Easy-to-ride bike for a nervous learner?

[Moomin]

Dd1 (6 next month) is very nervous about riding her bike. She's not a very 'physical' child anyway but is gradually gaining confidence with things like swimming and climbing, etc and PE at school. IT's not something we've pushed much though as she is very easily put off new things, if she falls for instance. Knowing she would be very alf-hearted about learning to ride a bike we bought her a cheap 2nd hand bike from the local paper. It's a Raleigh and very sturdy but obviously quite heavy. She can ride it with her stabilisers but makes very heavy weather out of it and it certainly doesn't come naturally at all!

Should we persevere with this bike or invest in a new one for her b'day - would a lighter more zippy one be easier for her and so help her confidence? Any recommendations for makes/brands etc? We would only be able to afford about £70 absolute tops.

I was going to suggest isla bikes as these are made specially for chldren and are very light. However, they are expensive and will be over your budget.
How about getting her a two wheel scooter, that would improve her general balance and hence balancing on her bike.

Isla bikes aren't that light (we have 2). Weight only matters after they learn to ride without stabilisers, in the meantime it's size that matters most.

Bike needs to be small for her size. The trick to confidence is to have a bike where she can sit on the seat with both her feet flat on the ground -- so she knows she can always get them down there fast enough.

Borrow a toddler's bike for her to learn on, when she's confident on that without stablisiers she can ride the right size bike for her height.

THat's a good point actually as she's tall for her age and I was wondering if the seat should be higher but obviously not thinking about what you've said.

A 2 wheel scooter would be a non-starter I think as we'll never persuade her to go fast enough to keep her balance with scooting - she really is very nervous and it's taking all of our patience to try to remain encouraging when so little progress is being made! But that's our job I spose, so we'll carry on...