What bike for 7yr old girl - non rider at the moment

yimpster

firstly - thanks for taking the time to read this. The forum has been extremely useful to me this morning and seems to have a wealth of knowledge and helpful people.

My daughter is 7 1/2 yr old 130cm and 60cm inside leg. She has a rubbishy bike we picked up from toys r us which she never learned to ride on. She has now outgrown this and am looking at getting something proper. Bit of a waste of money to be honest.

We have an Evans at the bottom of our road so popped down yesterday and was quite shocked to learn that a half decent bike is going to knock me back around £200-£250.

After doing a little research on here it seems like the Islabikes Beinn 24 is the correct choice. Though to be honest i can't sensibly justify spending £350 on a bike when i'm unsure if she will use it. There don't seem to be any used ones on ebay at the moment.

It would only really be used for knocking around the park, probably centre parks trails etc. At present not a hugely sporty family though i'd like to get out a lot more this summer. We live in London and no where near any cycle paths so cycling to school isn't even really an option - though i would really love to.

Are there any other suitable alternatives that I should consider?

Thanks in advance.
Adam

baudman

oxoman wrote:

Islabikes are good but very expensive thats why they get a high resale value.

It's a bit tough, as you don't know if she's going to ride it, but this is key. You can actually get away with it costing less in the long run as your purchase price is offset by what you can sell it for (as apposed to a piece of crap that gets little or no money once its use for you has passed.)

Also, get her involved with the purchase. She can then pick things, and have some ownership and pride. Test rides can be great to iron things out... but gently guide away from "...the one with the pink basket*" if it's unsuitable, instead suggesting "we can add a basket, and look, there's some purple handgrips*..."


*Exchange for Ben10 or anything else stereotypical for other parents reading this.

yimpster

Thanks for the responses. I appreciate the resale value of the better bikes is much higher.

In our family things tend to be passed on to the younger kids rather than sold. So i'd imagine i'd end up out of pocket

I've posted in the Wanted section of the forum so will see if anyone has anything to offer.

By decthlon bikes i assume you are referring to bikes sold by decathlon.co.uk. Their 24" frames seem to cater for 135cm and above. My daughter is 130cm and i would imagine too small.

Perhaps i'm looking at the wrong website.

Thanks again for all your help..

baudman

yimpster wrote:

In our family things tend to be passed on to the younger kids rather than sold. So i'd imagine i'd end up out of pocket

Au contraire

We're the same - poor Thing2 doesn't get much 'new' stuff... it's all 'new to her'*. But by purchasing a quality item in the first place, it will both be used more, and last the distance. Sure, there'll be a little maintenance required, and you may need to do a spruce-up pre-sale, but you'll still be surprised by what you can get back.

Our bikes get used many times each week. If I do a 'per-day' cost, the longer it stays in the family, the better value it is. For us, it does offset other transport costs (car, or on occasion, public transport).

Cheap bikes, with bad geometry and heavy weight, are generally used less, and so also factoring in low/no resale value, are a false economy.

*This bike was her sister's - and did a bit over 2 yrs with her. The Trailgator has been used on it, and her sister's new bike, and is now back on this one, as well as regular use on my old heap above, or my CX for towing. I consider both great value for money, and I think I'll be able to recoup at least half its price when I sell it, seeing how there's no real "this year's model" aspect to it, and it's niche so the ones out there in the 2nd-hand market are few.

Anonymous

As above really

The fact you will use it more than once and still be able to re sell is even better value IMO.

I have always bought the best bikes I can find for my daughter. It was/is more expensive than to buy cheap horrible bikes with no re sale, but not a great deal more, and easily better value.
I had to pay full price for most of them but resale was high and I even managed to pretty much break even on a Kona that I got half price.

The main thing I would say is never buy a crap bike for your kids. Used yes, sale yes, work overtime yes, but never buy a lead filled iron, bike shaped object for them!

My 11 year old daughter has just got her first road bike (650c) and we did 35 miles together last weekend (Camel Trail on her MTB)
She seems to love cycling and although I will never know how much a part having good bikes played in that, I am so glad I did not have to find out.
She is doing RideLondon in Aug and has upped her goal from 40 to 50 miles after doing so well on the trail ride. I think traffic might prevent that, but I am not going to rain on her parade just yet. See what happens on the day.

Good luck with the bike. Let us know how you get on ;-)

bold seagull

oxoman wrote:

For good quality bikes that don't break the bank try Decathlons range good value for money. Whatever bike you get her don't bother with suspension its a waste of money and extra weight for her to pedal around. If you look at Islabikes they don't have suspension. Islabikes are good but very expensive thats why they get a high resale value, try ebay as well for islabike or on here in the classifieds. PS i dont work for Islabike or Decathlon although my youngest son does ride a decathlon bike.

I've started another thread on this, but hope this post also helps the OP as well as me, but when you mention the Decathlon's, do you mean something like this:

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/20-racingboy-3-2012-id_8221827.html

I've put a query into them about how much they weigh, but is it a genuine good quality bargain at £70 that a 6-9 yr old will enjoy, or do you just bite the bullet and spend the £300!? :?

taff..

we bought a cheapo bike for MiniTaff (also 7yo) for christmas, when we eventually had the weather to get out and use it we found that a. he couldn't reach the brake lever comfortably and b. not only could he not turn the gear shifters, but I struggled to turn the front shifter :shock:

that bike went back for a refund and the next stop was the specialized dealer for a hotrock. £250 is a lot, but as it will be looked after, the resale value will be pretty good and the next bike will be largely paid for

yimpster

so i adjusted the bike that was too small. raised the handlebars and the saddle then removed the pedals. took her to the park and we used it as a balance bike. she had great fun and really got the hang of it. added the pedals and she did a few circuits of a basketball court

my wife took her the next day and she loved it !! though apparently the saddle was getting very uncomfortable.

my next door neighbour kindly offered us her sons old 20" ridgeback in flourescent green in pretty much perfect condition. when i got home last night we were pumping up the tyres and trying to adjust the height etc. i thought she would comment on the colour but she doesn't seem to care at all

whilst she is tall for her age - one thing she struggled to reach were the brake levers. hoping these are adjustable - will take a look when i get home tonight

simon_e

There is a small reach adjustment screw on the MX20's brake levers, though even with that screwed in they still aren't as good or as easy to reach as the levers on the Beinn. Replacing the cable and cable outer housing might make braking easier if it's corroded, worn or dirty inside. For anyone looking to buy one, there is a girl's version of the MX20, I forget the name.

baudman

yimpster wrote:

so i adjusted the bike that was too small. raised the handlebars and the saddle then removed the pedals. took her to the park and we used it as a balance bike. she had great fun and really got the hang of it. added the pedals and she did a few circuits of a basketball court

my wife took her the next day and she loved it

I can't let this bit go past without saying YAY!