Bike for 5 year old

[BoyBurning]

Looking at new bike for MiniBoyBurning, moving on from hand downs.

She's taken to it so well and has incredible balance - was off stabilisers both after 4 rides which in my book is bloody amazing.

Anyway, buggered if I'm paying 400 odd quid for the en vogue frog - had no idea they were so expensive until I just looked!

Any RB rider parents with suggestions for decent 'first proper' bike which doesn't discourage natural balance and have geometry for a short armed long legged orangutan...?

Open to gears as she picks shit up quick, and whilst amusing at first, watching her spinning out her single speed does arise moments of sympathy - especially when it doesn't seem to tire her out in the bloody slightest regardless how much she spins...

Cheers all.

 

[jonnyboy666]

what size do you need? i have 2 Squish bikes left at the shop, i'm stopping kids bike, no money in it, i have 2 20" wheel bikes for 5 year old up, i think they are nicer than the frog bikes, the current retail price is £380, but i got mine before the price rise, so mine are priced at 330, but as i'm clearing them i'd drop the price a bit, i'm in the new forest, SO45 1UB

the bikes are 7 speed cassette shimano gears with a rapid fire lever, proper V brakes, junior brake levers, quick release wheels, replaceable hanger, pretty much every thing is alloy, so they are light, i weighed one a while back because a customer said the frog was light, i weighed my squish bike and it was slightly lighter

the white one in this pic is slightly different to the one i have, this has blue stickers, mine has purple stickers


then i have this one that is purple with blue stickers

 

[mk one]

Rate the Islabike Beinn, daughter had one for quite a while and seemed well capable.

 

[Takingabreak]

With my kids I found that just letting them have the barbie / action man BSO actually encouraged them to use the bike even though I intensely disliked how heavy and generally cheap and nasty they were. Then at the point eldest child was ready for a 26er I bought a 14" cindercone, had it painted and built it up with short cranks, suitable reach brake levers etc. Then did the same with a 16" explosif and passed the cindercone down to the second kid. I did go on to buy at 18" lava dome but both kids had lost interest in cycling by then and were into cars so it never got used as intended.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Got two Beinn bikes I think 20L and 24.
Go to Islabike and see what size would be correct.
Been meeting to sell them this summer.
Used of course but not a lot in reality. Probably need some tarting up, I forget.

 

[Mod-Master]

This seems fun…

For some reason it won’t let me post the link from fb

 

[Mod-Master]

It’s a specialised hard rock with the seatstay suspension.

 

[froze]

Have you considered finding a used bike? Kids will outgrow bikes FAST, so why spend 250 or more when in 2 years, maybe even 1 year, you'll have to buy another bike?

I would not buy a kids bike with any sort of suspension system, suspension systems for kid's bikes are junk, to say the least, which means lots of issues, not worth the hassle, and no kid that age needs one anyways, plus it adds to the cost of a bike. I don't even recommend suspension bikes for adults unless they'll be doing aggressive DH riding or fast rough trail riding, and then not a cheap bike because they use cheap suspensions and they don't react fast enough to the trail conditions and fail quickly, an adult would need to spend at least 900 to get a decent suspension system on a bike.

But it's really cool your child has picked up on the sport so fast and at such a young age, I have a grandson who is 11 years old that still can't ride in a straight line! He had issues balancing a bike big time, he couldn't ride till he was 9!!

 

[Betsy]

My kid never had a balance bike.. instead we opted for a tag along.. when it came to him getting his first bike at 4.5yrs old, Father Christmas dropped this bad boy down the chimney.. what a guy!



I got it from https://wallerbmx.co.uk/ .. back then it retailed at $359 which equated to £280 (before the idiots ruined the economy)

Christmas morning.. he was giddy as a kipper and couldn't wait to get out riding it but his feet barely touched the ground.. i had bought some stabilisers but they didn't touch the ground either so christmas morning i took them to work and machined the slot for the lenght adjuster a touch longer.. the stabilisers worked well in a straight line but he couldn't turn without crashing.. in fustration he took his helmet off, put it on the ground and kicked it across the carpark.. it was hillarious!

I took the stabilisers off and he never looked back.. anywho, that Sunday BMX was absolutely bombproof, i used to bunnyhop/jump it around our back yard, it was every bit as well made as an adult size BMX but for £280 you would expect it to be.. during this time my neighbour bought his daughter a bike from Smyths toy shop.. i think it was £90.. he asked me to set it up for her which i did and i rode it to the bottom of our lane to test it.. turned around and putting slight pressure on the pedals to ride back up the hill.. the crank spun and i stripped the BB (whoops) so he took it straight back..

..I suppose the point i'm trying to make is.. My kid rode that Sunday BMX from 2013 (when it was still too big) till 2018 when he outgrew it, i stuck it on ebay for £1 and it sold for £220 (granted prices had gone up in the meantime) but he got to ride an awesome bike for 5yrs and it only cost me £60 whereas the cheap nonsense is only good for the skip after 5yrs of abuse... if it even lasts that long.

Not my kid.. but this is the same bike

 

[trailwright]

I've bought all three of mine 2nd / 3rd hand good condition Frog and Isla bikes which save a fortune on new. Unless your 5 year old is tall I'd avoid 20" wheels just yet. 16" will allow for a smaller frame.