Islabikes – Good for my pension pot?

I’ve got a 16″ Cnoc to sell and was on ebay trying to get an idea of the going rate for them.(RRP £200)
There were, as expected, plenty selling for £140- £150 but what staggered me was the number of bikes going for over £180, over £190 incl P&P and even £206 including P&P second hand

I spoke to Islabikes and he said it was nothing to do with delivery times, but could be due to the fact that they no longer sell abroad and so people are buying them on eBay For over RRP as it’s the only way to source them from the continent.

Now I knew that Islabikes hold their value well, I was thinking around 75% RRP, but this is just bonkers. When I spoke to him on the phone I asked to order 5 Cnocs in a half joking way. have we now got to the stage where Islabikes are like art, Whisky and vintage wines and become appreciating assets?

Some parents will do anything to make them their kids look better than other parents kids in the playground.

there’s no competition for them in the overpriced and needlessly complicated, kids’ bike market.

Some parents will do anything to make them their kids look better than other parents kids in the playground.

What, like pay more for a second hand item than they can get it new? Yes, it must be pretentious parents.

OP – I’m not sure it’s just Islabikes that this is happening with, I’ve seen all sorts go for silly money.

ads678 – Member
Some parents will do anything to make them their kids look better than other parents kids in the playground.
POSTED 9 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

I know I do. Number one son 8 today. Guess what was waiting downstairs when he got up?

Are they really that good? (Genuine question, not trying to fan flames!)

My son is 3 and has a balance bike and a pig iron cheap thing he guilted me into buying when I went into a Halfords with him. It must weight as much, if not more than my Soda though!

He’s now too big for the hamax seat so I’m toying with buying him a CNOC 16 and some sort of tow bar. I’m just curious if they really are as good as the internet makes them out to be?

I’m looking for a bike for my kid and was looking at Islabikes – true that the non-overseas shipping (err, why?) is probably unduly affecting the 2nd-hand market. Also true that there isn’t much that compares at least weight-wise, which is unfortunate. Half the kids bikes I’m looking at weigh almost as much as my XL steel 29er (!!). That said the price is just too high for me, think I will go with a Decathlon model at around 100 quid instead, unfortunately.

Yep, I’ve noticed the same over the last year or so as monkey jnr now needs to move on up from his balance bike. £200 is a lot of dough for a “little kids bike” though and I’m not 100% committed to the idea either. Haven’t found anything else properly suitable so I can see myself just ordering one and being done with it. I guess in the long run a well looked after one will only cost me £50 or so in depreciation anyway.

Are they really that good?

I’d say yes, many on here would say no. Judging by current second hand prices, even taking eBay fees into account, ours should cost around £70 each and will have been used by two boys.

ads678 – Member

Some parents will do anything to make them their kids look better than other parents kids in the playground.

the best bit is the kids don’t care lol

ooh I’m just about to sell one – this sounds very promising! 🙂

They seem like a bargain to me. £200 up front, kid gets a great bike and starts a life long relationship with 2 wheels then a couple of years later you sell it for £30-50 less than you paid for it (or even less if you are lucky)

versus £80-100 quid on a Halfords BSO which the child can’t pick up and which then falls apart or gets left to rust in a corner. Resale value nil.

Kids DO care if they can’t ride the thing because the gears are too stiff for little hands or the stupid fake suspension forks fall apart.

I stupidly bought a Halfords piece of junk and it broke (unfixable) on holiday ruining my daughters week – it was 6 months old.

Now she has one of these

Ours will be keepers, too badly abused to get a decent price second hand I think (all paint damage from my rough handling, putting them in the Burley trailer behind them on longer rides etc, they survive the kids well enough though). They are proper bikes and even my waiflike 4 year old can reach and manage the brakes, just about pedal up(gentle)hills and enjoy them. We are pretty skint but something that they will probably get lots of use from we thought would be worth it. So far I would say yes, they are.

Recently bought a cnoc 14 for my son, I looked around to see what else there was, but they were all exceptionally heavy, or just odd looking.

Sone friends of our were round at the weekend, they had just bought a dawes kids bike for about 80 quid, but reckoned that the islabike was significantly lighter and better made.Their son was never too happy riding the dawes, but loved the islabike, so they decided the dawes was going on ebay and would be replaced by an islabike.

That said the price is just too high for me, think I will go with a Decathlon model at around 100 quid instead, unfortunately.

Read the original post again. The second hand prices of these are so high that they hardly cost you anything. In fact, buy one second hand, look after it and you may even make a profit. Would the same be true for the Decathlon? Maybe, I don’t know, but it sounds like more of a risk to me.

As to whether they are that good; I can’t really say. I’ve bought four (soon be time for the fifth) and sold two (2 kids you see), but never owned any other sort of kids bike. They’ve never let us down or cost us much and compared with some of the hideous things in the playground (which, I swear, weigh more than my full suss bike) they seem pretty good. The kids always seem to come back from a ride buzzing, which will do for me.

