Kids (road) bike... which one?

taimur

I am looking to start my daughter off on a proper bike. She has out grown the childish 16 and 20" wheel bikes. Budget is a bit of an issue. I was looking to stretch to Felt F95 junior from wiggle but o took too long and they went out of stock.
So I have narrowed the choice down to
1. Vitus premier kids
2. Pro-Lite The One 650 kids

They are both currently on sale and look like decent value.

I will appreciate any feedback or experiences of these two bikes.

Thanks!

imposter2.0

If it's a 650 wheel bike you are after, take a look at the Moda Major - and I think Halfords/Carrera are now also selling a 650 bike too, although even with the low price, the spec is quite poor..

mattrixdesign2

Dawes Espoir, Isla, I think there is a Carrera also?

simoncushing

The pro-Lite is an excellent bike, daughter started her road racing on one. Everything sized down for smaller arm, hands, legs but with good quality components, handling excellent. She was devastated when she outgrew it.

Anonymous

Got the Felt for our daughter and very pleased with it. Is basically a small adults bike (as opposed to one that looks especially designed for kids) which is exactly what we wanted.
It had 2013 Sora, carbon fork and Microshift levers which are great for small hands. Smaller reach and they have a button (mounted on outside of levers) for downshifts and lever behind brake does upshifts.
Only one I have seen since that I might have bought was a Battaglin on planet-x, but it was more expensive and probably a bit too boyish (not that I like girly looking bikes). Think it may have had a steel fork which I am not keen on.
The Pro lite looks really good at £449 though if you cannot get a felt.
Good to see more choice at better prices these days.

taimur

Thank you for youe comments.

I am from half way round globe so cgoices are limited to online order delivery. After looking around allot narrowed down to wiggle, evans and CRC. Wiggle went out of stock on felt which was my firsr choice betaglin looked great but size options are limited. So finally choosing between vitus and pro-lite.

Anonymous

Out of those two the pro-lite seems the better but I would wait until Jan for the Felt

taimur

The Pro-lite is starting to look to be the one.

Regarding the FELT, I actually dont mind waiting but its no longer on sale. The "order now" price is full retail value which takes it to $875, kinda steep! Pro-Lite and Vitus are currently discounted which is why i stretched to that range of sub-600 (+200 delivery).

othello

If Evans is an option then have a look at the recently launched Hoy Cammo http://www.evanscycles.com/products/hoy/cammo-650c-2014-road-bike-ec057176 Looks pretty good.

A few children at the club my kids go to have had the pro-lite and it looks really good, especially the wheels with the slightly deep section rims.

imposter2.0

othello wrote:

If Evans is an option then have a look at the recently launched Hoy Cammo http://www.evanscycles.com/products/hoy/cammo-650c-2014-road-bike-ec057176 Looks pretty good.

A few children at the club my kids go to have had the pro-lite and it looks really good, especially the wheels with the slightly deep section rims.

Not sure the Hoy Cammo is £110 better than the Moda Major. Nice looking bike though..

othello

Imposter wrote:

othello wrote:

If Evans is an option then have a look at the recently launched Hoy Cammo http://www.evanscycles.com/products/hoy/cammo-650c-2014-road-bike-ec057176 Looks pretty good.

A few children at the club my kids go to have had the pro-lite and it looks really good, especially the wheels with the slightly deep section rims.

Not sure the Hoy Cammo is £110 better than the Moda Major. Nice looking bike though..

Agreed, but the topic starter has said he needs to order from Wiggle or Evans as he is overseas. If that wasn't the case a good option would have been an Isla Luath 26, and put the extra towards a nice set of wheels. But he needs to be able to ship and choice is limited.

imposter2.0

Fair enough - I missed that bit..

gw4130

Hi there. We bought our 8yr old son a 24" wheeled Isla bike in October. He gave up BMX racing and fancied doing a bit of road riding with his old dad ! Nothing flash about the isla bike, just rock solid, decent paintwork and excellent customer service and backup. I would try and keep away from the flash looking bikes ( and keep your kid from getting expensive tastes) we saw so much bike snobbery from pushy parents in BMX it was sickening...and saw some rather flash kids bikes at the Ally pally Rapha supercross ( the fast kids are fast no matter what) keep it simple and good luck !

othello

taimur wrote:

The Pro-lite is starting to look to be the one.

Regarding the FELT, I actually dont mind waiting but its no longer on sale. The "order now" price is full retail value which takes it to $875, kinda steep! Pro-Lite and Vitus are currently discounted which is why i stretched to that range of sub-600 (+200 delivery).

I see that CRC have the Pro-Lite on sale at the moment (if you haven't already bought one?)

Initialised

+1 for the Moda Major, my son has one and it'll inherit my Sora gearing (to replace the Microshift) when I upgrade.

imposter2.0

Initialised wrote:

+1 for the Moda Major, my son has one and it'll inherit my Sora gearing (to replace the Microshift) when I upgrade.

Not sure swapping the Microshift for Sora counts as an improvement, to be honest. The Microshift stuff is pretty reasonable anyway, and certainly no worse than Sora - with the added benefit that you can operate it from the drops, which you can't with Sora.

Anonymous

I would have thought Sora was a bit of a downgrade TBH.
Daughter has the Felt Junior with Microshift and I think they are better for her than even the latest Sora would be.