My eldest lad is 6 and is really enjoying mountain biking. Quite a lot of the riding I do with him is on quite rocky / rough descents so he could do with a pair of forks that actually work. Does anyone know of any proper forks that would take a 20″ wheel? Perhaps air sprung so they can be set soft enough? A few inches of plush travel is all thats needed, rather than an elastomer that hardly moves.

All suggestions welcome, thanks!

I think White Bros used to do some.

Have a search for recumbent forks as a lot of recumbents have 20″ front wheels. Kinetics in Scotland supply a lot of brands.

You may have more luck with a big volume tyre run soft?

White Bros – theres a pair that keep on popping up on eBay but they’re wanting about £300 or something stupid. Sounds daft but it might be worth getting some dirt cheap things new off eBay (loads of them to choose from for about £20) and then modding the internals – getting some super soft elastomers and stuff.

Or, if you want to go mad:

Oh that BMW is fantastic isn’t it? I’d get but I don’t want to turn my child into a spoilt brat!

Big tyre run soft and modding are good ideas, I’ll look into bigger volumes tyres for sure as its a hardtail that he rides anyway. Perhaps I could swap out the elastomer for a soft spring or dril some small holes in the elastomer to give a bit more inital compliance?

Hmmm! Sounds fun….

You could build a 20″ rim on an mtb hub and lower some air forks using travel spacers to give 60-80mm travel, or get some 150mm forks and a head angle slacker than a travellers bowels ready for Champery 2024.

Or as with the brooklyn, get some Marzocchi or similar with removable crown and flip the crown and steerer, or use boxxer crowns on 32mm forks of your choice.

Hmm yes good point about the Zocchi’s, I could get some original Z1’s and mod them, this could be a lot of fun! I’ve been bit bored in the evenings recently, PROJECT!!! 🙂

that’s going to be an awful lot of extra weight for him to be trying to hoik up over obstacles, though.

most kids that age are so light their bikes tend to just float across stuff anyway, maybe a set of these carbon for 20″ wheel forks would give some spring without weight;

http://www.carboncycles.cc/?s=0&t=2&c=57&p=962&

wwaswas the voice of reason I think… 🙂 Clearly I need to do some research – I will report back. Cheers all.

How tall’s your lad? I got a Norco B Line for my son when he was 8, but a taller 6 year old may not have too much of a problem. 24″ rather than 20″ wheels.

Has completely transformed his descending

in recumbent land there are a few 20″ wheel forks..

example

http://www.hpvelotechnik.com/produkte/federgabeln/meks_carbon_ac_e.html

Aye, I use the Meks quite a bit, there’s also Spinner ones which are cheaper alloy ones specced as standard on HP recumbents, but still good. Ballistic used to make some, but haven’t seen them for a while.

german:a kilo comes in 20″.

Exotic do a 20″ carbon fork, couple that with a big tyre with a thin sidewall, carbon bars & stem & that should improve things. That’s the plan for my lads Isla Beinn anyway…
🙂

I would have thought a 6 year old would fit a 24 inch wheeled bike with a small frame easily, unless he is extremely small. Kids grow quick so I would not bother with all the mods etc, look for a nice 24″ bike. My youngest is 8 and has now just gone up to 26″ wheels and he is so much more confident.

We alo own a norco b line with 24″ wheels, but the fame is quite big and my 10 yr old rides this in he alps eventhough he rides a 26″ hardtail.

We also owned a hotrock a1 FS and a hotrock a1 FSR, both good. The FSR has a tiny 12.5 inch frame and should fit your son. Full Susser that actually works for litte ones. Look out for a used hotrock with RST forks, these worked great, the sr suntour ones fitted to the newer bikes are a bit rubbish unless your son weighs 10 stone. We used both….

Look for a used FSR if you do a lot of descending, I think they have now been discontinued by spesh so hard to get hold of. We just sold ours when my 8 yr old moved up to 26″.

Good luck.

Spinner do a 20 inch air fork. Alternatively, I have just fitted a standard fork to my sons 20 inch hotrock, it’s a bit higher at the front now but seems to ride ok. Not the cheapest option though as to will need to fit a disc brake and a new wheel.

I take its probably a quill stem on your sons bike? Not sure if its of interest but I have some 2002 MXCs that are in the classifieds for £35 posted. They’re obvously for 26″ but only 80mm travel and a short steerer (hence the price!) but coupled with a flat bar and a lower rise stem your lad will have Ragley-esque geometry and forks that are dead easy to setup really soft (air/oil).