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TECH NEWS
Islabikes unveils Pro Series of performance-focused children’s bikes
Children’s bike brand Islabikes has launched a new Pro Series lineup that targets young cycling enthusiasts and racers. The bikes are race focused and they're “perfect for young riders looking to push themselves to the limits of their potential and require a bike that can fuel their ambition”, although the prices reflect the fact that these are designed to be sports bikes rather than simply children’s toys, hence full-carbon monocoque forks all round and an £800 price tag on a bike aimed at ages four and above.
All of the Pro Series bikes feature custom handlebars, chainsets, pedals, grips, saddles and carbon seatposts that have been designed in-house specifically for children. These components are designed to work with Islabikes frames to deliver child-specific reach, standover and Q factor (distance between the pedal attachment points).
“I wanted to deliver a range of even lighter, higher specification, performance focused Islabikes with all the benefits of our holistic design approach for those whose lives revolve around youth cycling competition,” said founder of Islabikes Isla Rowntree.
“We have designed full carbon forks that perfectly match the geometry of each bicycle size, low Q factor cranks, our own superlight and grippy cyclocross tyres and sprinkled each bike with titanium and aluminium finishing bits to shave off the last bit of weight. These are serious bikes for children who are serious about their cycling.”
The Luath Pro Series (£1,599.99, above), for example, is aimed at “the cyclocross enthusiast and budding racer”. The geometry mimics that of the existing Luath models with a long wheel base and relatively slack head angle designed for stability.
Read our review of the existing Islabikes Luath 700 Small here.
The 7005 T6 heat treated aluminium frame has quite a steep seat angle that’s intended to help keep weight central and reduce reach, and it’s fitted with a custom Islabikes full carbon fork that has been designed to eliminate toe overlap with the front wheel.
Islabikes has produced its own child-specific drop handlebars and tubeless compatible cyclocross tyres, while stopping comes courtesy of Avid BB7 mechanical disc brakes.
The Pro Series range also features the Cnoc Pro Series (£799.99, above), aimed at riders aged just four and above. Again, it features a 7005 aluminium frame, a full-carbon fork and a carbon seatpost, along with a titanium bottom bracket with a carbon shell, and Islabikes’ own pedals with titanium axles and pins. It sounds a helluva long way from a 1970s Raleigh Strika! The Cnoc Pro Series weighs a claimed 4.8kg (10.6lb).
The range also includes Creig Pro Series cross country mountain bikes (£1,499.99, above) and the Beinn 20 Pro Series (£999.99) mountain bike for smaller riders aged five and above.
Check out our review of the Islabikes Beinn 24.
Those prices might sound big price tags for children's bikes – and they are – but that's because these are higher end bikes. Okay, a child will eventually outgrow their bike, but chances are that an Islabike will serve more than one rider because they tend to get handed on. Islabikes hold their value too, as you can see from these eBay listings, so you'll eventually be able to sell it on at a decent price.
The Islabikes Pro Series is available to pre-order now.
Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.
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17 comments
I've a lot of time for Isla bikes, we've had 4 now and might go on but mine use there bikes for more than racing, they cycle to school on them, they play with thier friends on them, they are bike centric and the younger one trains in all weathers etc. Personally I won't be splashing the cash on these, they're are just too expensive. My kids know that it's not what you race, it's how you race, they know how to loose with grace and win with style and a smile.
Just out of interest, seeing as we have an informed audience on this thread: has anyone got any experience with the Cuda Performance bikes? http://performance.cudabikes.co.uk/
I can't find reviews of them anywhere.
I can sort of understand/rationalize the pricing given the spec. No doubt the lineup is expensive though.
Kids grow pretty quickly, and I think these might end up becoming good second-hand buys if their owners take good care of them. That's a big if, but still...
Well, they must think there is a market for it or they wouldn't bother.
Personally I think most people would be a bit daft to spend £800 on a 16" wheeled bike. But some people do have a lot of money, and £800 isn't really much to them. If they want to buy one of these to make riding as enjoyable for their kids as possible, then good luck to them. In the end it will mean trickle down improvements to bikes for those of us that have smaller budgets.
I don't think there's anything obscene about it. At least no more obscene than what we spend on our bikes in comparison to most people in third world countries, or even Joe Blogs cycling to work on a supermarket bike because it's what he can afford. We all live in different situations. Just because someone has a lot more money than I do, doesn't mean they are necessarily obscene. Now how they've earned it might or might not be obscene, but that's a whole different conversation.
