Frog Kids Bikes?

[summerdays]

Come back on that one when you've had the same number of Decathlon bikes and have resold them so you've some actual and meaningful numbers to report.

I've also had Giant and Raleigh kids bikes and didn't sell either for over £50.

 

[400bhp]

We are now on our second Islabike.

First one bought for £199. Sold for (IIRC) £150 a year on. 25% depreciation

Second one bought second hand, which is probably about 5 years old. I expect to break even on it.

We bought a new Decathlon balance bike for £30. I looked around on Ebay and it wouldn't have sold, at least for nothing material. So I gave it away. Depreciation, infinity.

 

[Cyclist33]

[QUOTE 3327384, member: 45"]5 Decathlon bikes. Their resale value is way off.

Also Giant, Ridgeback, Scott, Carrera. Nowhere near.[/QUOTE]

So you've had 5 Decathlon kids bikes and 5 Frog kids bikes? Okay. Lot of kids, or lot of wrong choices on bikes??

 

[Cyclist33]

We are now on our second Islabike.

First one bought for £199. Sold for (IIRC) £150 a year on. 25% depreciation

Second one bought second hand, which is probably about 5 years old. I expect to break even on it.

We bought a new Decathlon balance bike for £30. I looked around on Ebay and it wouldn't have sold, at least for nothing material. So I gave it away. Depreciation, infinity.

Fair enough but on the subject of Frog Bikes, if their balance bike is £100 new and you could re-sell it for more than £70 then you've got a better deal than Decathlon, otherwise you would have spent less on the Decathlon bike than you did on a Frog.

It does seem head-scratchingly baffling that anyone could be so gulled by the marketing. I mean it must be a dream. It's already ****-easy to get blokes to buy a new bike for themselves each year, imagine how easy it is to sell a kids bike on the grounds of upsizing and by playing on the parents' (erroneous) sense of the need to provide for and keep their child(ren) safe.

It's not my money I'm chucking down the drain anyway so enjoy.

 

[Cyclone1]

Yes I have, and it was ridiculously overpriced. I got one from Decathlon which was a third the price and equally good, plus it's what he wanted, a police bike, so he rides it willingly instead of "competitive dad" compelling him to.

Put simply, no child needs a bike that expensive. But I suppose if you have the money and are happy to fritter it away in the belief it somehow validates your decision to procreate, good luck!

I was quite placid in my first reply to your comments and will continue that way.

You point out some good areas that I'd not considered;

Firstly that my seven year old may actually want a Police bike so he can pretend to be a policeman on his police bike in front of all his friends. They would probably want to join him on his undersized Police bike with its 16" wheels, sounding his siren, ring his bell and then arresting them all for having a more expensive bike. However, they are more likely to be tearing up a trail, splashing through some puddles, jumping small ramps and racing down the lane on their "expensive" but normal bike, while my boy goes over to his 4 year old brother and passes him his new Police bike.......

Secondly I agree that Decathlon is great value for money, but you have to compare like for like....

Thirdly, I don't think that your comparison is valid. The only bike at Decathlon of a comparable size to the Frog 62 I referred to is around £150. I am sure it is a fine bike as most products from Decathlon are. However, it has inferior parts fitted and is some 4kgs heavier, so whilst it's 45% cheaper, it's over 40% heavier. When you consider that a 7 year old weighs around 4 stone then a 14kg bike takes some riding, especially if they want to take it on trails, mud or road.

If I get 3 years good use out of this bike then the £270 will be worth it as I may even get 50% back at resale (may be less or it may be close to Islabike resales, who knows?). That's just £45 a year cost to me. The decathlon bike might be worth £50 if that after 3 years so only costs me £33 a year, but it's a tank in comparison!

It's all relative, you only have to read the "which wheels shall I buy?" threads, where people ask for opinion on which wheel to buy and more often than not buy wheels where they could have bought some similar for a lot less. I mean £200 for a set of wheels when you can get a cracking set of Miche or Shimano for £90???? You wouldn't do that would you??? They probably do it because they can. Can afford it, can understand the technical differences, can appreciate aesthetic differences, can just want to have a bit of something different. Or simply they can choose not to......

Have you ever been in that predicament? Lol

Jules.

 

[Cyclist33]

I was quite placid in my first reply to your comments and will continue that way.

You point out some good areas that I'd not considered;

Firstly that my seven year old may actually want a Police bike so he can pretend to be a policeman on his police bike in front of all his friends. They would probably want to join him on his undersized Police bike with its 16" wheels, sounding his siren, ring his bell and then arresting them all for having a more expensive bike. However, they are more likely to be tearing up a trail, splashing through some puddles, jumping small ramps and racing down the lane on their "expensive" but normal bike, while my boy goes over to his 4 year old brother and passes him his new Police bike.......

Secondly I agree that Decathlon is great value for money, but you have to compare like for like....

Thirdly, I don't think that your comparison is valid. The only bike at Decathlon of a comparable size to the Frog 62 I referred to is around £150. I am sure it is a fine bike as most products from Decathlon are. However, it has inferior parts fitted and is some 4kgs heavier, so whilst it's 45% cheaper, it's over 40% heavier. When you consider that a 7 year old weighs around 4 stone then a 14kg bike takes some riding, especially if they want to take it on trails, mud or road.

If I get 3 years good use out of this bike then the £270 will be worth it as I may even get 50% back at resale (may be less or it may be close to Islabike resales, who knows?). That's just £45 a year cost to me. The decathlon bike might be worth £50 if that after 3 years so only costs me £33 a year, but it's a tank in comparison!

