High price items for young children.

[whatsmyusername]

OK so a child has recently had his bike stolen. Totally unacceptable and not condoning the theft etc at all. People should be able to have nice things, same goes with cars etc etc.

AIBU to think if you spend £900 on a (push) bike for a kid to go to school you are asking for trouble. When it's then stolen to set up a go fund me page to buy them another. Putting aside that it may all be a hoax to get money for a new bike, am I the only one to think its crazy buying a 12/13 year old child a bike of that price for travel to a from school! Especially when they are such easy pickings to the scum that would steal such a bike!
Am I out of touch with reality do all kids have £1k bikes now?

Nope that’s mad! Second-hand bike and they count themselves lucky … maybe a new cheaper one for an Xmas or birthday. As for setting up a Go Fund Me ! Go Fuck ‘Em more like. Surely (please god) no one would give them money given all the good causes out there, even if they had it to give…

My own bike cost a few hundred, I use it every day and even I was a bit at buying it as had only had cheap bikes before.

& no one I know has stuff that expensive for a 12/13 year old unless they are rich and can afford to replace it themselves! i.e. no Go Fund Me … a whiff of a scam sure or perhaps just good old chronic entitlement.

That is nuts...
If they can afford 1k on a bike you'd think they could afford a decent lock....

That sounds like victim blaming OP.

Unfortunately, after having three bikes stolen I'm now of the opinion that expensive bikes aren't worth the money. Unless you never take them out of the house!

Depends on the kid, they might be into cycling for more than going to and from school in which case a more expensive bike is often worth the money.

If it is a hobby it will be far cheaper than forking out for sailing or skiing equipment which some kids are into.

I think there are two issues here -the appropriateness of a bike that expensive for a 12/13 year old who probably isn’t old enough for the responsibility. Agree with PP might be for hobby etc - more than just riding to school. But even then bikes obviously being v v desirable to steal unless well and truly locked up or in a safe bike shed out of sight (don’t want to victim blame, no, think it’s unfair to expect a kid that age to be fully responsible for something so nickable though).

But secondly the Go Fund Me part …

I have adult friends into bikes, they own very expensive bikes, its their hobby. But Im sure they wouldn't let their son go to school on one and they are kept locked away securely when not in use.

This theft is from a social media site but got me thinking why people buy these things for such young kids. Maybe they dont? Maybe it's all part of an elaborate scam with the go fund me.

I don't have teenage children and so don't know what is the norm, to me it seems excessive.

It's wrong obviously that these things get stolen and I am not Victim blaming that's not the intention of my post.

No! My 13 yr old had a £600 bike. We bought second hand for a lot less. He was threatened with a knife and had his bike took off him. The police weren't interested. We got it back through social media. But in no way did he deserve what happened. You should be able to have nice things without people thinking they can just take them. Same as expensive cars. People being attacked for them?
The justice system should be better and act as a derretant.

@Bonheurdupasse

That sounds like victim blaming OP.

Really??

Of course it’s victim blaming. Feeling that the parents are somehow to blame when the thieving bastards are the only ones who have done anything wrong. Having an expensive bike is not a crime. Use another example and see how it sounds.

I don’t like go fund me for stuff like this though.

A £900 bike for a child is insane; but if they want to fair enough. If they dont insure it - more fool them.

Would you have the same reaction to a child having a mobile phone stolen? Handsets now to buy from new not on contract are £400+ if the latest models.

My 3 year olds Isla bike is worth £400 (we got it second hand way cheaper but for us to replace thats how much it woud be) but many bikes are expensive as its something which typically lasts.

Parents should've had it insured.

AIBU to think if you spend £900 on a (push) bike for a kid to go to school you are asking for trouble.

Asking for trouble - yes that's totally unreasonable!

It's wrong obviously that these things get stolen and I am not Victim blaming that's not the intention of my post.

You absolutely are victim blaming. You literally said it was asking for trouble!

This is blatant victim blaming. It's his fault for having a nice bike it was stolen. Maybe other kids should t go around starling bikes at school?

Are mobile phones worth just a fraction less also 'high price'? My son in year 8 used to be embarrassed by his iphone 6, as all other kids have 8/9/10 whatevers.
The GoFundMe is ridiculous, though.

Surely if you pay that much for a bike, the first thing you do is insure it! My DS15 bike was around £5-600 (but we managed to get a quite a lot of discount on that). He rides all over, go to bike parks on a weekend etc not just to school, but I made sure it was covered on our home insurance as soon as we got it. Plus at 6ft he’s unlikely to grow much more so will never grow out of the this bike. His last one was second hand as we knew he was still growing so quickly.

Does the child bike competitively and lost his specialist equipment? That would explain the go fund me page for a young aspiring athlete.

I feel mixed here as I think anyone should be able to have nice things without them being stolen but I have certain things I wouldn’t take or wear certain places for the same reason.
I do think that’s a ridiculous amount to spend on a bike though for a child and if you’re going to spend that much make sure it’s insured for this very reason

I have a mountain bike that was about half that cost, but there is no way I'd leave it locked in a school bike shed or equivalent, that's far too high risk. When I used to cycle to the station I had a £20 second hand bike I used to leave there.

I read 'asking for trouble' not as victim blaming but as intending to highlight it's a high risk thing to do. I don't think it's exactly equivalent to an expensive phone, because you don't deliberately leave the phone lying around out of sight.

Decent bikes aren't cheap though and a 13 year old is probably going to be on an adult sized bike. A frog or Isla for a 4/5 year old is going to cost you 400 quid so I'm not surprised at an adult bike costing 900. The bike I had at about 14 over 20 years ago was about £400 and wasnt anything like as good as what's available now.

Unreasonable not to have insurance but if you can afford it and your teen cycles a lot its not a crazy price for a bike.

Those people were mad.
Or loaded

Or loaded and mad hahaha

Probably actually not loaded as they were doing a go fund me....

So just mad
Simples