Which 16" wheel bike?

[lemonslap]

Hi All

My 3 year old has a 12" wheel speicalized Hotrock and is rapidly outgrowing it, I have looked at the 16" inch wheel version but it only has a rear coaster brake? I would prefer him to continue to learn with proper bar mounted brake handles.

Any one have suggestions/experiences of bikes this size?

[TedMaul]

lemonslap said:

Hi All

My 3 year old has a 12" wheel speicalized Hotrock and is rapidly outgrowing it, I have looked at the 16" inch wheel version but it only has a rear coaster brake? I would prefer him to continue to learn with proper bar mounted brake handles.

Any one have suggestions/experiences of bikes this size?

The choice of 16" wheel bikes I found was bewilderingly poor. I had hoped to get my lad a decent specialized, trek or similar but nothing fitted the bill. In the end I got him a Probike Rage (http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/probike-rage-bmx-boys-bike-id43209.html) it looks much better in the flesh. He needs a 20" now and the choice is a million times better. Bizarre..

[LeftmostAardvark]

I've just ordered a hotrock 16 for my 4 year old, she came up from a hotrock 12 and it was great to help her learn to ride without stabilisers. We were also concerned about the coaster but I don't think it is a problem - my Raleigh striker used to have one 30 years ago and it was great for enormous sideways skids...

The other option we saw was the giant annihilator which doesn't have a coaster brake but we avoided as they don't have a colour that works for both girls and boys and the girls version is called a pudd'n FFS.

Or you could try islabikes.

Hope that helps

[lemonslap]

Thanks all

The Probike is out because of my snobbyness (steel frame) but thanks for the suggestion.

Short list is:

Speicalized hotrock 16" in red white (which will go colourwise with his existing Speicalized lid)

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Specialized-Hotrock-16w-Bo...

Giant Animator 16"

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Giant-Animator-16W-2013-Ki...

Scott Voltage (I think is overpriced and looks carp but my sons likes the most)

http://www.scott-sports.com/global/en/products/227...

thoughts?

[TedMaul]

The Giant looks a decent spec to be honest and decent value too. Worth getting him in the shop and allowing him to play on them if possible.

I'd pretty much decided on getting my son the 20" Specialised, at £250 with suspension forks and alu frame its good value, but he preferred the Ridgeback, same spec, different colour, £20 cheaper..... His bike, let him choose............. within reason!

[rhinochopig]

For kids bikes the answer is always Islabikes.

Anything else is heavier, has poorer geometry, or poorly spec'd components, such as crank arm length, grip diamter, etc. Basically all the stuff that needs to be scaled to the size of the rider and often isn't.

ETA Ted - don't bother with suspension forks at that price point. They're heavy to cart around and typically ineffective and make for a worse handling bike.

A kids bike needs to be as light as possible as bike weight is a much bigger percentage of bodyweight when compared to an adults. Imagine an adult having to pedal around a 40kg bike all day. It would be a sure fire way of putting them off cycling.

Edited by rhinochopig on Tuesday 19th February 20:21

[lemonslap]

Thanks all, islabikes look fantastic! strange I have never heard of them! I don't really want to take him into a shop to choose as he will pick a bike purely on looks, I want him to have a bike which is good quality and helps him to ride better. (Also I shamefully feel a tad smug when other kids are riding their argos specials when we are out).

[mad4amanda]

Islabikes are definately the way to go proper bikes designed by people that know what kids bikes need to become a part of the kids life.

[Magic919]

We have 4 Islabikes in the family and looking for a 5th one. Bought one of them as a barely-used eBay purchase. They fetch strong prices used, which is good when you sell.

[lemonslap]

Thanks all, even comes with kenda small block 8 tyres! Just need to convenice the wife (who has no interest in bikes or engineering) that it's worth the extra money. Or plan B pretend its on speical offer and magically comes within budget