Zebra bike

swiggy08
swiggy08 Posts: 3
edited March 2017 in Family & kids cycling forum
Hi, I noticed Zebra 20 and 24" wheeled Kids bikes on eBay the other day. They seem to be copied frog bikes and similar in weight. Has anyone heard of them or got one? Interested to hear what people think. Thanks

Comments

  • natrix
    natrix Posts: 1,111
    £139 for the 24" version with a quoted weight of 9.75kg looks pretty good compared with a Frog for £285 (9.2kg), although the Frog comes with mudguards and a spare set of tyres. They are obviously copying the Frog bikes as one of them is pretty much the exact same colour. Would be interesting to see how they compare in the flesh.............
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  • mikpem
    mikpem Posts: 139
    They look pretty similar but the components are quite different from a quick glance.
    -Tourney gripshift instead of Alvio thumbshift (My wife struggled with grip shift so I'll be avoiding for the kids).
    -Gearing is also different with a 36 tooth crank rather than a 32 so generally a bit tougher for little legs.
    -Generic brakes instead of Tektro.
    -Headset is a Neco, I have no idea what is on the Frog but I bought a Neco for £3 from China once and it never went on a bike.

    They are probably pretty good bikes and kids will love them but there are definitely differences between the two.
  • natrix
    natrix Posts: 1,111
    mikpem wrote:
    (My wife struggled with grip shift so I'll be avoiding for the kids).

    My children struggled with grip shift, but some seem to get on fine with it (wideley used on Islabikes).

    Thanks for the info Mike, seems like there's a reason why the zebra bikes are so cheap.....
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  • Steve-XcT
    Steve-XcT Posts: 267
    natrix wrote:
    £139 for the 24" version with a quoted weight of 9.75kg looks pretty good compared with a Frog for £285 (9.2kg), although the Frog comes with mudguards and a spare set of tyres. They are obviously copying the Frog bikes as one of them is pretty much the exact same colour. Would be interesting to see how they compare in the flesh.............

    9.75kg with kickstand and heavy components ... and steel forks seems a bit to good to be true...


    just a quick back of the envelope guesstimate and the components and wheels would seem to be about 10kg
  • Jnwd2010
    Jnwd2010 Posts: 1
    I decided to take a punt and it might be as you'd expect.

    I got the 20 inch version (£130 from eBay) which has a supposed weight of 8.5kg, it tops the scales at 9.5 but with hefty kick stand removed it's a little over 9 (if you discounted weight of pedals as well i think it would be there or there abouts). Seems like a lot of weight in the back wheel, i think I'll see if there's anything that can be done there to shed a bit.

    Cranks are 130mm so a little longer than I'd prefer. Also bb axel could be 5-10mm shorter.

    Otherwise I'm pretty happy with it, the brake levers don't really look like child specific ones but have plenty of reach adjustment​ and i think they'll be fine (it's his birthday in two days so it's not been ridden yet) . I think they're meant to be Pro Max it something but they're not branded at all.

    I've swapped the almost slick kenda tyres for some 1.9 inch schwalbes.

    I was looking at a Raleigh performance 20 for £200 and having seen the 24 inch version in a LBS i do think it would have been lighter and of slightly better quality, but for the money i cant really complain.

    In summary, buying new i don't think you'd get more for your money, not as good as an isla bike but not too far from a frog.
  • natrix
    natrix Posts: 1,111
    Thanks for the feedback 8)
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  • Steve-XcT
    Steve-XcT Posts: 267
    Jnwd2010 wrote:
    I decided to take a punt and it might be as you'd expect.

    I got the 20 inch version (£130 from eBay) which has a supposed weight of 8.5kg, it tops the scales at 9.5 but with hefty kick stand removed it's a little over 9 (if you discounted weight of pedals as well i think it would be there or there abouts). Seems like a lot of weight in the back wheel, i think I'll see if there's anything that can be done there to shed a bit.
    Freewheels are freewheels :(
    Cranks are 130mm so a little longer than I'd prefer. Also bb axel could be 5-10mm shorter.

    Otherwise I'm pretty happy with it, the brake levers don't really look like child specific ones but have plenty of reach adjustment​ and i think they'll be fine (it's his birthday in two days so it's not been ridden yet) . I think they're meant to be Pro Max it something but they're not branded at all.

    I've swapped the almost slick kenda tyres for some 1.9 inch schwalbes.

    I was looking at a Raleigh performance 20 for £200 and having seen the 24 inch version in a LBS i do think it would have been lighter and of slightly better quality, but for the money i cant really complain.

    In summary, buying new i don't think you'd get more for your money, not as good as an isla bike but not too far from a frog.

    You can't buy a half decent wheel for £120 so hard to fault... and £120 for a frame alone is good...
    It would be interesting to know what the frame weighs compared to Isla/Frog frames... I'd except not much in it.

    When all is said and done a 20"er is a BMW with gears ... (only a few very expensive exceptions) you can replace everything except the frame at great expense and it's still a BMX with gears... you might just shed a few lbs - pounds for hundreds of £pounds.

    You can look at the Raleigh, then Frog then Isla but it's just incremental extra cost for very small functional upgrades.

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