Looking for some new bikes for my girls (24 and 16 wheel size) and noticed that Halfords have a range of Wiggins bikes and the spec doesn’t look too bad.
Is it worth taking the risk over the usual islabike / frog selection.
British Cycling discount is making them very very tempting.

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/kids-bikes/wiggins-chartres-junior-hybrid-bike-24

Early Rider 16 FTW!

CaptainFlashheart – I don’t think my heart could stand watching my daughter plow a Early Rider in to a hedge, as its difficult for her to steer, talk and pick her nose all at once!!

I’d also look at the Hoy and Pinnacle offerings at Evans.

Have a look at the 16″ Carrera, it’s pretty good, single speed though.

Mine had islabikes then got them frogs. Islabikes were better but the frog bikes are 95% as good- just a tad heavier and mine find shifters harder than grip shift (my kids are just turned 6 and 7).

I’d get a frog next time when they go up a size

Frog, we’ve got 3 and they’re ace, completely boy proof

Frog has been the default choice and the re-sale values are tempting. But this appears to be only the one that ticks the boxes 24in, light weight, reasonable drive train that I have seen. As a Halfords bike – there is a wonder how the re-sale price will be, but as I have 3 children, I suppose it would get plenty of abuse and the Carrera Blast doesn’t too bad on ebay sales.

I’ve recently faced a identical choice for my 8 year old daughter. The default choice seems to be the Islabike Beinn 24 but at £400 I couldn’t quite bring myself to push the ‘buy’ button (despite the good resale values).

In the end we went for the Ridgeback Dimension 24 for £249. It’s well thought out and at 9kg its genuinely lightweight. Most importantly my daughter likes the sparkly silver colour.

LittleMissMC is on a Frog, first of the really posh kids bikes either of ours have had. It’s lighter, but quite stretched. Certainly wouldn’t pay the extra for an Islabike, would now seriously look at Hoy and Pinnacle, but that Ridgeback looks good value.

Both our kids coped up to then on second hand Spesh/Trek/Ridgeback/Carrera off here or eBay. Don’t think we lost more than £10-20 selling any of them on. Don’t fall for the resale argument.

And kids will ride ANY bike, looking at mine and friends kids. They don’t know it’s heavy and not perfect if you don’t tell them.

bensalesmk2 is about to get a Hoy Bonaly 20 as he’s outgrown his Islabike Cnoc. I was originally going to get a Beinn, but 300 quids worth of Evans vouchers courtesy of my Holiday Inn points swayed the decision somewhat and once I’d looked at the specs, there’s nowt in it. The Specialized Hotrock also looked good, but he didn’t like the green colour.

Both of ours are on frogs now, 7 and 2 our oldest had an isla to start and that’s sat in the garage waiting for the youngest to grow a bit more, I think weights important not just for the kids but for but for grandparents/parents cause we had a crap halfords heavy own brand to start and when the mrs took my oldest out,once they get bored of riding and ditch the bike she would really struggle carrying it back.

I’ve gone with Isla, so far I only lost £10 on the balance bike and £10 of the 16″…the 20″ did cost an eye watering £350 but as stated the last two bakes have cost me about £20 for the sake of 4 years joy. If I get close to £200 when I come to sell in a couple of years I’ll be well happy.

They’re really well made, light and just seem quality…the thing that took the win though for me with the Isla was that my daughter preferred the paint on Isla to frog!

LittleMissMC is on a Frog, first of the really posh kids bikes either of ours have had

Sorry, Frog aren’t really posh. You need the basic spec Islabike as a minimum to be posh. And the Pro Series Islas to be really posh.

Just saying’ like.

😆

After years of her brothers 3rd hand Ridgebacks, Spesh and Carrera, a brand new Frog, impulse bought by The Fun Police after a test ride at Kirroughtree, it was posh.

As mentioned above, buy a secondhand Carrera/Trek and sell it for near enough what you paid a year later.

Isla fan here. Brand snobbery means that I’d make a point of not buying a bike that had had some generic pro’s name applied in the name of making something ordinary seem posh.

impulse bought after a test right …

Cool, I can just picture the scene. Kids on bikes is excellent. I really hope she likes it.

Hopefully off to buy another bike for the bigun this afternoon.

Just to add another one to the mix

the Raleigh Performance 20

I was looking for a first “big” bike for my 6 year old. I’d looked at the usual Islabikes, Frog, etc and whilst they were great, they were really expensive. Looking at other brands, I can’t believe that they make kids bikes that weigh nearly as much as my Bizango!

Anyway, I stumbled across the Raleigh Performance 20. Specs look great, triple butted frame, junior size controls and a weight of 8kg.
A bit of searching on ‘tinterweb brought up what I was looking for at Tredz and using a 10% off code the bike cost £165 – which is a lot cheaper than the established premium brands.
It looks fantastic. I’ve just given it a quick weigh, and with the pedals on it comes out at 8.5kg so not bad at all.

Just a quick heads up in case anybody is searching for an affordable but light childrens bike