Mini Matt has got to the stage where he is too big for his CNOC 16, seat is at max height and he isn’t quite getting full extension on his legs, plus he is hunched over the handlebars like some midget ape.

So, I have a choice between Islabikes Beinn 20L, Frog 55, or Hoy Bonaloy.

The Isla will have to be secondhand, whereas the other two can be bought new.

There’s a few differences in specs but I don’t know if he will even notice. Things like the Hoy being 6spd/Isla 7spd/Frog 8spd etc and different crank arm lengths.

Anyone got any real world reviews on them or has a child that has tried them?

Registering interest in this as contemplating similar for LMTTM Jnr.

Had you considered the IGH belt driven alloy offering from Belter(?)

We just went from a Cnoc 16 to a Frog 62. Daughter (7) inside leg is 58, so we went up.

It’s perfect.

Very impressed with quality, nice and light, she went out for a couple of hours round park today and loved it.

Back then, Islabike was only choice…plenty of other options now, I couldn’t justify the £400+ for the equivalent Isla.

Had you considered the IGH belt driven alloy offering from Belter(?)

Yup, but have you seen the bloody price of them!!

Had 3 or 4 isla bikes over the years very good and hold value so well they don’t actually cost that much

But this time went with frog as daughter preferred it. It’s very well made and specced out. Light too.

I don’t know how well a frog will hold its value compared to a frog but I suspect it will still hold significant value and it’s so much cheaper to purchase initially I wouldnt buy another isla now.

My 5-year-old has a Frog 52 and he loves it. I’m not sure about Islabikes but most bikes he tried had Revoshifters instead of trigger shifters and he found them too stiff to use. Also, the Frogs come with a second set of tyres, which makes them more versatile and better value. The free mudguards are pretty crap though.

We went from a Cnoc 16 to a Beinn 20L. Great bike, though I’m sure all of those you’re looking at are very decent bikes. The s/h Isla should be the best value if you take into account what you’ll get on resale – I’m expecting to lose very little on ours even though we bought it new, as it was only £250 back then!

Have you looked at the Genesis kids bikes?, they’re just as good

It seems to me that the price of new Islabikes have just got a bit silly. The Beinn we bought new 3 years ago now sells new at I think £70 more than we paid. And nearly £100 more than the comparable sized/geared Frog. And despite the increase in new Islabike prices, it doesn’t seem to be pushing the secondhand sale value up like it used to. Probably much more cost effective to buy a secondhand Isla so far as resale goes.

So the last two kids bikes we’ve bought have been Frogs. The only trouble being, that the fit doesn’t seem quite as good as Isla. They are a bit longer in the top tube which can be quite a stretch for the minimum recommended rider height. Also, with the saddle at its lowest then the hip/body angle gets a bit acute (closed) – probably due to the height of the bb?

Functionally there’s not a lot in it though and with the saddle up a little, they’re fine. As you get closer to adult sized bikes, there is less reason to buy an Islabike.

I tend to agree with that, and the 20 was going to be our last – but then got offered a very nice s/h 26 at the point where my kids had really outgrown the bikes they were on (and I was faffing too much on the small 26″ MTB build – though I had bid on a couple of frames on ebay). That should work out a good deal – again I expect to get back close to what I paid for it when it gets sold on in 5 or 6 years time!

My lad has just got a frog 52 and it’s excellent, proper 8 speed shifter, nice light brakes, as mentioned 2 sets of tyres and a kick ass colour too.

I don’t get the whole ‘resale price’ argument to be honest, do you buy everything in life by condisering the 2nd hand value first?

We’ve just been through this. #1 spawn too big for her Cnoc 16; looked at other options and ended up buying a second hand Beinn 20L off the Bay having balked at the price of a new one.

The plan is to buy something else when she needs her next bike – we looked at some others now (e.g. there’s a Ridgeback 20″) but felt a slightly heavier frame matters now but will matter less when she’s 8-9.

It does seem that more brands are catching up – two years ago when we bought the Cnoc there weren’t many decent options; there are more now.

