looking for Lightweight inexpensive children's bike (120cm) available in uk I'm looking for Lightweight inexpensive children's hybrid bike (120cm) available in uk for my six year old son. It seems to me at this age they don't need fancy brakes or lots of gears but would really benefit from the bike being as light as possible. But the lighter bikes I've seen always come with the fancy brakes and gears and a hefty price tag.

Does such a bike exist ?
Sadly the kids aren't the ones with the money, so some of the design of a bike is to appeal to the adult with the cash.  When I was a kid, single speed raleigh 20 was common, as were BMX.  You had to be pretty lucky to have a three speed, and only super rich people had ten speeds.   So the excess of gears is appealing mostly to adults.

If 120 cm is the height of your six year old, then that's about 10 cm above "average" so you're looking at a bike with 20" wheels.  Your son will be too small for a 26" wheel bike at this age, so expect this bike to be adequate till about the age of 10-11.  At that point he will be tall enough for a 26" wheel size but a smallish frame. Then somewhere between 15 and 17 he'll have stopped growing taller and that will be about the time to measure for a proper adult's size frame.

The point of all that?  Your purchase will have 5 years of use by your son at most.  So spending silly money on a specially lightweight kid's bike is a waste.  example: google for "carbon frame kids bike" and see how few there are.

Kids do tend to be a little rough on their toys as well - a lightweight frame will not endure being dumped, dropped, dubbed-on or used as a step ladder, as well as a "more robust solid bike"

There's no need to do this:



Because: