Cycling with the kids

[dirty boy]

I've been out roughly twice a week, sometimes more over the last few months with my 7 year old.

He has a 10 year old full susser that my little brother used to have, we go out and usually do around 4 or 5 miles, although we've done a few 8 and 10 mile rides too.

Obviously I sit on my (t)rusty MTB to make it somewhat fairer, but his little bike not only is full suspension, but it's got fat tyres, doesn't roll well and probably weighs as much as my bike.

I'm seriously considering getting him a little road bike and have seen this.
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-3-junior-road-bi...

Does anyone have any experiences of them?

He's really into his cycling, he uses his BMX a lot too, but again, that's next to useless when on a run.

OR

Perhaps someone selling a 24" wheel roadie?

I know you can spend £500 on a 24" bike, but that seems pointless given the time he'll be able to ride it, unless he's stopped growing!?

[2volvos]

I went out yesterday evening with my 12 and 9 year old daughters and love riding with them.

The eldest has an old Coventry Eagle roadbike and the younger has a 24 inch wheeled Decathlon MTB. I don't know about the smaller Decathlon road bikes but all of our children (there's a younger one too) have had bikes from there and I think they are head and shoulders above the equivalent Halfords products (some of which are bikes!).

Mine always nag about getting the small roadbike in the link but for me an MTB is a bit more versatile for a child of your's vintage. The full sus is a bit unnecessary and weighty but that roadbike might not be quite as useful down the park or along the towpath.

Mind you I only had roadbikes, or racers as they were called then, as a kid so maybe it's all a bit of a First World Problem!

[dirty boy]

2volvos said:

I went out yesterday evening with my 12 and 9 year old daughters and love riding with them.

The eldest has an old Coventry Eagle roadbike and the younger has a 24 inch wheeled Decathlon MTB. I don't know about the smaller Decathlon road bikes but all of our children (there's a younger one too) have had bikes from there and I think they are head and shoulders above the equivalent Halfords products (some of which are bikes!).

Mine always nag about getting the small roadbike in the link but for me an MTB is a bit more versatile for a child of your's vintage. The full sus is a bit unnecessary and weighty but that roadbike might not be quite as useful down the park or along the towpath.

Mind you I only had roadbikes, or racers as they were called then, as a kid so maybe it's all a bit of a First World Problem!

I know what you mean about getting use out of it, but he has a BMX which even I whip down to the pub on, so that should last him.

With me now getting a roadbike (racer > I too refer to them as racers still) I think it would be nice to go out together.

Nice to hear Decathlon produce decent stuff though.

[Kell]

Depends on your budget really.

If you wanted to spend a little more, then an Islabikes Luath might be good.

http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/luath24.html

You can even spec it with cyclo-cross tyres if you wanted to make it more versatile.

We've had two Islabikes for my daughter - both MTB style and they're phenomenal.

Plus, you get about 2/3 to 3/4 of the purchase price bak when you come to sell - just try looking for one second hand.

[Vladimir]

Mine's recently cracked it on his CNOC 14 having learned to balance on his Rothan. Big Islabike fan!

Trouble is, he's getting a bit big for the CNOC already (aged 4, mostly wears six year olds clothing!).

[Engineer1]

Kell said:

Plus, you get about 2/3 to 3/4 of the purchase price bak when you come to sell - just try looking for one second hand.

this also leads to the stupid situation that by the time you factor in delivery a new bike can be only a little more than the second hand one on E-bay, and the new one won't have had any abuse or damage.

[gazza285]

Engineer1 said:

Kell said:

Plus, you get about 2/3 to 3/4 of the purchase price bak when you come to sell - just try looking for one second hand.

this also leads to the stupid situation that by the time you factor in delivery a new bike can be only a little more than the second hand one on E-bay, and the new one won't have had any abuse or damage.

One thing I have found about Islabikes is that they tend to be bought by "serious" cycling parents, so they do tend to be much better looked after than any old kids bike, and they do tend to get traded on as soon as their kid will fit the next size up, so generally not that old either.

As for finding them second hand, try joining your local cycling club, ours has a kids section and there always seems to be a good supply (and demand it has to be said) of second hand Islabikes.

Saying that, my youngest has a Dawes Espoir that he loves, it's the size up from a 24", but a 24" is available.

[Kell]

Engineer1 said:

this also leads to the stupid situation that by the time you factor in delivery a new bike can be only a little more than the second hand one on E-bay, and the new one won't have had any abuse or damage.

Great news when you're buying new though, as it helps offset the initial cost.

As an exmaple:

My daughter's very first bike was some monstrous 'Dora the Explorer' thing from Halfrauds. Cost £75 and we sold it at a car boot sale for £8. Total cost £67.

Her second bike was a CNOC 16 and cost £199. We sold that online for about £110. And could have asked more as we had people willing to buy it unseen. Total cost £89. So a little more, but not as much as the two purchase prices would suggest.

What I can say is that the difference in quality between them was immense. I'm fairly handy with a set of bike tools, but I could not get the Halfords bike set up properly - in particular the brakes were awful.

Also the Dora thing felt like it was heavier than my bike.

As for the Decathlon bike, other bikes in their range get great reviews, so there's no reason to think that their kids' bikes will be any different. The important thing is just to get one they like.