now)…
Delegating that wouldn’t seem right, but I actually enjoy working on bikes, I appreciate some don’t…

These guys Bike Club would appear to do something similar but with an option to buy after 2 years of rental (of the same bike) and it looks to work out at RRP on a second hand bike or £18* more on a brand new bike.

*Based on a Frog 55