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Spring is coming and I reckon we can try and get the little one on her first pedal bike. She has a balance bike but prefers the scooter at the mo but I don't think it would take much to get her really flowing on the balance bike, she's got good balance. So anyway, pedal bikes for 3 year olds? I can't see it being anything more than a 2nd hand halfords jobbie but I took a look at those bikes in Halfords the other day and cripes, they are junk. I know it's all relative, she's only 3 and it only needs to do before she can inherit her brothers 16 inch wheel bike but are there any bikes out there for young 'uns that aren't total crud?
Secondly, the boy is 6 in June so will be stepping up to a 20 inch wheel bike for his birthday. He's very much on top of his 16 inch wheel bikes. Yeah, I said bikes. At the height of lockdown in 2020 he was getting a bike for his birthday and there was bugger all about. Found a Cube Cubie. 280 quid. Coaster rear brake, slick tyres. He never got on with the coaster brake despite certain schools of thought saying they are good if your kid is maybe less coordinated. The slick tyres meant it was hard to practice on grass when getting used to the bike so last year I found a Carrera for 30 quid on Gumtree. Knobbly tyres, rear v brake and just as light as the Cube. A better all round bike and 100 quid less than the Cube brand new. The thing is, now I'm looking at upgrading him t'missus has (probably rightly) decided that I don't know what I'm talking about amd that my judgement isn't to be trusted and all he needs is another cheap bike. I wanna start getting him out to Hicks Lodge, Sherwood Pines etc. and found a Vitus 20+ at Chain Reaction. Gets great reviews, big tyres for bouncing around off road on and looks ace, er, I mean great value. Thing is it's £350. I'D pay this but I'd get crucified if I did. 2nd hand Early Riders, Frogs etc will probably get similarly short shrift. I suppose if I bought it there's sod all she can do, it's my money and it's for our boy (and me, I wanna go riding with him!). Obviously I'm here to ask, WWSTD?
My daughter's first pedal bike at around 3 and a half was a 14" wheel Carrera Star.
It was great. Light as any other 'proper' kids bike, decent Kenda tyres, Tektro kids v-brakes with adjustable lever reach, a good riding position.
There's a few on ebay at the moment.
My daughter had good use out of it & then I sold it to someone on here who wanted a bike for their daughter. I think he was pleased with it, so hopefully it's still doing good service out there!
Like this one:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294799281263?hash=item44a3680c6f:g:J1AAAOSwRFth~-vY
My Kids are 6 and 7 now and on bigger bikes but I found secondhand Ridgeback MX bikes on ebay for buttons (before covid).
MX14 MX16 MX18. they worked really well for us.
My 6 year old is on a secondhand Raleigh Performance 20". Similar to the Frog, Isla, etc - light alu frame, decent wheels, child-sized brake levers, Kenda tyres, ahead stem, etc. But was under £100 s/h, not £200+
There's quite a few decent options now that aren't silly money from the usual brands. Younger one has been passed the Carrera Cosmos 16" which was also very decent and about £80 s/h.
It's your hobby, with your son, and your money. Spend the money and go enjoy yourself.
That's the important bit out of the way, but if you need justification, anything you spend decent money on is going to get used by two kids (try and get a gender neutral colour!), and then (making up numbers time) if you sell it for £150 less than you paid and gets used for 3 yrs by your kids it's going to work out a £50 a year which seems reasonable (and I'm trying to err towards pessimistic on those numbers). That's how I've always thought about it, but there seems to be a swing back in opinion on buying tat for kids for some reason.
It’s your hobby, with your son, and your money. Spend the money and go enjoy yourself.
This.
Having two with the same age difference, spend well on the oldest and pass down, then on/sell. I bought one of the first Trek MT60's, it was £200 and people though I was mad (and this was 20 years ago). That bike was light (one of the first Aluminium frames), very adjustable - stem AND cranks dual drilled, and a joy to ride (went to Swinley a few times). I sold three more when other families tried it. It is still being ridden today having been passed through three families.
Now we have mainstream Isla and Frog brands as well. There are no poor choices. As a tip, forget 14 inch wheels, 12, 16, 20, 24 inches is a natural step that yours will adapt to easily.
Our two (now 7) are on Wiggins Chartres 20s we picked up for under £300 for the pair. They are decent, lightweight bikes, but needed better tyres. Think I spent about £60 on new rubber and now the kids will ride them over anything.
With kids bikes buying quality cost's less in the long run in my experience. I ebayed a 5 year old Islabike Cnoc 14 for £50 less than I paid for it after the (albeit light) use of two boys recently. A kiddie BSO will be less fun to use and will end up in landfill which is a terrible waste of resources. I reckon most Islabikes/Frogs etc ever made are probably being used somewhere.
