Kids bikes ..

[Mr_C]

Sorry if this has been asked before but have any of you got any experience of these?

https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15907222/15907222

Daughter needs a bike and I want to get her something she’ll enjoy riding, was thinking of a second hand Isla CNOC 14 but someone said to look at Go Outdoors site.

Thanks
Paul

[Dizeee]

At this size and price point they are all much of a muchness - generally heavy with V brakes that will rub against the wheel. Just pick a colour you like and look for second hand ones, she will outgrow it in a matter of 12 months anyway.

I am looking forward to when my son hits a decent age that I can get him a decent set of wheels. At 7 he has a B Twin which is fine but its his 4th bike, the previous have been heavy and short lived.

[juggsy]

My 3yr old son has an Islabike Cnoc 14, recommended as the one to get by our cycling instructor neighbour. Expensive but so light and great design (brakes easily reachable, hidden chain etc.)

Moved from a couple of balance bikes and has been using it since the summer, but over the last couple of weeks managed his first time riding properly. Absolutely magic proud dad moment.

[lllnorrislll]

I'm currently looking for my 3rd and youngest child, as he is almost ready for a 16in wheeled bike.

In the last 10 years the market has gone from Isla or nothing, to competition from Frog bikes and now alot more bikes of similar spec.

We had a play with the go-outdoors' limited' range of available bikes at Birmingham cycle show and they seemed well built and far better than the bso kids stuff of 10 years ago.
The problem for me is resale, Isla is still seen as the best and the early riders hold their price, but they are alot of outlay. Frog is still a good compromise with their own part ex.

BUT if a new Frog can devalue from 250 to 120 in resale, a new gooutdoors or Vitus bike at £150 new becomes very tempting.

[JuniorD]

Great timing on this thread, my son has outgrown his 16" islabikes Cnoc.

I was looking at buying a bigger Islabike yesterday, but the prices are crazy £399 for the one I liked. After a bit of deliberation overnight I decided this morning to order one anyhow, however this is their website today:

https://www.islabikes.co.uk/


Bloody hippies closing their e-commerce site on so-called 'black Friday'! Principled or just plain stupid?

Then I found this thread and the OP's link to gooutdoors (had never heard of them!) and bought this instead

https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15907232/wild-bikes-w...

Edited by JuniorD on Friday 29th November 13:00

[Chuffedmonkey]

I have just got my Son the 24 inch wheel version of the wild bike (9 years old), I did a bit of research and the biggest selling point is the weight, its under 10kg. He wont have it until next month but im hopeful it will last him until he is ready for an adult bike in a few years time. The price is very good for the weight.

They are also designed by the bloke who did the Bossnut, which for the 1k price market is heads above everything else.

[juggsy]

I have a mate who’s joined a bike rental club: https://thebikeclub.co/

In some ways makes sense considering how quickly kids grow out of their bikes, although for me as we see our youngest inheriting the eldest’s bikes for now, made more sense to buy the asset outright

[dogbucket]

I am getting my 10yr old daughter one of these (she hates pink girly things)

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-st-100-mtb-2...

Yes it weighs a ton but will last the few years it is needed and then hand down to her sister. Leaves more money for me to spend on my bikes

[Sargeant Orange]

Just picked up a Cnoc 14 for our 3 year old. Pretty much as new for half it's new value on gumtree.

I can't believe how light it is compared to Halfords usual offerings. Looks a proper bike.

[juggsy]

Sargeant Orange said:

Just picked up a Cnoc 14 for our 3 year old. Pretty much as new for half it's new value on gumtree.

I can't believe how light it is compared to Halfords usual offerings. Looks a proper bike.

Yeah they are really well designed, great bikes

[Sargeant Orange]

Bit of a long shot I know, but does anyone have any spare Cnoc 14 stabilisers lurking at the back of the garage I could buy?

Islabike are out of stock & theres nothing about on the usual 2nd hand sites. The universal ones I've bought don't fit without me getting the dremel out due to the short axle.

Stabilisers are not very PH I know, but the little one has been struggling a little on her balance bike so I can't see the transition being easy

[C0ffin D0dger]

Sargeant Orange said:

Bit of a long shot I know, but does anyone have any spare Cnoc 14 stabilisers lurking at the back of the garage I could buy?

