bike for 5 year old girl - advice

[imtheirmum]

We're trying to get bike for our 5 yr old girl's 5th birthday. We haven't bought a kids bike before and have questions for experienced kids bike buyers...
I'd kind of thought we should go for a name like Raleigh (cos I've heard of them!) but does it make much difference?
I've seen some called Bumber - is that make ok?
What other makes are worth considering? Also, any tips on places to get them cheap?? (We were hoping to spend under £80)
Many thanks!!

That should have said: I've seen some called Bumper!!

I heard islabikes were great for children and intend to get that for dd next year -

www.islabikes.co.uk/

Might be slightly more expensive than you wanted to spend though.

we got ours for our 5 year old DD for around £45 from Toysrus and it has been great!

www.toysrus.co.uk/Product.aspx/TruHome/TruSpecialOffers/TruSpecialOffersBikesWheeledGoods/726966?ref=Search

similare to this one but it was more pink/lilac

We recently bought DD (6) an 18" bumper and it's pretty good. (I think it was about £80) HOWEVER, her friend just got a boy's version of the same bike and his is so much easier for her to ride!

We got a 16" bike for DS (who's 4) from Decathlon - worth seeing if there's one in your area as it seems very well put together and lots of child safety features. We found the raleigh one was v v heavy for him to pedal, especially as he's just on the cusp of a 16" bike. They don't have their kids bikes on their webpages though, so you'd need to go there if there's one near by.
Decathlon storefinder

We've always bought secondhand from adtrader.co.uk or similar, kids rarely wear them out at this age and you can pick them up for £20 or so.

If you know someone who knows something about bikes, this would be ideal.

Have you thought about how you want to teach her to ride it?

If you want to do the 'no stabilisers' route (you take the pedals off, they learn to balance without pedalling for a few days or weeks, and then when they can freewheel round corners for a good distance and are confident, you put the pedals back on and off they go, straight away - worked a dream with DS, 5) get one you can take the pedals off, and also one where she can put both feet to the floor while sitting on the seat, and room to increase the height of seat and handlebars.

great advice i needed this too!