After a hugely successful Alps trip with my 5 year old I’ve bought a 24″ Hotrock FSR frame to build up for next years trip.

Yes it’s over kill, yes it’s probably too much bike for a nipper, but it’ll be fun to do slowly (especially with the added danger factor of keeping it hidden till next July) and riding the lifts with him was awesome. We’re already looking forward to next summers holiday!

So… what to build it up with?

Firstly budget. I want to keep it to sub £300. The frame was £50 so I have £250 left and I hope I can get it under that.

Weight/functionality for a 6 1/2 yr old are the most important factors, aesthetics are completely irrelevant, I don’t care and neither does he if stuff is scratched, as long as it works.

My spares bin has a 9 spd SLX mech/XT shifter/XTR 12-36 cassette so drive train should be ok unless he’ll have constant dropped chains from the single ring + old-skool mech??

For forks I was planning to get a set of old SIDs or Rebas at 100mm (or ideally 80mm) and use them. The front will be a little higher, and the steering a little slacker, but that’s probably ok.

It’s 24″ inch wheels so I’m limited on those, it’ll be expensive to get spokes/rims/hubs (I would build them) but if I lurk on the forum enough I might get lucky for hubs (need disc front and v-brake rear).

Tyres are limiting too, with weight as a factor I’d like folding but Rocket Rons are the only 24″ folding I can find and they’re ~£24 each… I’d definitely run tubeless after this summers experience (he needed 5 psi for comfort/grip but that meant 1 snake bite a day).

Cranks are going to be tricky. He has 110mm cranks at the moment, I reckon 135mm will be right for next year and with a 32 chainring, 12-36 cassette and 24″ wheels I think the ratios will be ok. Does anyone have any good ideas for light & short cranks that will fit the bill? Or experience with gear ratios for this age boy?

Everything else is pretty standard and I plan on watching for cheap/light/scratched stuff on the forum and swooping like an eagle!

Any advice or words of warning are welcome, if anyone’s interested I’ll post progress updates.

Cheers,

ILF