Am I being tight?!

your child won't even know it's not brand new.

Why wouldn't you buy second hand? The best bikes cost a fortune, they are just as good and you can resell them when the kids grow up. There are even entire groups dealing with Frogs and the likes.

I’d say prudent rather than tight. Sometimes the choice is good second hand or not at all… luckily for your daughter she’s getting a party and a great present, I hope she loves her new bike!

Absolutely not tight, just got my DS an immaculate forme cubley for £50, they retail for £260. Absolutely nothing wrong with second hand.

I don't think I ever had a 'new' bike - I couldn't have cared less. Loads of cast off clothes as well. I used to find getting them really exciting!

Funny story though - I had a really old Raleigh bike when I was roughly 10 or 11. It'd be called 'vintage' now. It was very pretty, red and green, and I loved it and went everywhere on it. Until the day I was going along our road and it parted - the frame fell into two pieces, front and back wheel separated like a clowns bicycle! 😄I almost briefly overtook my own handlebars. Hilarious 😂

All my bikes were secondhand as a kid. And they were usually passed down to my siblings after I'd had them too 😅 just as well as we were completely careless with them and a posh new bike would have been wasted on us. Due to the nature of my dads job quite a few came out of skips as well.

I bought my toddler a quality secondhand balance bike cos I couldn't afford one as good new. He was thrilled with it. And I'm not precious about how he treats it either as it was secondhand.

Your friend is definitely BU.

The bike sounds great.
That "friend" is a twat and rude.
I am hugely into recycling things.
During Covid I bought a £400 bike for £50 for my daughter. She used it for a few months and I gifted it to a friend whose child is delighted with it still.
The amount of money we have has no bearing on this whatsoever.
Recycling is good for society.

Dd1's first proper bike came out of our neighbours skip. DH did ask them first, it needed a new chain and some air in the tyres, but it was barely used. The tread on the tyres wasn't even marked. Dd used it for about 7 months in total between the shit weather, then had a growth spurt.

Ignore your mate, no point spending another £70 on brand new when it last for such a short space of time.

Not being funny but surely a new bike could be got cheaper than that or even the same kind of price without all the faffing getting new seat etc. as a pp said. Sometimes new and inferior is better than better second hand

My mum recently told me that the two wonderful shiny bikes that my sister and I got for Christmas one year were second hand and my dad had spray painted and put stickers on them. 35 years later and it makes the memory more special.

Spending £70-80 on your five year old is shit loads!

Things like expensive new bikes, massive Lego sets etc fall on the grandparents these days because no parents can afford anything.

Your friend is rude and out of touch.

what does your friend do with things that her dc have outgrown or don’t want/need anymore?

If she sells them then she is a massive hypocrite. Without people like you and I she wouldn’t be able to sell on her things.

Why would you buy new if you don’t have to would be my response!

All my childhood bikes were secondhand and I was in my late 20s before I got a new bike. DD2 is 20 and has never had a brand new bike.

As long as you know what you're doing (ie don't fall for the 'i just want what I paid for it 3 years ago brigade) then you'll get a much better bike second hand then you will new. For your child it's a new bike to them, they won't notice/care that it's been used before. Ignore your 'friend'!

100% the way to go, if you can get some tassels in it too she will be chuffed!

Shame you didn’t enable voting, I think you’d get 100% YANBU.

Your daughter will grow out of her bike in a couple of years...in the meantime she will drop it, bang into walls, leave it in the rain, scratch it on bushes...and absolutely love it.

she's a kid she won't care if it's second, third or twentieth hand...your friend is a bit of a knob...it's the gift not where it came from that counts

It’s great. I’ve bought good second hand bikes all the way through and am pretty much in profit as some hold their value so well. Save your money, she’ll be delighted.

She will LOVE it, your friend is BU.

We got our daughter a second hand bike for her birthday. She didn't care at all. The kids also get second hand books and other toys. We could afford to buy new, but it's much better for the environment not to.
Your friend is being an idiot

She’s maybe too young to notice but I’d just like to say, as a child who only ever got hand-me-downs, sometimes inferior but new and shiny is more welcome than better but second-hand.

Absolutely you unreasonable
daughter will love it and you’re saving the environment
well done on the bargain
we all need to be more like this

Your dd will thank you for the lovely new bike on her birthday, and she will thank you in years to come for not turning her birthday and Xmas into a massive consumer-fest where you buy shit for the sake of it that ends up in landfill.

Your friend is being ridiculous and very rude. Your daughter will love her bike!

You're not tight.

Your friend is a dick.

Your DD will LOVE her new bike.