Thinking about a 24″ for my 8 year old and just wondering what people think of them. The lack of disc brakes puts me off a bit but this could be upgraded. I would be upgrading the fork and the shock anyway.

Also thinking about the 20″ when my youngest grows a bit.

I guess that is a no then. Any other suggestions for a full suss 24″ bike?

Scott are missing a trick right now with the current kids spark as its long been a great base for upgrade to a killer kids bike.
There’s a French company Propain doing a sweet kids full sus bikes and commencal also have a kids FS line.
If youre looking to upgrade anyway then it’d be worth a look for used frame and dispose of the heavy bits.
Check mtbr forums for some cool custom spark jr’s

I was inspired by this

A commencal is definitely an option if one comes up at the right price at the right time.

The propain is very cool and very expensive. Want one very much!

eeeeessss niiiiice, non?

Thanks btw

Just been looking more at the Propain and it is perfect. They also do a 16″ one 😀

The 16 and the 20 are the same. Diff wheels only. Iirc.
Building a Scott nitrous jr20 at the moment with 16 wheels

That is kind of you, just pop it over to mine when you are finished 😀

Oops, scared BearBack away 😆

I am so annoyed as I now cannot stop lusting over the Propain bikes. A yuma for my 8 year old and a Frechdax for my 3 year old (every 3 year old should have a full suspension bike costing thousands, obviously :roll:)

But back to reality, has anyone tried upgrading a kids Carrera full suss (detonate/sol)?

The propains look lovely! My kids have now outgrown 24″ bikes, sadly. We had a norco b line 24 and a kona stinky 24 for alps duties for our boys. Both heavily upgraded/custom built, kona was the lightest and easiest to pedal.

There is a commencal 24″ bike for sale on pinkbike, looks fine to upgrade. Seen quite a few in morzine this year, look nice. Bergamount also do a 24″ freeride bike, big air tyro. Also looks nice, sometimes come up on German eBay used.

Link to pinkbike one (not mine):

Linky

Simone

Thanks, the commencal on pinkbike ticks all the boxes. Apart from it could do with coming up in about a months time, can’t afford it right now…

Peabrain

I’m mid way through a Scott spark 20 junior custom build.

Happy to share what I’ve learnt and the build spec. My Email is in my profile.

I’m still acquiring parts but I’ve sourced a new rear shock and have a few ideas for the fork.

Simon

Forgot to mention I’ve been in touch with the guy that built the bike you link to (your inspiration) and picked up some tips

smurf, that sounds fantastic. If we end up with one I will give you a shout.

[Quote]Oops, scared BearBack away[/quote]
Hah, sorry its been crankworx this last week…. Busy busy.
One of the most important things I learned is that there will be no full suss kids bikes in 20 or 24 for 2015!
Get a 2014 while you can!!

smurf. I bought a 125mm KS A5 RR1 from China. Needed the rear bushing machining down to 22mm but looks like a reasonable bit of kit.

Hah, sorry its been crankworx this last week…. Busy busy

In that case you’re forgiven!

I’m still a bit unsure whether to for full suss yet for my 8 year old or give him another year and get him on a small 26″ full suss…

BearBack – does your son ride a Spawn?

We have a Stinky 24 for our 8 year old…

First alpine downhill this week – no pics yet

My eight year old did his first alpine downhill today

Awesome 😀

Stinky 24 is one of the options, but worried about the weight up the hills because no lift served trails here. Apart from the Lecht (see my other thread!)

Peabrain – if you have a spares box the weight needn’t be a problem. Email me. Simone has a few tips too as I recall.

BearBack – does your son ride a Spawn?

Yep, he started on a 12″ Scott Voltage Walker, went to a 14″ Gremlin (Furi) now rides a 16″ Banshee. He’s too small to go to 20″ just yet.
Had him on Whistler bike park a couple of weeks back as a 4th birthday treat. Threw a 20″ spinner air fork with a 16″ disc wheel on the front of his Banshee and went for a lap down EZ does it/shady acres/Del Boca Vista.

Spawns bikes are superb and they’re a huge reason he love riding so much.

This was him on the weekend on Wonderland trail in Squamish.[video]http://vimeo.com/103778954[/video]
Nervous for him to ride full suss now as he seems to be trying to double pre load the jumps.. on full suss that’ll be a ‘boost’!

Bike build progressing.. just need cranks!

That’s cool!

Here’s mine. An “edit” I afraid…
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx4wLaBxkdk[/video]

I used the spawn cranks on my son’s bike. What length etc are you looking for?

Sweet!
Cranks.. 130mm… Out of stock right now at spawn. Coming in a month… That’s another month of the boy asking when his bike will be ready 😉

Bummer! Have you looked at Sinz?

I also have a set of Spinner 20″ forks waiting to be put on. Need to sort out a 16″ disc wheel though.

Update from me….(Scott Spark 20 Junior build)

Rear shock successfully sourced from Risse Racing in the States and now in the box ready for the build. It’s a custom built air shock with some adjustment available.

Just ordered a RST First Air 24″ fork that I’m planning to have the travel reduced by 20mm to bring the axle to crown height somewhere close to the standard 20″ fork (details available offline). The plan with this is that I can then remove the spacers that reduce the travel and the fork can be used on a 24″ bike in due course.

