Advice on Apollo Charm cheapie halfords bicycle for a 7 year old?

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
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jimster99
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Advice on Apollo Charm cheapie halfords bicycle for a 7 year old?

Post by jimster99 »

Hi all,

I'm struggling to get my 7 year old son to enjoy biking. He can do it pretty well (we've even gone on quiet roads), but he finds it too much like hard work.

I've been offered one of these barely used and in excellent condition for £20: https://www.halfords.com/bikes/junior-b ... 31470.html

Obviously a low end bike & I personally hate cheap suspension as it makes cycling so much more tiring. But my son liked the look. And it's a bargain! And it'll get him into using gears & understanding suspension while I look for a better model. Would it be a mistake to get this as a stop gap? Any views? Thanks! :)

He's currently on a nice single speed 16" wheeled Decathlon jobbie I got in France a few years ago and that is a surprisingly good bike, very solid frame and the components don't constantly need adjusting unlike other bikes I've seen.

PS I know higher range Islabikes/Frog bikes etc are better and will look to get him something better in the medium term. I almost bought a Voodoo Soba on facebook last week but missed it sadly!
thirdcrank
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Re: Advice on Apollo Charm cheapie halfords bicycle for a 7 year old?

Post by thirdcrank »

I couldn't find much detail of the spec of that Halfords bike, but I see it's weight is said to be 14.5 kgs. (32 to 33 lbs in old money.)

You already know about islabikes so I'll limit myself to pointing out that the Beinn 20 Large weighs 7.5 kgs (and has gears low enough to ride up the side of a house.)

£££ is a big thing for something which will be quite quickly outgrown so it needs some thought. Well-kept secondhand Islabikes seem to keep their value - which is why you can't source one as cheap as that "barely used" Halfords bike
rareposter
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Re: Advice on Apollo Charm cheapie halfords bicycle for a 7 year old?

Post by rareposter »

jimster99 wrote: 29 Jan 2023, 3:34pm I'm struggling to get my 7 year old son to enjoy biking. He can do it pretty well (we've even gone on quiet roads), but he finds it too much like hard work...
<snip>
He's currently on a nice single speed 16" wheeled Decathlon jobbie I got in France a few years ago and that is a surprisingly good bike, very solid frame and the components don't constantly need adjusting unlike other bikes I've seen.
Hard work in what way? Too overgeared? Ride distance is too much? What terrain are you riding?

I'd suggest that the Apollo will be a total pile of junk - those kids full sus things are hideous in every way possible as well as weighing as much as a small planet.

The problem is that kids are notoriously fickle and any attempt to push them into things often results in the opposite happening. The second problem is that he may already associate that bike with "hard work" and therefore be avoiding it, in much the same way as most people avoid things they don't like or find hard work!

Options would be to lower the gearing a bit (if it is actually that which is the problem) or to find terrain where the gearing matters a lot less like a local pump track, BMX track etc or to find something like an old railway track trail / flattish woodland trail with a cafe along it and ride to that and back - use the cafe as a reward.
PT1029
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Re: Advice on Apollo Charm cheapie halfords bicycle for a 7 year old?

Post by PT1029 »

If you get the chance for your child to test ride a "good" (think Isla bikes etc) and a "bad" (think Halfirds tank) bike, do what a friend did with her much younger brother.
When the "good" bike was being test ridden, she rode with him along thwe road.
When the "bad" bike was being test ridden, she kept pulling ahead leaving him behind.
He chose the "good" bike!
Vorpal
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Re: Advice on Apollo Charm cheapie halfords bicycle for a 7 year old?

Post by Vorpal »

First of all, we can't make our kids like stuff. He may need a different approach, a different bike, or may just not take to it at all.

It might be worth letting him try out the bike, if you can. In my experience, kids will ride bikes that they like, independent of brand, weight, and lots of stuff that is important to us. In addition, if you let him try some different bikes (at a shop?) he may find the difference between a heavy, cheap one, and a nice one, enough to interest him.

My kids are teens, now, but Mini V at one point had a pink princess bike that weighed almost as much as my bike, and she loved it. She also rode some cheap & cheerful bikes I got off Freecycle. She now has a decent bike & hardly rides it. My other kid much prefers to tandem, and will happily go on a 20 mile bike ride on the tandem with me, but is reluctant to pedal his own bike 1.5 miles to the town centre.

I guess the moral is try different things & see if something interests him, rather than just getting him a bike.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
peetee
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Re: Advice on Apollo Charm cheapie halfords bicycle for a 7 year old?

Post by peetee »

I have serviced a lot of Apollo bikes in my time as a mechanic and one common thing stands out; often they are very poorly prepared for use by a child. Although they are not great quality they can give good service and what can make all the difference to their usability is proper attention to brake set-up (specifically cable length and routing) and lubrication of ancillary components, such as hubs and freewheel, and seatpost and stem so that adjustment can be made as your child grows. Brakes in particular need a skilled hand to get them working well. Their commonly used disc or v-brakes are heavy to operate and need to be set up very well so that a child (with limited reach and grip in comparison to an adult) can get them to work well.
The older I get the more I’m inclined to act my shoe size, not my age.
jimster99
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Re: Advice on Apollo Charm cheapie halfords bicycle for a 7 year old?

