for a 10yr old.

a XS 26er is still too big. Currently on a Islabike Beinn 24 but she’s ready for a hardtail.

Or just a decent set of suspension forks which will fit a 24″ wheel?

No IMHO

I recommend old SIDS as they have a low A-C and weigh nothing

You can get 24 ” specific forks but they are pricey

Kids suspension forks

posts on here but i forgotten there name [ sorry]

http://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/f1rst-air-24-mtb-suspension-fork-black-51499

We opted for a Cannondale Race24 from Germany. Main draw was that it comes with a RST First air fork, which actually seems to work.

I immediately changed the rear mech (original just bounced and slapped on the slightest bump), and h’bar & stem (just cos i had em). Swapped the near slick tyres for Schwalbe Black Jack 2.1″.

Its probably gonna inherit a 2×9 drive chain from the spares box.

You could look at a Isla Bike Craig 24, or whyte do the 401

I think they do a girls colour & urban version.

Hubs are not disc compatable, frame & fork are.

cheers

I’ll have a look at those.

I wonder how much longer a 26er fork can be without messing up the handling, on a 24″ frame?

In other words, if I can fit a short-travel 26er fork on the Islabike and it still steers okay then I’m pretty much there, as junkyard suggests.

actually that RST F1rst Air looks promising (runs off to measure C2A on the Islabike…)

youngest antigee ended up with a specialized hard rock 24″ – agree the fronts forks aren’t ideal 🙄 but not much choice sadly – the rest of the bike works well geometry wise and components – had a 24″ kona can’t recall fork and I thought would be fine but didn’t handle quite right – oldest antigee had a small trek frame with a 26″ front and 24″ rear (fortysixer?) worked ok and actually looked great but didn’t ride any real technical stuff unlike youngest

Mine 3 had a Kona Shred 24 , lightened it up with an old Marz air sprung fork. They rode it hard with plenty of technical stuff, handled well with no issues.

Youngest has nearly outgrown it so would consider selling.

Old sids at 80 mm are a-c 460 mm [ can be reduced by 17 mm] and weigh 300 grammes less and will cost less than the Air above
Also means you can just upgrade them to the 26 er as well

I would have thought that at 10 a 26″ bike wouldn’t be far off. My son is 10 in August (probably average height for his age) and has just moved up to a 26er 14″ frame. The problem is there aren’t many super small 26″ frames out there. I bought him a Cube frame from bike-discount.de but they look to have sold out now, so not much help, but some small frames are out there.

Eldest has a Speccy Hotrock 24 from a few years back – it’s excellent, all grown up components in the drivetrain. Has a manitou fork I think? With lockout anyway, frames and fork are disk capable. Cost £40 from a car boot, and it was unmarked.

Also consider whether you’re over thinking how capable the fork actually has to be for a 10 year old, mine thrashes his all day but never complains about the damping, I think they adapt pretty well to what you can provide on the whole.

I put together a 24″ wheel carrera blast for my 8yr old. Rst forks, superstar wheels, 1×10 SRAM x9 gears, elixir 5 brakes etc. He’s used it around blue scar at afan and a couple of blue runs at bpw. Seems to work well enough.

Islabike 24 C2A is 360mm

According to the link above the RST F1rst Air is 400mm, and less when sagged, so should be okay. 20% sag should drop 12mm, so 390mm or so.

I’ll try her again on a XS 26er but she’s not tall for her age so it’s still a year off I reckon.

I’ll try her again on a XS 26er but she’s not tall for her age so it’s still a year off I reckon.

Buy a pair of 24″ wheels for it, only 25mm/1″ difference in ‘ride-height’ – my son rode a few years with 24″ wheels before I put 26″ wheels into his bike. Disc frame/wheels obviously.

The Spinner air 24″ forks are 80 euros including delivery atm.

Genesis Core 24.

that’s an idea I hadn’t thought of…. 😉

I’ll need 24″ disc wheels though.

I guess the main issue with fitting a 26er fork to the Beinn24 is that it:

a) slackens the head angle (not a big deal I suspect, given that everything has gone slacker lately…)
b) raises the bars a tad (I can adjust this out with a flat bar an possible neg. rise stem)
c) raises the BB a tad
d) slackens the seat angle (which I can adjust out with the seatpost/saddle.)

so only (c) looks like an issue. And I’ll need a 24″ disc front wheel.

Where from peabrain?

My son has a Felt Q24. He’s almost 7 but very tall (started riding it at 133cm when he turned 6) for his age so he just fits this though I have currently taken the spring out of the fork to drop the top tube a couple of cm.

He’s done some good long rides (over 10 miles) on it and seems to get on well with it. It’s not massively light but not silly heavy either.

