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We take a look at three children's bikes from Islabikes, Frog Bikes and Hoy.
Don't miss our Top Tips for harmonious family bike rides! https://singletrackworld.com/2016/04/top-tips-to-avoid-family-cycling-woe/
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0:01
hi I'm Hannah from singletrack and I
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thought since it's the time of year
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where we like to go out with our kids
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and share the joy of cycling with them
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or possibly the trauma of cycling with
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them I thought I'd give you a bit of a
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chats about some of the bikes that my
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kids have been riding and we happen to
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have in on tests at the moment as well
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so the first bike which we just
0:26
published the review on last week was
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the hoy Banali that's the blue one here
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at the front this is available from
0:34
Evan's Evan's cycles and this particular
0:37
model costs 400 I know it doesn't it
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cost three hundred and sixty pounds
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there you go so I was really impressed
0:49
with this bike and and I'm quite sad to
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be sending it back because my my
0:55
youngest child has had a whale of a time
0:57
on it I'm gonna keep talking you through
1:00
these bites but if you've got any
1:01
questions about how you get your kids to
1:03
enjoy bike rides or or any other bikes
1:05
in particular then just give me a shout
1:07
so a couple of things that I really
1:10
liked about the high E as compared to
1:12
the other bikes that I've got here first
1:16
up if you're gonna give mountain biking
1:19
ago this has got a lot much bigger tire
1:23
tire width than other kids bikes that
1:27
I've experienced so this is a 24 inch
1:31
tire with a 2.1 inch width which kind of
1:35
gives almost like a plus bike dimension
1:38
or proportion to the bike and it was
1:41
really noticeable as soon as my son got
1:43
on it he was hopping up curbs and off
1:45
curbs and and doing jumps and just that
1:49
little bit of extra cushioning it really
1:50
seemed to help him along it's very
1:53
lightweight bike as are all the bikes
1:56
we've got here actually this particular
1:58
one on the scales of truth came up at
2:02
9.14 kilos so that really matters when
2:07
you've got a kid's bike you want
2:09
to be as lightweight as possible in
2:12
proportion to their body my kids really
2:16
liked the foam grips and I was skeptical
2:20
about that because I kind of thought
2:21
they'd get all chunks taken out of them
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but actually they were really nice and
2:26
soft on their hands and it is something
2:28
that I think kids complain about is the
2:31
comfort on their hands because you know
2:34
they're clinging on and they're
2:37
generally having to reach for the brakes
2:39
which are nice short reach breaks in
2:42
this instance and if you're going to
2:44
look at any kids bike short reach breaks
2:47
has got to be the first thing on your
2:49
list if they can't reach the breaks
2:51
they're going to have a miserable time
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and they're gonna fall off and hurt
2:55
themselves so don't compromise don't buy
2:58
another bike that doesn't have short
3:00
reach breaks I just couldn't recommend
3:02
it this bike has thumb shift gears which
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my kids have really got on with they
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really like with some shift in contrast
3:14
for move on to the ILA bike here other
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bikes have got grip shift now this grip
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shift on this I like my kids have really
3:24
enjoyed as well however not all grip
3:26
shifts are the same so I've seen early
3:29
models of the Frog bike that's behind me
3:31
and that had a grip shift and they
3:33
didn't get on with it they could kind of
3:34
change one way but not the other so yeah
3:38
not all grip shifts are equal but my
3:42
kids have got on with both the thumb
3:43
shift and the grip shift this isla bike
3:48
here I'll move on to that is a new model
3:51
for isla bikes
3:52
it's a twenty seven point five inch
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wheel on a smaller frame the idea being
3:58
it gives you the ability to roll over
4:01
obstacles so this particular bike is
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aimed at like a ten-year-old whereas the
4:08
hoy is more like an eight-year-old and
4:11
that's the age of my kids that I've been
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riding them the isla bike comes with
4:17
slightly narrower tires than the hoi so
4:20
those are
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1.6 inch tire on the band 27 and that
4:27
yeah as I said that's a twenty seven
4:28
point five inch wheel again really good
4:32
quality lightweight bike very difficult
4:35
to pick any holes in in either of these
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bikes really I think really it comes
4:42
down to what you want to ride on with
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your kids so if I move over here a
4:47
little bit third one in the triumvirate
4:51
of good quality kids bikes on the mark
4:53
at the moment this is a frog bike and
4:57
they're a British company and this bike
5:01
is actually mine I own it well my kids
5:04
do and for full disclosure I did get a
5:07
trade discount when I bought that
5:08
however I've seen port one in the next
5:11
two sizes up in a shop with my own money
5:13
you know all of that so I think that's
5:15
pretty good recommendation couple of
5:19
things that are different about the frog
5:20
bike or you know might might set them
5:23
aside so there's still got some shift
5:25
gears the new models have a thumb shift
5:27
gears they come with two sets of tires
5:32
so I've got the kind of mountain bike
5:35
tires on there which are a 1.75 inch
5:39
tire on the 24 inch bike so how has the
5:44
fattest tires the Frog in its mountain
5:47
