Re: Bike for 7 year old

In message <7c178726-ef1e-4362-a20d-83c25ec26eac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, thelawnet@xxxxxxxxx writes
Any thoughts? It's for his birthday. He has a 16" bike at the moment.
We tried a Raleigh Hotrod 20" with 11" frame - he can put his feet on
the floor. 13" frame is on tip-toes.

Tried a 24" in Halfords, the salesman said it was a 12" frame, but I'm
not sure if he really knew. It was a little too big.


Remember, a 12 inch frame with 24 inch wheels will put the seat higher than with a 20 inch wheel. And not all makers proportion frames\ and bikes of the same wheel size the same

The 13 inch framed one sounds like it might be on the big side - if the frame is too big, it's not just reaching the ground, but also the reach to the handlebars that's important, I see lots of kids riding around on bikes where it's obviously a bit much of a stretch for them to reach the bars comfortably.

Our now 8yo got an Islabikes Beinn 24 for her 7th Birthday (which she was already plenty big enough for), but she is pretty tall for her age. But I did find the sizing advice on their site very accurate.

Islabikes seem well recommended, but expensive and prices seem to have
been jacked up lately. Any comments on the comparison between the
Islabikes Beinn 20/24 and the Raleigh?

Have to say I'm a firm Islabikes fan, we also bought a Cnoc 14 for her 4yo sister (cos she wasn't big enough for the 16 inch Puky that her sister had before she was 4). The quality of the bikes seems to be way ahead of the standard Raliegh/Dawes/Claud Butler fare available for kids. Quality of construction, component choice and finish. Properly sized cranks, excellent brakes with kid sized levers, it all makes for an excellent package.

I also liked that it could have mudguards and a rack fitted properly.

If the child is going to be riding the bike much and on proper rides, then I think they are easily worth the extra, if they are mostly going to playing around on it then it probably isn't really.

TBH, without seeing a bike in the flesh it's hard to comment on the Hotrod, though I have an aversion to kids bikes with suspension forks (most of them....) they all seem dreadfully heavy. A friend of ours (who now has an Islabike) had a suspension forked Raleigh bike, I swear the thing weighs more than my bikes.
--
Chris French

.

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