bike for nearly 10 yo daughter (135cm tall) - islabikes?

Hi,

we have a 9yo daughter who currently has an islabikes Beinn 20 - small. She has really outgrown it as she is 135cm tall.

The natural progression would be a Beinn 26 small for 135cm and upwards.

But it costs £350!

I know the quality, as we also have 1 Rothan balance bike, and 2 Cnoc14s (which will need replacing soon).

What alternatives are there?

Specialized make some bikes.

Pinnacle bikes from Evans are similar but about £250 - but she doesn't like them!!!

Or build up a bike from a small 13" frame? Rigid forks, single chainring, similar philosophy to islabikes.

Cheers

Steve

Buy second hand islabike? Buy new and eBay for minimal loss? Looking at a similar situation myself but my spawn are 2.5 years apart. They are both on isla balance bikes now, but the girl is top big for hers and needs to take the next step up. The plan is a new Isla for her and hand it to the boy when he gets bigger. The only problem is that he has taken to cycling like a duck to water and can't see him still on a balance bike before he gets the hand me down.

I'd cough up for a 24" wheel Islabike, you almost get your money back when you sell. I've sold two secondhand ones at a small profit after a couple of years.

My oldest has just grown out of his 24" Isla, but it's been handed down. He's just gone up to a small Kona, built on the same principles as you say. With Maguras to keep the brakes powerful for small hands we are at around 25lbs all-up. The oldest Konas (splatter paint era) have shorter top tubes than the late 90's. IF you could find a 1990 Lava Dome that would work really well. The frames are not particularly light though.

However, even with sourcing on here I struggled to keep below £250 including a respray. In the end a snazzy set of wheels (which do admittedly look very cool) took the spend close to Isla territory.

There are 24" alternatives e.g. Specialized Hotrock, Scott Voltage and Kona 2-4

Look at how much used ones go for, subtract that from £350, divide by the two or three years use you'll get out of it, see how expensive it looks then

Once you're into 26in wheels building something up is certainly plausible. Worth looking into if you've got a stock of parts and you can find a tidgy frame.

I built my 8 year old daughter her first 26" wheel bike around a small Cannondale M300.
First outing:


I had considered going the Islabikes route and although I spent more on the Cannondale than I'd first intended. Almost every single part other than frame and forks is re-usable in her next bike. So, if i have to sell a small M300 frame and pepperoni forks in a few years how much money can i lose from my £50?

Fiscally, its a no-brainer, you get to keep the fleet retro and you have all the fun of building it.

My daughter loves the fact that her dad built her bike instead of just going to a bike shop!

Cube do some nice kids bikes too, my stepsons both had Giants which both seemed utterly bombproof if a little heavy when you get to the bigger kids sizes.

You know how good the resale is on Islabikes is of course......

Twister":16cw77k4 said:

I built my 8 year old daughter her first 26" wheel bike around a small Cannondale M300.
First outing:

I had considered going the Islabikes route and although I spent more on the Cannondale than I'd first intended. Almost every single part other than frame and forks is re-usable in her next bike. So, if i have to sell a small M300 frame and pepperoni forks in a few years how much money can i lose from my £50?

Fiscally, its a no-brainer, you get to keep the fleet retro and you have all the fun of building it.

My daughter loves the fact that her dad built her bike instead of just going to a bike shop!

Click to expand...

This is excellent.. and a defining moment in the course I hope I will take with my 3yr old when the time comes. Thanks

My nephews have both had a couple of bikes from Ridgeback's MX range and they have been great. Alu frames too so they're fairly light.

Rockhopper 24