Islabike have announced a range of even lighter, even higher spec bikes called the Pro series.

Islabikes started 10 years ago and they specialise in making proper bikes for children. Proper lightweight, decent spec, nice handling bikes for kids. No hefty cromo frames or rough, unsealed bearings here.

Islabikes are taking their 10th birthday to do something #ForTheNextGeneration and shake up the kids bikes market all over again.

Attention to detail

It’s rare to hear a kids bike brand talking about such things as reach, standover, Q-factor and 1x drivetrains but that’s the sort of talk coming from Islabikes.

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These bikes are serious bikes. Not only do they have Islabikes’ usual custom-made child-ergonomic bars, chainsets, pedals, grips, saddles and seatposts, they also feature exotic materials like carbon and titanium. The price tags are similarly exotic.

Explaining the move, Islabikes founder Isla Rowntree said: ““Every year we attend numerous races and cycling festivals with our bikes. At certain events, Tweedlove and cyclocross races in particular, we have been in awe of the speed and skill levels of some of the young riders.

“I wanted to deliver a range of even lighter, higher specification, performance focused Islabikes”.

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Creig Pro 24 or 26

A cross country focussed mountain bike aimed for 9+ year olds. Claimed weight of 9.28kg (20.45lb) for Creig Pro 26 and 8.82kg (19.44lb) for the Creig Pro 24.

7005 T6 series heat treated aluminium frame paired with a RockShox 30 Gold TK Solo Air 80mm travel fork.

SRAM GX twist-shift 1×11 drivetrain (with Shimano XT 11-42T cassette). Avid DB5 hydraulic disc brakes. Stan’s NoTubes provide the tubeless-ready rims.

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Islabike’s own ‘proportional’ saddle, bars and grips. Carbon seat post and a titanium bottom bracket with a carbon shell.

Narrow Q-factor cranks which not only enable more efficient pedalling but also allow for a lower bottom bracket frame design for better bike handling and increased standover reassurance.

Beinn 20 Pro

A scaled down proper mountain bike with 20in wheels for kids 5+ years old. Claimed weight of 6.38kg (14.06lb).

7005 T6 heat treated aluminium frame paired with a full carbon fork. Low spoke count wheels with aluminium nipples reduces weight even further.

Islabikes note: “One of the biggest difficulties was finding a cassette with a wide enough ratio. Currently the only suitable wide ratio cassettes are 10spd. However, due to the short chainstay length a wider cassette results in an increased chain angle causing chain drops and premature chain wear. Rather than increase the chain stay which would affect the ride characteristics. To overcome this problem Islabikes have specced a 10 speed SRAM cassette and converted it to 9 speed by removing the 15 and 17 tooth sprockets and replacing with a 16 tooth. The result is a wide range cassette to help manage all terrains with even spaced gearing and optimised chainline.”

Now that’s really quite something isn’t it?

Cnoc 16 Pro

The Cnoc is the first model in Islabikes’ range with pedals. The Cnoc Pro is by far the highest spec ‘first pedal bike’ we’ve seen.

Aimed at 4+ year olds it has a very impressive claimed weight of 4.68kg (10.31lb) – this is 1.4kg less than the standard Cnoc.

Smooth weld 7005 T6 heat treated aluminium frame with a full carbon fibre fork. Custom Islabikes tyres with super supple 185TPI carcass.

Carbon seatpost. Hollow titanium axle bottom bracket with carbon shell. Flat pedals with titanium axles and titanium pins.

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Company founder, Isla Rowntree, said: “We have designed full carbon forks that perfectly match the geometry of each bicycle size, low Q factor cranks, our own superlight and grippy cyclocross tyres and sprinkled each bike with titanium and aluminium finishing bits to shave off the last bit of weight. These are serious bikes for children who are serious about their cycling. I hope we see some of their names crop up as Olympians in the future.”