I’m after a cheap bike for junior to go to school and visit the park with his mates with. I live the terrible suburbs of London 😳 so essentially want a “disposable” thing. Yet the cyclist within me can’t bear to get him a bike with some 26mm pretend forks with own brand cable brakes and 45 degree stem.

Anyone know of any relatively cheap small adult – 13yo – decent bikes about?

Go cheapo for knocking about on. BMX 4 da yoof. Anything nice will get nicked

If it is just for going to school on, something cheap,battered looking and ideally with mudguards. The equivalent of a pub bike

Both my kids have had decent bikes over the years, but if they wanted one for school, anything that was less likely to be nicked.

That exactly is the brief, yet what?

How tall? I’ve got a Charge Mixer (Alfine 8 gears) I should move on. Think it’s a medium frame though.

I was like that and so went down the find a good 26er ebay frame (preferably matt black) and build up with bits from the 26er parts bin route. Lots of nice but old frames got a new lease of life around some solid transferable kit. Unfortunately he’s now so tall I’ve had to go for a xl 29er frame but the 26er route was great while it lasted. For the burbs, perhaps something like a carrera subway could work?

That exactly is the brief, yet what?

Literally anything that works, and is cheap enough to replace if/when nicked.

Carrera Subway or the Decathlon equivalent I suppose are named options

I’m given to understand that Carrera are actually quite cool with the youths so don’t consider them less knickable than a Santa Cruz

I doubt anyone will have any strong opinions or recommendations for a bike like this. Just get on FB marketplace and find any old local MTB that looks functional.

Is the answer not more nth hand Raleigh Pioneer than Carrera coolness?
Yes it’s a cheap grandad bike but half a dozen gears, mudguards, rack, anonymous outside the shop or school.

E.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255491574399?hash=item3b7c7c0a7f:g:U64AAOSw9M9iWtPW

Or for ultimate uncool and not worth taking a mixte frame:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394105338408?hash=item5bc2823a28:g:tnIAAOSwMORiREfG

I’m given to understand that Carrera are actually quite cool with the youths

Ah wait, there’s a reason I mentioned Carrera – he’s been nagging me to get one. This now makes sense. The other bike was a Gold £250 Mafiabike BMX which I wouldn’t let him have as I wanted something a little more rounded.

I’ve been trawling eBay and decent ones seem to command quite close to the new price – £333 with my BC discount – although most of them have either pitted fork stantions or something else wrong with them which is not a surprise.

Check the comments in this story to find your nearest CIC or bike recycling project. They’re bound to have something that treads the right line between cool and cheap and not too nickable. https://singletrackworld.com/2021/11/back-from-the-dead-our-bike-shop-doesnt-run-like-yours/

“Gold £250 Mafiabike BMX which I wouldn’t let him have as I wanted something ..” -wait, who’s the bike for again? Think he _might_ be trying to tell you he wants a BMX

-wait, who’s the bike for again?

That’s what I was thinking.

The kid wants a gold BMX, let him have it. He’s got the rest of his life to ride boring bikes.

Deffo, besides getting fast on a bmx gets you faster on everything else!

My first reaction was “but its not very sensible..” I’ve become Dad haven’t I, doh.

Thanks Hannah – the comments reveal a place near me that might also accept a box of spare parts I have and can’t sell for their cause, I’ll look into it.

The kid wants a gold BMX, let him have it.

But its £250…. [cries] 😀

If you can deign to actuly go into a Halfords you’ll find that £250-350 bikes are actually pretty decent these days – yes, even Carrera.

Secondhand cheap BMX. Perfect! Great for his skills and pedalling fitness too.

I have an old purple (ish) mongoose BMX i use for dashing around town I might be persuaded to let go for not much if you’re after that sort of thing

Happy to discuss, send pictures via PM etc if interested

Solution For £40?

Just a Father/Son roadtrip to Warwickshire and a can of gold plastikote and you can make his dreams come true on a shoestring…

If he wants a bmx then why not get one?

Otherwise if something mtb shaped I’d get a carrera probably. Just not a very expensive one – last time I looked the ones around £250 didn’t look too and for the money.

If he wants a BMX (and he does) it’s pretty easy to find a good one for far less than £250. I picked up a near-mint WeThePeople last summer for £40.

E.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185453415019

I’m pretty sure sure that’ll be a better (and maybe cooler?) option than a Mafia bike, but who knows with kids. As has been said, for some reason all the kids want a Carrera whereas when I was growing up I wouldn’t have been seen dead on one, even though they were pretty decent back then.

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/ceres-ub-2-2021-hybrid-bike-9-speed-kenda-700-x-40c-ps225-ps999-delivery-at-evans-cycles-3945753 was posted a week ago, £235, it’s almost the same spec as my ’20 Voodoo Marasa! 😮

I’d probably choose https://www.halfords.com/bikes/hybrid-bikes/carrera-subway-2-mens-hybrid-bike-2020—black—s-m-l-xl-frames-346198.html over something like https://www.halfords.com/bikes/mountain-bikes/carrera-hustle-2-mountain-bike—blue-m-477246.html at the budget end with hydraulic brakes (£375/350 before BC discount).

