Bike for 11-year-old

tgotb

So my 11-year-old daughter needs a new bike. The one she's riding at the moment was bought from Halfords, is too small, is falling to bits, and weighs more than all my bikes put together. I'm not quite sure what she's going to use the new one for in practice; trips to the shops, going to visit friends for sure, but she's walking distance from school, so doesn't need it for that. She wants to come along to Hillingdon Slipstreamers (I've already been taking her younger sister, who is very enthusiastic), but I'm not so sure she'll want to stick with it in the long term.

Obviously I'd like to get her something like a 650c road/cross bike, but I can't help noticing that every single bike/BSO in the school bike sheds is either a hybrid or MTB, and I know that "fitting in" is rather more important for teenage girls than for middle-aged old farts like me. Daughter herself doesn't have a strong opinion atm (mostly because she doesn't know much about bikes).

What should I get?

Gussio

Islabikes Luath 700? Expensive at £500, but a good benchmark when comparing with other options.

http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/luath700.html

If you want to go closer to the MTB route, then the largest Beinn, which is quite a bit cheaper and probably more rugged.

http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/beinn26lrg.html

These bikes seem to be great at holding their value. We are at the other end of the age scale, having just started out with the Beinn for our 4yr old. So long as I don't lose my job, it will be Islabikes all the the way through to when he can pay for his own stable.

SimonAH

+1. My understudy is on a Beinn and it's been absolutely flawless.......but yes, they ain't cheap....

VespaTrek

Another vote for Islabikes and the Luath 700 is a great bike. And Islabikes are actually free as they hold their value so well on eBay. A Luath 26 sold on eBay recently for more than I paid for one 3 years ago!

greg66_tri_v2.0

+1 on the Beinn. Our eldest is very happy on hers.

I considered the Luath, or even a 48cm/XXS road frame from one of the "big boys". In the end I decided that when you're 11 the idea of riding a road bike is a lot more appealing than the reality of doing so.

UndercoverElephant

http://www.bianchi.com/global/bikes/bik ... master=899

You know it makes sense.

TuckerUK

You don't need to worry unduly about weight. It's only us old unfit people (or whippet XCers) that need to. Kids are a lot stronger than people give them credit for.

Christophe3967

If she's going to be spending time at Slipstreamers, I'd really consider a Luath rather than a Benin. She'll perhaps feel more at home there if she's on a proper road bike - and certainly she'll have plenty of company amongst the girls.

We got the size up from the one Isla recommended for our 11 year old and within a few weeks we were swapping the standard pedals for spds. Fortunately his size Luath came in Slipstreamer colours.... not sure if that's still the case though with model changes etc. At the time I did lots of reaearch and concluded that Islabikes were the best bet, bearing in mind the potential need to upsize later, holding value, etc . Two years later the bike is almost as good as new, works brilliantly and should see him through at least another 2-3 years, by which time he'll be ready for an adult frame.

meanredspider

Certain a +1 for Islabikes - remember they hold their value very well which is more than can be said for most kids' bikes. My 11 year old son has the Beinn and it's been fabulous. His first proper ride he just jumped on a did 11 miles with about 500ft of climbing including some 10% stuff - just him and an older neighbour kid. He's since done some "fun" racing - he adores the bike and it's been no trouble at all.