Sized by inside leg not age, half the price back when they grow, balance bikes to twenty-six inch
Children and family
Children's bikes from a balance bike to a twenty-six-inch, sized by inside leg rather than age because children are not an age, and with half the price back against the next size when they grow out of it. Light frames that a child can lift, brakes a small hand can pull, and a free check every six months. Child seats, trailers and tag-alongs for the family that rides together.
A child's first bike decides whether they ride for life, and most of the ones in the supermarket are too heavy to lift, with brakes a small hand cannot pull. Ours are chosen for weight and brake reach, sized by inside leg with a tape, not by age on a box, and they come back when the child grows: half the price off the next size, and the old one serviced and sold on to a family that needs a cheap one.
The sizing is the thing. A child should stand over the frame with both feet flat and reach the brakes with the first joint of the finger; we measure the inside leg and the hand and choose from that, which usually means a smaller wheel than the box says and a child who can actually ride it. Balance bikes from two, fourteen-inch from about four, sixteen from five, twenty from seven, twenty-four from nine, twenty-six from eleven, all approximately, which is why we measure.
The half-back scheme: buy a child's bike here, bring it back when it is outgrown, and half of what you paid comes off the next size if it has been looked after (a free check every six months helps with that). We service the old one and sell it on the second-hand rack at a price a family can afford, with the same half-back on it. For the family that rides together: child seats front and rear, trailers that take two, tag-alongs, and a cargo bike to try from the hire fleet before buying one.
What is included
- Sized by inside leg and hand, with a tape
- Light frames a child can lift
- Half the price back against the next size
- A free check every six months
- Seats, trailers and tag-alongs
- A second-hand rack with the same half-back
What it costs
Balance bikes from £85, pedal bikes from £195 to £520. Half the price back against the next size. A free check every six months. Child seats from £95, trailers from £240, tag-alongs from £130. The workshop page has the three service levels side by side and the next free slot; the hire page works out a hire price.
Questions about children
Stabilisers or a balance bike?
A balance bike. Children who start on one usually pedal within an afternoon of getting a pedal bike; stabilisers teach them to lean the wrong way. We take stabilisers off for nothing if you have them.
Do you do the second-hand ones for all children?
Yes; the rack is for anyone, not only families who bought new. A sixteen-inch is usually about £60 with a fresh service and the half-back when it is outgrown.
Book the workshop. Fixed prices, the next free slot, a text when it is done.
Three service levels at £45, £85 and £150, labour only, with parts quoted before they are fitted. Book the slot here or by phone, drop the bike from 8am, collect the same day for Bronze and Silver. Punctures while you wait, any time.