Best bike for our daughters 6th birthday?
Discussion
My 12yr old daughter has an Islabike Beinn 26" large.
My 8yr old son has a Frog (can't remember which number) in Team Sky colours.
Both are excellent bikes, and weigh a fraction of the weight of anything from Halfords or the like, but as others have said, the Frog bikes really do look sooooooooo much cooler than the Islabikes. They also have trigger shifters rather than twist shifters, which I view as a good thing.
Middle offspring (10yr old son) chose the "let's build a bike together out of bits for the same budget" route, so he's got a steel hardtail with hydraulic discs and a 1x10 transmission which may be a bit heavier than the other two, but he eats up the red routes at Swinley and Bedgebury on it, and his latest trick - having always been really good at pulling over to let adults go past - is to start then catching and overtaking some of them on climbs, so it can't be all that heavy!
Getting something your kids are proud to ride is a big part of the battle, so I think Frog stand a really good chance against Islabike, but I hope they both prosper, as kids deserve better than Apollo pieces of crap!
My 8yr old son has a Frog (can't remember which number) in Team Sky colours.
Both are excellent bikes, and weigh a fraction of the weight of anything from Halfords or the like, but as others have said, the Frog bikes really do look sooooooooo much cooler than the Islabikes. They also have trigger shifters rather than twist shifters, which I view as a good thing.
Middle offspring (10yr old son) chose the "let's build a bike together out of bits for the same budget" route, so he's got a steel hardtail with hydraulic discs and a 1x10 transmission which may be a bit heavier than the other two, but he eats up the red routes at Swinley and Bedgebury on it, and his latest trick - having always been really good at pulling over to let adults go past - is to start then catching and overtaking some of them on climbs, so it can't be all that heavy!
Getting something your kids are proud to ride is a big part of the battle, so I think Frog stand a really good chance against Islabike, but I hope they both prosper, as kids deserve better than Apollo pieces of crap!
Not sure if these guys have been mention yet but a mate who has a bike shop stocks Early Rider's.
http://earlyrider.com/collections/bikes
I've always bought Islabikes but I'm tempted to get an Early Rider balance bike for my son when he turns two next year.
http://earlyrider.com/collections/bikes
I've always bought Islabikes but I'm tempted to get an Early Rider balance bike for my son when he turns two next year.
Pablo16v said:
Not sure if these guys have been mention yet but a mate who has a bike shop stocks Early Rider's.
http://earlyrider.com/collections/bikes
I've always bought Islabikes but I'm tempted to get an Early Rider balance bike for my son when he turns two next year.
My lad got an Early Rider lite for his second birthday, it's been jump and abused to death and he still mucks about on it now 4 years later. It's one of the wood ones. The seat goes very low compared with other wooden balance bikes so great for early starters.http://earlyrider.com/collections/bikes
I've always bought Islabikes but I'm tempted to get an Early Rider balance bike for my son when he turns two next year.
Totally agree on the Islabike/Frog thing
One point to note is that when camping, my boy let all his new found "friends" from the site play on his bike & as it was not theirs, they could not have given a toss about it. Fortunately, I bought a cheap Ridgeback MX20 from a friend but was thinking to myself would I be so relaxed has it been an Islabike?
Hopefully yours will respect the fact it is a premium bike but you don't want to be stopping them playing at campsites or worse still not saying anything but be fuming inside - I would be!
One point to note is that when camping, my boy let all his new found "friends" from the site play on his bike & as it was not theirs, they could not have given a toss about it. Fortunately, I bought a cheap Ridgeback MX20 from a friend but was thinking to myself would I be so relaxed has it been an Islabike?
Hopefully yours will respect the fact it is a premium bike but you don't want to be stopping them playing at campsites or worse still not saying anything but be fuming inside - I would be!
piecost76 said:
One point to note is that when camping, my boy let all his new found "friends" from the site play on his bike & as it was not theirs, they could not have given a toss about it. Fortunately, I bought a cheap Ridgeback MX20 from a friend but was thinking to myself would I be so relaxed has it been an Islabike?
Hopefully yours will respect the fact it is a premium bike but you don't want to be stopping them playing at campsites or worse still not saying anything but be fuming inside - I would be!
Fair play to your boy - sharing what they have with others is a trait to be applauaded IMO. It's a bike, not an ornament Hopefully yours will respect the fact it is a premium bike but you don't want to be stopping them playing at campsites or worse still not saying anything but be fuming inside - I would be!
The kids in our street all share their stuff between them - it's lovely to see.
piecost76 said:
Agreed!
Fine when it's £50 of Ridgeback but the sharp end of £300 for an islabike...
Disagreed.Fine when it's £50 of Ridgeback but the sharp end of £300 for an islabike...
Bikes are to be used and abused.
If you are getting precious about what a 6-year-old does with their stuff then you don't know 6-year-olds...
Just give it a little TLC through its life and when you come to sell and you will still get 80% back.
If a bar end needs replacing or the derailleur gets hammered just replace, like you do with any MTB.
walm said:
piecost76 said:
Agreed!
Fine when it's £50 of Ridgeback but the sharp end of £300 for an islabike...
Disagreed.Fine when it's £50 of Ridgeback but the sharp end of £300 for an islabike...
Bikes are to be used and abused.
If you are getting precious about what a 6-year-old does with their stuff then you don't know 6-year-olds...
Just give it a little TLC through its life and when you come to sell and you will still get 80% back.
If a bar end needs replacing or the derailleur gets hammered just replace, like you do with any MTB.
My kids would have to go some to inflict more damage on their bikes than I do on my own on trails anyway!
Bikes are for having fun on. Sure, they might knacker the occasional rear mech or scratch the frame, but that's trivial. It's not as though they're likely to actually damage the frame to the point that it cant' be ridden....
I have decided to not wait for xmas, its too far away so am ordering my daughter a Frog tomorrow.
Can anyone help with suggesting one of the better helmets for kids that are on the market. Is it the same as the adult helmet makes or are there kids specialists just like there is in the bike market?
Can anyone help with suggesting one of the better helmets for kids that are on the market. Is it the same as the adult helmet makes or are there kids specialists just like there is in the bike market?
S5V8 said:
I have decided to not wait for xmas, its too far away so am ordering my daughter a Frog tomorrow.
Can anyone help with suggesting one of the better helmets for kids that are on the market. Is it the same as the adult helmet makes or are there kids specialists just like there is in the bike market?
My sons have Bell Fraction helmets.Can anyone help with suggesting one of the better helmets for kids that are on the market. Is it the same as the adult helmet makes or are there kids specialists just like there is in the bike market?
Integrity as yet untested, thankfully...
S5V8 said:
I have decided to not wait for xmas, its too far away so am ordering my daughter a Frog tomorrow.
That's probably wise if you want it for Christmas anyway! They seem to have been struggling to keep up with demand recently. Certainly in my son's size, all colours were on back order when we started looking, although we did get one a week later. 
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