Trading up from an Isla to a Raleigh
gravitykid
Posts: 17
The time has come for my daughter to trade in her Isla cnoc 16 for a new bike.
The Isla has been great, but I'm reluctant to upgrade to the Beinn 20 as it's pricey and I fancy something a bit different.
I've spent ages trawling the web for alternatives and was pretty much set on a Frog 55 until my daughter sat on one yesterday. The frame is way too long and the handlebars seem narrow and cluttered. I also didn't like the fact that the rear wheel seems to sit a long way back.
I then came home, had a final look on the web and came across this, which I can get for £220-240...
Seems like a nice little bike...
Weight <8 kg
Lightweight 6061 aluminium frame, triple butted downtube and toptube
4130 Chromoly rigid forks (hopefully a bit more forgiving than an aluminium one)
Decent gears
Customised aluminium 114mm cranks
Riser handlebars, which give more options for adjusting reach if it's too long to start with
1 1/8" Headtube (which means that I have the option to fit a Spinner Grind Air 20 fork at a later date, should I want to)
Proportions look right too.
The only negative thing that I can say about it is that the saddle looks a bit big, but I have a spare kids saddle that I can always put on if it's an issue.
There are a few positive reviews on Wiggle too.
To me, it looks like Raleigh have looked at the Isla Beinn and based this bike on it.
The bike shown is a 10" frame and I've laid it over the top of the Beinn 20 Small on photoshop; the only difference (geometry wise) is that the Isla BB is marginally lower.
I'm assuming that the 11" will be a similar size to the Beinn 20 Large.
I've decided that I'm going to take a risk and go for it. I'll me phoning my LBS tomorrow to see what deal he can do for me on an 11".
The colours aren't the best (titanium or blue); thankfully my daughter likes the blue.
The Isla has been great, but I'm reluctant to upgrade to the Beinn 20 as it's pricey and I fancy something a bit different.
I've spent ages trawling the web for alternatives and was pretty much set on a Frog 55 until my daughter sat on one yesterday. The frame is way too long and the handlebars seem narrow and cluttered. I also didn't like the fact that the rear wheel seems to sit a long way back.
I then came home, had a final look on the web and came across this, which I can get for £220-240...
Seems like a nice little bike...
Weight <8 kg
Lightweight 6061 aluminium frame, triple butted downtube and toptube
4130 Chromoly rigid forks (hopefully a bit more forgiving than an aluminium one)
Decent gears
Customised aluminium 114mm cranks
Riser handlebars, which give more options for adjusting reach if it's too long to start with
1 1/8" Headtube (which means that I have the option to fit a Spinner Grind Air 20 fork at a later date, should I want to)
Proportions look right too.
The only negative thing that I can say about it is that the saddle looks a bit big, but I have a spare kids saddle that I can always put on if it's an issue.
There are a few positive reviews on Wiggle too.
To me, it looks like Raleigh have looked at the Isla Beinn and based this bike on it.
The bike shown is a 10" frame and I've laid it over the top of the Beinn 20 Small on photoshop; the only difference (geometry wise) is that the Isla BB is marginally lower.
I'm assuming that the 11" will be a similar size to the Beinn 20 Large.
I've decided that I'm going to take a risk and go for it. I'll me phoning my LBS tomorrow to see what deal he can do for me on an 11".
The colours aren't the best (titanium or blue); thankfully my daughter likes the blue.
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Comments
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That does look like good value for money. I see that Raleigh now have a performance range (of which this is part) that looks very similar to Islabikes but cheaper. They even have a couple of kids cyclocross/road bikes, though these are only £25 cheaper than the Islabikes equivalents.
Having 3 boys, the interesting question for me will be spares availability - when tidying up the Islabikes before passing on to the next, I've had to replace all sorts, including brake levers and saddles, and Islabikes have always been able to provide the spares (albeit sometimes the colouring has changed) for a reasonable price. For instance, I've recently bought a Luath 26 for my eldest and was able to buy a spare wheelset for his cyclocross tyres (including cassette and tubes - just add tyres) for £95. If Raleigh can offer the same, they will certainly be on the list for the next kid's bike that I buy...
