Which of these would be best vfm?

swelsbyuk

My daughter is almost nine and is a mad keen MTBer, however she wants to get into road biking and I'd rather encourage than discourage.

Got about £350 to spend and have found the following bikes, would love to know if anyone's kids has experience of any of them or, alternatively, if any of you could offer advice on spec etc.

Many thanks in advance:

http://www.formeulabikes.co.uk/download ... ula-24.pdf

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/vitu ... -prod81035

http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/luath24.html

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/FBB ... _road_bike

defride

Isla bikes are cracking. Really well thought out junior bikes, it's the little things like light (for kids bikes) tyres that add up. No experience of the racer but based on the various others I've seen I'd expect it to carry on that tradition.

No experience of the other three, based on spec and pictures alone the Battaglin and Vitus look solid but I'd want to see the Formeula in the flesh, areas on it where it's tricky to tell if they've cut corners or not.

meesterbond

The other thing to consider with Islabikes is that they tend to sell secondhand for very strong prices - the kiddies balance bikes go for upwards of 75% of the new value. They look expensive up front, but take the lack of depreciation into account and they're very good vfm.

swelsbyuk

Thanks for the comments guys.

I was veering towards the islabike as she had one of those when she was five.

The reason for including the others was just because of the price savings from rrp and also nice to have something a little different to the norm.

RonB

Might be a coincidence, but I am just in the process of putting a s/h Moda Minor on sale within the classifieds section as my son has moved up to a 26.

It is a size 24 road bike which has full Shimano groupset and additional top mount break levers.

Please PM if you are interested and I will send you pics and a more comprehensive spec.