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B'Twin Nature
by azana
At 9, my eldest was ready for a 24" bike - and this one designed for girls of 135cm - 155cm is the one we chose from Decathlon. Priced at £139 it comes fully loaded with everything a young cyclist might need, and we, and my daughter, are very pleased with it. For the price it's a quality and well performing bike.
This ... bike is unashamedly aimed at girls with flowery pink features, without being over-pink in my opinion. The frame has a lowered bar which makes it easy for my daughter to get on and off. Once ready to cycle she can enjoy a very comfortable bike seat and a range of other features that make cycling a real pleasure for her. The main novelty feature is the wire basket which is easily taken on and off with the click of a button and which has a handle ready for carrying small amounts of shopping. My daughter tends to ride her bike without the basket most of the time, but it's handy for supermarket trips.
The bike is a "hybrid" with tyres that can cope with road and slight off-road use. We have found that the bike handles forest paths and the road equally well - she can get up a good speed with the bike which was fitted as her size in store. I would say it's worth buying this bike in the shop as they make those little adjustments that make the bike right for the child, check that you are buying a bike that is appropriate for child and also do a free check up after a few weeks' use.
The bike has six speeds, which I think is sufficient for a younger cyclist who is potentially going to get confused with more. To change speeds you just need to twist the grip, this is easy and intuitive for a child getting to grips with gears in my opinion. The brakes are of the V-brake sort and seem efficient enough, and the actual brake grips are softly padded, another thoughtful touch. All the features of this bike have been well thought through, a stand comes fitted as standard (not the case with all children's bikes at all) and the bike also has mud guards and front and rear battery powered lights as well as reflectors. There are also front and rear mudguards to the bike (polycarbonate according to the manufacturer) - a very good thing given the amount of muddy tracks we cycle down and again not a standard feature on children's bikes. The guards are plastic but of good quality and the front wheel is quick release - handy for allowing us to transport it in our car's boot.
I like the fact that to change the saddle height you don't need to reach for a spanner, there is a quick release system, so changing the height of the saddle is an absolute breeze - again a good feature for children of this age who are growing quite rapidly. The front handle bars are well sized and easy to use - my daughter found this bike easy and fun to ride from day one and we have had no issues with it at all. All in all this bike looks and feels like a quality item. The finish on the frame is good, and it's handy to know that the frame is guaranteed five years and the parts two years, I suspect we will be using it for much longer than that as it's sure to be used by my daughter's younger sister. I think that the service Decathlon offer is excellent in terms of advising customers and that the bikes they sell are good quality for the price you pay. I would have no hesitation at all recommending this bike, and I'm glad we bought it.
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Apollo Cupcake Girls
by cornishchic
Late last year my daughter mastered pedalling her Peppa Pig trike so my mum decided to buy my three year her very first proper bike. Halfords had a deal on at the November that involved a voucher for money off accessories if you purchased a bike and picked up before a certain date.
~*~ Price and assembly ~*~
We went ... to Halfords to see what child's bikes they had available and would be suitable for my daughter. There were a few different girly bikes to choose from but the Apollo cupcake bike stood out against the rest as it came with a dolls seat on the back, and the deal breaker was it was half price too! It has a full price of £119.99 so it is quite expensive but at only £59.99 you couldn't go wrong.
We didn't have to worry about trying to assemble the bike ourselves as Halfords offer to assemble bikes purchased from them for no extra charge. This is also a very good selling point as you know the bike is going to be securely assembled and there is no risk of bits falling off or whatever, knowing what I'm like at putting things together the wheels would probably end up falling off or something along those lines! It's worth noting that Halfords also do a free six week check to make sure everything is still safe and working as it should.
~*~ Design ~*~
The bike itself is very girly. The main frame is pale pink in colour and features the cupcake branding and cute little cupcake characters dotted around, these aren't painted on to the frame but are stickers instead. I was a little worried when I first realised this as my daughter is definitely a picker but luckily she hasn't tried to pick these stickers off just yet. The pale pink colour is broken up with white mudguards, wheels and brakes so the pink doesn't look too much. There are sprinkles printed on the guards and the seat. The seat is comfortable as it is made from leather and is quite padded. The thing that made this bike stick out for my daughter is the dolls seat on the back of the bike, this is bright pink in colour covered in polka dots and the same cute cupcake characters from the frame. The seat is in the same pattern as the matching helmet my daughter has from the same cupcake range. The bike comes with stabilisers and these also tie in with the cupcake theme with a big cupcake sticker placed over each one.
