Dawes Espoir 26 v Isla Bike Luath 26

hammerite

Looking at both of the above for the boy, who is 9. Both look spot on size wise from looking at the size guides. He wants it for road riding/racing and cyclocross racing

He's not great at using his gears yet, but has used them more when riding a bike with STI levers (current road bike had downtube shifter converted to SIS levers).

http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/luath26.html

http://www.bikes2udirect.com/B3196.html

Any tips, recommendations or advice on either?

hammerite

anyone?

Hoopdriver

I bought a smaller model Islabike for my daughter, then aged 6, and was really delighted with both the bike and the service I had from the company. THe bikes themselves are the best children's bikes I have seen, and I shopped around quite a bit since I wanted my daughter to have a bike that was not only safe but genuinely a pleasure to ride - and hopefully to start her on a lifelong enjoyment of cycling. She loves it.

They are essentially grown-up bikes scaled down to children's sizes and gave a genuinely quality feel to them, and run extremely smoothly. My daughter was delighted by the difference she felt, straight way, from the bog-standard kids bike on which she had been learning.

Again, I can't speak to the Dawes, but I do know the Islabikes was -and still is - great. I hope this helps.

softlad

if it's any help - we ran a youth race at our town centre crit back in August - and as far as I could tell, just about all the youngsters were on Islabikes.....

bompington

+1 for Isla: I don't know anything about the Dawes, and I don't know the Luath personally (my daughter has a Beinn 24) but what I do know is that someone has put a lot into the design and especially sourcing of components, which I presume holds for the Luath as well. Things like cranks that are proportional to the rider, brakes that small kids can actually reach and pull hard enough to stop, that kind of thing.
There's also a rather unusual thing for a children's bike - it's lighter than an adult bike.

hammerite

Thanks for the replies.

Most of the kids at the CX races we go to are on Isla Bikes too, the odd one is on a Dawes.

The thing that puts me off the Luath 26, is the gearing. Single ring at the front, if this bike is to be suitable for Jnr still in 18-24 months time I'd imagine he'd want to use his gears a little more (both because he can, and also so he can be more competitive).

bompington

hammerite wrote:

The thing that puts me off the Luath 26, is the gearing. Single ring at the front, if this bike is to be suitable for Jnr still in 18-24 months time I'd imagine he'd want to use his gears a little more (both because he can, and also so he can be more competitive).

Islabikes website wrote:

You will have noticed that single chainrings and wide ratio blocks have been selected for most of our bikes. We have observed that children struggle to understand how to use multiple chainrings effectively, and usually end up using only one ring. The arrival on the market of very wide ratio cassettes has allowed us to specify a single ring and still provide an appropriate range of gears, giving your child something they will find easier to operate with the added advantage of being lighter and lower maintenance.

After watching Bompette on hers I'm inclined to agree - she usually comes up our road (carrying school bag), a nice little 300m at about 12%, in top gear.
She's had it since last christmas and the gears have worked smoothly both times she's changed them.

Hoopdriver

I absolutely agree with that too, based on my own daughter's experience.

Worry about multiple chainrings later.

hammerite

How old is Bompette?

I coach kids so I'm aware that most of them have no idea how to use gears, no matter how much I try to explain and show how they should use them and when!!

I suppose I'm hoping that eventually at some point in the next 2 years the gear thing will click with Jnr and he'll use a wider spread. Wishful thinking perhaps

Avanti Roman

8 gears should provide sufficient range (say 4-20mph) without giant gaps for the average 9-11 year old.

A single chainring also saves around 1lb in weight too which is significant for a small light rider - I suspect the Isla is lighter and faster than the Dawes.

Gary D

I would agree with everything already said about the Islabikes. Both my daughters have them. 10 year old has the Luath 26 and the 8 year old the Luath 24 and they love them . The gearing is fine.

One important point not yet mentioned is that they have excellent re-sale value and go really quickly (60-70% of new price is not unusual!). I would guess the Dawes would depreciate much greater.

Gary.

springtide9

Can't comment on the two bikes in question, but in general....

+1 for Isla

Now on our third bike in the range (benn 20) and can't see myself buying anything else until they are much older. The best advice would be, goto an event and see what the majority of people are riding... there is usually a reason why things are popular.

jonsi

Another +1 for the Islabike.

I coach at a youth cycling club and we have a stock of club bikes - all Islabikes. They take everything thats thrown at them and keep coming back for more!

I agree that for young children the concept of multiple chainring can be mind-boggling - its hard enough to get them to understand the concept of changing gear on the cassette let alone having another chainring to worry about!

One member has got her own Dawes but it seems to be significantly heavier than the Islabike which as mentioned previously can be significant for a young child

hammerite

Thanks for all the replies.

As there were such little info on the Dawes I e-mailed them to ask a few questions...

The Espoir 26" weighs 11.5kg and the gear ratios are 42/34 for the front chainwheel and 11/32 cassette.

Checking the spec on the Isla Bikes website - 9.8kg
36 chainring.
11-34 cassette.

Based on all your advice, the above info and the usual good sell on value I think Isla is defo the winner. Jnr wants a cross/road bike for Christmas, just need to work on the OH![/code]