Spoked Wheels
Legendary Member
- Location
- Bournemouth
My grandson is due for a new bike and since his current bike is an Islabike Beinn 20 L the natural progression was to get him the Islabike Beinn 24 BUT at £470 I had to think about alternatives.
There are 3 Islabikes amongst our grandchildren and although they are good bikes I feel they are rather expensive... the children have been happy with them and they hold their value very well.
I saw the BTWIN on Internet and I decided to take a closer look at it so at the shop I was presented with a choice of 3 models and I instantly decided that I'd buy one of the two more expensive models at £280 and £160, the difference was disc brakes, shifters, choice of colours and there is a VERY slight weight difference. I decided that grandson wasn't ready for disc brakes and I could see myself trying to sort out touching rotors on a regular basis, besides, the disc brakes they use don't look very forgiving (the pads seem to have a tiny amount of travel) so I purchased the ST 500. At these prices I can get him the other one in 18 months time and still save a few quids.
I'm impressed with the bike, it has the same shifters as his current Islabikes Beinn 20 L and it looks well built, I guess the beinn 24 would be around the same weight or a little lighter.
The components are standard so they are easy to source in case they need replacing which is one of the selling point of Islabike bikes.
For £160 it looks a steal against the equivalent Beinn 24 I think, I paid £360 for the Beinn 20 IIRC..... crazy money for what it is.... with bigger bikes Islabikes don't look so attractive and the competition is out there.
There are 3 Islabikes amongst our grandchildren and although they are good bikes I feel they are rather expensive... the children have been happy with them and they hold their value very well.
I saw the BTWIN on Internet and I decided to take a closer look at it so at the shop I was presented with a choice of 3 models and I instantly decided that I'd buy one of the two more expensive models at £280 and £160, the difference was disc brakes, shifters, choice of colours and there is a VERY slight weight difference. I decided that grandson wasn't ready for disc brakes and I could see myself trying to sort out touching rotors on a regular basis, besides, the disc brakes they use don't look very forgiving (the pads seem to have a tiny amount of travel) so I purchased the ST 500. At these prices I can get him the other one in 18 months time and still save a few quids.
I'm impressed with the bike, it has the same shifters as his current Islabikes Beinn 20 L and it looks well built, I guess the beinn 24 would be around the same weight or a little lighter.
The components are standard so they are easy to source in case they need replacing which is one of the selling point of Islabike bikes.
For £160 it looks a steal against the equivalent Beinn 24 I think, I paid £360 for the Beinn 20 IIRC..... crazy money for what it is.... with bigger bikes Islabikes don't look so attractive and the competition is out there.