I think that their normal line is much better value, and they are still lighter and better designed than frog and big brand offerings. The resale value means that the cost of ownership is lower than junk bikes for kids who can take care of their things reasonably (not all are great at this and there is only so much you can do!)
On the other hand, kids rocking up to races with gear costing serious money is somewhat amusing, but realistically, the advantage that it buys them is minimal, I think, and perhaps mainly mental. However, I always wonder with kids racing about how much the kids want to be there compared to how much the parents want them to be there. It seems to me that there is perhaps something troublingly vicarious about kids sport - hence the media reports of kids' football sideline obscenity.
Yes, they obviousy believe there is a market out there. Good luck to them if they make it work.
Personally I don't think that buying a pro version of the Luath will make riding any more enjoyable for a kid than riding the normal £1000 cheaper, version though. My experience with coaching kids has led me to believe that some kids are keen to race and win, and will put in the hard work to achieve that, and some kids don't. You can get kids on really nice bikes who complain if you ask them to do more than a few minutes effort and you get kids on clunkers who will race all day.
For small bike sizes then I agree that the child size specific features of Islabikes, Frog etc are very good, but I think this becomes less of an issue as the children begin to reach small adult sizes. Very small adult bikes often come equiped with 165mm cranks, short stems and narrow bars, for example. All the bikes use the same shimmed STIs and I think auxillary chicken levers are bad idea anyway and encourage my kids to ignore them.
Maybe I am just a cheapskate as I built my cross bike for a LOT less than what a Luath pro costs and I manage to race it okay? There's no way I would buy one for my kids - and they are both multiple podium finishers in the Yorkshire Cyclocross league at under 8 and under 10, so you would have thought I would be Islabikes target buyer.
I think it is bonkers. I really like islabikes - I've bought four of them. My 8 and 9 year olds currently ride Luath 26s so I idly clicked through to see how much the Pro 700cs cost as a possible next purchase - £1600 - eek. You could get something built up by the likes of Paul Milnes for a lot less than that - or you could pick up an XXS Ridley X-Bow for £650 and single chain ring it for buttons.
Some of the equipment choices are strange too. Why use Ultegra di2, which eats up a lot of the budget, especially when rear mechs are sensitive parts for cross racing and can need replacing often (££££). Why spec your own cross tyres - maybe for tubeless compatibility, but most people will want to swap and chnage tyre treads accordng to conditions anyway. Why spec BB7s, which add to the overall weight, when cantis can easily stop a young, lightweight kid?
I can't see the market. The smaller bikes are ludicrously over the top (£800 for a bike for a 4 year old?) and by the time kids reach 11 then they are already entering small adult terrirtory and there is a lot more competition from the other manufacturers.
Comments from a couple of jealous people above methinks. Cycling is and always will be an arms race. In a sport where every little bit of weight counts then of course the bicycle will be one of the components that needs to be focussed on and for that you pay a financial price. The parents of these kids will no doubt be passionate about cycling and quite driven themselves in their day to day lives, hence the reason they will be able to afford these kind of bikes. To them buying a bike like this will be like going to Macdonalds and buying a burger. Their wallet will barely notice the offloading of cash. I'll likely buy a couple of these for both my young kids.
Yeah. I think that's the bit that probably does not resonate with most people. Being driven for yourself is one thing, but using your kid as a projection of your competitiveness is just a bit unpleasant. There's a certain amount of evidence to indicate that the over-involvement of adults in what should be children's sports turns fun into something a bit stunting.
I'm imaging fleets of Lulu Lemon clad, athletically-frustrated suburbanites clogging the roads as they drive their 4-year old's crabon-fiber Cnocs to the last remaining patch of countryside. As they cut across me at one of the numerous intersection/conflict-points of the mandatory Cycle Super-Eco Dreamway they will scream "we're cyclists too you know!" Arriving at their destination they will stand screaming at their child to crush the opposition while they hammer on a cowbell and whittle another 3g off the tri-spoke wheel for the upcoming time trial.
There are plenty of parents channeling their competitiveness through their children in youth cycling, certainly from my experience watching races over the past few years. I've also witnessed a few examples of the person you mention above...