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That does look like a really nice bike. My daughter had an Islabike Beinn 20 small when she was 6 (now 11) and loved it, however, she also had a Raleigh, which we kept at my parents house. The Raleigh was saved from being thrown into the tip by its previous owner!! It was in lovely condition; a little heavy, but actually a really nice design, with good geometry for a young child. If they have got the weight down to 8kg, it should make a really nice bike, and the price looks excellent. Raleigh do know a lot about designing children's bikes so there is a really good chance that this will be a winner.
p.s. Anyone remember the Raleigh Winner - It was a racing bike with 24 inch wheels.... and a comfort saddle; it was my first bike with drop down bars0 -
Seems like this bike is harder to get hold of than I thought!
My local bike shop, which sells Raleigh, say that Raleigh won't get them one till September.
However, I can order one online and get it delivered to another bike shop which is fairly local.
I phoned up that bike shop and they confirmed that they can get me what they want for next week.
However, they then tried to persuade me to buy a Cuda Energy (kids Barracuda) saying it was light because it had an aluminium frame, but he couldn't tell me how light. Looking at the website I can tell that it's way heavier than the Raleigh's 8Kg.
He also wanted to charge me £220 for a bike that appears to retail at £200.
My bike snobbery has now kicked in and I am refusing to buy a bike from a clueless bike shop.
The next nearest shop is 3/4 hour away (on a good run) which is making me question whether I now even bother with the Raleigh.
Perhaps it's time to send an email to Raleigh?
@mattsurf I can't remember the Raleigh Winner. It was always a Raleigh Arena that I wanted (although I think the small one was 26" wheels). Unfortunately all I ever did was drool at the bike shop window, I never got to own one.0 -
Well, I went all retro today and used a contraption called a telephone to phone Raleigh.
The guy I spoke to was really helpful, we sorted out my problems, and now my chosen bike shop (Stourport Specialist Cycles) will be receiving the bike early next week.
I'll post a review once my little girl has had her first proper ride on it.
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I'd say they put one in a jig, noted the dimensions & components then made one the same. Frame shape, cranks, stem etc etc., they've even reproduced the gunmetal grey finish of the earlier models (which I prefer). I hope your daughter enjoys riding it.To me, it looks like Raleigh have looked at the Isla Beinn and based this bike on it.
I remember the name. There was a time when the latest Raleigh bike catalogue was collected from the LBS and every model memorised... well the flashier ones at least. My first drop-bar bike was a Hustler, purple with 3-speed S-A gears and 20" wheels. (catalogue pic). It cost £32 new and I loved it.p.s. Anyone remember the Raleigh Winner - It was a racing bike with 24 inch wheels.... and a comfort saddle; it was my first bike with drop down barsAspire not to have more, but to be more.0 -
That does look like good value for money. I see that Raleigh now have a performance range (of which this is part) that looks very similar to Islabikes but cheaper. They even have a couple of kids cyclocross/road bikes, though these are only £25 cheaper than the Islabikes equivalents.
Having 3 boys, the interesting question for me will be spares availability - when tidying up the Islabikes before passing on to the next, I've had to replace all sorts, including brake levers and saddles, and Islabikes have always been able to provide the spares (albeit sometimes the colouring has changed) for a reasonable price. For instance, I've recently bought a Luath 26 for my eldest and was able to buy a spare wheelset for his cyclocross tyres (including cassette and tubes - just add tyres) for £95. If Raleigh can offer the same, they will certainly be on the list for the next kid's bike that I buy...
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I've bought the Raleigh Performance 24 cyclocross bike for my son. It's a really nice well built bike, the only let down is the wheel size, they come supplied with a 520x24 rim (ignore the 24x1 advertised size), of which there is barely any tyre choice apart from the road tyre that comes with it.0
