MuddyMike Posted December 11, 2014 Posted December 11, 2014 My son of 9 loves riding and has progressed from tiny makro raleigh through to a 20" silverback which all did what they bought to do. When it came time to replace his current bike I was looking at all the options and nothing I could find really ticked the boxes for me. The bikes were either small adult bikes, very heavy kids bikes - why should we make a little kid ride bikes of 14kg + or if you could find something that was pretty decent it cost a small fortune. So I decided to do a special build for him. 1st problem, finding an XS 26er frame, it just wasnt possible so in the end I found a really nice looking Titan Hades 26 9R kids specific bike, I didnt want any of the components but the frame looked great. Geometry just like a mini 29er. Bought the bike sold all the components on the hub except for the seatpost and seat. OK now I had a starting point. Wheels had to be tubeless, nothing worse as a kid having puncture after puncture (another reason why 24" wasnt an option). Found some ZTR Alpine rims for a bargain and built them onto some decent Tank Comp hubs I had in the cupboard. Fitted a Kenda small block 8 on the back and a Schwalbe Nobby Nik on the front - tubeless. Found some bargains on the Hub with regards to bar, cassette and chain. Bought a Deore 10spd clutch derailler. Then the decision 2 x 10 or 1 x10.........I finally decided on 1 x 10 for simplicity sake and with a range of 11-36 x 32 that would be perfect for pretty much anything he would tackle on a 26" bike. 2nd Problem, finding a crank. Why dont manufacturers make decent short cranks for kids . Very frustrating. 170mm or 175mm just dont work for kids and this can cause knee problems (no taking chances there) and makes pedalling very inefeiceint through the top of the pedal stroke. So I bought a Deore crank (not a hollow crank so easy to work with), sent it to fellow hubber Ampandy (genius) for some surgery. We cut out 2.5cm of the crank arm to reduce the crank to 150mm. His work is fantastic and after been flatted off with some waterpaper, sandblasted and powder coated it looks great and fitted with a green Kitted 32t wonder ring it should perfom just great. Final bike weight incl pedals and cage - 10.4kg Well here is the end product. Cost me a shade over R6000 (I had hubs, tyres, brakes and stem). I am happy knowing my son has a decent bike, and he is happy because his bike is uber cool.
NotSoBigBen Posted December 11, 2014 Posted December 11, 2014 Schweet ride that mate may he have many happy safe kilometers on it!
Will_Mtb Posted December 11, 2014 Posted December 11, 2014 Bought one for my son in July - he loves it. I have been toying with the idea of changing the wheels and perhaps the fork as I have some from old bikes, but this is another level. Great build Mike. Sure he will have many miles of smiles
MuddyMike Posted December 11, 2014 Author Posted December 11, 2014 Bought one for my son in July - he loves it. I have been toying with the idea of changing the wheels and perhaps the fork as I have some from old bikes, but this is another level. Great build Mike. Sure he will have many miles of smilesOh yes, I forgot to mention the fork, replaced that heavy std coil fork with an old Rock Shox Duke which I had rebuilt. Great lightweight Air Fork. Its amazing what you can find in the garage when you start scratching around......
Shebeen Posted December 11, 2014 Posted December 11, 2014 Looking at the saddle height, even with the rear wheel raised on a stand it looks quite different to what we're used to with big bikes. I'm guessing he will still grow into this over the years? Surely 24 inch wheels will go ghetto tubeless, not ideal but still an option
marko35s Posted December 11, 2014 Posted December 11, 2014 That's great, the smile per kilometer ratio will be immense.And if it's anything like my youngster he will look like a small guy riding a 29'r from a distance.
Guest Smimby Posted December 11, 2014 Posted December 11, 2014 VERY nice, hope he has many miles on it
ians H2Sport Posted December 11, 2014 Posted December 11, 2014 Nice work on the crank. That is one of my issues with my daughters bike. Stayed with the 170mm Deore and converting to 1x10. I'm going to try with a 30t chainring and 11-36 cassette, other option is 32T with the 42 conversion. Nice carbon bar, what length? I ended up cutting a alu bar down to 550mm. Not sure what impact this has on bike control but my kid looks more comfortable on the bike.
MuddyMike Posted December 11, 2014 Author Posted December 11, 2014 Looking at the saddle height, even with the rear wheel raised on a stand it looks quite different to what we're used to with big bikes. I'm guessing he will still grow into this over the years? Surely 24 inch wheels will go ghetto tubeless, not ideal but still an option The saddle height will need to be raised about 2.5cm to compensate for the shorter crank. The bike bike is a touch big for him now but at the rate he is growing it will be fine in 6 months. I also want this one to last a few years. Friends have tried the 24" ghetto TL conversion with very limited success. I reckon go big or go home
MuddyMike Posted December 11, 2014 Author Posted December 11, 2014 Nice work on the crank. That is one of my issues with my daughters bike. Stayed with the 170mm Deore and converting to 1x10. I'm going to try with a 30t chainring and 11-36 cassette, other option is 32T with the 42 conversion. Nice carbon bar, what length? I ended up cutting a alu bar down to 550mm. Not sure what impact this has on bike control but my kid looks more comfortable on the bike. The crank was effort but not much cost. R50 to powdercoat and R10 for sandpaper. That carbon bar was a huge bargain. Ampandy can give you costs on engineering. Its worth every cent. The bar is 620mm and I got for for a steal. If it was 720mm it would be on my bike.
Shebeen Posted December 11, 2014 Posted December 11, 2014 The saddle height will ned to be raised about 2.5cm to compensate for the shorter crank. The bike bike is a touch big for him now but at the rate he is growing it will be fine in 6 months. I also want this one to last a few years. Friends have tried the 24" ghetto TL conversion with very limited success. I reckon go big or go home understood,rad project!
Gandalf Posted December 11, 2014 Posted December 11, 2014 Man thats excellent! Well done, he must be very happy. And another cool thing is that as he grows you can just replace frame with larger frame. Many happy miles for you two.
Cappi Posted December 11, 2014 Posted December 11, 2014 sweet ride. bike looks awesome. happy miles and safe riding for the little man.
.thumb.png.75d6381975d6e967f7f244707be5c209.png)
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.