Islabikes - any experience?
Discussion
Morning, has anyone had one of these for their kids? I am looking at a Creig for my son, although not sure if he is quite ready for a 26" as he is quite a small 10 yr old.
Weight is a consideration and these get a good write up, but are at the expensive end of the options I imagine. He has saved his money and wants a better bike than the Trek MT200 he has at the moment and whilst I have told him that he can only spend it once, I don't want there to be another life lesson in the form of a duff bike to compound the pain he will feel when his bank account is empty!
Thanks!
Weight is a consideration and these get a good write up, but are at the expensive end of the options I imagine. He has saved his money and wants a better bike than the Trek MT200 he has at the moment and whilst I have told him that he can only spend it once, I don't want there to be another life lesson in the form of a duff bike to compound the pain he will feel when his bank account is empty!
Thanks!
Frog seem to be gaining ground now as they are a little more cost-effective. We're looking at moving up to the Frog 52. Re-sale is pretty good too.
http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/browse?keywordFilt...
http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/browse?keywordFilt...
Yes, I have had many Islabikes for my two kids and the youngest is still on a craig 26. They are fantastic bikes very light, well made and very well thought out for children, with things like short cranks, low gearing, small reach brake levers, small diameter handlebars and air forks set for low weight riders
They may be expensive but they really hold thier value, and I just consider them as rented items as the kids grow so quickly, from experiance you can keep the bike for a year and sell it on for about £50 less than you paid for it new
They may be expensive but they really hold thier value, and I just consider them as rented items as the kids grow so quickly, from experiance you can keep the bike for a year and sell it on for about £50 less than you paid for it new
jshell said:
Frog seem to be gaining ground now as they are a little more cost-effective. We're looking at moving up to the Frog 52. Re-sale is pretty good too.
http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/browse?keywordFilt...
My daughter has has two islabikes and is now on a Frog. It's a noticeable step down, but she fell in love with the way it looked. Will be very interesting to see if it holds it's value as well as the Islabikes did. Her first one lost less than £25 (from new) over the two years she had it. http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/browse?keywordFilt...
I haven't got one, but happened to look around the factory showroom a couple of years back, when I was passing there by chance on holiday, very impressed with the range and quality.
Seem to focus more on kids bikes, they only had one style/size of adults bike at that time.
They seem to hold their value very well.
Seem to focus more on kids bikes, they only had one style/size of adults bike at that time.
They seem to hold their value very well.
WestyCarl said:
They are the best, but expensive. However I found that you do get a much higher re sales value. Therefore using man maths they were best for overall cost.
Another + for IslabikesAll of the above comments are pretty much spot on IMHO
We only lost £50 in two years of ownership when selling the last one.
Gumtree is a good place to look and people are prepared to travel for a good example. We had a couple travel from Torquay to Bristol to buy ours, no haggling either as I could have sold it 10 times over!
Spares are mail order only (not in the shops) but delivery was speedy, 2 days IIRC.
Thanks for the advice; they certainly seem to be the best option for a small person who wants to ride proper off road stuff and although the Frog bikes are nice, none of them would suit that purpose. I do look after things and having heard the accounts above, I think that dependent on what is on gumtree etc, I may top up his savings to get a new one... He is having a look at one tonight and we shall see where we get to on that, but my man maths is warming up nicely for a three hour drive to the factory...
louiebaby said:
They suit from a smaller height than many of their competitors, on the balance bike side of things. (Where I currently am with ours.)
Some of my sons friends were struggling to be able to use their other branded balance bikes, despite being a similar height.
we're looking at balance bikes for our daughters second birthday in April, what else did you conisder? I like the frog tadpole but havent compared seat height agasint the Islabike yet. I see there is a Hoy balance bike now too.Some of my sons friends were struggling to be able to use their other branded balance bikes, despite being a similar height.
pablo said:
louiebaby said:
They suit from a smaller height than many of their competitors, on the balance bike side of things. (Where I currently am with ours.)
Some of my sons friends were struggling to be able to use their other branded balance bikes, despite being a similar height.
we're looking at balance bikes for our daughters second birthday in April, what else did you conisder? I like the frog tadpole but havent compared seat height agasint the Islabike yet. I see there is a Hoy balance bike now too.Some of my sons friends were struggling to be able to use their other branded balance bikes, despite being a similar height.
