Would you get your child a second hand bike?

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We’ve always bought new and usually for birthdays or Christmas. Dd is in the in between stage of being a bit too big for her bike with stabilisers, but hasn’t learnt to ride one without. Her birthday isn’t until late summer, but she’s keen to get trying without stabilisers, I can’t really afford or justify buying a brand new, expensive bike for no reason.
I saw a great one for £30, little basket and bell, would you buy it?
I’m guessing she’ll outgrow that one in a year or two 😅

Yes, of course. My Gdcs, who were all cycling without stabilisers at 3, have always had 2nd hand bikes, and any outgrown ones are sold or passed on.

We've always had 2nd hand and lots for free as well. Look at local fb pages.

We‘ve also only bought second hand. They outgrow them quickly and sometimes you discover you’ve bought the wrong type (DS for example really needs a lightweight bike)

As a kid I mostly had second hand bikes growing up. Bikes last a while, especially when well cared for. You can sell the bike on and get another one as she grows.

Absolutely get a 2nd hand bike - a young child won't have ridden it hundreds of miles and worn out the brakes or anything like that.

When I was a kid I used to get given my older brother's bikes... I remember my father cutting off the crossbar on one of them for me😮! Despite the bike presumably not being structurally sound or safe, I loved it !

We've done the same and passed them down to second child afterwards. Really light and good quality. They'll sell on afterwards easily too.

My dc only ever had 2nd hand bikes whilst they were growing up.

I'm 58, cycle a lot, and I've only ever bought myself a brand new bike once. I've currently got 3 bikes including the one I bought new which is now several years old.

Children can easily be put off cycling if they are riding a bike which is too big or small for them. If you can, always buy a bike which suits their size then trade up as they outgrow it

Likewise! They are something that gets outgrown quickly or not used much. I’ve got loads of great bargains on market place!

I would only buy new if It was a size and bike that I was going to pass down to younger siblings and cousins. We did that with a couple of decathlon bikes. If my DC were young now I would look at bike club or similar.

All my bikes as a DC were second-hand.

(Like my cars as an adult.)

Yeah. I’ve only ever brought new bikes if they’re a present. I’ve brought lots of second hand bikes over the years. My own bike was second hand and both teenage dds. Didnt want to to spend much as dd1 only uses hers when she’s in hospital placements for uni and dd2 only uses hers to get to and from work if DH or I can’t give her a lift.

First toddler bike was from charity shop

Of course,,both my kids who ride learnt on second hand bikes.

We have a brilliant man in our area that fixes up second hand bikes and sells them cheaply and any profit goes back into fixing up more bikes so he can give them away to families who can’t afford them. People buy from him and then give them back when kids have outgrown them.

Why wouldn't you?? We have three kids (all older now) but every single bike they had when they were growing up for second hand, either bought on something like Gumtree or a hand me down from a friend. There are enough new things on this planet, you do not need to be buying new stuff.

100%

We have got some absolute bargain second hand bikes for a fraction of the new price.

We did recently get 9yo a new one because there wasn't really anything decent available.

But both dc have had second hand bikes worth 100s for £100, hardly used and with accessories.

Yes, definitely buy second hand for children. They grow out of them so quickly and often give them a bit of a battering too.

Some councils have recycled bikes for sale quite cheaply. They also service them before selling them.

Of course, one of DD's bikes was from the tip, they had a bike recycling point and you gave a £5 for kids bikes £10 for adult bikes to the local children's hospice to get one.

The lightweight Frog and Isla bikes are brilliant for kids and so well cared for it's often impossible to tell second hand ones from brand new.

I think the fact op is even asking sums up why so many people are in debt today, we being encouraged to believe that our children need brand new everything and we are negligent if we don't, there was a post recently about is it fair to hand down a pram to the subsequent child ... of course it's fine! in fact they would have be passed around extended families and whole neighbourhood in the past.

As long as an item is safe, it's fine second hand/hand me down

YABU to even ask 😆 of course it's ok to buy second hand.

Why would you buy new every time? How wasteful.

Like any purchase, do your due diligence to check and make sure it is safe before first use, just like you would with a brand new purchase anyway. 🤷

And for any scratches, buy yourself some T-cut if you can be bothered

Why not? I have two second hand bikes myself, fully serviced so safe to go! One is MTB, one is light urban fixed gear.

Late to the thread but we always buy second hand bikes for the children and adults. There is very little to go wrong with a bike and it's easy to tell if one has been looked after or not.

There are at least 15 companies that make really nice children's bikes nowadays though the mumsnet users only seem to mention Frog or Islabikes. You should be able to buy something lightweight on the used market for as little as £50, at least in the smaller sizes anyway.

Yes. The first bike was new, but all the others have been second hand, and so is the current one. They can outgrow them very quickly.

We usually buy a unisex bike. So although for example eldest has new bikes. They are then stored away and passed down to siblings unless the condition is very questionable.

If a new bike is needed ie previous child skipped a size or the condition wasn't great then we purchase a new bike.

I don't think we would necessarily do it if we were getting cheaper quality bikes. But as we tend to buy frog etc they can be quite expensive so we like to pass them down.