Bike recommendation for 5 year old please...

[cslwannabe]

Now that Junior can ride his Thomas bike without stabilisers I want to buy him a 'proper' bike. He's 4 3/4 but very tall for his age (99th centile) and I recently bought a tag along (with gears) so guess we'll still use that quite a bit for longer rides (all on NCN paths to date) but it would be nice for him to have his own bike also. A friend brought Isla bikes to my attention - seem pretty good and offer part exchange if you decide to buy another, although I wonder if I should be spending that much as we are planning on using the tagalong too (however they seem to attract bids on eBay quite readily for used examples).

Any suggestions would be appreciated please.

[Deerfoot]

You really can't go wrong with an Islabike. As you've noticed they're not cheap but this is offset by great residual value as seen on ebay.

My lad has just outgrown his CNOC14 and it's been great, my daughter has it now and I'm sure we'll get a fair chunk of the original cost back once she's finished with it.

[RRS_Staffs]

Islabike here too

Have had a few

Generally speaking bought for far too much money (FTMM)
Then sold on Ebay 2-3y later for (FTMM - £10)

Cheers

[stewies_minion]

I got my lad a Trek.

Very impressed with it - http://www.trekbikes.com/uk/en/collections/kids/mt...

[Watchman]

I like that Trek. My son has a Ridgeback MX20 which has (and is, for now - he's growing out of it) served him well.

[paulmon]

I bought this for my 6 year old last year (he's small for his age). Its an awesome bike and we regularly do 10+ mile rides along canal paths and he never has any problems.

[Obiwonkeyblokey]

^^^^ I like that a lot, very retro

I would also recomend islabikes. great bits of kit for kids but can seem expensive, although they sell very well on ebay.

[Watchman]

No front brake though.

[skoff]

Another vote for Islabike here. Proper bike with proper brakes. Nice and light and well built.

[Alec]

Another vote for Islabikes here, my lad is just going from their balance bike to their first proper bike.

[paulmon]

Watchman said:

No front brake though.

I removed it when I bought the bike. Kids have a tendancy to grab the first one that comes to hand when they are learning and it can be a confidence breaker when they grab the front by mistake especially on dirt.

[P-Jay]

I've looked at Islabikes stuff a couple of times, I like the idea of them, just wish they looked cooler!

Does anyone know of any 20" wheeled bikes with decent suspension forks (if such things exist), disc brakes and 5 gears or more? My son is sort of blue XC route level right now, but I would like him to have a bit of suspension to help on the drops.

[rhinochopig]

P-Jay said:

I've looked at Islabikes stuff a couple of times, I like the idea of them, just wish they looked cooler!

Does anyone know of any 20" wheeled bikes with decent suspension forks (if such things exist), disc brakes and 5 gears or more? My son is sort of blue XC route level right now, but I would like him to have a bit of suspension to help on the drops.

Complete waste of money IMO. Suspension on kids bikes is garbage and the weight penalty far outweighs the 'smoother', if you can call it that, ride.

My lad (3 Y/O) did the blue tester route - to see if you can cope with the full trail - on his likeabike balance bike up at keilder and he was fine on that and that included sections of north shore. The key to him being able to do it was the bike being so light and manoeuvrable. Blue routes are more akin to BMX tracks and they're fine on a rigid forked bike.

[PH5121]

My 3 year old rides a Specialized Hot Rock 12, and my 5 year old a Hot Rock 16.

The HR16 was possibley a touch too big for my eldest when he got it as a 4 year old, he would have been better off with a Ridgeback MX14. He is okay with it now.

The pedal back rear brake suits them fine, especially my youngest who only started riding a two wheeler pedal bike a couple of weeks ago (at 3 years and 7 days old - proud dad moment) after 18 months with a balance bike.

[Fat Albert]

Don't spend too much, they grow so fast and they don't care what make it is!

My son had a 20" Raleigh Hot Rod and loved it (front suspension & 5 speed), and Raleighs have good re-sale on eBay

Now he is 9, I have bought him a 24" full-sus Apollo from Halfords to replace it, as my experience is that they don't spend long on a 24", then we will build something decent when he gets to 26"

In the meantime he has saved up and bough a second hand BMX bike to sort out

[DocJH]

stewies_minion said:

I got my lad a Trek.

Very impressed with it - http://www.trekbikes.com/uk/en/collections/kids/mt...

We've had one of these in the family for years and it's proved very robust, if a bit on the weighty side. It has a lot of adjustment (handlebars, pedals can be moved further down the cranks) so it grows with the little people. Ours is on to its third "owner" now and still going strong. Highly recommended