In mid June I won a £4260 bid to provide 8 pool bikes and cycle training for 3 - 11 year olds, their parents and staff. TfL who are funding project said they would buy the bikes centrally to keep costs down as they could negotiate a good discount.
Today the pool bikes arrived - five weeks after the training project began - but at least I have them.
Apart from the colour scheme on the Hot Rod and the plastic chain guard on the Metro, I am very impressed with the bikes. They are good solid no-nonsense bikes.
My 3 y-o has a Striker and his 6 y-o sis has a Krush. They have been as you describe, solid, no-nonsense and lots of fun. Nowt wrong with the Raleighs this year IMHO.
My 5yo rides 4.5 miles to school on his Raeigh Kobo 16 once or twice a week. That's the forerunner of the striker. Pretty indestructable if a little heavy.
I fitted mudguards to his. Why not do the same? Improves the "utility" look and might widen the training window.
For 20" wheels, we went with Trek MT60 - along with Guy and most of Thomas' friends :-)
For 24" I'm thinking TCR junior (start saving) or Dawes Discovery 201 Junior. Somehow I think the boy can't see past the road bike...
Kids just completed their first 10mile night ride this evening. Dropped a friend back on the tandem/picollo with Thomas alongside. I can vouch for the cheap Smart LED lights.
My 5yo rides 4.5 miles to school on his Raeigh Kobo 16 once or twice a week. That's the forerunner of the striker. Pretty indestructable if a little heavy.
My daughter had a kobo 16 which was very good - now passed on to my neice. My son had a max 16 (or thereabouts) which seemed to do him OK - it is still running fine.
Quoted message said:
For 20" wheels, we went with Trek MT60 - along with Guy and most of Thomas' friends :-)
Picked a 'Lion' up from the local charity shop and fitted V-brakes/mudguars etc to it. Goes just fine.
Quoted message said:
For 24" I'm thinking TCR junior (start saving) or Dawes Discovery 201 Junior. Somehow I think the boy can't see past the road bike...
Tempting.. Decathlon do some good bikes in small sizes too.
Quoted message said:
Kids just completed their first 10mile night ride this evening. Dropped a friend back on the tandem/picollo with Thomas alongside. I can vouch for the cheap Smart LED lights.
My 3 y-o has a Striker and his 6 y-o sis has a Krush. They have been as you describe, solid, no-nonsense and lots of fun. Nowt wrong with the Raleighs this year IMHO.
enjoy,
As luck would have it I had a maintenance session arranged for today. Instead of going through punctures and removing rear wheels, I got the trainees to set up the bikes, they loved it - using screwdrivers and spanners, installing lights, putting on pedals, rotating handlebars. Of all the bikes the firm favourite was the SK8, especially with the girls. Odd that! It's meant to be a boys' bike.
I let Isabel have a spin round the playground on the SK8 in the pouring rain - she doesn't have her own bike and has been using a bike I recovered from a skip. You should have seen her face when I told her she could borrow the new SK8 for the half term holiday.
