Cycling UK Forum

My son has just turned 6 (but is quite short so looking for a 16 or 18 inch). He is brilliant on his bike and is cycling up to 18k already . He currently has a Orbea MX 16inch bike but I'm wanting to get him one with gears. Would really appreciate if anyone had any advice on what might be a good option to get hom ?

Many thanks

Hi, you can look at many brands nowadays, specialized, cube, frog who make children specific bikes, ie easy to use gearing, paediatric happy frames, shallow/short pull brake levers etc. I'm guessing however that most people will direct you down the line of Islabikes, especially if your child is managing 18km rides. Whilst they are expensive, they are excellent and light for long rides. We owned 4 over the years with our kids. The second hand market is also very strong for them and as such if you "invest" in them you will probably find that you'll be cost neutral in the long run - we bought some new and some used and I never sold one on for less than I paid for it and the odd one at a substantial profit!

Welcome.

Agree with above.

We're buying Isalabikes as the grandchildren grow up and it's going well.

Gumtree seems to work well for finding them nearby.

Jonathan

Do you have a budget?

Islabikes & Frog are the best. If you buy used, you can recover almost all of your purchase price, selling them on when outgrown.

If you can't afford that, just keep your eyes out for something that is not too heavy. Avoid the toy store brands.

Giant, Trek, Dawes, Specialized, and other big bike brands have all made decent kids bikes with gears, and used ones are relatively easy to come by on resale sites like eBay and Gumtree.

If you're a bit handy with bikes, you can get a bargain. I paid relatively little, then repaired or rebuilt most of my kids' bikes. I even got one for free because it needed a little 'TLC'. My youngest (13) currently has a Giant that was practically new, but left neglected in a shed after being outgrown by it's last owner. I paid £40, put new inner tubes & brakes pads on it, made a few adjustments, & it was good to go.

I would say at 6 years (even if short) you would need the 20in wheels. My son is a taller (but not extreme) 6 year old. He was on 20 small Islabike at 4years and 9 months, and had outgrown it by 6 years and 3months. Hes still 6 and now on a 24in Mountain bike.

+1 for Islabike.

At a similar stage, I compared Isla and Frog, and couldn’t justify the extra for the Isla, so went Frog, and by using a fleet that eventually totalled four of different sizes have got son through onto an adult size bike, youngest to follow next year I should think, as well as providing “first with gears” for a friend’s grandson, and a great deal of riding for one nephew, who uses the fleet when we ride from our place, with his little bro to start on gears shortly. All four bikes have been used a lot, but are still in perfect order (a few scuffs), so will get sold eventually, probably returning at least half of their original costs. I’m sure if we’d bought a succession of “cheap clunkers” it would have cost more, and created a lot of scrap iron.

Thank you all! Much appreciated. Look forward to future cycles

Jupestar wrote: ↑14 Nov 2022, 2:09pm I would say at 6 years (even if short) you would need the 20in wheels. My son is a taller (but not extreme) 6 year old. He was on 20 small Islabike at 4years and 9 months, and had outgrown it by 6 years and 3months. Hes still 6 and now on a 24in Mountain bike.

+1 for Islabike.

This, pretty much. Isla's Beinn 20" model has small and large frames, and the small is what it says on the tin.
Frog didn't exist when we had ours on Isla Beinn 20s, but I don't doubt they're good too.

Then you can progress to the often-impossible job of explaining gears to small people! (I was a terrible masher as soon as I had gears, I used the same thinking as Katie Archibald did... https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/comm ... alk-399493). Our youngsters MTB group at the local JCC are notably resistant to most coaching effort in this area!
Pete.