The bike is a perfect first bike being a 12 inch sized wheel bike, it's one of the smallest bikes you can buy and is usually suitable for children between the ages of 3 and 5 but it's usually best to measure by size and Halfords stores have a height chart that will show you what size is best for the height of your child. My daughter fits perfectly on it and has no trouble touching the floor or the pedals when she is on it. There are no problems in reaching the brake handles either although my daughter doesn't understand how they work properly yet and just let's herself slow down instead of braking. I've tested the brakes myself to make sure they work correctly and they do. Another excellent design aspect of the bike is that the chain is safe guarded from little inquisitive fingers by having a guard that surrounds the entire chain so there are no worries about fingers getting trapped. Again this is prettied up by being pink in colour and covered in the cupcake design.
~*~ Our opinions ~*~
My daughter loves her bike and often whizzes around indoors on it despite not having much room. Luckily (or unluckily in some/most aspects) we live right next door to a ball park so when they weather isn't too bad and aren't doing anything we take the bike over there so my daughter has more room to have a good cycle. She's already mastered how to pedal and she can steer this bike without any problems. Whenever we take the bike out a doll or teddy has to come with us in the doll seat. There is a small Velcro strap that secures the doll in place so my daughter doesn't have to worry about dropping precious cargo as she zooms around.
Although the bike has stabilisers that obviously stick out, the bike is still relatively easy to transport. If the weather is nice we occasionally go further afield with the bike and I don't have any problems in fitting the bike in the boot of my smallish Seat Ibiza, I have to take the parcel shelf down but the bike then stands up normally in the boot without any problems. We haven't had to take the stabilisers off yet as my daughter definitely isn't at the stage of balancing and she does need them, but looking at them they look like they would be easy to remove as they are only done up with nuts.
My daughter has used the bike over a variety of different terrains, mainly flat concrete but she can still handle bumpy roads without any troubles and hasn't fallen off it yet and she's had it since Christmas which is quite surprising! The tyres are hard wearing and they are still as pumped up as they were at the start, they have a good tread too so turn easily and grip to the floor well.
I've seen this bike on offer for half price quite a few times so at £60 I'd definitely recommend it. The Apollo cupcake 12 inch bike is a perfect first bike, it's well made, sturdy and most importantly (for my daughter anyway) comes with a dolls seat. There are a variety of matching accessories in the same cupcake design. I can't think of any flaws, it handles wear and tear well and will last until my daughter outgrows it.
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Boss Blackdawn Men's Dual Suspension Mountain Bike
by user789
After wanting a bike for commuting and leisure use for a very long time. I finally went on the Amazon website 7 months ago to look for a bike within the 100 to 200 pound price range as I am not the keenest cyclist in the world so I would not be needing a hi-tech bike that would cost a few hundred pounds. I looked for a while until I ... found this BOSS model that I quite liked the look of and some of the features it had to offer, but the decider was the great price of around 140 pounds.
The delivery was not the fastest I have ever seen but for such a large item it only took a few days.
So after arriving I managed to put it together with a friend in a matter of minutes with the tools and the instruction book provided. However, the instructions could have been better as the wording is slightly confusing.
My first impression of the bike was a good one as the bike feels sturdy and long lasting but still manages to be quite light and versatile. After 7 months of use the reliability of this bike has been outstanding as the only problem I have faced was the occasional chain falling off (very easy to fix).
The 21 gears this bike has to offer are very effective but are quite hard to switch as they very rarely jam. Both the back and front brakes are decent as they bring the bike to a stand still in a short amount of time, but they become very slightly unresponsive in very wet weather.
The thing that impressed me the most was that comfort of this bike thanks to the well padded seat, the nice grip on the handles and the suspension that softens even the harshest potholes and bumps.
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