Apollo XC.20 Girls Bike

It's been a year since my eldest daughter got this bike, a year in which she has gone from being a rather wobbly and unskilled novice to, some would say, slightly over-confident. She's now an extremely competent bike rider who rides this bike pretty well every week - as you can see from the picture it's rather muddy and well used, though still in very good condtion.

This was my daughter's second bike, she learnt on a smaller wheeled bike with stabilisers. As the name would suggest, this particular model is a 20" wheeled bike. It's important to note that it has no gears and is, in all respects, a basic bike. We bought it from our local Halfords, where it is currently available for £79.99, which is about what we paid at time of purchase too. Having realised she had outgrown her original bike we had shopped around and visited a few independent local sellers before settling on this particular model.

Buying the bike:

We bought the bike in store, which enabled my daughter to try sitting on a few different models. We were very impressed with the help we got from the assistant who didn't try and steer us towards more expensive bikes with features on that she didn't need, and took care to make sure that we found a bike that was the right size for her, carefully checking the bike was neither too big nor too small. We asked about a few accessories that didn't come with the bike, such as a bike stand and the rather lovely pink basket she has fitted to the front. These items,which were reasonably priced in my opinion and part of a range of other add on items of the decorative sort, we were able to leave with the bike in store to be fitted by their technician, for free and as part of the free-build service which Halfords offer with this item.

We picked up the bike the very next day after purchase, at the time we had agreed, and again were impressed by the level of care. The assistant made sure the saddle was exactly the right height and we received a full list of what had been tested - everything from the tyre pressure to brake tightness was spot on, with a free check up being offered within 6 weeks - this we didn't take advantage of mainly as the bike was such a tight fit in our car! In one year's use of the bike, mainly at weekends, we haven't had any problems with the bike at al., though we have been sure to keep the wheels well oiled and make sure everything has been readjusted as she has grown - I leave that part to my husband I have to say.

This bike can be bought online directly as well as in store, though if you purchase on the website you won't, clearly, benefit from the fine adjustments and personal help we got, which I would really recommend at point of purchase, due to the fact that the level of service we got was really very good, and far better than I had expected it to be in all honesty.

The bike itself:

Refreshingly, for a girls' bike, this bike is not a celebration of bright fuscia, as you can see from the picture below, (zoomable version with less added mud on halford's website) it's a metallic pale blue, with writing that adds a touch of pink to the frame, that is enough to mark it as being a bike for girls. The paint has a slight metallic tinge to it and the finish is good.

As previously mentioned there are no gears on this bike, or many features at all bar reflectors on the front and back and one of those small bells that "ping". The frame is steel, so it is quite heavy, which may be a point to think about if you are considering buying this bike.

Everything is, as far as I can tell, pretty solidly made and after a year of use there are only minor chips to the paint. This, I would say is impressive in itself, given that it has had quite a lot of use and, as kids do, more often than not is propped up against a playground fence or put down on the floor without due care - that's kids for you!

The seat allows for quite a good range of adjustment - Halfords say this bike is aimed at age 7-9, my daughter is of a fairly average size and was actually six going on seven when she got it, and had the saddle on the lowest possible setting when she first started to use it. I think that the bike will probably last her through the rest of infant school, and I have no reason to believe it won't last well within the age range the manufacturer suggests (she's of an average height) and probably go on to be used by her younger sister too.

Talking of the saddle, it's one of those gel types - clearly I haven't sat on it myself, but my daughter hasn't particularly said it is uncomfortable, which was a complaint she had about her previous cheaper Raleigh that she learned to ride on which had a much less luxurious seat. The tyres are of the mountain bike kind - fairly wide and chunky, and these too have worn well thus far. The valves seem to be pretty good as we haven't had to inflate them too often - no punctures so far, though they do seem to be able to cope with the muddy forest tracks we ride up and down as well as use on road and on cycle tracks.

As far as learning to ride is concerned, though my daughter didn't learn on this bike, the Halfords site does state that their stabilisers can in fact be fitted on this bike, we were also asked if this was a requirement at point of sale. Your child could use a bike of this size to learn to ride on I would imagine; there are full product specifications and lots of reviews and people's experience of the bike on the halfords site itself (link below) which will give you more information.

As for my daughter, she has I think found it easy to get on and off this bike when I have been riding with her. This is due to the way the frame is made, and once she learned how to push off, she has had no problems riding this bike at all, though I must admit that I sometimes struggle to keep up with her when following on my slightly older bike. Certainly she seems to steer and manoeuvre it with relative ease and is able to free wheel, steer and stop with confidence.

In my opinion it's good having wheels that are bit bigger than the "first" girls' bikes as we find she can make headway much easier than her peers some of whom are still riding smaller wheeled bikes. As I said before, one thing that was excellent about buying this in a shop was the added reassurance that the bike is the right fit.

I can't say that she has missed having gears on her bike, and indeed not having them does make things quite straightforward. We do go on fairly up and down terrain when cycling in our area, though most of our trips are a couple of miles at most. Obviously this might be a feature your child may need if you are going to use a bike more extensively or if they have started cycling at a younger age. The bike, as far as I can tell, copes well with forest tracks, being ridden over grass at a rather high speed as well as more conventional cycle path and (supervised) road use. The V-type brakes work well and the grips are the right size for her hands, as soon as she got this bike she stopped using her feet to brake and was able to stop confidently in the correct manner.

It's a shame there isn't a mud guard fitted as standard to this bike - this may be something that we need to add as the wheels chuck up a fair bit of mud - but bar that, for the price I do think it's pretty good actually, albeit basis- there are no bells or whistles.

Though we have owned this a while there's no rust on the frame or the alloy wheels and though the pedals are plastic, they are well made too and seem to be very strong. Though undeniably this is, at the end of the day, a basic bike, it's of far better quality than the Raleigh bike (the ever popular Daisy bike) we had before this which I wasn't impressed with at all. The handlebars are easy grip and turn well without hitting her knees at all ( a problem we had before due to the design and fit of her old bike), and all in all it's enabled my child to learn to enjoy bike riding, free wheeling and a bit of freedom without having to worry about gears and the like, we always make sure she is wearing a helmet when using this bike.

We probably will buy a geared bike when she progresses to a larger wheeled bike in due course and we look into seeing if she can pass the cycle proficiency test - a requirement for cycling to school in our area but beyond her skill just now. For the moment this bike does us just fine and, though at the cheaper end of the spectrum of kids' bikes is of a good quality in my opinon.

Recommend?

On the basis that this bike has served us well for a year now I am happy to recommend it, as I have stated a few more features would be good, and I would definitely recommend getting a bike stand fitted, and maybe adding a few more items to the bike. If you want gears or suspension on a child's bike then this isn't for you, but for us it's got all the basics and it has been a good buy. I was impressed by the service I got from Halfords, all the staff seemed to be well informed and to know what they were doing and were polite and friendly at all times, even when the store was extremely busy.

I am very glad we chose this bike in preference to the more expensive bikes we looked at, as after all kids grow out of things so quickly! You do see bikes for this price (and cheaper still) in supermarkets, but I do think where a child's bike is concerned, getting it fitted and adjusted properly is essential. When all is said and done, this bike has been perfect for our needs and I am happy to recommend it, it's well built, solid and just the right degree of girlie - what more could you ask?

Link to this product:

http://reviews.halfords.com/4028/560458/​reviews.htm

Halfords is part of quidco and you may be able to receive money back by ordering online or having a linked credit card if buying in store - our purchase was tracked in store and we received a percentage back in fullness of time.