Looking to buy a 16” kids bike for Xmas
Will be used for 2 sons so would be worthwhile buying a new one as it will get good use
Do any bicycle shops participate in any upcoming sales? Black Friday? Boxing Day (beginning pre-Xmas)?
Located in Melbourne
General consensus seem to be that Giant, Apollo, Mongoose and Specialized seem to be the good brands. Maybe Malvern Star as well?
Given there will be very little difference in a new year model for a 16” kids bike they are unlikely to sell the old ones cheap. It’s not like they get the newest drivetrain or shocks, it’s all the same stuff they’ve been making for 50years.
I'm still waiting for a kids bike with Di2
Just get a second hand one. Most of them are hardly used and in very good condition. Your kid will unlikely know the difference. An extra bonus is that plenty of kids get an upgrade for Christmas and there will be plenty of 16” bikes available.
Bike shops are unlikely to have sales leading up to Christmas because they don’t need to. You might pick up a 20% off sale at anaconda or similar.
Malvern star is no longer a premium brand.
FWIW, a cheap 16" without gears would be fine so it may be worth saving money for a decent 18" and 20".
What he said. 16” is very much a learner or transition bike. Spend a little extra on he 20” when they grow enough if you must. At 16” the difference between brand name and Kmart bikes is very little, especially for the price difference.
My kids had side of the road specials for 12” and 16”. Spent a little more on the 20” so we could go mtb riding. But the real bikes start at 26” with an XS frame at about age 11.
Probably better off looking at things like sales on 2019 models as the 2020 models are coming out. Not sure if thats how it works for kids bikes, but thats how the adult bikes seem to work.