Carrera cosmos is great.
Picked up a barely used one for our 4 year old and she loves it.
Depending on build of the 3 year old then a 16" might still be a bit on the big side for them. The 14" won't last them long - we have a Frog 40 which my girl started riding at about 3&1/2, got maybe 12 months out of it before going to the 48 which is a 16", but their first ever bike is arguably their most important one - if they decide it's too hard then they might just down tools and refuse to ride for months. If you have a particularly big kid they might be OK straight onto a 16", but at 3 I would think it'd be a bit too big. Not a big weight difference between Frog 14" and 16", more a size thing.
The likes of Frog/Isla 2nd hand will sell them on at pretty much the same price. The Vitus and Ridgeback ones are pretty much indistinguishable in terms of weight, kid specific brake levers, narrow Q-factor etc. There are specific Frog and Isla second hand pages on FB Marketplace.
Whatever s/h hoy/isla/frog 14 inch you can get your hands on
You'll be able to sell them on for what you bought them for in a year or 2 when theyve outgrown them
I’ve just got a Wild Bikes 24” bike from Go Outdoors for my soon to be 8 year old daughter.
Almost as good as an Isla Bike, but 1/2 the price.
She’s also had a Carrera Cosmos from Halfords, which is a great bike.
Her first bike was an Isla Bike and, to be honest, the Carrera an Wild are almost as good, but much cheaper. The resale is probably not as good, though.
I buy them new as they get passed down to her little sister, so we get good value from them.
I have a nice 20" wheeled Felt in the classifieds.
We've had Isla bikes and nice Halfords bikes. The Isla bikes were better, the Halfords bikes were cheaper. But we lost more on the net cost of ownership on the Halfords bikes. So I'd say if you can afford it buy the Isla bikes they'll have a better experience and you'll save money in the long run but it will cost you in the short term.
Plus they always had a second-hand Carrea Blast/Luna for playing in the street and the park which you can pick up for nothing
My daughter had the two smallest riprocks, a beinn 20 s and now has a Ghost 24. Not sure the isla lived up to the hype, but there you go. It's worth engaging your kids opinion, will they be more enthusiastic to ride if they choose their bike versus what a stranger on a forum suggested for them?
spend money and get them something decent....probably second hand. the then resale values of some brands are so good you wont loose mony.
we had frog bikes for the kids when they were that age (not long ago tbf!). the smaller one got a second hand frog pedal bike that i paid £100 form....sold it for about the same a couple of years later. Daughters bigger frog was used then passed down and then sold for only about £25 less than i paid. They will probably enjoy more a better lighter bike than something thats not suitable or heavy.
got a vitus for the younger one now. great bikes.
Agree with everyone on buy decent - spend a few quid on a second hand known brand and you'll sell it on for what you paid for it or less. Buy "cheap" new and you'll essentially loose the whole purchase price bar 20 or 30 quid you might be able to move it on for.
Whilst that Vitus 20+ looks nice, massive tyres and cable disc brakes shouldn't really belong on a 6year olds bike IMO, unless you're going into Hope academy money. They are just so heavy.
Kid number 1 in our house aged 5 has just gone onto a Giant ARX 20. Great bikes - look great, nice components and much lighter than the Vitus. Come with decent tyres for mixed use but ours has got some knobblier ones on for more off road action.
jim853
Free Member
My Kids are 6 and 7 now and on bigger bikes but I found secondhand Ridgeback MX bikes on ebay for buttons (before covid).
MX14 MX16 MX18. they worked really well for us.
Your kids and Matt & Jono Jones. Good company!
I have been impressed with the Wild bikes here: https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/cycling/bikes/kids-bikes/ which seem to have gone up in price recently. worth a look if you have a Go Outdoors nearby.
A lot of food for thought here, most of which I've been pondering myself anyway. Its good to have your thoughts validated. Still no closer to deciding the best route for the boy though! I don't want to get him a lump of pig iron and he won't get one. I'm still erring towards a higher end 2nd hand over anything else and CP's assertion re the Vitus 20+ was something I was worried would be true had I got carried away and took the plunge.
Re the little one though I'm just about to head off from work to collect the bike that Stumpy01 posted up so a massive thanks on that score! Top work that fella. 👍
Forme Cubley and Kinder here. Also have a 20" orbea which is good. All bought new, but will hand down and sell on. Did have a cheap Carrera but ended up spending quite a bit of parts to make it good enough for her majesty!
Great prices on Wild Bikes at Go Outdoors this weekend. Extra 10% off already discounted prices.
We’ve ordered a 24 for our (just) 8 year old and think we’re going to get a 18 for our 5 year old as I was so impressed with the quality and spec. Incredibly lightweight compared to their Barracuda range and other kids bikes