Is there any such thing as a decent kiddie bike??

jeffwode

Looking to get a first bike (stabilisers and all) for the young fella, who will be 3 in a few weeks. The only bikes I've seen so far have been in Smyths and I don't think much of them. Are all kiddie bikes like this? Has anyone found a decent one at a decent price? Reluctant to spend too much as I know he'll only be riding it for a year or so. Thanks

MascotDec85

I always had Raleigh bikes when I was younger, even from a tot like your wee boy. I then moved onto other makes going into my teens.

Halfords and most good independent bike shops will stock Raleigh, a good hard wearing bike in general

BostonB

Whats wrong with the ones in Smyths if they'll only be on it a year?

C3PO

BostonB wrote: »

Whats wrong with the ones in Smyths if they'll only be on it a year?

Well for starters they weigh as much as a small house! I bought my little fella a Specialized Hot Rock at that age. 5 years later 3 or 4 kids have learnt to ride on it and it's still in perfect condition! And they sell well 2nd hand too!

Lumen

jeffwode wrote: »

Looking to get a first bike (stabilisers and all) for the young fella, who will be 3 in a few weeks. The only bikes I've seen so far have been in Smyths and I don't think much of them. Are all kiddie bikes like this? Has anyone found a decent one at a decent price? Reluctant to spend too much as I know he'll only be riding it for a year or so. Thanks

Jeff, if you're around Dublin you could take a Specialized Hotrock off my hands for not much. I've been meaning to sell it for ages.

Perfect for a first bike. Not quite as good build-wise as the Islabikes, but cheaper and smaller. I've also got a decent balance bike available.

FWIW I wouldn't recommend stabilizers, though the Hotrock has them.

BostonB

First kid had lots of difficulty getting off stabilizers. The next guy we got one of these
http://www.woodentoys.ie/first-bike-balance-training-bike-branching-1221-p-564.html

Which he gets on great with.

C3PO

Lumen wrote: »

FWIW I wouldn't recommend stabilizers, though the Hotrock has them.

After about a year of "arsing about" with stabilizers I bought one of these and "we" were cycling unaided within an hour! Again it's "done the rounds" and helped a number of other kids get going!

http://www.wallabykids.com/

RobFowl

Lumen wrote: »

I've also got a decent balance bike available.

Is this for sale cos I'd be interested. Can't get my youngest off the stabilisers !

Lumen

RobFowl wrote: »

Is this for sale cos I'd be interested. Can't get my youngest off the stabilisers !

Sure, €35. It's a JDBug. I got it off Greyspoke last year. PM me for address etc if you want it.

cdb

A friend of mine recommended one of these strider bikes a while ago. His 3 year old loves it and he reckons it worked out better for his child than a regular bike with stabilisers.

I'm getting one for our 3 year olds birthday in a couple of weeks so can report back.

Lumen

Balance bikes are great, but the problem is after a couple of months they'll be ready for a proper bike. For that reason, spending €100 on a balance bike seems a bit of a waste, when you could pick up a proper bike for not much more and just take off the pedals.

A lot depends on the height of the child, as the balance bikes have a really low saddle height compared to a pedal bike. When I bought the smallest Islabike (CNOC 14) for my 3 y/o daughter I had to cut down the seat tube and attach the saddle with zipties (no seatpost) to get the saddle low enough. The Specialized Hotrock is better (lower) in that respect.

With stabilisers, standover height isn't so critical since they can stop without putting feet down. But stabilisers are evil.

Harrybelafonte

Lumen wrote: »

But stabilisers are evil.

+1

Spent months messing around with my guy on stabilisers and he learned nothing. After a bit of research took them off and used different techniue and he was off on his own pretty soon after.

ThisRegard

Just to echo the what people have said about the Strider bikes, although I never heard of them until now but I'm planning on getting my little one something similar to these, again no stabilisers but I reckon they'll be much better in terms of learning balance and stability, as well as being much faster once they get those two traits nailed My girl already has the moves anyway, she has a Woody rocking horse that also has wheels and she's starting to skoot herself along with one leg by leaning to one side, can't wait to get her on one of the bikes.

jeffwode

Thanks for all the great advice guys. I'm glad I asked. Otherwise I would have gone down the stabiliser route like most people who don't know any better. I'd never heard of balance bikes until now, and I really like the idea, but I think I'll do as Lumen suggested and get a normal bike and take the pedals off. Thanks for all your help everyone. I'm glad I asked.

BostonB

Note that on some kids bike the cranks can't be removed that easily. You can always sell on the the balance bike, or pass it on. Stabilisers are evil alright. Like the others I had to mod the balance bike to get it low enough. On a related point our guy got so good at it he was banned for a while going too fast. It has no brakes. Some do. It got a bit iffy on the school run.

Useful for talking about bikes...

http://aarline.info/hotaar/?p=1

Lumen

BostonB wrote: »

Note that on some kids bike the cranks can't be removed that easily.

You don't need to remove the cranks, you just take the pedals off.

BostonB

I would have thought that would still be awkward. But I've not tried it.

Jfdi

Lumen wrote: »

Jeff, if you're around Dublin you could take a Specialized Hotrock off my hands for not much. I've been meaning to sell it for ages.

Perfect for a first bike. Not quite as good build-wise as the Islabikes, but cheaper and smaller. I've also got a decent balance bike available.

FWIW I wouldn't recommend stabilizers, though the Hotrock has them.

Lumen - apologies for reopening an old thread. Do you happen to still have the specialized hotrock for sale?