Giant Taffy kids' bike

[User]

 

[Steve Austin]

My EYES!! They burns!

 

[punkypossum]

Saw one in the lbs I think - it was very cute!

 

[Dave5N]

Can only help Isla.

 

[GrahamG]

Ask a few relatives to chip in for a joint Crimbo present from extended family?

 

[Mr Pig]

We had a Giant kids bike. It was terrible, so bad I would never buy any other Giant bike again.

 

[Ivan Ardon]

Not 20 inch wheels, but 24 inch, however:

Dearest daughter (7 yo at the time) was treated to a Carrera Subway 24 at the same time as my god-daughter was given a Giant MTX something (125? 250?) from the same range as the Taffy.

The Giant is better than a supermarket BSO, but not very much better. The Subway in comparison is streets ahead in build quality.

I'd want to pay less than £100 if I were buying the Giant.

 

[Mr Pig]

The MTX is the boy's version. Going to have a look at one tomorrow.

That's what my son had. Quality was so bad I would never, ever buy a bike from Giant again as I would not want to support any company who could sell that junk to kids.

Rear drop-outs were not lined up so rear wheel was sitting very squint. The only way to fix it, sort of, was to hold the wheel straight before bolting it up.

Rear derailier kept dumping the chain off the small gear jamming it between the gear and frame. Never managed to get this fixed.

Worst fault was brake cable nipples pulling through lever brackets with a bang, resulting in a loss of front brake! Pretty unhappy about that one. Turned out that the hole in the bracket was for a different nipple shape.

There were other niggles but the general quality of the components was quite poor and another significant point is that the bike was 'very' heavy. As it is designed to look like a full suspension frame it is much heavier than it needs to be, and also very back-end heavy. Basically these are cheap, made in Taiwan/China bikes with little real care going into quality control or usability. We now have Specialized and Scott kids bikes in the shed and, despite the fact that they cost about the same as the Giant, the build quality is miles better. Still far too heavy though and to be honest, if I was buying the kids bikes today, I'd buy an Isla bike..

 

[Dave5N]

That's what my son had. Quality was so bad I would never, ever buy a bike from Giant again as I would not want to support any company who could sell that junk to kids.

Rear drop-outs were not lined up so rear wheel was sitting very squint. The only way to fix it, sort of, was to hold the wheel straight before bolting it up.

Rear derailier kept dumping the chain off the small gear jamming it between the gear and frame. Never managed to get this fixed.

Worst fault was brake cable nipples pulling through lever brackets with a bang, resulting in a loss of front brake! Pretty unhappy about that one. Turned out that the hole in the bracket was for a different nipple shape.

There were other niggles but the general quality of the components was quite poor and another significant point is that the bike was 'very' heavy. As it is designed to look like a full suspension frame it is much heavier than it needs to be, and also very back-end heavy. Basically these are cheap, made in Taiwan/China bikes with little real care going into quality control or usability. We now have Specialized and Scott kids bikes in the shed and, despite the fact that they cost about the same as the Giant, the build quality is miles better. Still far too heavy though and to be honest, if I was buying the kids bikes today, I'd buy an Isla bike..

Or better. Good poster Mr P.

 

[Mr Pig]

Cool. I wish I had bought them, they look great :0)

 

[Crackle]

Picked the Islabike up this afternoon. You can tell from a distance how much better it is than anything else available. So much attention to detail, none of the junk that you don't need, and everything that you do.

Sometimes I wish I was 6 again.

Good call. You've made the best decision, there is nothing to touch them, hope he's a very happy bunny......Elf, I mean Elf. Xmas and wot not.

 

[bonj2]

But £100 at this time is really difficult.

i thought you were rich?

 

[Dave5N]

Well done Mr P.

My daughters is now nearly at the end of its third very hard season - one with the boy, and his bikes get a battering.

It's stood up pretty well and it's well designed.

 

[mr-marty-martin]

yep the ilsa's are the besyt bikes around the age groups they sell, mostly everyone under 11 has one at our club, and a few older ones have them...