bike form has the middle sized tires and
5:50
the ILA bike has the skinnier tires
5:52
FitLife say this comes with a hybrid
5:55
tire as well for if you're kind of more
5:57
on the streets so I that's a really nice
5:59
touch
6:01
to have that flexibility and you can get
6:08
Eila bikes come direct from Isle bucks
6:11
you have to go to their website frog
6:13
bike you can either buy them from their
6:15
website or you can do like a click and
6:17
collect from your certain bike shops and
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if you do that you don't pay the postage
6:22
and you get your servicing you know your
6:25
six-week I've done hundred miles maybe
6:27
service when all your cables stretch so
6:29
it's worth going to your local bike shop
6:32
if they stocks I've been doing that
6:33
clicking collapse in my
6:37
so I've had all of these bikes on the go
6:42
with my kids as I say I've actually
6:45
bought the Frog if my son had needed a
6:50
bike at this stage I would have bought
6:52
the hoi just for those those bigger
6:54
tires but really there's there's not a
6:58
lot to choose from between them
7:00
I think if mountain biking is your or
7:03
something approaching mountain biking is
7:06
your main target then the whole could be
7:08
worth investing in but yeah go with
7:13
whatever you've got access to and
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whatever you can get your kids to to
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like the look off really they all come
7:20
in nice raised arrays of colors and good
7:23
gender neutral ones as well so you can
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pass them down the siblings so yeah
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hopefully you've got your kids to the
7:32
stage where they can ride bikes and and
7:34
these are what you're looking at before
7:37
other ones I have to get them on bikes
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in the first place we had any questions
7:40
mark the need and it's very good right
7:43
so if you've got a smaller child than
7:48
these because I say these are for like a
7:50
neat eight-year-old and up you need a
7:54
balance bike you you just have to have a
7:56
balance bike there will be no greater
7:58
joy in your life than having a balanced
8:00
bike so my child that was riding this
8:04
started at 18 months old on a Pucci lrm
8:08
which I don't have here anymore
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and when I gave the bike away I cried
8:12
because it was such a full of happy
8:15
memories and as far as I'm aware the
8:17
Pooky Pooky lrm is the smallest balance
8:21
bike that you can get and yes you could
8:25
argue that you could get any bike and
8:26
take the cranks off it but the the pukey
8:29
has like a little platform so they can
8:32
put their feet onto it not drag their
8:35
shoes on the ground the entire time you
8:37
will get through shoes
8:38
so yeah whichever whichever balance bike
8:42
you go for get them on one nice and
8:46
early
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and then don't bother with the
8:50
stabilizers if they're ready they can
8:53
just ride they'll they'll go you'll
8:57
notice that I don't have any suspension
8:59
on any of these bikes and to be honest
9:04
my kids aren't that rad there they kind
9:06
of know they're normal kids yes I work
9:07
for a mountain bike magazine but my kids
9:10
just do normal riding like other kids
9:13
they're not getting air well they're
9:15
starting to one of them is but yeah I
9:17
don't think they've got any need for
9:19
suspension at the moment we live
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somewhere with huge Hills so weight is a
9:25
major factor and in climbing ability you
9:28
know we wouldn't get up to our house it
9:30
would be miserable if if we were
9:32
dragging a lot of suspension around so
9:34
that's not that's not what I've got here
9:37
that's not what I've tested but we do
9:39
plan to have a little look for some rad
9:42
kids and do some of that testing a
9:46
couple of things I've learnt through
9:49
pain and trial and error and it's worth
9:53
looking on the website we've got an
9:54
article on ways to make your kids like
9:57
bike rides if you're going for buy tried
10:01
don't forget that there is every chance
10:03
that they will have a Schrader valve and
10:06
tubes on their bike and your little
10:10
tubeless tire noodles and your Presta
10:12
valve pump are not going to cut it when
10:14
you're in the middle of nowhere so yes
10:16
check you have the right tools or it's a
10:19
long long sad walk home and you'd better
10:21
be sure that you have some spare food
10:23
which is the other thing you should
10:25
always make sure you have more foods
10:27
than you think is possible because they
10:30
are riding their little legs going
10:33
really fast compared to yours on these
10:37
proportionately smaller wheels apart
10:39
from this one and going over all the
10:42
bumps they're working way harder than
10:44
you are so you're going to need to keep
10:46
them fueled like hummingbirds yeah so to
10:51
run through these again the toy is 360
10:55
pounds this Ben
10:57
is 439 pounds as is the smaller one with
11:02
the 24-inch wheels that would be
11:03
comparable comparable and then the Frog
11:06
62 here is 330 though it's worth noting
11:11
that at the moment some colors to sizes
11:13
up or on offer at 300 so yep you've got
11:19
kind of a range of bikes which are
11:21
undoubtedly an investment but bear in
11:24
mind you'll probably manage to resell
11:26
them not that much less than you've paid
11:30
for them and you've had the fun out of
11:32
out of using them so certainly there are
11:35
alibi k-- and frog bike facebook pages
11:38
devoted to buying and selling them
11:40
secondhand so with the initial outlay
11:42
you doesn't take your fantasy it's well
11:45
worth hopping on over there and having a
11:48
look all you bike to be interesting to
11:51
see how they how they stand up but I've
11:54
no reason to believe that they should
11:57
lose their value any faster than the
11:59
others so I think that's about it if
12:05
you've got any questions send them in to
12:07
us in the comments and I'll try and
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answer them afterwards because I've
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spent quite a lot of time with my kids
12:13
riding bikes now and I'd love to be able
12:16
to help you to get your kids onto bikes
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too so thanks very much for listening
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right
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