Islabikes road bikes

pottssteve

These get rave reviews on Bikeradar. I'm looking to buy road bikes for teenagers, and there's not a lot of choice. Doeas anyone have an Islabike road bike, and are they as good as they're made out to be?
Cheers,
Steve

stabilised

I bought a bike (a Beinn 26, rather than the Luath road bike) for my daughter from them last month and I have been pretty impressed - as, more importantly, has been daughter. They were a good company to deal with (friendly and prompt responses to queries, happy to negotiate delivery days), the bike came immaculately set up (put the front wheel in and screw on the pedals was all I had to do - I checked brake, gear, headset, bottom bracket adjustments etc. and all were spot on) and build quality seems high - although the wheels weren't quite perfectly true. The Beinn is light and daughter is faster and getting more pleasure from riding than previously. I'm happy enough that when son soon outgrows his current Giant I'll almost certainly be going back to Islabikes.

pottssteve

Thanks, Stabilised. They look pretty good - I've emailed them to see about delivery to HK.
Steve

SlowingDown

Hi Steve, me again...

Just found this page online, not sure how up-to-date it is but it does suggest there may be other options to Islabikes (the Felt bike, for one, is currently available):

http://deaves47.users.btopenworld.com/bikes/junior.htm

I cant speak for the Luath but I bought my son's first proper bike from Islabikes at Christmas and it really is a cut above most other kid's bikes. The thought about what kids need isn't matched by most other brands I've looked at. You can see from the article I've linked to that the Islabike Luath has smaller drop bars whereas a lot of the others are using adult bars.

But there are plenty of potential options there.

pottssteve

Slowingdown,
Thanks for the link, really useful. I will investigate the Felt F24...
Steve

kingrollo

Think the only thing you will find at a comparable price is the decathlon bikes which come in a small frame size and a 600c wheel.

There are plenty of kids bikes out there, Pinarello, Felt, Giant, all do kids bikes - but these tend to be about £600 - the other big + is that islabikes take a cross wheel

pottssteve

Thanks, kingrollo,

I was thinking of fitting something like a 28mm tyre to give a bit more traction. They will be riding on road. Does this sound reasonable? I've emailed Felt to see what they have, but the Islabikes look a better price at 500 quid each. I'm assuming the Felt etc, will come with Shimano Sora or Tiagra components, maybe a bit better than the Luath?
Steve

kingrollo

pottssteve wrote:

Thanks, kingrollo,

I was thinking of fitting something like a 28mm tyre to give a bit more traction. They will be riding on road. Does this sound reasonable? I've emailed Felt to see what they have, but the Islabikes look a better price at 500 quid each. I'm assuming the Felt etc, will come with Shimano Sora or Tiagra components, maybe a bit better than the Luath?
Steve

God are they up to £500 now ??

I would get your cross tyres from islabikes as well. I got my son a 2nd user trek - which is great - but the brake levers, bars, are full size - where as islabikes are scaled down. My gripe with islabikes is the recent 25% price hike - the 26in bike was £299 last september - however if they are still getting sold at £350 what can you say !

pottssteve

Kingrollo,
Yes, I think they are 499 quid! The review on Bikeradar has them at 100 less. It works out at about HK$5600, which compares well with the HK$8000 for Bianchi. I'd be looking to buy 12 or so, so hopefully would be able to get a discount...
Steve

stabilised

Luath's (small or large) are £449 at present, with the 26 inch wheel version (for 9+) at £349. Everyone seeling in the UK has had to hike prices (or downgrade specs) because of a weak pound. Islabikes are far from alone in having done this over the last year.