Often, we get asked – “is buying cheaper than subscriptions?”. Our standard response is quite a mouthful along the lines of: we understand it to be comparable when considering the many benefits of subscription cycling.
Although this answer doesn’t directly address the question about price, there are many well documented benefits of children’s subscription cycling which include:
- Convenience
- Reliable quality bikes
- Flexibility
- Time saving
- Reduced home storage
- Extremely sustainable
Each of these aspects is large enough to warrant its own, separate conversation however we wanted to know the hard facts for parents choosing bikes for their children: which is the cheaper option – buying a bike or a subscription service?
In February 2024, we commissioned a research study to understand and fully answer that question.
The research included all aspects of obtaining and maintaining a bike for your child – for both buying and using a subscription service. It dived deep and considered every comparable factor to make the assessment as fair and balanced as possible.
The key considerations of the research included:
- Parents buy children’s bikes from a major brand bike shop in their city.
- Bike is well maintained and serviced at least once a year (a service is included with a YallaCycle annual subscription).
- Selling a bike second-hand obtains a fair market rate of about 40% of the original RRP.
- Parents prioritise bicycle fit; children ride a perfectly fitting bike throughout the five-year period. The impact of children riding badly fitting bikes is significant, well proven and will be the topic of a future article.
- Three core YallaCycle kids bike brands Forme, Frog and Squish will be studied.
The research covered a five-year period – beginning when a child first rides a pedal bike at about three years old (or has an inseam length of about 40cm).
Research Results
Our research proved that young children require five bikes during their first five years of cycling.
Applying this insight to our core bike brands Forme, Frog Bikes and Squish, we found that a child will ride every bike size in each bike brand’s range – starting from a 14” wheel first pedal bike up to a 24” hybrid bike.
Over the five-year period, the research demonstrated that YallaCycle’s bike subscription service is cheaper than buying kids bikes by more than 2,000AED.
The primary benefit of YallaCycle’s subscription bikes is the perfect fit of the bicycle to the child in their early years. A great fit ensures children are always comfortable, safe, and can easily start, move, and stop – all of which improves their skills and builds cycling confidence.
The sustainability benefits are significant and extends far beyond recycling our bikes for future riders. As an example, the research showed the distance driven to buy and service bikes is reduced by approximately 75% with a subscription service.
Additionally, it is estimated that parents will save about 35 hours avoiding the need to research, buy and sell bikes.