Bike recommendations for 5 year old

[Sweetpea63]

Hi,

After some help please. We are looking to upgrade my 5y/o's bike. They are very confident with the balance bike and have a small pedal bike which they have now outgrown. They are still learning to ride without stabilisers so looking for something that is lightweight and not stiff to pedal.

Our local bike shops are priced £300 upwards for a brand like Marin Coast or a Ridgeback. I am not familiar with the bike market so have no idea if either brands are good. Would love to hear people's recommendations on these (or other brands). Also, does £300ish seem reasonable for a bike at this stage?

Many thanks!

£300 is a lot of money for a bike for a 5 year old. We got our sons (nearly 6) last two bikes from Smyths, brand is RoyalBaby. Both have been great and my son goes on his most days. The last bike cost around £160 as he went up in size.

I always get 2nd hand islabikes, but frogs, wooms, etc are all good. They are light and well engineered for small hands.

Same, I'd get a really good quality bit secondhand like islabike, frog, or wood - very light, meticulous design, and should cost you a fair bit less than £300 (and you'll likely be able to sell it on afterwards).

The website cycle sprog has helped me loads. I'm clueless about bikes and bought a frog tadpole and then a frog 44 based off their recommendation (there's a super helpful Facebook group called Family Cycling UK too). I've just bought him an 18 inch frog first pedal (think it's the frog 47?) as his current one is getting too small.

A friends partner is super into cycling and used to work in a bike shop when he was younger. He told me the frogs I've bought were excellent choices.

They're mega pricey new so I got them secondhand off Facebook marketplace for around the £100 mark.

I'd rather buy a good quality bike that will last all my kids and be a pleasure for them to ride than a cheap rubbish one that makes learning harder for the sake of having it new.

They have no idea they're not brand new and were absolutely thrilled with them. The tadpole has taught several kids to balance bike before I had it and will soon it pass it down to my third child. It still looks new.

Islabikes are amazing.

I would also recommend frogs. They’re great bikes and really hold their value so you can always sell on. There are Facebook groups for people to advertise them for sale second hand so I’d recommend joining those.

Frog, Islabike or Vitus second hand. Lightweight, great components and hold their value.

Frog. I’d only go new if you have younger ones it’ll hand down to though. Otherwise second hand all the way.

Islabikes are amazing, but unfortunately stopped trading a couple of years ago. There is a very busy second hand market for them though, via a couple of FB pages.

Get a Frog on ebay
we did that and the. Sold it again for the same money a couple of years later. Solid well made light bikes, not as expensive as Isla

I also rate Frog bikes for kids. Our current one is second hand and we resold our last one for a decent price.

The bike club does a subscription service so that you are not buying, reselling and then buying again. We have always loved frog bikes and they have excellent resell value if you prefer to buy and then resell.

Another recommendation for a frog bike

2nd hand Isla or frog. A 5yo won’t be on the same bike for long.

@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroadswow. I did not realise that. Shame.

I coach this age group at our local cycling club. I think my preferred brand these days would probably be Woom but they are expensive and as it's a relatively new brand there's not a big secondhand market yet - at least not in our area.
But there's quite a lot of decent kids bikes around now. The days when Islabikes were the only lightweight option are long gone as other manufacturers have caught on to the fact that there is a market for better quality children's bikes.I expect that's a large factor in the sad demise of Islabikes. They're still selling spares though so buying second hand is still a safe and very good option. But if you want new, Frog, Squish, Vitus and Woom are all excellent brands. Our nearest big bike shop is a Cube dealer so lots of the kids at our club ride those and they also seem very satisfactory.
The main things to look for are to buy the lightest bike you can afford and to make sure it fits properly. A lot of parents are tempted to buy big so that their child can grow into a bike. It's understandable as a new bike can be a big expense but in my experience it often ends badly as the child can't handle a bigger heavier bike very well and so loses confidence and doesn't want to ride it.
Children's bikes are usually outgrown long before they are worn out. A decent quality bike that receives some basic maintenance will be fine for multiple chIldren. One of our families has just sold an islabike that has done all 4 of their children and will now give good service to another family in the club. Yes, it was an expensive bike when initially bought but if you think of it in terms of cost per hour ridden it will be very economical. And you can expect to recoup a fair bit of your initial outlay when you resell a good children's bike, whereas you'll probably struggle to give away a cheap, heavy one.
My advice would be to get the best you can afford. Opt for a classic design and avoid gimmicks and gender specific themes that might limit your resale options, and don't be afraid of buying second hand. A good used bike will almost always be a better option than a cheap new one.
(Incidentally, if your DC is a confident balance biker there's no need to use stabilisers on the pedal bike. Start off with taking the pedals off and getting them to use it as a balance bike so they get used to it, then put the pedals back on, encourage them to rest their feet on the pedals whilst gliding, then to turn the pedals once they've got their balance.)

I would agree with PP, we went down the Frog route initially, a tadpole+ then a 48 and have now gone for a Wiggins 20.. all super lightweight and all second hand.
I have a tall 5yr old.

Secondhand Islabike, Frog or Ridgeback (or similar). Ditch the stabilisers. If they can properly ride a balance bike and know how to pedal, they’ll be fine very quickly.

Wow, thank you so much for all your wonderful responses! They have helped massively. Thanks also for suggesting that we ditch the stabilisers, that was going to be my next course of research 😃

Frog seems to be the most popular and will definitely look into a second hand one.

Yes definitely don't bother with the stabilisers. My eldest was very slow to get the hang of balance biking despite having one from age 2, it wasn't until he was 4 he suddenly got the hang of it. He's very tall for his age and looked ridiculous on his tadpole so bought the frog 44 with the intention of taking the pedals off and letting him use it as a balance bike.

Well he was super excited about the pedals and adamant he was going to learn how to do it 😂 suspect it took a bit longer than if I'd insisted he did some more balance biking first but after three months of very casual practice a few times a week he had the hang of balancing and pedalling and after six months of infrequent practice (it was winter and the weather horrible) he had absolutely cracked it including starting himself off without needing me to push him.

Younger brother is super good on the tadpole now and I think will learn to pedal quite easily. He's also very tall so the frog 44 will be his as soon as my eldests birthday rolls around and he gets his frog 47.

staring Isla Rowntree herself. She can probably spell better than me too!

That's amazing! thank you so much.

We ended up going for the Frog 47 and it is brilliant! I admit that we cheated a little and took my child to a cycle school, but they learnt how to independently ride with no stabilisers within their first 30min session. The instructor commented on the bike being a great choice as it is lightweight with smooth pedalling function and easy breaking system.

Added bonus was how easy it was to remove the pedals when we were first checking my child's balance on the bike.

We have always had Frog bikes - yes they are a bit more expensive to start with, but they hold value well so you can usually sell ion - and both my kids found them early to learn and ride (including my daughter with SEN and mother coordination challenges), with things like a low centre of gravity and stops on handlebars that prevent over turning making a big difference.

if you can’t afford one outright, schemes like Bike Club can help spears the cost as well as letting if you upgrade easily if they outgrow them - 25% off referral code here: https://bike-club.mention-me.com/m/ns/nv0mf-duncan-gould