Sometimes I think it is the perception that expensive kit makes a difference that fires on the 'arms race' between parents at bike races. They see their child being beaten by another child, who just might happen to have a nicer bike or deep section wheels or whatever, and they feel that was what made the difference. So they buy the same bike, or better, to give their child the advantage. Missing the fact that its just kids racing bikes, and it doesn't mean anything.
My two kids race a lot and yes they have nice bikes and good kit. But for them its 'their sport' and hobby, which could just as easily be rugby, sailing or whatever. They do it because they love it, and they also get to race too which is a bonus. I buy them nice bikes because I know they will be well used and cherished and bring them a huge amount of enjoyment.
As an example, my son has a Giro Air Attack helmet (no visor, he isn't THAT bad...). A bit poncy? Yes. Does it make a difference to him racing? Nope. Who bought it? He did, from his pocket money which he saved long and hard for because he wanted one.
Just to be clear: I have nothing against such genuine enjoyment, and if mine end up passionate about it I'll be happy to support them as much as possible. Nice to know your kids are getting some fun in life!
I bought my son a Luath 24, which he's had just over a year and has been great. You should see the ear-to-ear grin when he's putting the power down and leaving his friends on boat-anchor-weight MTBs far behind. As a keen roadie myself, I did a lot of research before buying and although not the cheapest, I came to the conclusion it was the best long term use of money.
The only part I'd improve would be the brakes/shifters on the drops- they are too large for little hands. Yes there are additional brakes on the tops, but these discourage using the hoods & drops to best effect.
These new models seem a bit OTT, but if Islabikes can sell them and it helps get kids into a lifelong passion for cycling, then that's great.
I'd agree with mtbtomo - it's obscene. I've two kids who race road / cross. In the under 12's it's not unusual to see kids on several £'000s bike / wheels, along with the obligatory high end clothing and helmet. The under 8's is relatively reasonable - with only limited numbers of skin suits & the occasional aero helmet. If you've child who can ride a 700c framed bike, then many parents are starting to look beyond Islabikes, last year's xxs models from the likes of Giant, Cannondale, Ridley are usually a bargain. Now what I do like about these Islabikes is the look - the kids thought they were cool, which matters enormously. I hope they take the styling and apply a little of this to their core range.
The kids who win have a mix of natural ability & desire. You can't buy that.
And let's be honest, high end clothing or helmet makes no difference in a 20 minute foray round a field or closed circuit. It's often the parents with unrealistic expectations and I feel sorry for their kids. At their age it ought to be fun, even at the sharp end.
In cyclo-cross the U14/U16 categories the stronger kids may be riding fast and hard enough to benefit from better tyres etc but, even then, youth races are invariably decided by the legs and the head, not whether your wheels or helmet is claimed to save you a handful of watts at 25 mph.
Getting a bit obscene isn't it.
A decent bike does make it easier for a child to learn to ride but its seriously diminishing returns isn't it.
4 year old kids on an £800 bike? Wow!
The original Islabike concept of decent childrens bikes has now been taken up by other brands such as Frog, Hoy and even some of the big brand manufacturers childrens bikes are way better than they used to be, so I suppose they need to look for a new opening. I just don't think their "normal" offering is worth the premium over the other brands now, good resale values or not.
Leaves me cold, whether I can afford it or not.
We tried (first) an Islabike Beinn 20 and have been very happy with it. Have seen (and child has briefly ridden) the equivalent Frog and it just seemed heavier, less well-finished and unappealling. I think Islabikes have the edge still.
I do wish however that they had a 20" wheel model for a circa 9 year old. The main reason for this is that we do not trust the child loose on busy roads and hitch up her bike using a FollowMe when the situation calls for it. FollowMe only accept up to a 20" wheel size. Otherwise it's a certainty that the next bike would be one of the Islabikes Luath.
Arguably the Cnoc (aimed at younger riders) is the model in which all this actually makes sense... the 10.6 lb is very lightweight compared to other bikes aimed at this age. Still...... 800 quid is a bit steep.
There must be a market or Islabikes wouldn't be doing this. I think the larger models, targetted at older youth racers, are where the benefits are more obvious.
As for the cost, remember that they still have to do the R&D and testing like big brands' adult bikes but have less buying power, smaller production runs and custom components. And if you consider what people spend on their own
toysbikes and gear these prices don't seem so steep.