lightweight bike for 5 year old daughter

misterroy said:

Hi, her birthday is coming up and all the bikes in the local shop are
heavy and over-engineered like the fashion seems to be. I want to find
her a lighter functional bike, any recommendations?

IslaBikes are the usual starting point; not the cheapest on the planet.

--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

Nigel Cliffe said:

misterroy said:

Hi, her birthday is coming up and all the bikes in the local shop are
heavy and over-engineered like the fashion seems to be. I want to find
her a lighter functional bike, any recommendations?

IslaBikes are the usual starting point; not the cheapest on the planet.

Look at TCO. The depreciation on an Islabike will probably be less
than the cost of a very heavy BSO. You'll be able to sell the Islabike
on when she has outgrown it for a good price.

...d

In message
<[email hidden]>,
misterroy <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Hi, her birthday is coming up and all the bikes in the local shop are
heavy and over-engineered like the fashion seems to be. I want to find
her a lighter functional bike, any recommendations?

A a poke around on Google Groups for old discussions on this - you'll
see a few names come up.

Someone has already mentioned Islabikes, which are probably one of the
best kids bikes around at the moment. I've got ordered for my almost
7yo. But as was also said, they aren't the cheapest, though not silly
money either, just at the towards end of the scale for these sorts of
bikes and just a bit more than some peoples budgets. (eg. GBP200 for the
Beinn 24 I'm getting, though I'm paying more for mudguards etc.)

<http://www.islabikes.co.uk/>

My DD's current bike is a Puky Z6, which I can certainly recommend.
Probably a bit heavier than the Islabikes, but then they do come with
racks & mudguards (and lights on the larger bikes). Certainly well
designed and constructed, with sensibly sized brake levers,. cranks etc.
Prices are similar to Islabike's I guess. Much probably depends on what
you are looking for in the bike.

<http://www.puky.net/>

Imported by Amba Marketing:

<http://www.amba-marketing.com/products.php?cid=24>

I've seen a number of people recommending the Specialized Hotrock, and
giant look like should have some reasonable bikes as well.

--
Chris French

misterroy said:

Hi, her birthday is coming up and all the bikes in the local shop are
heavy and over-engineered like the fashion seems to be. I want to find
her a lighter functional bike, any recommendations?

Islabikes (as has already been suggested).

I recently (christmas) bought my 5.5 yr-old a Cnoc 16 and am very
happy with it (so is she).

http://www.astounding.org.uk/ian/temp/DSCN1043.JPG
http://www.astounding.org.uk/ian/temp/DSCN1044.JPG

If you're looking at the web site bear in mind the ages seem to be
geared to taller children - the Beinn is apparently for 5-yr-olds, but
mine wouldn't fit it. The Cnoc is apparently for 4-yrs plus, but my
5.5-yr-old seems to be at about the middle of its adjustment.
Admittedly, she's at the small end of normal, but she does fall into
normal range. Check the inside leg values.

Also beware that the web site shows silver, but the current bikes seem
to be dark grey / black.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

Ian Smith said:

misterroy said:

Hi, her birthday is coming up and all the bikes in the local shop are
heavy and over-engineered like the fashion seems to be. I want to find
her a lighter functional bike, any recommendations?

Islabikes (as has already been suggested).

I recently (christmas) bought my 5.5 yr-old a Cnoc 16 and am very
happy with it (so is she).

http://www.astounding.org.uk/ian/temp/DSCN1043.JPG
http://www.astounding.org.uk/ian/temp/DSCN1044.JPG

If you're looking at the web site bear in mind the ages seem to be
geared to taller children - the Beinn is apparently for 5-yr-olds, but
mine wouldn't fit it. The Cnoc is apparently for 4-yrs plus, but my
5.5-yr-old seems to be at about the middle of its adjustment.
Admittedly, she's at the small end of normal, but she does fall into
normal range. Check the inside leg values.

Note also that your child's inside leg should be measured to the floor
*in shoes*.

Quoted message said:

Also beware that the web site shows silver, but the current bikes seem
to be dark grey / black.

regards, Ian SMith

In message <[email hidden]>, Danny Colyer
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Tom Crispin said:

Note also that your child's inside leg should be measured to the floor
*in shoes*.

That's the second time you've written that in the last few days. I've
always understood the inside leg measurement to be without shoes, and
indeed the e-mail I received from Isla Rowntree when I asked about
sizing (my son's inside leg measurement was 2cm off the 42cm stated
minimum for the CNOC 16 when I measured it 3 months before his
birthday) advises:

"To measure his inside leg accurately get him to stand back to a wall in
socks, slide a book between his legs, slide the book up the wall until
it contacts his crotch, mark the wall at that point and measure from
the mark to the floor."

Yep, and on the sizing guide on the Islabike website it says 'in
socks'.

Quoted message said:

It was just over 41cm last week. His birthday's at the beginning of
April. If he's at 42cm, in socks, by the beginning of March then I'll
probably be happy to order the CNOC 16 rather than the CNOC 14.

Oh, I think I'd be buying him the CNOC 16 anyway :-)
--
Chris French

chris French said:

In message <[email hidden]>, Danny Colyer
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Tom Crispin said:

Note also that your child's inside leg should be measured to the floor
*in shoes*.

That's the second time you've written that in the last few days. I've
always understood the inside leg measurement to be without shoes, and
indeed the e-mail I received from Isla Rowntree when I asked about
sizing (my son's inside leg measurement was 2cm off the 42cm stated
minimum for the CNOC 16 when I measured it 3 months before his
birthday) advises:

"To measure his inside leg accurately get him to stand back to a wall in
socks, slide a book between his legs, slide the book up the wall until
it contacts his crotch, mark the wall at that point and measure from
the mark to the floor."

Yep, and on the sizing guide on the Islabike website it says 'in
socks'.

I've just seen that. I cannot recall where I read about inside leg
measurements for children's bikes. It said something like, "Be sure
to measure your child's inside leg from floor to crotch in shoes.
Don't use their trouser leg measurement."

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It was just over 41cm last week. His birthday's at the beginning of
April. If he's at 42cm, in socks, by the beginning of March then I'll
probably be happy to order the CNOC 16 rather than the CNOC 14.

Oh, I think I'd be buying him the CNOC 16 anyway :-)

I said:

Quoted message said:

It was just over 41cm last week. His birthday's at the beginning of
April. If he's at 42cm, in socks, by the beginning of March then I'll
probably be happy to order the CNOC 16 rather than the CNOC 14.

and Chris French responded:

Quoted message said:

Oh, I think I'd be buying him the CNOC 16 anyway :-)

I'd rather have the one that'll last him longer, but as it's his first
bike the priority is to have something that he'll be able to ride more
or less straight away, rather than something frustratingly slightly too big.

When I bought my daughter's bike she insisted for several months on
having the saddle low enough to put her feet flat on the floor, even
though she'd been racing round quite happily on the like-a-Like-a-Bike
with the seat higher than that. For that reason, I'm a bit wary about
buying my son a bike that is technically the right size for him but that
can't have the saddle set low enough for that extra bit of confidence.

He's a lot more confident and adventurous then his sister anyway, so it
may be a non-issue.

--
Danny Colyer <http://www.redpedals.co.uk>
Reply address is valid, but that on my website is checked more often
"The plural of anecdote is not data" - Frank Kotsonis