Frog bike or Isla

smacl

Looking to get my 12 year old daughter a new bike primarily for commuting to secondary school, which will be about 9.5k each way, mostly on cycle paths. Looking at Isla and Frog bikes, with Isla being a bit lighter but a fair bit more expensive. Any other options out there? Needs to be light, robust, low geared, and have mountings for a rack. She's small for her age (1.4m) so AFAIK even the smallest of adult ladies bikes would be way too big.

Zen0

I share your dilemma smacl.

I can vouch for the quality of Islabikes. Both of our girls have them, and they are really nice, light bikes. However, they are becoming very expensive, and I'm not sure I could justify the cost of a new one. Our eldest girl, 13 but petite, will be getting too big for her Beinn 24 soon, so I'm on the lookout for a replacement. I haven't seen much in the shops that I'd get excited about. This is the best I have seen so far:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/raleigh-performance-26-2016/

Weight is not too bad and it looks like a reasonable spec. However, I'm putting the decision off as long as possible.

I would be very interested to hear how you get on.

ckeego

One of our 10 yr olds has a Frog road bike. Comes with cross tyres as well as race tyres.. The only way I can describe it is bike envy...

Rutland cycles is where to go.

smacl

And we have a new arrival to the house today, courtesy of Joe Daly's in Dundrum and much to the delight of my daughter. Looking forward to getting a family few spins in over the summer.

Zen0

Nice. Do they have them in stock, or did you have to order it in?

Interrobang

I can't praise Islabikes highly enough. We have two of them, and they're fantastic bikes - really light and very well-built. We recently took them along to a local bike shop that was doing free checks on kids bikes as part of a safe cycling summer promotion, and the guy that worked on them was dead impressed by them (which I translated as "spend justified"! :-D)

Yes, they are pricey, but they really hold their value so you should recoup a good portion of the cost when you pass them on. Luckily my two are of an age where, when the eldest is ready to move up a size, their bike is the right size to pass on to the youngest. Factoring in heavy use by two kids over 4-5 years and the secondhand resale value, the actual cost per bike isn't as scary as the purchase price suggests (once you get over the initial damage to the credit card, that is!)

Another option might be Specialized. One of my friend's kids has one - I can't vouch for it as I've never seen it firsthand, but the kid fairly puts it through its paces despite being a tiny slip of a thing, and she swears by it.

smacl

Zen0 wrote: »

Nice. Do they have them in stock, or did you have to order it in?

They had the exact one I wanted in stock and are getting more in on Thursday, probably a good idea to call to see if they have the size you want. Price was the same as the online Frog price, and about 25% cheaper than the Islabike. But most importantly it was black, with just two green spokes on each wheel, making it infinitely more stylish in my daughters eyes and well worth the 0.3kg extra on the Islabike (10.2kg vs 9.9kg) . Chap in Joe Daly's (David) was very helpful and nice to get the bike locally after many forays online.

EoC

Just picked up a Frog bike (like the one above) in orange for my 9 year old (Frog 62). This is very light, one set of gears (1-8), mudguards etc.. I didn't have to buy any extras. Got it from Tom's bikes in Blessington. Ordered in on Friday and it arrived on Tuesday.

The main factor in buying a Frog over an Isla is that it's cheaper (350 euro) and you can test it in a bike store.

Can't praise it enought. It's better to buy quality sometimes. The last bike I bought was half the price but heavy and clumpy.

josip

Our son who is very small struggled with a normal weight balance bike but learned to cycle his Isla Cnoc 14 without stabilizers when he was still 3.
He's now 6 and moved on to a geared Benin and can go 100m up a local 10% gradient without stopping.
The confidence he has gotten from being proficient on the bike is brilliant. The bike cost was worth it just for that.
And we sold his Cnoc for 60% of what it cost us on Adverts.