Raleigh Bikes - 50% off at Halfords

raelill

Hi

As there seem to be a lot of people who know what they're talking about on this thread ...

We're looking for a bike for our 5 year old's birthday. It needs to be very girly and preferably have stabilisers or be able to put them on. It needs to be sturdy as we don't have anywhere flat for her to ride it so it's up and down the grass for her. We've got a new baby on the way so money's tight and I didn't really want to spend more than £60-£70.

Have been advised I need a 16" bike for her.

Have looked at the Raleigh Kool Miss which is just over £58, but also like the Dawes Lottie but the cheapest I can find the 16" version is £79.99.

Any other ideas or cheaper sites?

Thanks
Rachel

jaybefc

And can anyone tell me their opinions on these two please:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Boss-Slice-Suspension-Speed-Front/dp/B0013NPWI8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=sports&qid=1220895684&sr=1-1

or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Emmelle-Active-Speed-Silver-Black/dp/B0013NCR6S/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=sports&qid=1220896058&sr=1-3

Or failing those two can anyone suggest any alternatives? Only looking to spend about £80 or less though which is a tough task to find a good adults bike I know.

Cheers.

jebervic

jaybefc wrote: »

And can anyone tell me their opinions on these two please:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Boss-Slice-Suspension-Speed-Front/dp/B0013NPWI8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=sports&qid=1220895684&sr=1-1

or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Emmelle-Active-Speed-Silver-Black/dp/B0013NCR6S/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=sports&qid=1220896058&sr=1-3

Or failing those two can anyone suggest any alternatives? Only looking to spend about £80 or less though which is a tough task to find a good adults bike I know.

Cheers.

It all really depends what you the bike for ?, in my opinion both bikes are really poor. It is so hard for people to realise that there is such a huge difference in the quality of bikes, in may of this year I started commuting to work, I used an Apollo mountain bike and it took me 50 minutes and a hell of a lot of work, I arrived at work knackered. At the start of July the Apollo went and died on me, it was the best thing that could have happened !!, went to my local bike shop and told them what I needed the bike for, they suggested a Hybrid bike for my commute, well the contrast between the two bikes was amazing !, the Apollo was like a clapped out old mini metro against the Hybrid which was like a Rolls Royce, the gears were smoother, hills that I used to get off and walk were made easy, best of all my journey time was cut by an amazing 20 minutes.

TJ27

raelill, I've had a quick look for good 16 inch kids bikes under £70 and unfortunately I can't find any. I think that if cash really is tight then the Raleigh will be OK for a little girl, as she'll probably grow out of it before she wrecks it. But if you're thinking of doing longish family rides then the Dawes will be better. I think that many online bike shops (like chain reaction) do free delivery, which softens the blow a bit.

The other alternative is to buy a good second hand bike. These can often be picked up for buttons, or even on freecycle. You may think that a child won't appreciate a used bike but even now I remember being delighted with a second hand chopper which my mum and dad bought me about thirty years ago. It was absolutely brilliant and I had fun on it for years. In fact I wish I still had it.

My current favourite bike is a very old adapted mountain bike, which was given to me for free by a mate. (I have a £600 proper mountain bike and several others but the free one is still my favourite.) It's the one I use most too and has done about 3,000 miles in the last year. I love riding it.

jaybefc, I'd definitely recommend the secondhand option in your case. You wont get a good bike for eighty quid unless it's been around the block a few times. For example, my racing bike is very old, very good in its day, and cost me £100. It has a proper Reynolds racing frame, good Mavic wheels, Campagnolo brakes and good shimano gears. It won several races about 17 years ago (sadly not with me riding it!)

Mountain bikes are OK for road use but they need a little bit of adapting. If you can find one with no suspension then that's probably a good thing. The first thing to do is to change the tyres. I've got high pressure, skinny, puncture resistant tyres on mine. Continental Gatorskins. The difference they make over knobblies is astonishing. I've altered the gearing a bit on mine too but I wouldn't worry about that initially.

You might notice that cycle couriers often use very simple single gear bikes, sometimes with only one brake. On flatish roads experienced cyclists don't need gears and keep their bikes as simple and light as possible. So what I'm saying is, don't be fooled into thinking that more bling/gears/suspension on your bike makes it better. The opposite is often true.

Jebervic, hybrids have their supporters but I'm not really one of them. You're right though, for city cycling and the odd trail they're fine. It's just an irrational feeling I have probably. For me, the nearest thing you can get to a "do everything" bike is a cyclocross. (I'm currently saving for a Planet X Uncle John and trying to persuade my wife that I really do need it.)

Oh, and you wouldn't believe what people throw away. I've pulled perfectly good bikes out of skips, which have been far better than anything you'll find looking shiny in Tesco.

raelill

Hi TJ27

Thanks for the reply. :T We certainly won't be doing long bike rides - at least not me as I can't even ride a bike! We're looking at it very much as a learner bike as we live in the middle of the country with single lane roads all over the place. I think it's far too dangerous for her to ride on the roads around here until she's taken some proficiency classes.

Will be buying the Raleigh I think.

Thanks again.
Rachel

mbailey

raelill wrote: »

Hi

As there seem to be a lot of people who know what they're talking about on this thread ...

We're looking for a bike for our 5 year old's birthday. It needs to be very girly and preferably have stabilisers or be able to put them on. It needs to be sturdy as we don't have anywhere flat for her to ride it so it's up and down the grass for her. We've got a new baby on the way so money's tight and I didn't really want to spend more than £60-£70.

Have been advised I need a 16" bike for her.

Have looked at the Raleigh Kool Miss which is just over £58, but also like the Dawes Lottie but the cheapest I can find the 16" version is £79.99.

Any other ideas or cheaper sites?

Thanks
Rachel

We're looking for something similar. My daughter is 5 now, but 6 in September.

She currently has a very small 12" bike which she looks a little silly riding!

Last weekend we went to Halfords and to a local dealer and tried a few bikes. Certainly for my daughter the 16" bike was Ok size now, but I don't think it would last more than a year. For a 4/5yr old then probably ok as you would get 2 years out of it, but for a 5/6yr old, then probably only 1years worth.

We then tried 20" which is the next major size and I believe the smallest "proper" bike as opposed to being a kids bike but this was just too large.

At the local bike shop they showed us a 18" bike and this one was spot on. (The one we tried was a Falcon Cherry which was £99, although seems to be £89 online.)

From what I can tell there are a few 18" bikes around, but not as many as 16" and 20" ones.

What we need to decide now is if we go for a good quality no gears bike (like Falcon Cherry which seems to be highly recommended) for around £90, or if we go for a cheaper 18" bike with gears like the following for £70.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hocus-Pocus-Girls-Suspension-Years/dp/B001BBLQN2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=sports&qid=1220960243&sr=1-1