Recommend me a Girls Bike for 6YO!

RufusA

My eldest daughter - a average heighed 6 1/2 year old has at long last built up enough confidence to cycle without dreaded stabilizers (I know, I know).

However it's become obvious that her 14" wheeled Raleigh Molly won't cut the mustard anymore!

SWMBO took her to our reasonable LBS who only stocked Raleigh kids cycles. They suggested a Raleigh Krush. The 20" wheeled version was too big for her, so they've recommended spending £105 on the 18".

I haven't seen it in the flesh, but am worried that spending over £100 on a steel framed pink thing is going to be a false economy, particularly if it's got a reasonably non-standard wheel size, and will probably weigh twice as much as my Sirrus!

So I thought I'd tap in to the great and good of Bikeradar for advice. What should I be looking to buy my daughter?

Should I go for a very adjustable 20" wheeled bike. Or is the leap from 14-20" be too much, and will the size of the thing put her off cycling for life.

Does anyone make a reliable, standard parted bike for girls with 20" wheels a lowish frame to step through, light weight (aluminium frame?), and with modern luxuries like V-brakes! Could a 20" wheeled bike last her for 2+ years or will I need to spend the same money again in another year!

More importantly can it be bought for less than £150!

What about used bikes. Are good quality used girls bikes easy to find, if so where. Looking at eBay it all seemed to be Universal pink things in steel and rust in my area!

Thanks (in advance) Rufus.

Ruffy

I can recommend the Islabikes Beinn 20 - well worth the money. It's the doggies doodas!!

It's amazing how much further the youngsters can cycle once they have a decent lightweight bike.

The Beinn 24 is also great for once they are older.

Cheers.

theblender

20" definatley.

The Giant MTX bikes are very adjustable 20" wheel bikes, very low standover, long seatposts for growth, reach adjustable brake-levers etc...fairly lightweight aluminium frames....from £135...

...but, for long term use, go for a Marin Hidden Canyon....the girls one in pink is awesome. Very, very lightweight, a normal sized 6-1/2 year old will fit, and will last years, probably until she is 9....which makes the £245 price tag seem more than reasonable.

Kids don't grow that fast, I know, I've got a 6 year-old who rides the Marin. I've had to raise the seatpost, oh, all of 1/2" over the past 6 months, so I've still got at least 5" of useable post left....he won't outgrow this until he's at least 8, it was bought when he was 5, so it's cost me £81 a year, or £1.57 a week....bargain!

Gilesme

Just got my 6 year old a puky 18" wheeler - good quality, but a bit dear.

She's not confident enough to transition to a mountain bike yet.

Hopefully in another couple of years she'll progress to her sister's Specialised.

Check out http://www.pukydirect.co.uk/puky_product/childrens_bicycles/

redbirdo

I second the recommendation for Islabikes. We have a CNOC 16 for our 5 year old and a Rothan (no pedals) for our two year old. Ok, so they don't come in pink (a bonus in my view) but they are really light and well made - lovely, lovely, lovely!

You can only buy them online but I found the customer service to be absolutely excellent.

See www.islabikes.co.uk

fuzzy logic

I can thoroghly recomend Edinburgh Coop Revolution Sky 20". Excellent build and fairly light compared to other manufactures, price not bad either £119 http /www.edinburghbicycle.com/

Mike Healey

Ruffy wrote:

I can recommend the Islabikes Beinn 20 - well worth the money. It's the doggies doodas!!

It's amazing how much further the youngsters can cycle once they have a decent lightweight bike.

The Beinn 24 is also great for once they are older.

Cheers.

Absolutely! Increasing no. of kids at our kids bike club using them. They are beautifully made, all proportions are properly child sized. They are light adn if our lottery application is successful we'll be getting some 20", 24" and 26".

By the way, they have excellent resale value.

And the kids love them

RufusA

Thanks everyone for the advice.

Contacted Isla bikes, but they don't currently have any 2nd hand 20" Beinn's in, and there's a waiting list for them. A new one is sadly out of by budget for now.

Trawled eBay / free-ads etc. for a while but didn't find anything useful come up.

However did manage to pick up a second hand Trek MT60 at the weekend which seems in good nick.

Plan for my daughter to use it for a year or two until she's big enough / confident to make the leap to a 24" Islabike (by which time I may have saved up some money)!

Just need to buy a pedal spanner to shorten the crank so her knees aren't up by her ears when she pedals!

Rufus.

Cyrenne

Another Islabike convert here! My son received his Beinn 24 (aged 6 and 11 months) just this very morning. It's wonderful and he's already had 15 miles on it.
Brilliant service and worth just that little bit extra $$££$$.

Mike Healey

Ruffy wrote:

I can recommend the Islabikes Beinn 20 - well worth the money. It's the doggies doodas!!

It's amazing how much further the youngsters can cycle once they have a decent lightweight bike.

The Beinn 24 is also great for once they are older.

Cheers.

+ umpteen - Several kids at our bike club now have them and they turn up at a lot of cyclo-cross and BSCA events. They are light, well specced and properly proportioned for children, esp. crank length and brake levers. Beautiful jobs.

They also have a decent resale value compared with cheaper BSOs