It's all relative, you only have to read the "which wheels shall I buy?" threads, where people ask for opinion on which wheel to buy and more often than not buy wheels where they could have bought some similar for a lot less. I mean £200 for a set of wheels when you can get a cracking set of Miche or Shimano for £90???? You wouldn't do that would you??? They probably do it because they can. Can afford it, can understand the technical differences, can appreciate aesthetic differences, can just want to have a bit of something different. Or simply they can choose not to......

Have you ever been in that predicament? Lol

Jules.

Sadly not - but as a grown human I reserve the right to make such decisions; but as a parent I will not go around blowing money unnecessarily.

Some people I suppose, have tried Shimano wheels as an upgrade and didn't like them, so when / if their boss gave them a £200 voucher as a reward for working hard, they might have, I guess, decided to splash out in the knowledge that they wouldn't be able to do so again, and that each time they rode those wheels they felt a pride in having done their job well. Maybe.

Maybe, also, my kid's not as grown up as quickly as yours... I prefer it that way, lord knows there's enough time to be grown up when you actually are. Shame his role model is the police and not some hoodlums jumping kerbs and "racing down the lanes". I guess he'll get fitter on a heavier bike too. When and if he wants to try his hand at "hardcore" riding I will seek out something that doesn't cost 250 quid, that's for sure.

I think these things often begin at birth, people go out and spend close to a thousand quid on a "travel system" (we called ours a pram) whilst for instance we bought one for £180 that lasted faultlessly till beyond the day he outgrew it, and bought another alongside for 50 quid from Tesco which lasted a good couple of years and survived a trip to Hong Kong with all that city's attendant madness. The phrase "nothing is too good for my little Henry" springs to mind... I just feel that £Ridiculous is spent on kids who don't need or appreciate that level of spending, when they would be happier getting proper love, friendship and attention from their parents, and who can so easily come to expect/demand such monetary/material perks later in life - objectionably so.

So there!

 

[summerdays]

Mine very rarely got to go to the cinema or out for meals or McDonalds, so they haven't come to expect that we will fork out for anything and every thing. They now have iPhones - all bought second hand, and one of the Islabikes was bought secondhand too. And they bought those phones themselves with pocket money and from their Saturday jobs.

I don't see why someone asking for an opinion on a bike should be having to justify spending money on a product. They are happy to spend a little extra to get a lighter bike. Not only are Islabikes lighter the frame sizing is different, so that my child was able to move up a size earlier than they would have previously which meant they were able to keep up with the rest of the family a little easier.

 

[400bhp]

[QUOTE 3328462, member: 45"]As I've already said, your argument is anulled once the resale value of Islabikes is considered. And that's before taking into account the number of streets ahead Islabikes are from Decathlon.[/QUOTE]

Exactly. It's essentially bike rental with Islabikes. I know of no other children's bike that you could be confident of resale value and simply re-selling it.

 

[Cyclist33]

[QUOTE 3328462, member: 45"]As I've already said, your argument is anulled once the resale value of Islabikes is considered. And that's before taking into account the number of streets ahead Islabikes are from Decathlon.[/QUOTE]

er, no it isnt unless you have actual comparisons based on actual buy n resale history. which, you dont.

anyway as ive indicated its not me you need to convince.

 

[Cyclist33]

[QUOTE 3328663, member: 45"]I do. ;-)

You've rejected that because I can't list resale values of 5 Frog bikes. I've never bought or sold a Frog bile.[/QUOTE]

frog bile? are we onto witches potions now??

hmm im going to go and scratch my head some more!

 

[Cycleops]

£270 seems a lot of money to spend on a seven year old's bike especially when he will soon outgrow it. It seems like a good bike. But why are you asking for advice when you have already ordered it? It would seem you will be answering your own question pretty soon.

 

[Cyclone1]

£270 seems a lot of money to spend on a seven year old's bike especially when he will soon outgrow it. It seems like a good bike. But why are you asking for advice when you have already ordered it? It would seem you will be answering your own question pretty soon.

I'm not asking for advice I am asking for people's thoughts on ownership and experience of the bike. However, most of the answers are from people with no experience of the bike but opinion on what they feel people should or shouldn't pay.

For the record I've seen the bike in a shop, it looks great etc, however I've no experience of ownership and as the bikes are only 12-18 months old, then most current owners will only have limited experience, all I was hoping to read from current owners was how the bikes have performed in this amount of time.

The bike will be well used and looked after. My 7 year may get two years from the bike, but as he has a younger brother the bike will get at least another couple of years use.....

It's up to me what I pay for a bike, no one else, it was not a question asked in the original post. Like I've already said £270 is not too much when you consider what you "may" recoup on resale, not that that is the key motivator for the purchase, I would also challenge anyone to find a comparative new bike with like for like specification, weight and size for the same price or less.......

 

[MartinQ]

I'm sure your kid will love his Frog & my opinion (not fact / experience) on the price is that its OK and you should get a reasonable resale value. Passing down isn't an option with our twins so they're getting 2nd hand (good condition) MTB speshs for Christmas this year. Like most things, whether or not its good value depends on the use / enjoyment you and your son(s) get out of it, and I'm sure you'll all have some good times. We'll probably pass old bikes onto friends or a charity for kids who don't have bikes.

 

[Stephenite]

So... Frog bikes - any good?

Considering buying a Frog 48" as the Islabikes people are knobs and don't send overseas.

 

[Cyclone1]

So... Frog bikes - any good?

Considering buying a Frog 48" as the Islabikes people are knobs and don't send overseas.

Hi,

The bike is excellent! Stunning looks, good quality, well put together and light.

My son has already had a chance to test it out at Sherwood Pines and found it a different league to his previous bike. He finds it much easier to manoeuvre and control. I was genuinely shocked at how much quicker he can now ride and with confidence.

As a bonus the bike drew quite a few comments and glances!!

Frog and my LBS were great to deal with.