Islabike are out of stock & theres nothing about on the usual 2nd hand sites. The universal ones I've bought don't fit without me getting the dremel out due to the short axle.

Stabilisers are not very PH I know, but the little one has been struggling a little on her balance bike so I can't see the transition being easy

But you're just making it even harder by fitting stabilisers. Best bet would be to take the pedals off the Cnoc, use it as a balance bike until she is confident, put the pedals back on and away she'll go. Or just stay with the balance bike for now.

My daughter was a stubborn little so and so when it came to bike riding, she could pretty much ride after finishing with the balance bike but just didn't want to. She barely rode the Isla (my son's before she got it) but when he moved to the next size up Frog bike she suddenly took to his old Frog and now the pain of getting her to ride is a distant memory. For my son the transition from balance bike to the Isla was nothing short of incredible, we took him down the club car park at the end of the road on his 4th birthday, he got on his new bike and after about 1-2 runs of us holding him while he pedalled he was then doing it on his own.

Recently sold that Isla for about £50 less than what we paid for it new. Not bad for four years use / rental

[louiebaby]

I am an Islabike fan. They're great.

I tend to buy them when I see a great deal, rather than when I need them, right now I'm on the lookout for the next one on from a Beinn 20L, which my eldest will need in about a year.

With this planning, if you have the space to store them, you may even make money on them. I keep them for 4-5 years, during which time the prices of new bikes go up, making reasonably well cared for second hand ones gain (a little) too, if you bought them at the right price.

[Sargeant Orange]

C0ffin D0dger said:

Sargeant Orange said:

Bit of a long shot I know, but does anyone have any spare Cnoc 14 stabilisers lurking at the back of the garage I could buy?

Islabike are out of stock & theres nothing about on the usual 2nd hand sites. The universal ones I've bought don't fit without me getting the dremel out due to the short axle.

Stabilisers are not very PH I know, but the little one has been struggling a little on her balance bike so I can't see the transition being easy

But you're just making it even harder by fitting stabilisers. Best bet would be to take the pedals off the Cnoc, use it as a balance bike until she is confident, put the pedals back on and away she'll go. Or just stay with the balance bike for now.

My daughter was a stubborn little so and so when it came to bike riding, she could pretty much ride after finishing with the balance bike but just didn't want to. She barely rode the Isla (my son's before she got it) but when he moved to the next size up Frog bike she suddenly took to his old Frog and now the pain of getting her to ride is a distant memory. For my son the transition from balance bike to the Isla was nothing short of incredible, we took him down the club car park at the end of the road on his 4th birthday, he got on his new bike and after about 1-2 runs of us holding him while he pedalled he was then doing it on his own.

Recently sold that Isla for about £50 less than what we paid for it new. Not bad for four years use / rental

Yeah I totally agree but............wife!

I'm going to try my best to avoid using them, pedals off is a good shout actually

[juggsy]

Sargeant Orange said:

C0ffin D0dger said:

Sargeant Orange said:

Bit of a long shot I know, but does anyone have any spare Cnoc 14 stabilisers lurking at the back of the garage I could buy?

Islabike are out of stock & theres nothing about on the usual 2nd hand sites. The universal ones I've bought don't fit without me getting the dremel out due to the short axle.

Stabilisers are not very PH I know, but the little one has been struggling a little on her balance bike so I can't see the transition being easy

But you're just making it even harder by fitting stabilisers. Best bet would be to take the pedals off the Cnoc, use it as a balance bike until she is confident, put the pedals back on and away she'll go. Or just stay with the balance bike for now.

My daughter was a stubborn little so and so when it came to bike riding, she could pretty much ride after finishing with the balance bike but just didn't want to. She barely rode the Isla (my son's before she got it) but when he moved to the next size up Frog bike she suddenly took to his old Frog and now the pain of getting her to ride is a distant memory. For my son the transition from balance bike to the Isla was nothing short of incredible, we took him down the club car park at the end of the road on his 4th birthday, he got on his new bike and after about 1-2 runs of us holding him while he pedalled he was then doing it on his own.

Recently sold that Isla for about £50 less than what we paid for it new. Not bad for four years use / rental

Yeah I totally agree but............wife!

I'm going to try my best to avoid using them, pedals off is a good shout actually

Absolute +1 here, we also had (have) a stubborn one who just couldn’t be bothered to pedal. But with persistence combined with his little mate able to pedal, one day when I was holding him and just ‘let go’ he carried on. Not long after he could set off by himself too.

