To really really want to buy an Islabike for DS nearly 7 yrs?

[giraffe17]

I have fallen in love with these bikes - we normally get a high street bike for under £100 and they are really heavy and the brakes always break. Whereas these are just.....super!!

www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/beinn20lrg.html

Am trying to justify it to myself (since DH will be paying and will need convincing) on the grounds that the overall cost for 2 years use with the high resale will be no more than the high street rubbish price. The slight problem with this plan is that DS might trash it!!!

So can anyone help me out here? Is it really worth it? What about the risk of DS wrecking it, anyone's kids scratched, chipped or otherwise messed up their Islabike?

Yanbu as these are great bikes! We had a 'likeabike' balance bike for DS as his first bike and nearly went for something like this but then we looked at 'specialized' 'hot rod' bikes - still fairly expensive at £150 - and it's fantastic

I think paying a bit more for a good bike is worth it. Check out 'specialized' bikes too.

Both friends who have bought them do feel they didn't get value for money from them.

fab fab fab bikes, even managed to persuade my DH. Make your DS look after it! But even well used ones sell well on ebay

Islabikes are fabulous.
DS had an Isla balance bike, and has just got his first bike with pedals - also an Islabike. Despite daily use for 18 months, the balance bike looks pretty brand new and DS has proudly cleaned it to put away for DD. Friends who got their DS a cheapy balance bike at the same time have binned it.
DH and I are bike snobs. Islas are excellent bikes. But, you have to be really into cycling, do a lot of cycling or have at least one more DC to hand down to to justify it.

My DD1 has one (soon to be passed to DD2). They are great bikes and as you know the high resale value means they work out as cheap if not cheaper than a BSO (bicycle shaped object) from the likes of Halfords et al.

I've spent lots of time and goodwill fixing the neighbours BSOs and seen them waste so much money on replacing broken parts and yet still have bikes that ride like dogs and often are frankly dangerous due to poor quality brakes and wheels etc.

Just buy the Islabike. You may or may not regret it due to the expense. You will however 100% regret not buying one if you end up with a nasty BSO instead.

Oh, the isla bike. Well you don't need to convince me. They are quite fab. If it helps any, then when you come to sell it then you will get a big percentage back as long as you look after it. If you have the cash then i say go for it.

My kids (boys) have never trashed anything. Why would you assume they will? Surely they know that they have to take care of their (and your) things?

I believe the bikes are really good - my neighbours have a fair few. It wouldn't have been worth it for us as my boys are tall and grew quick so went through bikes pretty fast (they are also only a year apart so we weren't able to pass them down) almost bought two of them once but they put the price up over 50 quid per bike in the space of a day so couldn't justify an extra 100 quid!!

They have been on full adult sized bikes since age 10 so we now buy ex hire bikes (eldest has had a 21 inch frame mountain bike for the last year since he was almost 11) these can be a really good option but they don't have as big a selection in kids sizes - try your local hire shop and see if they can do you a deal.

My kids are not neat or tidy, they are forgetful and live very much in the moment. They could easily trash something through pure forgetfulness.i would like to be able to train them to be more thoughtful but i havent managed so far!

YANBU. DD is now on her third Islabike and at age 6 regularly does 12 mile bike rides. She loves it and they are fantastic bikes. Have just started putting 18 month old DS on DD's old rothan and he seems to be enjoying it so far.

Another fan for the following reasons....

We live in a hilly forest so just upgraded to a Beinn 20 small frame for DS1 5yrs, 110cm tall. It is mint. He whizzes up and down the gears, eats the hills up and the frame is SO light. He himself weighs only 19kg and standard 20" frame bikes we were looking at weigh in at aroung 13kg - which way to heavy for a wee boy to lug around the mountains. The new Beinn 20 weighs 8kg or so ...much better.

Trashing, well we have tried to instill in hil not to crash it down on the side where the gears are. However, like good quality adult bikes if anything is likely to break it will be a part readily replaceable. (DH is a bit of a bike freak and he would tell you himself...had he not been rendered catatonic from excessive excitement of back to back Tour de France and Olympic Cycling glory me).

Also, agree that they hold value well. This make regularly goes for £200-£220 plus postage on e-bay cao I watched them for ages! The new one was £250 with guarantee so not much in it really. As he is only just fitting it (it was a big step to go 14" to 20"!) we expect to get easily three years out of it and either hand it to DS2 or sell it on and replace.

If your DS has not had a go have a look and see if there are any roadshows islabikes are doing nearby and try one out for size and fit. The bikes really are designed for kids proportions and I think they are fab.

We do consciously ensure it is housed out of the rain which we never did with his first £50 bike and his second £80 bike - but then apart from leaving them ouside to get rained on(to be fair he is still only 5 and a bit ditzy that way) he has not wrecked either of the others. We have spent £130 on two bikes he has used to to death and simply grown out of.

If you boy rides alot or loves riding then I would say it would be the best pressie you could give him and it will sell on at a good value after wards.

Have we all convinced you yet??!!

Just been reminded by DH (also bike snob!!) that we have actually bought DS1 three bikes or rather,...BSO's ... as correctly pointed out by DoesBuggerAll

the one I forgot just dissolved without DS2 getting his little rump anywhere near it - so that was a waste of £60. so in last 2 years we have already spent almost £200 - may make the Beinn 20 a bargain in comparison!!

Just go for it, - !!!!

Giraffe,...did you get one??

We've got them for our dds, and they are great. Only downfall is that in a way they're too good, in that I worry about them being left out or nicked or scuffed in. A way I wouldn't if they were just cheap bikes.