The resale thing has always been a big plus to the isla I don’t think I’ve Lost more than 100 quid on any of my islas so compare that to a 150 Halfords that’s worth nowt in a year it makes sense to consider it

But as said other brands have caught up with isla now and isla are pricing themselves out of it tbh these days

OurFrog 52 (20in wheels) is on child two now.

Under the legs of number 1 its been up some proper off road climbs (300ft+) in the south downs and ridden endlessly round the local blue routes.

It’s a very capable bike, it’s light enough and on ours, which is a few years old, things like hubs and gears are good quality and have required little or no attention despite exposure to a lot of filth and grot.

Got a Frog here, it is a very nice bike. I couldn’t justify the eye watering price of an Isla bike. I think the bikes on offer are all well made and light these days so the Isla feels like it is only the name that is costing so much, which put me off going back for a second look.
I suspect all the bikes listed will be great, until the kids work out how gears work, the fewer the better, but when they do, the more the easier (the jumps between will be).

Just gone from Islabike to the Hoy bonaly for my eldest

Can’t compare with frog but very impressed with the Hoy (both s/h)

Not sure I’d pay the Islabike premium again

I don’t get the whole ‘resale price’ argument to be honest, do you buy everything in life by condisering the 2nd hand value first?

Most things in life you don’t plan on selling on at a fixed point in the future – the other obvious ones where you do are houses and cars, and resale value certainly seems to be a big consideration in those. What is it you don’t get about the concept that islas cost very little once you consider that?

From what I have seen, Frogs have similar resale value to islabikes.

I have no idea how Islabikes can cost so much seeing as they sell direct. Frog etc all have to give a margin to a shop

We’ve been islabike all the way through and have just bought a Beinn 24. It’s ace. Mrs M hasn’t been able to bring herself to authorise the sale of all the old ones though, so we’ve got a full fleet in the garage at the mo! :/

I’d go for the Frog.
Very well thought out bike for kids, things like straight cranks help with pedalling.
Nice light frames and they hold their resale value.

I had exactly the same scenario with the lad. Cnoc 16 outgrown. Went for the Hoy in the end, and perfectly happy with the purchase. I think it’s as good a quality as the equivalent Islabike, although I’m under no illusions of the resale value. Just couldn’t justify an extra £150 for the Islabike when it wasn’t really any better.

Our eldest went from a Hotrock 12 (age 3) to a Cnoc 16 (age 5) to a Frog 55 (age 6) to a Frog TS 67 (age 7). She raced road and CX on the Frog 55 this year and has done her well. Would have probably gone for the Isla equivalents for the last 2 bikes, but couldn’t justify the premium TBH. When you get to 24″ there’s much more choice.

The Hoys are really well thought out bikes I’m very impressed with them IMO they easily take on Isla, never been that impressed with frog although they seem to have got better but also not had as much experience with them.

We had always gone with Spesh/Ridgeback/whatever 2nd hand bikes for our two until MrsMC bought our youngest the 24″ Frog after she’d tried one at Kirroughtree.

It was/is a great bike, and I certainly wouldn’t pay Islatax to go that route BUT now she has grown, although still within the recommended height range, there is no way of raising the bar height as the saddle goes up, so she is now very bent over/weight on the bars, which has caused her to complain about wrist pain and hip pain and go off riding it all together, so I’d put a slight question mark over how long that “great fit” will last. (Less than a year, in our case)

Before you say it, I’ve got a higher stem and bars on it now which helped a bit, and as a gymnast her wrists are pretty strong and hips ridiculously flexible.

Has the steerer been cut short? On the frog bikes we have there is a big stack of spacers, so it’s got some adjustment but no worse or better than any other bike with an ahead set system.

Islabikes = Ponzi Scheme

Mtbtomo – seems to have a normal stack of spacers, presumably the steerers are a set length? Bought new, so not a previous owner who would have cut it.

