New bike for (almost) 6yr old

[nofuse22]

My almost 6yr old has been riding a pedal bike for over 2.5 years. First we had an Isla balance bike and then an Isla bike with pedals (a cnoc 14). Next step is a beinn at 390 quid.

Are there any other options? That seems pretty expensive for a bike for a 6 yr old. Is there a cheaper bike that people would recommend? It needs to have gears

Thanks

[chrisp84]

Bought a £30 eBay giant xtc lite. Put on some avid sd5 brakes and he loves it. Few stone chips here and there but he doesn't care, it's got 7 gears which is one more than on his sisters bikes!

He also loves doing skids on it at any opportunity

[troc]

Coincidentally, we just bought a Beinn 20(small) for our 4 and a half year old and he loves it. Coming from a 14” bike, the Beinn is a revelation - it’s the same weight but has much bigger wheels and 7 speeds. Yes it’s expensive but they have tremendous resale value and everything has so obviously been designed for a small human.

We looked at the small Wiggins in Halfords and qeee fairly impressed too but at this size, I can’t find and serious competition. When he’s bigger we’ll look maybe at scott or cube but for now the Islabikes seem to be the best bet and I’d be looking for one of those either view or second hand.

[JQ]

Frog do good bikes. They're cheaper than Isla, but also retain their value so easy to sell at a later dare.

[lufbramatt]

Yea Frog stuff is really nice, my son's frog balance bike has even got internal cable routing!

the Frog 55 is about £300 so still not that cheap but as above they hold their value well.

they have some nice touches like narrow bottom brackets/cranks to suit smaller hips.

Edited by lufbramatt on Thursday 26th July 08:31

[PH5121]

Both my sons had Specialized Hot Rock 20's when that age, if buying second hand there's usually plenty of choice and they are relatively cheap.

More info about 20 inch wheeled mountain bikes here www.cyclesprog.co.uk/bikes/best-kids-20-wheel-moun...

[Mr E]

The boy went from a 14” Isla to a 20” ridgeback with 7 speed.

It’s a good bike, it was about £200 just before Christmas.

[one eyed cat]

I use a hire scheme to hire a Frog bike for my 6 year old boy, it’s around £11 a month and you can upgrade to a bigger frame size at any time (they send a new one out and you return the smaller frame), seems like good value compared to buying outright as I had done for his 8 year old sister, if the child doesn’t grow and stays on the same frame, the hire will roll over into you owning the bike if the hire equals the cost of the bike.

I will look for a link!

[mikey P 500]

Depends a bit on use too. Isla bikes have fairly road based tyres and are very light weight. if looking to go on proper single track mountain biking I think the stuff from the main mtb manufactures is more suited. My 6yr old son also has a giant like above but trek, specialised, kona, ridgeback etc also have similar bikes for around £200, and plenty of used ones around.

[one eyed cat]

Link as promised

https://www.thebikeclub.co/

No affiliation other than being a happy customer.

[JQ]

mikey P 500 said:

Depends a bit on use too. Isla bikes have fairly road based tyres and are very light weight. if looking to go on proper single track mountain biking I think the stuff from the main mtb manufactures is more suited. My 6yr old son also has a giant like above but trek, specialised, kona, ridgeback etc also have similar bikes for around £200, and plenty of used ones around.

And I have completely the opposite view. My lad had a front suspension Kona for a short while and while it looked great it was too heavy for doing any proper climbing. Took it to Llandegla and getting it off the car realised it was heavier than my own bike, a mid range Decathlon. Swapped it out for a rigid fork Frog bike which is considerably lighter and it's been a revelation for him. He's done the Black at Llandegla and The North Face Trail at Grizedale on it. At his size he struggled to get the forks on the Kona to compress so all they were doing was adding weight to the front of the bike making drop-offs and climbing harder.

[mikey P 500]

No I would agree on the suspension being a waste of time on 20" wheeled bikes (unless maybe very good air ones) as spring based one's are heavy and don't work for the weight of a small child. My son's giant has the solid fork option. However the tyres being wider and more of road based do help.

[louiebaby]

My 5.5 yo is about to go from a Cnoc 16 (top of the seat post, spinning out on the flat) to a Beinn 20 L. I've put them side by side to get the seat post right for the bottom of the pedal stroke. The only difference in position to start with will be the bars being about an inch higher and half an inch further away.

I got it in almost new condition (will need a new rear in about 6 months) for £150. Absolutely delighted.

He might get given it this weekend, if he continues to behave well.