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So earlier I was coming back from a little ride with the kids in some fields near our house, as I was putting my stuff away the kids were riding up and down the street one of the neighbours kids asked his dad if he could get his bike out and he said "no you aren't allowed to ride it in the street" I thought fair enough just being safety conscious.
But then he said that it was because he would ruin his bike doing that and to just take his old one out (which he did)
So basically his dad won't let him use his nice bike (iirc it was a 20" hoy thing I've seen him on once) out in the street because he's afraid of it being damaged.
Is that strange or am I the odd one out? My kids have had some decent bikes, had frog ones when they were younger now riding (2nd hand giant 20" and commencal 24") bikes and I've always just accepted they are kids and their bikes will get covered in scratches etc
I've successfully sold all their old frog bikes with loads of superficial damage as the people who bought them shared my attitude of "a new one will look like that after 5 minutes anyway"
Yes, to be live the above is mental. Does he keep a plastic cover on his Sofa at home too?
Maybe I could understand it if you kid does a bike of Mini DH or the like and they have a 'Race' Bike and a 'Play' bike but even then.
Yes, to be live the above is mental. Does he keep a plastic cover on his Sofa at home too?
I can buy 10-15 sofa's or a decent car or two for the cost of replacing his best bike even so I don't go out and leave the front door unlocked or leave the keys in the car and windows open.
I'm not going to argue with him about abandoning it whilst he messes with his mates
Is that strange or am I the odd one out?
Depends on age, situation and your own child, I guess.
I wouldn't let my (11yo) son take his best road bike out to play with his (largely non-cycling) mates down the park but, to be fair, I don't think he'd ask me if he could anyway. He takes his mountain bike out to play with them occasionally, but as they generally trundle about for 10 minutes and then leave it outside someone's house, I'd very much rather he didn't do this as it'll only get nicked!
He now has a beater BMX which is pretty much the same sort of thing as his mates have got and he can do what he likes with it. We're both much happier about this and he prefers messing with his mates on it anyway. Maybe that's what your neighbour has done?
(FWIW - my son has two distinct groups of friends - cycling and non-cycling - and is rarely off his bikes when he's with the cycling friends, normally at races, training or other events. I guess different rules for different circumstances)
The kids a about 6 and it's a small dead end street so not really a risk of leaving it somewhere to get stolen as they aren't really left unsupervised. I agree that point would apply when older and going to the park etc alone
my two can use theirs whenever they want, but also have instilled the idea if it gets broken they help mend it, if it gets stolen they need to replace it. So they do'nt leave them out, but they do get to play whenever they want.
I can buy 10-15 sofa’s
Please, please, please tell my Wife where you buy your Sofas. Apparently nothing under £2.5k is worthy of her arse.
Sweajnr has 2 bikes - a nice 20" for riding on trails and a beater bike for riding around the neighbor hood but that's purely from a theft perspective. He's got plenty of scratches etc on his trail bike which is just par for the coarse to my mind.
Yep, but they are under strict instructions when they head off to the bmx/pump track to not let anyone else ride them.
I was a bit worried at first when my lad asked to go out on his full suss with his mates down the woods, he was under strict instructions not to let anyone else on it. He used to go out on the wifes hardtail and rag that about.... Its a good job I let him out on his full suss because I don't think the wifes bike would have lasted long with the shapes and gaps he's hitting now...lol. I now look at it as he'll enjoy it more and you only get one childhood and I want him to enjoy it to the max.
Some parents are just ****s. I've told our little un to just dump his specialized if he's crashing. It's a bike not a Ming vase 🙄
Apparently nothing under £2.5k is worthy of her arse.
That must be a mighty fine arse!
My kids have decent MTBs, they can ride them as and when they want, but understand the value and risk.
My godson has a bike for meeting friends with and a decent bike for "proper" riding. Two of his beaters have been nicked.
That's what they were bought for, apart from the race bmx, though that's been out and about more due to the lack of racing, and I want him to get some use out of it before I need to buy a bigger frame and wider rims...
Seems most are on my side of the fence then, in all fairness the kid has an alternative bike so he's not being deprived or anything. Just seems an unwinnable battle trying to keep a kids bike in mint condition (assuming it's for resale value). My neighbour is a roadie though...
My kids bikes get bought for the oldest and then passed to his 18months younger brother so they get 3-4 years of solid abuse before being sold.
My 11yo now has a nice Whyte 603 and it's her only bike so it gets mucked about on but she's a trustworthy type and if I tell her to look after it she'll keep it glued to her side and not do anything else. However, she starts secondary school next year and she might ride to school; and I'd very much consider a commuter bike, because there's always the possibility someone might take a fancy to her nice bike.
