Son turning 5 and needs a new bike for birthday.
Looking for a good combination of quality and price;
Are there any good promotions going on and/or just a generally superior place to go shopping?
Cheers,
Might be worth telling people you;re from brighton, victoria.
We got my daughters from Anaconda, they were clearing out a couple of models a few months ago. They had a few mid range ones. Otherwise Big W/Target are the places I'd look.
Depends on how much you want to spend..
if you're in the under $100 price bracket, make sure you see how heavy the bikes are (generally they are made of 'tough' steel which is so heavy the kids struggle with it). We're waiting on the delivery of a new one from Target which was $20 off with the current sales (reduced to $69 I think it was) which should apparently be lighter.
If you are happy to spend over $140, you should be able to pick something up from a bike shop which a light weight frame.
If you are happy for second hand - check ebay and check any hard rubbish recycling in your area, or even the local tip.. we've picked up a few decent old kids bikes from the tip which have actually been pretty good..
Buy 2nd hand. He won't be on it for long before outgrowing it and new bikes lose most of their value the moment you leave the shop.
This.
Kids don't give a rats if it is new. They are happy to have a bike. I was with my then 7 year old at the tip and she saw a razor scooter in good condition, she already had one but this one had larger wheels. She was stoked with her dump find. Her siblings were jealous that she got a "new" scooter.
And don't be tempted by department store bikes. They are poorly made and have no resale value.
Agree with the second hand option. We bought "character bikes" from department stores and the crank shaft was plastic, absolute junk. We now have second hand Raleigh bikes bought off ebay for $50-$70 and they are bullet proof. Plus you pretty much get your money back when you sell them.
Hard Rubbish anytime soon?
Most bike shops actually sell small kids bikes alongside their $10K S-Works and Pinarello machines. Possibly a KMart Spiderman bike might not cut it on the Brighton foreshore? A little Trek or Specialized with training wheels might not be much more than a KMart special, I dont know but they look pretty similar. I was having my roadie serviced a few months ago and one of the mechanics was putting together a little pink Trek kids bike. I laughed and asked him if they did many of those and he said they sold more kids bikes than they did carbon fibre roadies and mountain bikes for MAMILs like me!!
If you want to check it out I bought my last bike from The Freedom Machine in Port Melb. The guys there were great but I wasn't buying a kids bike! I guess the bonus there too is that ou would be buying from a place that knows bikes, will fix any problems with the bike and can give any bike related advice as well! They would also put it together for you. As somebody that has had to 'assemble' a few KMart bikes at 1 am on Christmas Eves past, don't' underestimate the value of not having to understand dodgy instructions to build the thing!
Hard Rubbish anytime soon?
saw 3 kids bikes in the recent nearby hardrubbish which looked to be in very good condition.
He won't be on the 16" bike for long. I'd wait for another 2 years and buy a good 20" bike which will fit when he is about 7.
My 7yr old got a quality 20" with gears and this has turned out to be a great purchase.
Dare I say it - what about a 'character' bike from a target/kmart/bigw:
http://www.target.com.au/p/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-bike…