Islabikes experience?
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Seeing kids with team kit and Zipp wheels doing the kids “race” in Clarendon this past weekend made me swear I would never be one of those parents. But ironically, I also saw at the Kids race what looked like an awesome and perfectly-sized bike for my soon-to-be-3-year-old.
It was an Islabike CNOC 14 — a 14″ bike, which is pretty sweet because my son is really on the upper end of a 12″ but still too small for any 16″ I’ve seen.
http://islabikes.com/us/bike_pages/cnoc14.html
At $269 it is not a cheap bike. At all. That’s more than my first [adult] mountain bike cost. It even costs more than the little computer clipped to my stem; oh wait, no, it’s a lot cheaper than my Garmin
But I love the fact that it has v-brakes and other “real” (but smaller) bike components. And that it’s lightweight. Most kids bikes weigh as much as my 59cm commuter; this one — at 12lbs –actually weighs significantly less than my carbon road bike. With another boy on the way, this should at least get a few years of combined use, which helps mitigate the cost a little.
So, the real point isn’t to seek validation in this extravagant bike purchasing question, but rather to ask if anyone has first- or second-hand experience with Islabikes. I know it’s a UK company, and they seem to be relatively popular over there. Here it’s handled by a distributor in Portland; it appears that the only way to buy them is direct from the distributor (unless one is lucky enough to find a used one). I was worried about the 14″ tube size (I don’t think I’ve encountered that size), but it looks like I can at least order some on Amazon.
I’m going to give them a call today to ask a few questions about the bike before I make a final decision. Am also interested if anyone has recs for other 14″ bikes (or 16″ bikes that can accommodate a little dude with 15″ inseam) that are lightweight, etc.
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Beautiful! Is that a UK import? (The current US ones have a coaster brake up to 16″ wheel size.) I am envious; coaster brakes suck!
@hozn 69409 wrote:
Beautiful! Is that a UK import? (The current US ones have a coaster brake up to 16″ wheel size.) I am envious; coaster brakes suck!
Yes! Freewheel in the back.
@hozn 69409 wrote:
Beautiful! Is that a UK import? (The current US ones have a coaster brake up to 16″ wheel size.) I am envious; coaster brakes suck!
Foot operated brakes are a CPSC requirement for small bikes. (So with only hand brakes it’s illegal for sale in the US.)
@mstone 69419 wrote:
Foot operated brakes are a CPSC requirement for small bikes. (So with only hand brakes it’s illegal for sale in the US.)
Yeah, I know. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck!
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