Child’s first pedal bike

[Nola25]

Hi

My nearly 4yr old boy is about ready for his first pedal bike.
Visited my local bike shop but they’re limited to specialized bike and only had one model
Struggling to find a shop within 10-15 miles, apart from Halfords, that have different makes and models. (Avoiding Halfords as he’ll want a Paw Patrol/Fireman Sam thing!)

Any makes and models I should be looking at with a £300 budget? The specialized one we’ve see was a Jett 16 but they hadn’t got the colour he wanted and I’d like him to actually like the bike rather than getting something he’ll resist from the start.

[sanguinary]

I swear by the Frog bikes. My youngest had one from the first balance bike, to her first pedal bike and then onto a rear derailleur.

I sold each one for about 80% of what I paid new too, so it ended up as a cost effective way to go about it. She had 4 in total from the start until 9 years old.

I stopped then as she lost interest, so she now uses the o/h mountain bike on occasions.

[Tickle]

Hi, jump on eBay or FB marketplace (some specific Frog, Isla sales groups).

Some suggestions on this thread. For a kids first bike; Hoy, Frog and Isla are all light and well thought out for little persons.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[cml24]

Tickle said:

Hi, jump on eBay or FB marketplace (some specific Frog, Isla sales groups).

Some suggestions on this thread. For a kids first bike; Hoy, Frog and Isla are all light and well thought out for little persons.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Those three brands all great. Key thing to look for is lightweight, that's the most important factor. After that it's things like q factor (hw spread out the pedals are). All those three brands focus on lightweight and special components to make it comfortable for a young child to ride a bike.


Islabikes have stopped producing bikes so all will be second hand now. Lots of other brands out there if you did want new.

Will you be going straight to 16" wheel?

[Pablo16v]

There's also Squish bikes

https://www.tgc.bike/bikes-c10/squish-m3#t21:t22

There was a 16" wheel one at a sports equipment sale at our local scout hut a few months back and it seemed like a decent enough bike and not too heavy.

[snotrag]

Another massive thumb up for Frog Bikes - my lads on his second. Very, very good for learners.


get a 2nd hand Frog or Isla bikes etc, and they are basically free as they hold their money so well.

Lots of good facebook buy/sell groups for them (I have a frog 40 up at the moment).

[ukbabz]

Another vote for Frog bikes.

My daughters first bike was a cheap (£30 halfords) balance bike which was small enough for her last Christmas when she was just over 2.5years old. She then moved onto her cousins Frog Tadpole + (which was a bit long in the leg) when she was around 3 and really enjoyed learning on that from around April time. By September she wanted her first pedal bike as she was really confident on her balance bike. We held off until Christmas (~3.5 years old) where we gave her a Frog 40(I think) and it took around 2mins of showing her about pedaling before she was off and she's not stopped.

The levers are great for little hands and she just seems to love it, she turned 4 in April and rides a few times a week. Yesterday we walked the dog (her on the bike) and then both rode to her grandparents. She rode around 12km and was still beaming by the time she got home.

[Gazzas86]

Another Vote for Frog Bikes, My 3 year old daughter at the time had a Barbie bike, it was a bit clunky and heavy, She wasnt getting on with it, and then we bought a Frog 44 of Facebook marketplace for £200, Within 2 hours of her riding it, she was riding it without stabalisers. My son who is 2 (3 in Aug), had the Frog tadpole (balance bike), and has recently inherited the frog 44, and he is now riding the bike (with pedals) and without stabalisers. My Daughter who is now 5 (6 in Sept) has now moved up to the Frog 52.

Buy second hand off marketplace, and you will sell them for the same price you bought them for. All of our friends cant believe how quick our kids have been able to ride a bike without stabalisers, and i put it down to the frog bikes. We took both kids on a 10km bike ride through Wye forrest a few weeks back and was great.

[Nola25]

Thanks all

A Frog bike seems to be the common theme on this thread, thanks for all of your inputs

Not being a FB or Ebay user though, I've ordered a Frog 44 from Winstanley Cycles for £309 (which seemed a good price compared to other sites) and more importantly, they had the colour he approves of

[President Merkin]

Quick one I learned through trial & error - kids learn at different rates, it may pay to introduce parts of cycling in stages, so maybe balancing & handlebars first, pedaling next, brakes later & so on.

Not saying your lad won't grasp it but I puzzled over one of mine not wanting to ride until I realised they were struggling to put it all together - took the cranks off & used it as a balance bike for a while until the basics sunk in & then put them back on & we were on our way! I had just assumed it all made sense & I was wrong.

[Ken_Code]

It’s common nowadays to start without the pedals, making it a balance bike, and then putting the pedals on once they have got used to riding it around and using the brakes

[vapourtrail]

I echo the comments above regrading Frog, Squish, Forme and Isla bikes. We had exactly the same issue when our eldest learnt to ride aged 3 or so. She had a pig iron heavy £80 Halfords bike which she struggled with. We then borrowed her cousins' Isla bike and within a few hours she had nailed it.

All the tales of buying these bikes and selling them on a year or two later with little effect on price are true as well. However, we use https://bikeclub.com/ . You select the bikes you want, it is delivered to your door and you then pay a monthly subscription. Either until you have paid off/ bought the bike, which you can then sell on at a minimal loss as describe above, or the swap the bike with a new one as your child grows. We have been using them for 6 years or so now for both my kids. Especially handy when they grown a bike size each year!

[Stevil]

Woom bikes are also worth a look, had a couple and just sold one on eBay as my youngest outgrew it, sold within a couple of hours of putting it up, so there's a good resale market for them too.

[Dannbodge]

Both of my kids have started on Islabikes.

Bought second hand off facebook/ebay, used for a few months until they're outgrown then put back onto marketplace and sold for what we bought them for.

I don't think I'll ever buy a new bike for them

[heisthegaffer]

I suspect its store dependent but we bought my son a £300 carrera from Halfords Borehamwood in 2021 and when we collected it they hadn't connected the brakes correctly.

I wheeled it back and suggested they fix it and the response from the till operator was 'oh no, not again - we keep telling the workshop to check the brakes'.

Halford's were not remotely interested in this so what I am trying to say is never buy a Bike from that lot.

[snotrag]

President Merkin said:

it may pay to introduce parts of cycling in stages, so maybe balancing & handlebars first, pedaling next, brakes later & so on.

Brakes before pedalling!

[N88]

Thanks to the advice in this thread and others on here, we’ve just gone for a Frog bike for our son’s first pedal bike. Managed to find a great condition second hand one for £160.

[Tabs]

That looks as new.
My two Grandchildren aged 6 and 8 have now had 5 Frogs between them. Their mother is £30 up over the 5.
Fortunately she is in a position to buy the next size up if she spots a bargain.
As a cyclist I get the pleasant job of checking the bikes over with the kids, and taking them out for rides.
They really are the perfect childs bike.

[Tickle]

N88 said:

Thanks to the advice in this thread and others on here, we’ve just gone for a Frog bike for our son’s first pedal bike. Managed to find a great condition second hand one for £160.

Great buy, should be cash neutral'ish now for sizing up.

[Some Gump]

Echo all of the above, but will add potential Facebook billy bargain for future readers…

Wiggins chartres.

They’ve not got the reputation that frog / Isla have picked up. I got one of ours for 25 quid and the other for free on fb marketplace! Ok they’re not _quite_ as good as an Isla, but very close to the frog.

For context - garage has 2 Islas, 2 frogs and 2 wiggins in it, middle daughter prefers to ride “her” Wiggins’s than use brother’s now outgrown Isla beinn.