Where to get v. small proper boys' mtb?

[ICB]

Hi

I'm after a bike for our 6 y/old. Like all our boys he takes after his mum so is wee, inside leg is about 17", so we're talking 16" wheels.

Problem is I'm finding it nigh on impossible to search up something with gears, which he really needs to come out on family rides - we live in the mountains so trying to turn him into a fixie fanatic isn't very realistic .

Most 16" wheeled bikes are horribly overbuilt singlespeeds, often with stablisers (he's been riding without those for ages) and "suspension" :roll:

5pd grip shift would be ideal, or even an old 3spd hub gear but that sounds like hen's teeth and rocking horse poo in one go.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[kaiser]

Islabikes?

http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/beinn20.html

 

[ICB]

Nice bike but min ins leg is 3cm too big for our Tommy

Seems like 16" wheels and gears don't go together :?

 

[Andy B]

I worked in a bike shop for a few years & never saw a 16" wheeled bike with gears, probably because the rear mech would be so close to the ground it would get ripped off in minutes.

 

[ICB]

I'm starting to think I might have to attempt to rebuild his existing rear wheel with a 70s SA 3spd

Could this be my first retro project?

The bike is the legendary "Dennis the Menace" :twisted:

I've done some work on it already, it's basically this frame but with all the cr4p taken off and some fairly light alloy rims
http://www.adtrader.co.uk/image_show2.p ... d=10023353

Sweet geometry for a kids bike of this size, actually looks like a tasty oldskool downhiller if you imagine the 16s are 26s

 

[hamster]

I'd try the Islabike - my son started riding a Beinn 20 at 5. If I remember right there are two frame sizes.

 

[ICB]

The smaller Beinn's min ins leg is 3cm too big, he's only just 6 and has an ins leg of 17" (many 4 year olds are bigger)

May have to leave it a year as, having read around on wheel building and dealing with mismatched hub/rim combinations, the hub conversion could be a bit beyond me.

 

[South Bound]

Can thoroughly recommend Islabikes though, lovely pieces of kit.

 

[ICB]

Presumably the same outfit that was doing kid's trailers BITD?

 

[hamster]

That's right.
The bikes are great, Isla is also very helpful.

My 6 year old is still not keen on hills even with gears - for longer stuff we use a tandem.