Dawies Lottie - Kids Bike - Satanic POS

Bought one of these for my eldest off t'internet and am deeply regretting it. I know for 100 quid I shouldnt be expecting miracles but Im pretty worried by the quality of the thing - particularly the brakes.

Bearing in mind that I had to tweak these myself and so we shouldnt rule out user idiocy - I just cant get them to work well. The levers are pretty stiff for a small kid to work, the blocks seem to be made from teflon and even using most of my hand strength its very difficult to lock the front wheel against a gentle push forward.

Whilst the little'un isnt going to be near the road on it any time soon I would at least like to let her near a gentle slope or 2 without fearing for her health.

Am I being ridiculous or do any RB'er have any suggestions? Is replacing the brakes for something that works feasible? They are side pull jobs that you can just about see in the pic.

Fit any decent set of V's (Deore say) with good quality pads and a really, really good cable. Set up the travel stop on the lever blade to make it close to the bars so the reach is right. Hand strength will be limited, so you don't need to worry if they are a little mushy and the lever just touches the bars - you have to work with little hands.

Frankly you are better off with an Islabike - while they are pricey you get your money back. I even sold one after 18 months for more than I paid for it. They have specially-made little brake levers and modified V-brakes to get the leverage appropriate.

hamster":3gh8bjgu said:

Fit any decent set of V's (Deore say)

Click to expand...

No brake posts on the fork.