Kids bike weight, OMG how heavy are they?!

mattyfez

mattyfez

mattyfez

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Random anecdote, I was out on my regular ride the other day and there's a step section of cobbles, only about 20 feet long but it's a 30/40 degree angle on a slight bend, that joins a main road to the canal.

I was about to go down it and there was a family group, 2 adults and three kids, two very young kids on plastic trike type things, and at a guess a 5/6 Y/O on a full suspension mountain bike type thing.

The kid with fs was struggling pushing it up the slope, so I thought I'd lend a hand, so I put my bike against the wall, offered my help and attempted to drag the kids 'mountain bike' the last 10 feet of the slope.

Jeesus that thing was HEAVY! I ride a cheap ass XC bike but I'm 16 stone , 6'3 with a 22" frame, this thing was basically a toy and it weighed more than my bike.

I guess they must have bought it from toys r us, or mothercare or something, but dayam, it quickly became apparent why the kid was struggling with it.

Don't get me wrong, this thing looked the part, but it weighed as much as my bike, possibly more, I honestly couldn't believe how heavy that thing was for it's tiny size.

I guess what I'm saying is if you buy a bike for a small child, please buy them a half decent one! lol :D
 
Yeah, i had the same thought when someone asked me to assemble a bike they'd bought for their kid for xmas. Not only was that thing easily twice as heavy as my steel road bike, but the cantilever brakes it had were so ineffectual and hard even for me to pull the lever that there's no way a kid could have done it safely.

How any kids grow up with BSOs like that and still enjoy cycling is beyond me.
 
I bought a bike last year, some cheap Raleigh, and that thing weighed more than my new Trek MTB & Giant Defy 3 combined haha.

Cheap = poor in my eyes.

Weight is everything in cycling! You notice a huge difference.
 
Kids bikes are made to get thrown around and not maintained, so they are stupidly heavy duty. Our kids bikes (one for an 8 year old, one for a 5 year old) are both really heavy.

There is one company that makes serious kids bikes, but you pay for them. What are they called... can't remember...

Isla, that's the one.
 
Vonhelmet said:
Kids bikes are made to get thrown around and not maintained, so they are stupidly heavy duty. Our kids bikes (one for an 8 year old, one for a 5 year old) are both really heavy.

There is one company that makes serious kids bikes, but you pay for them. What are they called... can't remember...

Isla, that's the one.
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Frog bikes are supposed to be good too, and quite a lot of big name bike manufacturers also have a kids range. The issue isn't that good kids bikes aren't available, it's that parents don't want to spend that much on something that might well get used for a week and then sit in the shed for the rest of its life. And as a result of that, they buy something so bad it'll almost certainly get used for a week and then sit in the shed for the rest of its life.
 
Frog/Islabike are the expensive but superb bikes for kids, lightweight and have a superb resale value 2nd hand.

I had one for my son, paid £250 for it (lot of money) but he used it for 2 years, eventually grew out of it, good nick with some expected scratches/marks etc - sold it for £150.

Frog ones are sold at the local shop and seem to have a great write up as well. Think "hoy" are also new as well.

Islabike are expensive but superb.
 
At the moment my eldest has a fairly solid apollo from Halfords and my 5 year old has some heavy second hand sindy branded bike. If they stick with it I'll get them something decent in time. There seems little point when you're looking at 16 and 20 inch wheel bikes, as they'll only get a couple of years out of them before growing out of them, but once they hit 24 inches I'll be looking more seriously at more expensive bikes as those will last a good few years.
 
Kids don't care about weight or what brand it is. If it has wheels and moves then they will use it IF their friends also have bikes.

I was always out on my bike as a kid and I had a Raleigh Wildcat
mine.jpg


but it did this so my mates thought it was the dogs danglies :p

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO_dZEVHVXM

At the end of the day whether their friends have bikes that they go out on will be the deciding factor as to whether it gets used.
 
My eldest has an Ilsabike and it's brilliant. They are so light that she found it so easy to ride compared to the bike she had before.

It's a lot easier to balance because it's lighter.
 
If you want a bike for 4+ yo just get a bmx :) you can get fine bikes for £250ish and they're built like tanks, take the beating, look cool and they can grow into them and maybe start bmxing properly! :) just never ever buy anything from Argos, halfords etc! Specialised bmx shops store proper products :)
 
booyaka said:
Frog/Islabike are the expensive but superb bikes for kids, lightweight and have a superb resale value 2nd hand.

I had one for my son, paid £250 for it (lot of money) but he used it for 2 years, eventually grew out of it, good nick with some expected scratches/marks etc - sold it for £150.

Frog ones are sold at the local shop and seem to have a great write up as well. Think "hoy" are also new as well.

Islabike are expensive but superb.
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My two year old cousin just got a frog balance bike, and the build quality is superb! Real bearings, real hubs, real tyres. Superb.

Infact I'd say better than the balance bike I got for my nephew in terms of looks at least.
 
I bought my youngest an Islabikes Beinn 20 about two and a bit years ago. It was expensive but I wanted something that would encourage her to ride rather than some 2 ton piece of chinese pig iron. Its a lovely bike that has seen little use. There is a lot of thought gone into thing like brake lever reach, gears. I'll sell it this year as she is too big for it now and I reckon I'll get near £200 for it. Considering I paid £250 thats amazing. The older daughter got a Decathlon bike when she was 8/9 and its been decent too - yes a bit heavy but well specced for the price.

The only thing I will say is that Isla Rowntree has pushed up the prices substantially in recent years so not quite the value they were new. Second hand they look like a great but.
 
My sons bike is pretty light - just wish I could swap the innefective forks for some simple steel ones - would be lighter and he doesn't need suspension, but I can't find any in the right size for the bike.

1939791_10203597706241999_757082694_n.jpg
 
Calpol said:
The only thing I will say is that Isla Rowntree has pushed up the prices substantially in recent years so not quite the value they were new. Second hand they look like a great but.
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The difference on eBay between a new Cnoc 16 and a 3yo one is about £15-£30 once you take postage into account.

I'm certainly looking at an Ilsabike upgrade path for my kids.
 
Isla bikes are excellent for youngsters, very light and easy to use. Boy started on the balance bike, moved onto the cnoc 16, now on a Frog bike which is also excellent. He was riding 4-5 miles before he was 4. :)

Daughter just moved onto her first bike after using the old balance bike(with added pink tassles) to a Cnoc 16.

Cant recommend Frog or Islabikes enough to get kids enjoying riding.

Still got the old bikes, guess I should sell them.....
 
Since the old thread is archived, I'll repost my balance bike, starting the boy how I hope he'll go on :)

vuZtMkK.jpg

It's nice and light, inflatable tyres, rear disc mount if I fancy upgrading too. Oh and there's an integrated bottle opener where the bottom bracket would be if it needed such a thing. So in that sense it's better than my big boys version :)

Available here and not what I'd call cheap, but it's well made. And v cool.
 
Just looking into this for my little one, his first birthday is the end of this month and then it's Christmas so grand parents are asking what he would like seems sensible to get a balance bike ready for the summer as he will probably be old/big/strong enough by then and it will save us the expense!

Looks like we will be getting a Frog Tadpole they seem to get great reviews and while expensive they are not crazy money and the second hand value looks decent if he doesn't get on with it.
 
Begbie said:
I found this useful when looking for my nephew.

http://www.twowheelingtots.com/balance-bike-guide/

I ended up with the FirstBIKE, but only because I hadn't heard of Frog and the Shan wasn't out at that point. Shan would be my first choice everytime if I ever buy again.
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Good find that website, I do like the Shan and the video on the website is a genius piece of sales!
 
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