As others have said, treat it like a balance bike and keep encouraging using the pedals (we kept them on so he could try whenever willing). Stabilisers are absolutely counter intuitive.

[Court_S]

Sargeant Orange said:

C0ffin D0dger said:

Sargeant Orange said:

Bit of a long shot I know, but does anyone have any spare Cnoc 14 stabilisers lurking at the back of the garage I could buy?

Islabike are out of stock & theres nothing about on the usual 2nd hand sites. The universal ones I've bought don't fit without me getting the dremel out due to the short axle.

Stabilisers are not very PH I know, but the little one has been struggling a little on her balance bike so I can't see the transition being easy

But you're just making it even harder by fitting stabilisers. Best bet would be to take the pedals off the Cnoc, use it as a balance bike until she is confident, put the pedals back on and away she'll go. Or just stay with the balance bike for now.

My daughter was a stubborn little so and so when it came to bike riding, she could pretty much ride after finishing with the balance bike but just didn't want to. She barely rode the Isla (my son's before she got it) but when he moved to the next size up Frog bike she suddenly took to his old Frog and now the pain of getting her to ride is a distant memory. For my son the transition from balance bike to the Isla was nothing short of incredible, we took him down the club car park at the end of the road on his 4th birthday, he got on his new bike and after about 1-2 runs of us holding him while he pedalled he was then doing it on his own.

Recently sold that Isla for about £50 less than what we paid for it new. Not bad for four years use / rental

Yeah I totally agree but............wife!

I'm going to try my best to avoid using them, pedals off is a good shout actually

It really worked for my little lad.

He was in the verse of outgrowing his balance bike but was so confident in it that the thought of trying to pedal didn’t interest him one bit. I took the cranks, pedals and belt off his Early Rider and he used it as a big balance bike for a few months. He then started nagging me about having the pedals put back on. I gave in one day and he literally pedalled out of the garage on it.

He’s currently between sizes; his 16 looks a bit small but he’s not quite big enough for a 20. He hates riding up hill, so hopefully gears will help.

Just bought him this for Christmas

image sharing

[Matt_N]

That’s a good looking kids bike /\

Agree with the stabiliser pointers, do not fit them it’ll be a backwards step. Keep the balance bike until their confidence on it grows

My lad is just out growing his Frog 43, I put a longer stem to eek out a bit more use but it’s time to go.

Frog 48 is too small a jump and he will outgrow it too quickly but the 52 is a bit big at the mo and I’m not sure he’ll get to grips with gears yet, he’s 5 in Jan.

Have looked at Isla but was a bit miffed at the 20% price hike with their MY20 range and they’ve dropped the colour I really liked. I know you get a decent chunk back tho.

[Court_S]

Matt_N said:

That’s a good looking kids bike /\

Agree with the stabiliser pointers, do not fit them it’ll be a backwards step. Keep the balance bike until their confidence on it grows

My lad is just out growing his Frog 43, I put a longer stem to eek out a bit more use but it’s time to go.

Frog 48 is too small a jump and he will outgrow it too quickly but the 52 is a bit big at the mo and I’m not sure he’ll get to grips with gears yet, he’s 5 in Jan.

Have looked at Isla but was a bit miffed at the 20% price hike with their MY20 range and they’ve dropped the colour I really liked. I know you get a decent chunk back tho.

We loved his Early Rider but the 20 was a massive step up in price. Nearly £600 was a bit too much really so the Orbea was a no brainer. Lots of people have bought them and seem impressed. It’s a bit heavier than the big names but lighter on my wallet! :lol:

Given the popularity of posh kids bikes it’s interesting re the prices because they seem to be going up with demand rather than coming down. Guess they’re cashing in whilst they can.

[Craikeybaby]

I've had a look at the Wild bikes at Go Outdoors and they look good/feel quite light, certainly on par with my son's Frog.

[JuniorD]

Craikeybaby said:

I've had a look at the Wild bikes at Go Outdoors and they look good/feel quite light, certainly on par with my son's Frog.

The price is also great, £190 for a 24”. A Comparable Islabike would be £200+ more. At £190 a kid can use and abuse it as they are inclined to do but without a parent worrying about damaging an expensive item or preserving it for future resale value,