Islabikes calling it a day

[JerseyJoe]

Victim of their own success? Who knows, companies fail for all sorts of reasons, not all of them financial, especially if it's a family run business.

[pjclinch]

Victim of their own success? Who knows, companies fail for all sorts of reasons, not all of them financial, especially if it's a family run business.

My impression was it was still a financially viable business but was getting to be a chore to do, see https://www.bikeradar.com/news/islabike ... production

Islabikes still exists to some degree, providing spares and supporting existing bikes, but they're not building anything new. Presumably this wind-down operation employs rather fewer folk.

Pete.

[JerseyJoe]

It's a shame when an institution like that goes under, but like I said the reasons for it aren't always what you expect. Sometimes people just get fed up doing the same thing year in year out.

[JerseyJoe]

Is there a successor to Islabikes crown?

[pjclinch]

Is there a successor to Islabikes crown?

Frog seem to be pretty well thought of and are channelling the same overall vibe (light weight, good quality, based around what the diminutive rider needs rather than just what is cheaply available and/or trendy, expect to pay Real Money™ but keep a good resale value).

And a big advantage over an Isla is you can buy them through a good range of local stockists rather than just by post.

Pete.

[gom]

It's a shame when an institution like that goes under, ...

Going under would seem to be unfair. They are no longer making new bikes, but the website is still there to sell spares and accessories.

[3speednut]

There is an excellent interview on YouTube by GCN
(Global cycle network) interviewing Isla Roundtree
on the future of Islabikes and her plans for the future .

[Jdsk]

There is an excellent interview on YouTube by GCN
(Global cycle network) interviewing Isla Roundtree
on the future of Islabikes and her plans for the future .

Thanks for that.



Jonathan

[AndyK]

Islabikes is open for business again, but only to sell spare parts for their past ranges. There will be no new bikes. But that's still potentially useful for existing owners. https://www.islabikes.co.uk/

[JD_bike_rider]

Just done a rebuild/refresh of this Islabikes Luath. Three years and many happy miles for our eldest and hopefully another three for the next! Fantastic bikes and a shame to see them out of business.

[Bmblbzzz]

That's a shame, I bought two Islabikes for the kids and they have now passed them onto their kids. Tough bits of stuff!

Probably part of the issue they had. I brought an Islabike for my Nephew probably 9 years ago. and i brought it second hand back then.
Its been handed around for those years 6 children have learnt to ride on it. Now its back for my youngest. I brought 2 sizes up and its going through a similar circle of use. They last so long eventually there is not enough new sales i guess.

Plenty of products make money by having a reputation for reliability and longevity.

You might need to rejig your business model, but it doesn't need to be a problem! [see Rolex watches, old Mercedes cars, land ... ]

Fancy watches and classic cars are archetypal Veblen goods. Even land has some Veblen characteristics, in the right place at the right time. The same can be true of bikes, but it's not true of even well-made children's bikes.

In any case, Islabikes is still going and their hiatus was not due to financial trouble, it seems.

[Tangled Metal]

Is there a successor to Islabikes crown?

Frog seem to be pretty well thought of and are channelling the same overall vibe (light weight, good quality, based around what the diminutive rider needs rather than just what is cheaply available and/or trendy, expect to pay Real Money™ but keep a good resale value).

And a big advantage over an Isla is you can buy them through a good range of local stockists rather than just by post.

Pete.

My son has had a number of Frog bikes. They are very good and despite never having bought into the scene tax for Isla bikes I think we got bikes that are as good as equivalent Islabikes were. Now he is too big for his last frog and is into adult bikes his shorter friends are borrowing his last frog bike when they decide as a gang to cycle around the village. One of his friends had their own bike but still used his saying it was so much nicer to ride, very light.Our son was doing 50 miles a day touring with panniers at 4.5 or 5.5 yo on a frog bike. It just worked so well for him.

There are other brands too but I think they are not as good as Isla or frog.

Spendy now for Frogs but you are paying for something that will last longer. It is the details such as brake levers that can be set with restrictive movement when your kid first gets it then let out fully towards the end of its use. These little, well thought out features we found meant that the longevity of frog bikes is greater than other brands of equivalent size.

[AndyK]

Woom kids' bikes get good reports and may be worth a look. Lots of neat ideas to make cycling easier for smaller riders. Definitely not cheap though.

[jimster99]

Other options:

Forme make a range of copy-cat Islabike-look-a-likes. My younger son has the Forme Cubley 14 and it's brilliant (he even goes round BMX tracks on it, age 4). It's definitely just as good as Islabikes, if not a notch above, despite the odd name.

Other good brands with quality kids bikes are Frog (as already mentioned!), Hoy, Squish, Wiggins, Woom. Pinnacle are supposed to be good too.

If you're not snobby about brands then Carrera (Halfords) and B-Twin (Decathlon) make very good and in my view underrated kids bikes. Voodoo also make some nice kid's MTBs and I assume Boardman do too (both Halfords, obviously). My older son currently has a Voodoo Soba and a Carrera Luna and they're both reasonable quality and durable.

Also...Isla Bikes are still available second hand!

[pwa]

We had two bikes from Islabikes for our kids when they were in their early teens, and one has since been tweaked to fit my wife and is still in use. But neither bike came as standard with good quality components. The hubs in particular seemed like bargain basement stuff with poor seals. The headsets were similarly iffy. The chainsets were very basic. Gearing wasn't low enough for local hills. The main plus point was simply that the kids had bikes that fitted.