This is the second Raleigh Molly bike that we’ve had in our household. Our eldest had one first and when we got her a bigger bike we sold it to a friend – but then subsequently our youngest daughter wanted one too so we had to go and buy another one.

The Molly bike is made by Raleigh and comes in different sizes; the size being related to the diameter of the wheels (12,14 or 16 inch). The bike pictured is the 16inch model. It does come complete with stabilisers but as balancing has been mastered I’ve taken them off. It’s an easy job to do and all you need is a spanner.

The current Molly bike will look slightly different to ours as Raleigh give them a little update every now and again. But you’ll still get the Molly doll and rear carrier, furry saddle cover, furry handlebar bag and handlebar tassels. The tassels seem to come off after a year or two, at least they did for us. Another thing to note is that our stabilisers, which are have plastic wheels, suffered from wear and by the time our young rider had mastered her balance there wasn’t much life left in the stabilisers.

It’s a well made bike complete with a plastic full cover chain guard and proper tyres that’ll need a pump to blow them up. It has front and rear brakes, mudguards and the saddle is height adjustable giving you some growing room.

Continues to be a very popular bike for young girls. Don’t forget to buy a helmet too!

Molly Bike By Raleigh is a post from: biketastic

Whilst we’ve featured their single speed bikes before (like their Plug Racer) this is the first multi-geared Charge that we’ve blogged about.

This is the Charge Tap, an 8 speed road bike using handle grip-shifter gear changers and an internal geared hub. That might now answer your question if you’re wondering why you can’t see a rear mech (derailleur)! Internal hubs aren’t seen too often as most multi-geared bikes offer way more than 10 gears, but old timers will recall that lots of bikes use a Sturmey Archer internally geared rear hub.

With a white frame and mainly black components the bike looks striking. In the picture the bike looks to have a black Lee-Chi seatpost but you’ll see that the spec indicates a silver one. Maybe something you’ll want to confirm if that’s an issue for you.

The Charge Tap makes for a good hybrid or commuter bike, offering the trendy looks of a single speed but with the practicality of a geared bike.

To compare deals and view other bikes, try the bike shops listed below.

Charge Tap Road Bike is a post from: biketastic

Until recently, you’d be right to associate the name Cooper with performance cars, and most typically a Mini Cooper. But now the Cooper brand extends to two wheels of the human powered variety!

Cooper Bikes sees the company expand in to the bike market and their limited range includes a couple of beautifully retro styled single speed bikes. Using well known tubing and component manufacturers such as Reynolds, Brooks and Tektro, Cooper have produced some sleek looking bicycles.

The model pictured above is the Cooper Monza T100 (available in Monza Blue) and with it’s aggressive track bike styling offers a ride that is claimed to be confident and sharp yet smooth and comfortable. You’ve got the choice of riding single free or fixie as the bike has a Formula TH51 flip-flop hub.

This model has flat bars, whilst others in the range (which I’ll blog about in due course) offer a choice of dropped or bull horn bars. Cooper also make the T200 Reims – a 5 speed bike and therefore not that relevant for us fixies.

The complete Cooper Bikes range is in stock at wiggle.

Cooper Bikes is a post from: biketastic