It’s a bit more cash, but this IMO is a bargain for £450 and it’s getting good reviews, but whether it would stand up to teenage abuse. Whole family could use it and easy to chuck in the car for hols etc. https://www.halfords.com/bikes/folding-bikes/carrera-intercity-disc-9-speed-folding-bike-536878.html

My eldest is at secondary school. He’s got a 30 year old hybrid for “going places”.

It’s got mudguards, a rack with cheap panniers and a bell.

I got fed up of patching up a nicer bike after it had been piled on and walloped by every other kid in the bike shed.

When the youngest joins him we will be trawling the local gumtree/Facebook ads for something similarly uncool.

He doesn’t care – it’s freedom and transport and he arrives at school with a dry posterior.

Riding for sport/out with me he will poach any nicer bike he can from the shed!

Caveat he rides to school every day in every weather imaginable. I think in his nearly two years he’s had a lift in about 3 or 4 times. He therefore appreciates mudguards and panniers more than the average teenager!

So what’s a Wheelie Bike? I’m guessing the clue is in the name?

Turns out the Mafiabike is a BlackJack Wheelie bike, looks like a BMX yet with 26 inch wheels. £250 with chips all over one side of the fork where its obviously be kept against something else seems a lot TBH, but they are £600 new with a 60mm travel basic fork.

Blackjack with a suspension fork is a jump bike rather than a wheelie bike isn’t it?

I have seen a few kids knocking round with them – looks like a more stable version of a bmx for jumping / wheelie-ing / general kid knocking around on.

Yeah, although this one has a rigid Cromaloy fork.

I’m given to understand that Carrera are actually quite cool with the youths so don’t consider them less knickable than a Santa Cruz

dont underestimate the idiocy of the low level bike thief. Brand recognition works at that level too. To them halfords = good bike shop, carrera = good bike (better than apollo if they still exist, worse than a boardman). If its clean and not beaten to death that looks like a good target to them.

But its £250…. [cries] 😀

I had the same dilemma Kryters; until I remembered my winter road wheels cost significantly more. One of the advantages of the BMX/Jump bike is that there is less to go wrong; how much is a rear mech now if you can get one? The downside is the visit to A and E as junior tests the learning curve between ambition and ability.

Another vote for the BMX 🙂

But before you mentioned he wanted a BMX, was going to suggest setting a budget and letting him choose whatever bike he wants.

I live the terrible suburbs of London 😳

Turns out the Mafiabike is a… Wheelie bike

This makes sense.

26″ rigid singlespeed / big BMX thing with fat tyres (that is basically what a wheelie bike is) sounds pretty ideal for London tbf, I think he’s made quite a wise choice.

SE Bikes make loads of them and are arguably a bit nicer than Mafia. Not cheap cheap either though.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275276760369

@Kryton57 These are wheelie bikes: https://singletrackworld.com/2021/07/bikestormz-where-mountain-bikes-meet-urban-streets/

Get your kid what they think is cool and they’re much more likely to ride it than if it’s what you think is cool!

The kid wants a gold BMX, let him have it. He’s got the rest of his life to ride boring bikes.

Depends if its likely to be taken off him at knifepoint – happened twice to my godson with £350 Decathlon bikes

Get him a BMX
Get yourself a 24 inch BMX cruiser
Enjoy the pump track together

Answer is always n+1 , but in this case it actually works brilliant.

Got both my two BMX s for riding to school (and racing) and it’s been awesome for their skills. Don’t think my daughter’s sat down on the saddle in about six months and she rides a dozen times a week. absolutely fly’s round the pump track past me and great times together

BikeLife Goes ‘Official’, in competition alongside BMX and Skate stars

@Kryton57 I think this might interest your son

Gosh well that took a while. Lots of issues with Ebay, seems people won’t accept many offers below £250 / hedge their bets on something more so we’ve tray that and filled numerous times. Visited charity ships for a while to no avail.

Then at his behest we wandered in to – I can barely say it – Halfords store yesterday where they had a clearance Carrera Valour with a few scratches on for 2/3rd of the new price, made even better with my BC discount. And yes of course I had the standard argument with the BikeHut guy who thinks he knows more about bikes than I do after they insisted on it being sold without bar plugs. I won that argument.

Anyway, he’s out with his mates now after fettling with it adjust break level angles and installing some ODI ruffians I had lying about, so at least that helps with the Summer Hols arrangements….

12 years and counting with my Carrera banshee X.£600.00 new with Bombers,mavic and sram X7 spec.Great bike which has caused me little grief and usually because of my own incompetence.I,m starting to think the frame and 55rs will outlive me.Rock solid bikes if cared for.
I also own a 2006 GT avalanche….same as above.

He’s come back with one calf covered in chain oil and attacked the biscuit tin. Good to see him enjoying childhood 101 😀

It was fate it was going to be a carrera 🤣

The kids I teach will be super impressed!

Sir, you’re into mountain biking yeah?
Yes.
What bike you got then?
I’ve got a few. My main one is a Cotic.
Never heard of it. Is it as good as a Carrera?