Thinking of getting a Kona Stuff frame 13 inch from CRC for my nine year old and building it up from bits I have in the shed, anyone have one? What’s it like for short rides?
In his words doesn’t want to do XC rides with me, prefers downhill type stuff!
In reality most of his riding will be Ashton Court, Leigh Woods, Mendip and maybe the odd trail centre.
Anyone know the weight of the frame?

don’t know if this is of any use…

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/suggestions-next-kids-bike-on-from-isla-bein-20

My son has rode a 13″ frame since he was 9, with 26″ wheels. Bit big at first but he still enjoyed it. We built it up together which was nice. A year later and he razzing everywhere on it. Just looks like a 29er on him. I like the idea of being able to change frames in future as required. Made use of the parts I had lying around and avoided spending 600 on the Isla MTB – which does look nice.

Stacks up to 25 lbs probably with an slx build. He manages 20-30 miles on a good day – so the bike does not limit him.

Daughters have rigid Isla bikes and they seem to be the best kids bikes by a long way IMO. Very light.

My (short) 10 year old is sweet on 24″ kona at the moment – he had a go on a 13″ Stuff in september time and it was too big – he could ride it, but off road it would have been difficult. We were at Laggan at the time, he could not get on or off easily, plus cranks were huge (ie normal size) so he had issues pedalling.

However, just a winters growth and I am eyeing up weet frames, and starting to hoard parts for a build.

Thanks for the responses all very useful, think I might go for it.

Now to source some forks and wheels 😆

What kind of forks are you thinking?

Thinking air fork as easier to tune as he grows. My thinking is as he grows I will just get a bigger frame.

My 11yo rides a 12″ Kona Hula with 24″ wheels. We have a Blast Deluxe waiting for him in 14″, but it is still a little on the large side. And tell him there’s no honour unless you ride UP the hills 😉

You could put 24″ wheels on first, depends on their size.

But IME for kids its always better that the bike is a bit small, rather than a bit big – my son (now 13) rides an alloy Dr Jekell frame. Moved onto 26″ wheels last year but he is small for his size.

And weight is a real killer for them, but the plus side is you can build it with light weight gear.

This is it in Chicksands mode, with 24″ wheels (he’s probably 11 there) – but now its air-forked and 26″ wheels.