Which bike for a 6 year old?

[Wallace]

Umming and ahhing over which bike to get my ds who turns 6 in July.

He is a very keen cyclist and loves to do trails, jumps, drop-offs etc.

So, looking for a Mountain bike. I was thinking about a front suspension bike, but was then told (by a dad at the school) that there is no point bothering with suspension for a child as it just adds weight to the bike.

He recommended an Islabike. I have thought about an Islabike but first of all they don't really look sturdy enough for what my ds does with a bike! Secondly they are very expensive. I know they have a good resale value but would it be in good enough condition (see above!) and also we would save the bike for his little brother who is 4 years younger, so by the time he finished with it we wouldn't get much back.

Any recommendations? Looking for a 20 inch wheel. Do I go for front suspension, or not bother?

I was thinking maybe Cuda Mayhem for no better reason than it comes in orange which is his favourite colour

We bought www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_816501_langId_-1_categoryId_165602 this for our almost 6 year old daughter about 4 weeks ago but we only paid £80 for it.

I decided to go for cheap and cheerful because she's growing so fast that this will only last a year or so.

Thanks, have heard the Apollo bikes are quite heavy, and looking for something quite lightweight.

Mind you his Raleigh he has at the moment is very heavy (and no gears) and he manages on that so maybe weight isn't of utmost importance.

we bought ds3 a dawes bike for his 6th bday, we also have a marin bike in the same size that was ds2's but he has now grown out of it, they are both very good, the dawes one was cheaper, but both are light and well made and will have a resale value, last for other siblings etc. we are very happy with them both :)

Thanks, I was watching a Marin on ebay and was amazed to see it sell for more than £100 even though it was 4 years old.

Great to hear good things about the Dawes :)

Is it a Dawes Lightning?

We've just bought an islabike and it's excellent. Islabike also buy it back from you when your dc outgrows it. Bike shop was very critical of the Dawes they were about to sell us.

its a dawes rocket that we have, its only a year or two old.

its very similar to that tho, only ours is black, has same gears, brakes etc :)

www.dawescycles.com/p-178-rocket.aspx

We had a ridgeback Scoot and now have an MX16, very light and robust. Not sure what they do with a 20" wheel but would strongly recommend Ridgeback. We only lost £20 on the Scoot when we sold it on.

5mad - I think a boy at ds's school has that one, I might go and ask for a look

40 - our local bike shop sell ridgeback and I will be definitely going in for a look. The shop opened just after we bought him the raleigh and I was so when I looked at the MX16 because it was so light compared to the raleigh.

sorry, virgil, didn't mean to ignore you re islabike. I could be convinced in the islabike direction...