Kids' bikes

[Vorpal]

Mini V is currently riding a 24" Trek, and while it's a bit heavier than an Islabikes or Frog, it's also nowhere near as heavy as the cheap ones. She likes it. It looks like the bikes her friends have, and it takes knobbly tyres so she can ride it wherever she wants. The components are decent quality, so it doesn't take too much of my time to maintain.

Littlest has Mini V's old bike, which is a late 60s Dawes Kingpin (child) that Mini V rode until last year. The Dawes is a good bike, though it was a rust bucket when I bought it (eBay). I stripped it down, had it pellet blasted, then painted, and rebuilt it using a combination of original and new parts. I got a good deal on the painting (club mate did it), and spent a lot of time cleaning up old parts, so the whole things cost me about £120.

She was very happy with it and did plenty of longer rides, and a couple of tours on it. Some of the children's bikes from that era come with hub gears and a rack.