I'm generally in in the no camp.
They can go wherever on their dirt jumpers and they do still keep their eyes on them. But, they definately aren't going to the cul-de-sac jumps, the forest or riding to school on their good bikes.
The good bikes are for trail use. Not for messing about on and certainly not for sharing. I'm happy to fix them as and when needed and they're not in trouble for crashing 🙂
If you've seen my posts you'll know my answer. My boy can ride, jump and crash his bike all day every day
My kid only had 1 bike up til he was about 15, and he used it (well, them, obviously over the years the bike changed) to ride to school and do whatever else he wanted.
Enduro bike for paper round - nah.
Fine for everything else.
When eldest goes to secondary in September we might get him his first stealth/beater. School bike sheds there have been hit a few times.
Other than that it's been ride your bike, if it breaks we fix it, if it gets nicked we will replace it. We live in a nice area.
The only thing drummed into them is not to drop them out the front of our house and leave them there as an advert for the scummier elements of society to undertake a late night inspection.
Christ - I wouldn't buy my kids anything that matters so much in the first place. It sets up some pretty unrealistic expectations. They're kids. They need to do things wrong, make mistakes, break things and manage difficulties in order to progress.
I find it really odd that people spend so much on kids bikes. I turned up with my 6 and 8 year old boys at a local bike park last weekend and saw a Dad putting his two lads (one couldn't have been more than 4) on their insanely expensive looking carbon full sus bikes ( https://carbonxscycles.com/ )
Felt like tramps putting mine onto their 2nd / 3rd (?) hand bikes worth less than the other kids' pedals (one i rescued after it had been run over and rebuilt with parts from a tip shop donor bike) - then they went for a 10km singletrack ride and had an absolute blast.
I find it really odd that people spend so much on kids bikes. I turned up with my 6 and 8 year old boys at a local bike park last weekend and saw a Dad putting his two lads (one couldn’t have been more than 4) on their insanely expensive looking carbon full sus bikes
At 11 my lad holds his own at BPW against all my mates and is arguably quicker than most of them. He's certainly not holding anyone up that's for sure.
So he gets a tip top bike. Why's it wrong? The better his bike the harder stuff he can ride, the faster he can ride it and arguably the more fun he has
@reeksy I get where you are coming from, for general mucking about I can see the point of a cheap BMX or something that will stand up the genuine abuse and stupidity a child will throw at their bike. Equally a parts bin special will do just fine.
In my case I spent the cash to get something nice and light that's easy to work with. Yes, it's expensive but tbh she doesn't use it without us present (not a parenting choice BTW, I wish she had friends closer by) and by the time she out grows it she'll be getting to the sort of size that there are plenty of decent second hand bikes.
eldest has a bmx and a fairly decent mtb, no I dont let him ride his MTB when he's out on the streets, if I posted pics of his bmx you would understand why. There's very little to go wrong on a bmx and the thing is still thrashed
apart form anything else half the time his bmx is out of the house its his mates riding it not him.
If we go doing a ride then he takes the mtb. When he's old enough to go riding on his own he can take his mtb, but for (pre/post lockdown) riding to his mates, throwing it on the deck, riding to shop throwing on the deck, loaning to his mates (who throw it on the deck) I'm not letting him subject his mtb with rear mech, sus forks, etc to that sort of abuse.
You need parenting advice from someone who cares.
Just ask yourself "What would Dom Cummings do?"
Take them for a ride at Barnard castle?
Take them for a ride at Barnard castle?
What? Have his kids got bad eyes?!
I find it really odd that people spend so much on kids bikes.
Hmm. What is it about kids' cycling that seems to attract what I can only call "inverse snobbery"? It's not new, and I'm certainly not having a go at you about it - it's just one of the less appealing parts of the scene, IMHO. It's also not limited to MTB but if you're into road (especially racing) too, then the same comments will appear there as well.
Yes, some kids have more expensive bikes than other kids - that's life. But while I have never, ever heard a child make a snide comment about another child for having an inexpensive bike, I get sick of hearing adults (never kids!) moaning and complaining because little Jonny has a posh bike. Obviously kids will notice a nice bike, but I've never heard them make a nasty comment - maybe the odd "wow, that's awesome!" if it's something really bling 🙂 When we take a group of kids out riding, you can guarantee that we'll have kids on sub-£500 bikes, and others on bikes that cost several times more, but the kids don't care and all have a great time!
Cue replies about T5s and dentists with Santa Cruzes next...