Need to pick a frame colour now…..(I bought a very tired bike for not a lot, so the frame is going to be powder coated before the build)

smurf

Update from me after borrowing a few parts of his Spawn Banshee

2006? Scott Nitrous JR20
Spinner Air Fork (rebound spring cut to give full travel)
SLX Hubs, Alienation spokes, 2 cross paired to Velocity Aeroheat rims with DT proloc nipples
Specialized Roller tires
KS A5 RR1 rear shock
Gravity Light AT edition stem
Gravity Gradient carbon bar
Avid mechanicals 160mm rotors
Spawn cranks (102mm)

Weight: Too heavy 😉
First ride: Great job on the local fun trails… then up to the bike park tomorrow!

igm – thanks, missed your message before. Spares box not great – very new to the mtb thing. Will email you if we get one.

Well done smurf 😀

BearBack – looking awesome! WOuld love to see photos of him hitting the bike park! Just out of interest in case we do something similar – how tall is your son?

Just dug out the pics of our 24″ bikes. Both built on a budget, really nice bikes and served us well in morzine.

Kona stinky 24

Norco b line 24

We did weigh them at the time (for the bike rack) and I think the kona was 13kg and the norco 14.5kg in the pics.

Kona was actually ok to pedal too, norco not so much, but it looked cool and went well on the way down (much like an old 2006 ish enduro).

Enjoy! Our kids are now on a xs knolly and scott voltage in 26″….

Simone

You guys are making me so jealous. There was a Norco B-line on ebay recently but it wasn’t quite the right time for us.

To be honest I haven’t quite decided whether to go the full suss route now, or wait a year or two and go for a 26″ full suss.

I think money no object I would just do it though 😀

Check out the Family forum on MTBR, plenty of Scott Spark upgrade builds for inspiration, eg

doof doof – I’ve spent a fair amount of time looking at MTBR. Lots of useful info written up and some helpful owners / dads as well if you contact them directly.

peabrain – I must admit the build is probably going to cost more than I’d like but the base bike was only about £80 (second hand, lucky ebay find) so that gave me quite a head start on a new one (£350 – 400).

Spark 20 Juniors are pretty heavy as standard – about 12.5kg if I remember correctly. For a tall, thin 6yr old weighing 27kg that’s half her bodyweight! Hopefully once it’s been built up it should be a good few kg lighter. For example the standard bar is over 400g and it will be replaced by a Easton Carbon SL bar I picked up in the US for about £22 and about 150g.

To help with the cost I plan to move as many components onto bigger bikes in due course as I can, so whilst the upfront costs are relatively high, as long as things aren’t broken in crashes, they should last for quite a few years e.g. bars, stem, shifters, hubs, brakes, rotors, and a couple of items have come from my spares box. I should also get my money back on the frame.

I’ll start a build thread when I move from collecting components from around the world to actually building!

In terms of other ideas – you could get a second hand isla bike in the right size (one with gears) and then add a fork – something like the spinner or a (modified) RST First air 24″ like I’m using, and maybe some better pedals.

That is an idea actually, iirc the Islabikes have a small framed 20″ bike that my 3 year old would be able to fit sooner than most 20″ bikes. WOuld have to buy an old tatty one (do you ever get old tatty Islabikes?!) and bling it up. He only weighs about 14kg at the moment so even a 10kg bike would be tough on him so I should probably forget the idea of full suss until Cairngorm gets it chairlift and mtb situation sorted…

I love the inspiration from mtbr, and hopefully will be able to do something similar for my 8 year old.

I’ve not seen that many tatty ones…most are well kept to maximise resell value.

But there were a few older ones listed on ebay recently…down in Brighton. I’ve also seen older smaller ones listed.

But, another way of looking at it….if you spent £200 – £240 on a second hand benin small (20″ wheel bike) and added a fair bit of helitape, and didn’t rip the saddle / replaced it when necessary, you’d probably get 80-90% of that back when you come to sell it. So it will have “cost” you the different between the purchase and selling price.

Of course, you need to have the initial money, but I’ve found that by buying the right things second hand, at the right price, it rarely “costs” me much. E.g. we’ve clothed the kids in Spotty Otter water proof and down gear since they were tiny and its cost us next to nothing because we buy out of season on ebay, hand down to the youngest, and then sell on for what we paid for the items.

smurf

You guys are making me so jealous. There was a Norco B-line on ebay recently but it wasn’t quite the right time for us.

I’ve a B-Line that’s for sale, as in it is sat gathering dust in my workshop as my kids have all grown-up now. Almost complete just needs a fork and some odds/sods.

Weight-wise, originally they came with a Maz DJ fork which weighed 3kg and Swampthings at 1kg each plus DH tubes at another 1kg the pair. Quickly got my son’s down to sub-30lbs.

Email in profile and Scottish-based, so could be near you.

b r – have emailed 😀

smurf – I will certainly keep an eye out. I would probably remove all the stock parts anyway so they could be put back on to sell it. We also have a Ridgeback MX20 that I think would make a good base for a bike. It is lent to friends at the moment though.