Islabikes experience?

[hozn]

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.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@hozn 54779 wrote:

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….

I’m going to give them a call today…

I hate to break the news to you, but…

[jabberwocky]

You should buy it! I have no justification, but I’m telling you what you want to hear so you should listen to me.

[hozn]

@ShawnoftheDread 54781 wrote:

I hate to break the news to you, but…

Oh yes, this is not lost on me I think I’d still draw the line somewhere south of Zipps. If I can’t afford/justify them for myself I don’t think my kid is gonna get them for riding a race where everyone gets a medal. OTOH, maybe I should stop being judgmental. Stones, glass houses, and all. In truth, it’s hard not to love that some mom or dad is excited enough about their kid wanting to race that they’ve spent thousands of dollars on their equipment.

[hozn]

Just to update, after talking with the Islabikes distributor (in Portland, of course) a couple times I did decide to order the bike.

Interesting thing about the rear brake. In the UK the CNOC 14 comes with a rear mini-V brake; I was pretty excited about that, but in the US the rear brake is a coaster brake (though this is not pictured). I asked about this and apparently it is because the CPS requires that bikes that have a maximum saddle height of less than X (I believe it was 655mm?) have a rear coaster brake. The thought (according to Islabikes sales rep) is that kids can’t use levers when they’re that little; although Islabikes has designed special levers for little/not-so-strong hands, so it’d be nice if the CPS could have some flexibility there. Anyway, I thought that was interesting.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@hozn 54789 wrote:

Oh yes, this is not lost on me I think I’d still draw the line somewhere south of Zipps. If I can’t afford/justify them for myself I don’t think my kid is gonna get them for riding a race where everyone gets a medal. OTOH, maybe I should stop being judgmental. Stones, glass houses, and all. In truth, it’s hard not to love that some mom or dad is excited enough about their kid wanting to race that they’ve spent thousands of dollars on their equipment.

Like most things with parenting, it’s hard to know where we should draw the line when the time comes.

[hozn]

My son’s new bike (CNOC-14) came in last week and I took it out and “put it together” (straighted the bars and installed the pedals) today to make sure nothing was amiss. This is an awesome little bike. Almost all bolts are hex bolts, valves are presta, micro adjust seatpost. Even fender mounts (though I deemed fenders impractical for singletrack). I am an Islabikes fan.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3173[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]3175[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]3174[/ATTACH]

[ShawnoftheDread]

Nice

[dasgeh]

You’re gonna sell it here when your kids outgrow it, right?

[hozn]

@dasgeh 56255 wrote:

You’re gonna sell it here when your kids outgrow it, right?

Of course!

[GuyContinental]

@hozn 56256 wrote:

Of course!

Dibs!

[83b]

I know others have lamented the difficulty of finding good children’s bikes. This mountain bike build Nao Tomii (builder/owner of Tomii Cycles) did for his son is pretty cool. Fully adjustable from 20″ to 26″ wheels! I’m sure it costs an arm and a leg unless you own your own jig and welding setup, but if you’re kid can ride grow with it for more than 5 years it’s a little less insane.

[mstone]

I’ve seen stuff like this from time to time, but I’m not convinced it’s actually a great solution. By eye, it looks like the standover is higher than either of my kids’ 20 inch bikes (meaning they’d need to be bigger to start). You’ll almost always have an unusually short or long stem, which will affect handling. I dunno; if you’re doing this to save money, the wheels & tires end up being a significant fraction of the cost and I’m not sure how much you’d really end up saving. If you’re doing it to make the best possible bike, why compromise the fit? I guess I’d be interested to see how it works out, but I suspect it won’t become a magic bullet for the problem of kid bikes.

[hozn]

It is always nice to see builders designing bikes for their kids. For many of us, I imagine, cycling is very intrinsically connected to childhood and it is wonderful to see projects that focus on that demographic. Really I am sure that kids could care less (give or take) so the target market is here is reminiscent parents

There are a few kids bike options that are pretty nice now. Specialized makes nice, relatively light bikes. Obviously I am very pleased with Isla (and intend to keep buying these; they rock!). They are not super cheap, but if every bike costs $400 (i am guessing/averaging) and I need 4 before they are in adult sizes, that is still less than one of my bikes. (…And so I guess I am the perfect market for expensive kids bikes.)

[mstone]

@hozn 68804 wrote:

if every bike costs $400 (i am guessing/averaging) and I need 4 before they are in adult sizes, that is still less than one of my bikes.

This is not the argument I’ve tried at home, let me know how it goes.

[Author]

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