First pedal bike, Cnoc 16?

Grovsie29

Hi all, my sons had a balance bike for 2 years, loves it, and its time for a proper bike. Hes 6 in a few weeks, but he's a very small 6. He's probably more like the the size of a 4-5 year old. That said I think the Cnoc 16 from islabikes is the right size for him?

Everything ive seen about these bikes is positive, they sure look nice, with good quality brakes and nice and light.

Are there any other bikes I should be looking at, or just go ahead with the Cnoc 16.

Levi_501

Go for the Cnoc

mpatts

Mini Mpatts (Amy) was very small, and we went for a 14 first, then to the 16, the to a bein 20 small. She's now on a Luath*

She didn't have the 14 for that long, but felt it was super important that it fitted well as it was the first pedal bike, and she was just too small for the 16. We went to islabikes for some test rides, which was really helpful.

*note, you're never going to get anything but good words from me re islabikes - they may be expensive but they have made a cycling fan out of Amy, and for me an 8 year old that hassles you to go up the woods/to watch the CX racing/for a cafe ride is worth every penny. Of course, she might have got on with a £20 halfords job.

Mike Healey

Cnoc cnoc
Who's there?
Isla
Isla who?
Isla make the best kids bikes around

Grovsie29

Thanks for replies guys, yeh im pretty much set on one, its just which size, the 14 or 16. His inside leg is only 40.5cm so according to islabikes he's not big enough for the 16 yet.

mpatts

Grovsie29 wrote:

Thanks for replies guys, yeh im pretty much set on one, its just which size, the 14 or 16. His inside leg is only 40.5cm so according to islabikes he's not big enough for the 16 yet.

They are usually right - I doubted them so went to their factory to have a test. Ended up buying what they recommended originally.

Daz555

My lad at 4yrs was about 1cm short of the minimum inside leg when we got him the Cnoc 16. Yes, for a couple of months I had to catch him when he stopped as he struggled to get his feet down, but they grow so fast it was no problem at all.

Looking at the 14 and 16 side by side there is a significant difference in size of course and size is of course critical. The thing I found odd about the 14 though (when watching mate's kids ride with mine) was the pedal speed required to ride the 14 at the same speed as the 16. Spin spin spin!

With both bikes though I think it is gearing more than size which eventually forces you to move up. Even when my lad was 6 and still fitted the Cnoc, he'd long left it behind in terms of gearing and his need to go faster (and my wish not to have to ride so slow ;-) ) Beinn 20 large sorted that and he is now comfortably faster than his mum.

Islabikes are such great quality of course that you can hand them down forever, or sell them and get a huge percentage of your purchase price back.

Grovsie29

I ended up going to Islabikes and getting the Cnoc 16 for my son. He still hasn't ridden it yet, he gets upset I think hes a bit scared. Im sure he'll come around once the weather gets better.

The bike is lovely, nice and light with great brakes.