Post by jimster99 »

Thanks all for the feedback! I've decided to get it as a trial while I look for a better option. He seems happy. Let's hope he rides it!
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Audax67
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Re: Advice on Apollo Charm cheapie halfords bicycle for a 7 year old?

Post by Audax67 »

thirdcrank wrote: 29 Jan 2023, 3:58pm I couldn't find much detail of the spec of that Halfords bike, but I see it's weight is said to be 14.5 kgs. (32 to 33 lbs in old money.)
Our club used to run a cycling school for kids. It would have made you weep to see 8-year-olds struggling with 16-kilo CroMo mountain bikes from the local supermarket. Part of the problem was that the parents weren't going to fork out for anything better when next year their kids might have decided on aikido or football instead - something they were practically certain to do after hauling those monsters round muddy forests.
Have we got time for another cuppa?
rogerzilla
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Re: Advice on Apollo Charm cheapie halfords bicycle for a 7 year old?

Post by rogerzilla »

I'll have you know that I did Cycling Proficiency on a Chopper Mk2 :D
jimster99
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Re: Advice on Apollo Charm cheapie halfords bicycle for a 7 year old?

Post by jimster99 »

I think the downsides of learning to cycle on a crap bike are possibly a bit overstated. My first bike as a 5 year old was a supermarket cheapie that was so incredibly rubbish the rear brake (aka the only brake, of course) rusted off within a few seconds. I had learnt to cycle on a flat stretch of driveway so had no idea that brakes were important.

I vividly remember the first time we moved to a new house with a steep hill outside and discovering to my surprise that it wasn't possible to stop and what was I going to do now? Crash, obviously.

Didn't put me off cycling.

Having said that, I will definitely upgrade the poor little chap's bike once he's had a bit of fun on the super heavy full suspension whale bike. It is 15kg which is as pointed out not going to be viable for day trips for a 7 year old. The hunt continues!!
jimster99
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Re: Advice on Apollo Charm cheapie halfords bicycle for a 7 year old?

Post by jimster99 »

As a side comment, whoever set up this bike at Halfords did not do a great job. So far I've discovered:

- saddle at a 45 (!!) degree angle to horizontal
- quill headset not tightened
- left hand brake lever fully 20cm away from the grip.....why??
- seatpost heavily scratched due to being jammed in without any grease
Sparky56
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Re: Advice on Apollo Charm cheapie halfords bicycle for a 7 year old?

Post by Sparky56 »

Don’t do it.
Get a second hand frog/Isla or equivalent — we had cheapo decathlon bikes that weighed a ton and neither of my children were particularly keen on using them. They always broke too. We then got frog bikes & made a massive difference as they were so much lighter and more reliable. Children much keener on riding now.
jimster99
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Re: Advice on Apollo Charm cheapie halfords bicycle for a 7 year old?

Post by jimster99 »

Actually I think Decathlon bikes can be fairly OK. Both my kids learnt to ride on a 12" decathlon balance bike and it still looks like new (despite having done many miles and even once been crashed horribly into a tree).

My older son also used a 16" Deacthlon single speed bike for a couple of years and it's been super reliable and fairly light. Once I set it up nothing has needed adjusting. The only issue is it's a single gear, and he can't get up hills if they get too steep nor does he like not being able to spin the pedals fast enough when he gets up to speed.
peetee
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Re: Advice on Apollo Charm cheapie halfords bicycle for a 7 year old?

Post by peetee »

jimster99 wrote: 31 Jan 2023, 11:25am As a side comment, whoever set up this bike at Halfords did not do a great job. So far I've discovered:

- saddle at a 45 (!!) degree angle to horizontal
- quill headset not tightened
- left hand brake lever fully 20cm away from the grip.....why??
- seatpost heavily scratched due to being jammed in without any grease
Told you so :wink:
The older I get the more I’m inclined to act my shoe size, not my age.
Sparky56
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Re: Advice on Apollo Charm cheapie halfords bicycle for a 7 year old?

Post by Sparky56 »

jimster99 wrote: 31 Jan 2023, 12:15pm Actually I think Decathlon bikes can be fairly OK. Both my kids learnt to ride on a 12" decathlon balance bike and it still looks like new (despite having done many miles and even once been crashed horribly into a tree).

My older son also used a 16" Deacthlon single speed bike for a couple of years and it's been super reliable and fairly light. Once I set it up nothing has needed adjusting. The only issue is it's a single gear, and he can't get up hills if they get too steep nor does he like not being able to spin the pedals fast enough when he gets up to speed.
We had some that were fine and others that weren’t. Quality control an issue.

Our latest frog bike was really badly set up too though. Feels like the quality of them has dropped….
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