My lass has a hotrock too. Ridiculously heavy – I’m in the process of moving over some lighter components from my bike, but it’s the wheels and fork that are the killers. Also don’t want to splash out big money on a fork when the bike will only fit her for another year or so.

What would a 26″ carbon rigid fork do to it with 24″ wheels? When she moves on she can keep it or I’ll snaffle it back for a lightweight build.

And I’ll need a 24″ disc front wheel

ebay

or

Spinner Europe email address in link https://mtbmumblings.wordpress.com/2014/06/07/kids-suspension-forks/comment-page-1/

I’ve had a couple from him in different sizes. I have just remembered someone in another thread said they are out of stock atm.

Yet another question – is there any reason I couldn’t lace up some 24″ bmx rims for mtb use? There are some cheapish sun ringle rims on ebay which don’t seem spectacularly heavy compared to crests, although they are 36h.

you have to check the rim width as to see what tyres they will take I forget what the measure is but there are some differences

Yet another question – is there any reason I couldn’t lace up some 24″ bmx rims for mtb use? There are some cheapish sun ringle rims on ebay which don’t seem spectacularly heavy compared to crests, although they are 36h.

Don’t see why not, you could put in some decent disc hubs of your choice then. Be a bit of investment in time though.

520 in this case. Too small?

Be a bit of investment in time though.

If it gets me better at building wheels, well worth it.

If it gets me better at building wheels, well worth it.

Simple enough and quite satisfying to build your own, plenty of info on the internet. I have done quite a few, just true them up/ dish them on the frame, use my thumb or a plastic handle pinched against the frame to find the high/ low spots. No need for a fancy jig if your are just doing the occasional wheel build.

New spokes and nipples also mount up the cost, if you can get secondhand complete wheels and change the hubs to what you want would be more cost effective.

martinhutch – Member

Yet another question – is there any reason I couldn’t lace up some 24″ bmx rims for mtb use

so long as they are the same ERD to fit proper MTB tyres

my son’s wheels cost £150 to build and weigh 1700g

How tall is she?

Where do you live?

I have a 14.5 inch 26 inch hardtail sat in my shed very sad a lonely if she wants to try it for the summer. I live in Sheffield. I’m 4ft9.

From experience I wouldn’t recommend I 26 inch wheel bike is she is any smaller than me. Riding a bike that is too big for you is miserable.

That’s a really kind offer – but she’s still a bit shorter than you. Hoping to get her onto a 14ins frame fairly soon, but not sure she’ll manage it yet. Was thinking a 26ins fork on a 24ins frame with 24ins wheel might not be too much of a problem, though.

It’s just annoying to take her out riding on a bike that must weigh a couple of kilos more than mine.

Get a small spesh rockhopper frame (26″ wheels).? My son had one (now age 11 and on a small 15.5″ cove), from age 9. I think it was a 12″ or 12.5″ frame…. There are some about, ours was about £40 from ebay. Much smaller (and more comfy according to my boys) than the 14″ on one scandal we also had.

Will try and dig out a picture….

Simone

Found it!

I think that’s how he had the saddle when he first got it at 9, but he is quite tall. Forks are rockshox dukes. Great forks, light and we paid £50. Great light bike.

yeah that might fit…

I’ll need 24″ disc wheels though.

I just got a pair of Shimano disc hubbed Sun rims from CRC, £100 if I remember.

The Genesis Core 24 is now a rigid bike. The old forks were coil sprung although the new rigid bike seems to have CroMo 26″ rigid forks on it.

Got my 8yr old son one for Christmas.

It now runs 1×10 XT Clutch mech with XT Cassette and SLX shifter. I also got some shortened Sram Cranks from the USA off Ebay for less than £50. We run this with a 32t Superstar NW, the original ring was a 34t.

Sram Racing Ralph tyres from Germany took a bug chunk of weight off too.

He also got some Hope grips for his Birthday and loves the bike.

I’m now looking to build up a set of 24″ Crests.

I’ll admit to not having read all the above, but has anyone mentioned the transition ripcord or the new trek fuel for people up to 5′?

I suspect not. OP is after a hard tail…

Commencal do a couple of kids 24″ bikes, weight and spec look good. Neon yellow though????

http://www.commencal-store.co.uk/PBSCCatalog.asp?ActionID=67174912&PBCATID=2561499

Marin Bayview Disc here. Slightly weighty but my 8 year old lad is coping well with it. Rode all the climbs on the blue at Brechfa on it.
Tektro Hydraulic discs, 2×9 speed, forks that work at the moment(!) and decent kit all round.
It’s a good bike.

We’ve got Genesis Core 24 and 26s at work now. Really simple, good bikes. Rigid but with shimano hydraulic discs. 1×9 speed set up. Nice and light. Very good bikes, currently wondering if I got one if it would take a Spinner fork…