The first one was used by both children and still sold for more than it cost new (although new prices had risen a fair bit over those years).

Recently bought a cnoc 14 for my son, I looked around to see what else there was, but they were all exceptionally heavy, or just odd looking.

Frog Bikes[/url]
I looked at Islabikes but bought a Frog Bike instead. Very well built with good components and light. Has the added bonus of being able to buy one from a LBS.
Can’t be sure of their resell value but the seem to be in direct competition with Islabikes so I’m hoping it will be good.

Frog Bikes

yep, I did look at frog bikes, and they do look ok, but their smallest bike is a little larger than islabikes smallest bike (julian junior is quite small) , and a kilo heavier. That and islabikes have a strong second hand market meant we went for the islabikes.

These are pretty good too

rubbish name though[/url]

Just sayin like, but some people may not have the cash for the initial outlay of an islbike, regardless of how much they might get back if they keep it in pristine condition.

My lads Carrera Blast has been great, and it’ll be great for his sister too. Don’t think i’ll get much for it when its finished with but it only cost me £100 2 years ago and will be 5/6 years old when its done with. It might be heavier than an Isla, although not that much, but my lad (nearly 6 now) will happily ride 13 miles on it, like he did the other week.

Not saying Isla’s are bad bikes, they are probably very good, but I really do think a lot of it is snobbery. Which is fair enough I suppose.

I’ve just bought my lad an Orbea MX20 Dirt for his birthday in July, it looks like a cracking bike and pretty light too.

http://www.orbea.com/gb-en/bicycles/mx-20-dirt/

Which are a bit heavier, almost as expensive and doubtless have worse resale value (hence probably cost more over their lifetime). Certainly a viable alternative, but not exactly a cheap one.

The only Islabike I’ve sold so far is the Rothan on which I lost £30 after lots of use by 2 kids. Looking at s/h Cnoc prices I suspect I might get back what I paid for the 14 or maybe even make a small profit when that gets sold soon.

Hardly snobbery when there’s a definite functional advantage.

“You’ll see that we don’t list the bike weight. In reality we want you to go to your local Orbea dealer to feel the bike for yourself. Weigh it against a similar bike at the shop. Throw a leg over it, and take it for a spin. There are so many deciding factors to consider when buying a new bike – style, finish, material, ride quality, build, color, cost – and weight is only one of them. And while light is nice, it is not wise to decide solely on grams or pounds.”

I’m sure it can’t be that it’s rather heavy compared to bikes not much more expensive and the comparison wouldn’t be favourable – no that couldn’t possibly be why they’re so coy.

Hardly snobbery when there’s a definite functional advantage.

Fair enough. I just wouldn’t want to pay the second hand price of an Isla for a bike that has been ragged and thrown about and will probably need a load of work to it. We all know how easy it is to wear out expensive bike parts when used a lot. Which is why I think the second hand market for Isla bikes is bumped up by snobbery.

I’ve no problem with buying your kids a decent bike if you’ve got the cash though. But the OP was about the second hand value of Isla’s.

I’m sure it can’t be that it’s rather heavy compared to bikes not much more expensive and the comparison wouldn’t be favourable – no that couldn’t possibly be why they’re so coy.

Well in a lifting the bike up test, I don’t think it’s heavy. It also look very well made and has very good kit on it. Though i did stay away from suss forks this time round, learnt my lesson there.

I’ve just bought my lad an Orbea MX20 Dirt for his birthday in July, it looks like a cracking bike and pretty light too.

Looks like a very nice bike, but why didn’t you get him one of these? Are you a snob? 🙂

Tnoyd – That would last my lad about 10 minutes!

Yes, but kids don’t actually tend to do that to their bikes. Our 16 was actually very well used before it came to us, but all I’ve changed is a brake cable.

Oh and look: 10.2kg (compared to <8kg for the same size Isla) – curious when Orbea make such a big thing of the importance of light weight in kids bikes:

The light weight of Orbea’s products for little kids and youngsters deliver an amazing usability. Making bicycles for kids and youngsters lighter has very important effects…

Got me for my 5 year old. We went on a 13k spin together a couple of days later. Compared to the heavy POS he had before, the Isla was a revelation.

And yes, you can probably get similar for cheaper – but as above, they hold their value so well that I’ll get most of my money back anyhow, which was a big factor is the choice.

My son lives in Copenhagen and could not understand why Islabikes would not ship there. There was nothing local to compare, so he ordered it for delivery to me and we posted it on to him. Daft really, but with two grandkids to get use of it, both will enjoy a properly designed bike, and will then sell on very easily at only a small loss.