WestyCarl said:
They are the best, but expensive. However I found that you do get a much higher re sales value. Therefore using man maths they were best for overall cost.
My kids have had 4 Islabikes between them and they`ve all been great and have had residual values that my cars could only dream of.....
We bought it for Christmas 2014, but went to the showroom in Sept 2014 as we happened to be holidaying close by. (This was a coincidence, although the wife still doesn't fully trust that this was the case.) I don't think Hoy or Frog were about in the same volume then, might be wrong.
With the best will in the world, we didn't consider a lot of other options. I did a bit of research, after hearing about Islabikes already. Combined with the fact we would probably have two kids, (since confirmed,) following a few auctions on eBay to confirm the prices they go for, and having seen them in person before, we just we straight for them.
Pablo directly:- We do come up to Bristol occasionally, if you want to meet up and have a play with ours, that is something we could probably arrange.
With the best will in the world, we didn't consider a lot of other options. I did a bit of research, after hearing about Islabikes already. Combined with the fact we would probably have two kids, (since confirmed,) following a few auctions on eBay to confirm the prices they go for, and having seen them in person before, we just we straight for them.
Pablo directly:- We do come up to Bristol occasionally, if you want to meet up and have a play with ours, that is something we could probably arrange.
No child of mine will be on a Sky branded bike! 
The Islabike Rothan recommends a minimumn inside leg of 30cm, the Frog Tadpole is 32cm. She appears to have long legs and a short torso, typical woman really!, so we'll try to sit her on both and see how they fit...
Louiebaby, cool idea, drop me a line if you are about.
The Islabike Rothan recommends a minimumn inside leg of 30cm, the Frog Tadpole is 32cm. She appears to have long legs and a short torso, typical woman really!, so we'll try to sit her on both and see how they fit...
Louiebaby, cool idea, drop me a line if you are about.
Islabikes are great (my daughter's Beinn was brilliant for everything up to gentle trails), but I'm not so sure about the Creig.
Whilst it does look like a nicely put together bike, it's starting to get close to the weight of a decent adult mountain bike at 11.5kg or so.
When my son (again a shortish 10yr old) needed a new bike last year, we did look at it, but ended up building up a second hand project based on an extra small On-One Inbred frame which is around 12.5kg, only cost us around £450 (although admittedly that included some man maths to allow me to upgrade a couple of parts on my own bikes!
) and, when he outgrows that, will allow us to simply buy a larger frame and move everything over to it.
He loves it!
Whilst it does look like a nicely put together bike, it's starting to get close to the weight of a decent adult mountain bike at 11.5kg or so.
When my son (again a shortish 10yr old) needed a new bike last year, we did look at it, but ended up building up a second hand project based on an extra small On-One Inbred frame which is around 12.5kg, only cost us around £450 (although admittedly that included some man maths to allow me to upgrade a couple of parts on my own bikes!
) and, when he outgrows that, will allow us to simply buy a larger frame and move everything over to it.He loves it!
We have had 4 isla bikes already for my son and he is only 9! trading up is easy as you don't lose much money at all when you sell them on.
I was so impressed I bought one for myself - a Beinn 29, and for the price it is fantastic commuter bike. My wife has a Cannondale Quick which was more expensive but isn't a patch on the Beinn.
My son was skidding around corners and climbing hills when other kids were still on stabilisers.
I was so impressed I bought one for myself - a Beinn 29, and for the price it is fantastic commuter bike. My wife has a Cannondale Quick which was more expensive but isn't a patch on the Beinn.
My son was skidding around corners and climbing hills when other kids were still on stabilisers.
Have had four Islabikes, three bought new, one secondhand, barely spent a real-money penny on them as we've always managed to sell them for about what we paid for them, sometimes even more.
Add to the fact they are bloody good bikes that rarely require maintenance/adjustment and just keep working and I wonder why people buy anything else.
</sales mode>
Seriously, IMO you can't go wrong. Not that there aren't other very decent choices out there but to paraphrase, 'no-one ever got fired for buying Islabikes'.
Add to the fact they are bloody good bikes that rarely require maintenance/adjustment and just keep working and I wonder why people buy anything else.
</sales mode>
Seriously, IMO you can't go wrong. Not that there aren't other very decent choices out there but to paraphrase, 'no-one ever got fired for buying Islabikes'.
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