I KNOW I'm not being unreasonable.

[NotYouNaanBread]

DD's are 3 and 5. MIL wants to know what they'd like for Christmas, so I thought bikes.

Should be easy to achieve right? Except on Amazon the attached image is what I found. To get something that doesn't assault the senses and actively reinforce the "girls like ribbons!" mentality, you have to go up to about £200 for (admittedly lovely) Islabikes and the suchlike. Why can't the more affordable companies go down the plain/primary colours route? Surely the customers are there for it?

Why does something as basic as a bike have to be gendered to within an inch of its life? When I was a child, red was the standard colour for bikes and I don't remember ever seeing a gendered one for children (born in 78).

I'm annoyed.

[NotYouNaanBread]

And yes, the flames on the boy bikes don't rule out feminine usage, but the message is clear.

[Babycham1979]

I don't understand the problem; the bottom two bikes look perfectly sensibly coloured. And I was born in 79, for what it's worth.

If you have a problem with the colours of the bottom two bikes, then I'd hazard to suggest that, yes, you are being unreasonable. You'd be complaining about the 'gendering' of kids toys, while simultaneously being complicit in that 'gendering' by assuming that two of the four are for boys. If that is the case, then you're a prime example of precisely what you're complaining about!!

[InfinitySeven]

This comes up all the time. Unfortunately, none of the companies who made truly gender neutral bikes survived. Industry reports shows that they don't sell anywhere near as well as the pink and ribbons, flames and red, type of bikes.

So in a sense, YABU. People who actually buy genderised bikes are such a minority that the companies can't survive.

[BloodyDogHairs]

I can't see the image but check Halfords out, they have a better selection.

[HermioneDanger]

Halfords have much less gender defined bikes around the same price point. Even if they are sold as girls/boys there is a blue and a yellow girls' bike on there.

[Trufflethewuffle]

Can't help really but I keep grimacing at the name of a bike which keeps appearing in the latest reviews at the side of the page. Who thought Puky was a good name for a bike, or anything else really?

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

If they were the only four bikes in existence then you would have a point OP but there are hundreds and I am sure if you search Halfords and other bike retailers you will find something suitable. There are also packs of stickers and tassles etc. available to customize plain bikes in a manner that suits an individual child.

I was born in '74 and had a red raleigh as a child I now have a maroon raleigh.

[DangerousBeanz]

bike we bougt this one for our daughter aged 4. It's fab. 4 goes on it and shes riding without stabilizers.

[DangerousBeanz]

it comes plain white with two sets of stickers, you can uses either set or mix them up. We let DD choose.

[WorraLiberty]

I don't understand what's wrong with the bottom two bikes?

I had one very similar to the one on the right when I was a kid in the 70s.

[WorraLiberty]

Also, the bottom right hand bike is called a unisex bike but you've named it a 'boy bike'??

[ClementineIvy]

DD1 has a bike from Halfords. It's yellow. I got it because she's a Tom boy and it suits her. It's technically a "girl's" bike (it's called Cupcake or something), but it really is very unisex and fwiw, I'd have had no qualms getting her a "boy's" bike, if that's what she'd have preferred. DD2, OTOH, is the biggest girly girl going. She'd be happy with nothing other than the most sparkly, princessy bike around. And it'd have to be purple. Everything has to be purple... Anyway, it's horses for courses and, since unisex bikes are perfectly easy to come by, YABU.

[ClawHandsIfYouBelieveInFreaks]

We've always bought our girls boy's bikes because they weren't pink. Red, yellow, blue, green....just choose a "boy's" bike. YANBU by the way. Girls bikes are often less sturdy too...it's terrible.

[DoJo]

I wouldn't have though that Amazon were particularly representative of what is available for kids in terms of bikes - Halfords have a range of kids bikes that come in all colours and don't seem particularly gender biased. I am all for trying to break down the gender divides, but I think one search on one non-specialist, all-purpose retailer is too narrow a field to make any sweeping statements about the availability of gender neutral bikes in general.

[ireallydontlikemonday]

We are in exactly the same position. 3yo DTs are getting bikes, I don't want pink purple sparkly glittery tassley shit, everywhere. Best I can find is this one but I don't want them to have the same.

www.bikes4families.co.uk/childrens-bikes/12-inch-wheel-kids-bikes/dawes-lil-duchess-12-wheel-girls-bicycle-2014/prod_2052.html

They are little and need 12" and we have looked everywhere, all the bike places and there is just nothing.

Even the boys 12" are covered in bloody Thomas or diggers or other such shite.

[ireallydontlikemonday]

Clementine, if the cupcake bike you have is unisex they're not anymore! Pink pink and more pink.

[Sheitgeist]

I agree that Halfords are a better bet. I've been looking myself for a bike for my non pink daughters. how about these?

www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/kids-bikes/trax-t-14-girls-bike-14

www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/kids-bikes/trax-t-16-girls-bike-16

www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/kids-bikes/apollo-lulu-girls-bike-12

These are all 'girls' bikes - according to Halfordsbut are quite subdued. Also they have plenty nice 'boys' bikes without flames.

[HedgehogsDontBite]

I don't get what the issue is. Lots of kids like pink bikes with ribbons on (my DD would have sold her soul to Satan for one). My new adult bike is pink and I love it.

[ireallydontlikemonday]

That Lulu one might be an option for me, thanks! The others are too big.

I'll stop hijacking your thread now op!

[MTBMummy]

Look at frog bikes, they're very good and although not quite as good as Islabikes, they're much better than the Hell-Frauds equivalent

www.frogbikes.com/lightweight-kids-bikes/

[ClawHandsIfYouBelieveInFreaks]

Hedge the issue is not that some people LIKE pink bikes but that the bikes are all sectioned off into girls' and boy's making it hard for people to break with the norm of

GIRLS HAVE PINK AND BOYS HAVE BLUE AND ANY DEVIATION IS WRONG!!

[Minisoksmakehardwork]

Independent bike shopping is your answer.

I'm using the same cycle shop my parents used for bikes. They couldn't be more helpful. My boy/girl dts are getting a frog balance bike and a white stabiliser bike with multicoloured monster heads on - they look like puffballs. Perfectly unisex.

As for the older two, they are older and are girl/boy so their bikes differ in style anyway. Ds1's new one has the horizontal cross bar. Dd1's is naturally lower as the style of bike is genderised.

They are mini versions of adult bike styles so maybe that's where the issue is?

Bikes are something I can't get worked up about tbh. They are styled with a person's sex in mind. So may be coloured accordingly. But in my independent bike shop, there is every colour of the rainbow in both sections. So a boy/man could easily have a neon pink bike while a girl/woman has a bike in a lovely shade of deep blue.

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

As we get our bikes from car boot sales/ ebay then the colour of the bike is not the primary concern - working brakes/ tyres/ gears first - colour can be changed. The blue/ pinkness of the marketing of kids belongings is an issue of course it is. I just think it is a disturbing trend (for want of a better word) that will become outmoded.

[littlemslazybones]

You can get a really good resale value with an islabike. Not relevant, just saying.

[Godcreatedcricket]

Can you all club together and get an Isla bike. They are pricey but really worth it. So good for the little ones as they're lightweight and so well made. And you can flog them once they've outgrown them...