Copenhagen is a cycling paradise and they ride everywhere, hardly use the car. The way bikes are prioritised and have all rights of way puts the UK to shame. So the bike will be well used.

honourablegeorge – Which is my point, great if you can afford the initial outlay but some can’t, so can’t benefit from the second hand market. So they buy something maybe not quite as good/light for cheaper, and most kids couldn’t give a toss as long as they are razzing around. There are plenty of options that are not silly heavy BSO’s.

Aracer – do you work for Islabikes or something, you really do love them!

BTW, I only paid £150 for the Orbea, brand spanking new. Whereas the Isla Bienn is £300!

Interesting, our eldest will need a new bike soon and I’m keen on getting something better than last time (Specialized) so Islabike’s are definitely in the running… But are there anymore good alternative brand suggestions?

After seeing this thread I just had a quick browse of the Islabikes up on ebay at the minute. You’re not wrong, bids are approaching RRP in a few cases, one thing I did notice is that those put up as “Collection only” (i.e. can’t be arsed to post it), don’t seem to be getting as many high bids as those where the seller will post. If buying it as a bit of an investment it’s probably worth keeping the box and factoring in the faff of postage in a few years time…

Er, no – but the question was being asked what is so good about them and why they hold their value and I’ve provided some answers. I suppose you could argue that with 3 which I’ll be selling at some point I have a vested interest in maintaining the s/h value 😉

BTW, I only paid £150 for the Orbea, brand spanking new. Whereas the Isla Bienn is £300!

Ah, OK, I was looking at the RRP – that seems like a cracking deal, how did you get such a big discount?

Maybe – haven’t kept original boxes for any of ours (Beinn was collected and ridden away, so no box), and just cut down a different box for the Rothan. It’s a good general rule on ebay that you should be prepared to post anything if you want to get a good price, no matter how much hassle – the only things I’ve sold collection only are ones where I wasn’t going to get much anyway.

Just lucky I think. Came across someone selling one on eBay with the saddle missing, still boxed an unused so I snapped it up!!

Think it was some sort of salvage company so I’ve got no back up if the thing breaks, but reckon it’s worth the gamble.

I don’t get the snobbery jibes, around here no one has a clue what an Islabike is, in fact they look distinctly average compared to whatever else kids are riding and I can’t see them garnering any cool points or kudos.

We made the mistake of getting a Decathlon bike, the granparents wanted to but my little girl her first pedal bike (after her Isla balance bike) and mistakenly I never looked into it too much and reckon Decathlons good value rep should be fine. Terrible terrible bike, apart from the weight the whole ergonomics were atrocious, it was almost painful to watch my daughter trying to go it. Ended up with another Isla and its been great.

I’ve been saying for years that the market’s right for a big correction in secondhand Islabike prices. 🙂

My two are both on their third, and it’s astonishing how much prices have gone up by, I guess islabikes have been finding out by trial and error how much people will pay for bikes for their kids.

Funnily enough, I don’t think that 90% of kids really care what they ride-the marketing targets parents who want the ‘best’ for their kids, rather than trying to lure in the kids themselves.

Sold a 3 year old Bein for £10 less than the RRP. Must have spent £100 in those 3 years replacing / upgrading worn out parts and sprucing up with new tyres and grips & cables for the sale.

Got ridden a lot, school runs and weekends. No way a £100 bike would have lasted or been used as much, but it’s a long time wait to get your money back. Plus the profits by some twisted logic became my sons?

Not sure I really get what I was saying about the snobbery now either!! End of a tough day at work.

I wasn’t knocking buying Islabikes for your kids, they are obviously very good, and light! It was about the second hand value of them. I know something is only worth what people will pay, but no second hand bike is worth 95% of the retail value, especially used and abused buy children.

Anyway sorry if I offended any one, I didn’t mean to. 😳

I bought mine some cheap heavy ones .
Good training on the ups and a bit of extra go on the downs .
Having iffy brakes and forks makes the choose good lines as well.

Ads678 – I agree the secondhand prices are mad, but the bikes are excellent. Which is why we’ve ended up buying new 4 times. But we have two boys, and four nephews and they get well used (and hold up well).

Someone said complicated. Well no suspension, v-brakes (not dodgy calliper or worse discs) and no gears until you get to the Beinn (which might be similar on other bikes) seems pretty simple to me.

Weight does matter to small people and we weighed our Cnoc 14 against an equivalent Giant (Animator?) and the Giant was 50% heavier on the same (reasonably accurate) scales.

Attention to detail is good, build is good and their good to deal with.

Issues? Well 1″ threadless headsets are not entirely mainstream, particularly if you want a shorter stem, and I’m not quite sold on gripshift instead of rapidfire.

Our Cnoc 14 is on eBay at the moment and someone in Germany has just asked if I would post over there.

There are also 32 watchers!

I sold mine for 70 quid as id had my 2 learn on it and was happy for it to go to a good home. Its not what you get all the time but who it goes to