Oh, and to all those banging on about the Islabike resale cost – I doubt I’ve lost £100 in total on the 6-7 second hand bikes our two have been through in the last 10 years. Sure, Spesh, Ridgeback etc etc aren’t as light as Frogs or Islas, but the kids didn’t know that when they were riding them round trail centres. 8)

Though I now have the expensive problem of moving youngest from a Frog to a comparably light 26″ bike. 🙄

I’m sure I’ve lost rather less than that in total on the 3 Islas I’ve sold so far (2 of which were bought new) – and based on current s/h prices I’m unlikely to lose anything on the 2 I currently own (one bought new) – if I’d bought them all s/h there seems a good chance I’d have made money! My kids might not know there’s a difference because they don’t know otherwise, but I expect they’ve appreciated it. The point isn’t necessarily that it’s cheaper than buying something else s/h, but that for the same outlay you can own nicer bikes.

Crikey – i’d rather my kids ride their bikes into the ground so they’re only worth scrap when they’ve finished with them. If the bikes are in good enough condition to sell well 2nd hand then they’ve not exactly played with them much. My kids hammer their Frog bikes, and to be fair they have stood up well to the abuse so far, but I’ve got 2 girls so they are naturally a bit more careful than lads tend to be. The ten year old me would have trashed them by now with my monster skids, building ramps and a fair bit of falling off. I’d consider it a great success if by the time they’ve outgrown them they’re knackered and ready for the tip.

As it happens both are due bigger bikes, so the youngest will be getting her sisters bike handed down and coincidentally a work colleague is selling his daughters 26″ Frog which will be a perfect replacement for the elder daughter. If they’re under 10 or 12 then they’ll outgrow the bikes within 2 years anyway.

, but that for the same outlay you can own nicer bikes.

Not anymore, the Hoy bikes are as good as Isla for considerably less, resale might not be so great but as I bought ours S/H it still works out much cheaper

the new wiggins bikes in halfords also look to be close to isla
( well apart from the colour schemes)
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/kids-bikes/wiggins-chartres-junior-bike-20

I’m not sure how you destroy your bikes, but ours have certainly been used plenty – I built a jump ramp for them – and the one I just bought s/h has been used even more (from a family who cycle a lot, though their dad looks after bikes rather better than I do!) It’s not a requirement that a bike has to end up trashed when it gets well used. Though you do seem a bit confused about this:

My kids hammer their Frog bikes, and to be fair they have stood up well to the abuse so far

The same outlay? Nope, none of the second hand bikes we’ve bought cost more than £100, none of them lost more than £20 on resale.

No problem with people choosing Isla Bikes if they want them and can afford them, but I think the second hand value argument is disingenuous, especially with the likes of Frog and Hoy now catching up.

My 6 year old did a lap of Swinley blue on a Frog 52 today. He loves it.

Pinnacle.

Daughter is on her third sized Isla…so far I’ve only lost about £20 over 3 years. The last bike I sold I got back what I paid..paid £200, the new ones went up to to £250 so got the full amount back, put that towards her £330 bike…will be interesting to see what I get back.

Obviously as a biker and general out door type what ever the cost worth every penny to instill a love of the outdoors and being active.

Yet you’ve apparently been through 6 or 7 of them and lost £100, which is more than I’ve lost on owning 3 Islabikes before reaching current 20L and 26S (it appears you currently own a Frog and presumably something decent for oldest, so similar current investment).

Sure Frog and Hoy are also decent bikes – if the depreciation on those is as low as for Islabikes then that’s nice too, I certainly have nothing against them. But there’s nothing disingenuous about pointing out the very low overall cost of ownership of an Isla (provided you have the capital to invest).

Looking at say the price of a new Beinn 20 at £370, versus the price that secondhand ones go for on ebay, which seems to be between £200 -£250 unless they’re pristine, then it doesn’t strike me that a new Islabike stacks up as near to cost neutral (overall) as it used to be. Buying secondhand and then selling on, I can well imagine that the loss could be virtually nothing however.

You can’t put a value on kids enjoying riding their bikes at the end of the day, but I’m not convinced Islabike have the USP they used to. Prices have gone up way in excess of inflation and exchange rate influences so I think that’s taking the p1ss a little.

That was our feeling too. Hence the eBay Beinn 20L.

I totally agree – no way I’d buy new now, the last new one I bought was almost 4 years ago before the huge price increases. I presume there are still plenty of people buying them at that price though – just that I’m no longer part of the target market!

Islabike tyres look too small to me.