So my son has been riding his rebuilt Carrera Blast 24″ for a year now (complete strip and rebuild with reasonable quality parts) and it’s coming up to time to look for new frames again…

1) a 26″ frame for when the Blast is too small. This won’t be for a while as he’s still riding it with a 35mm stem so there’s plenty of growing space.
2) another 24″ frame for my daughter. She’s seven, the Blast is too big for her, but she’s definitely at the sweet spot for her Beinn 20 right now and by this time next year I expect she’ll have a new bike.

My plan is to repeat what I did for the current build: find a frame which will build up well and find a bargain (paid £40 for the Blast, the frame and seatpost were the only non-knackered part on it).

So I’m after recommendations for bike frames which can be had a good price but build up well (disc mounts, etc). Older Carrera Blast/Luna in 24″ are a favourite for (2) as I can just repeat what I’ve already done, but what else is good? I almost bought a XS Cotic BFe that was on eBay this morning but resisted…

Depending on his size it will either be an xs 26 or a small 26. Lewis has just started riding a transition scout from his ripcord. I put 26 inch wheels on it. If he still fits the blast I doubt he’ll fit a modern small framed bike. The reach and top tube lengths are too long. If you get an older 26 frame the reach shouldn’t be as long.

My son when from a Blast to a voodoo nzumbi (26″ wheels). Not much left of the original bike as I already had spare nicer forks and wheels. Great little bike.

These are good but rare as hens teeth, Specialized Hotrock with 12” frame but 26” wheels.
My youngest is a small 10yr old. It’s ridiculously light, something like 21lbs.
I’ve just picked up some second hand SIDS to go on for him, but he seems to prefer his 24” OO Baby Fatty.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/QmZx5F]Rowan’s Hotrock[/url] by pten2106, on Flickr

I’ll need to do something similar soon too for my lad.
I was thinking something like a small On-One 456 frame.

Lewis went from a blast (24) – transition ripcord (24) – transition scout small (26)

CRC were selling the 650b Brand X HT01 frame for £75 a while back, it’s £120 now. I was considering one with 26″ wheels for my lad, but ended up with a Commencal MetaHT instead.

@poah, any idea on the ripcord rear shock spec? I2i/stroke?

There’s often cube frame clearouts on bike discount. An xs attention or similar would be good.

Ripcord is 165×38 – I’ll be selling Lewis’s ripcord once I’ve rebuilt it.

Any excuse to show this again – gets more time on here than it does being ridden

Daughters bike build

Bikediscount.de does indeed have a number of 13.5” and 14” hardtail Cube frames (nominally 27.5” wheels) for 70 euros which are an inch longer/higher than my Blast 24. Tempted to let the boy see if there’s any colour combinations he likes for when the Blast is getting small…

I’m in a similar boat and have just said he can ride my wife’s MTB 🙂 Small giant xtc from several years back that he can actually pedal fine, just needs some adjustments with the stem and bars.

Has anyone built a kids bike using the smallest Cube frames?  They do 13.5″ (womans) and 14″ versions of their 27.5″ hardtails, so one of those with 26″ wheels might be a really good idea for a ~10yo.  Especially at £100 all in.

Is it worth shopping about for a used example of the Blast’s bigger brother?

a recent  S/XS carerra ‘Vulcan’ in 26″ flavour?

There’s a good chance then that most of the parts on the blast can be transfered over, plus some 26″ wheels and you’re good to go…

In April 2015 we built up a Cube Attention 14″ frame following a PSA and inspiration from on here. They were for 26″ wheels back then. Lad growing out of it now so interested in this thread for next size up frame recommendations.

Those Cube frames look interesting for the money.

With 44mm head tube you could get external bottom cup and fit tapered forks too.

Spec for all of them also says 100mm forks – should be able to get away with 120’s on that shouldn’t you?

egolfo, I think you might have a few takers for that bike on here 😉  care to share how it built up and how small your lad was when he first fitted?

cookeaa, yes I’m hoping that apart from wheels and fork everything else will just transfer over with a few hours of spannering.

Re cube frames. We went with an integral headset for the lowest stack height possible and a straight steerer 100mm fork. Manitou usually have something suitable.

What sort of size kid are people getting onto a 14″ Cube frame with 26er wheels?  Their sizing says 155cm for the 14″ frame but that is with 27.5″ wheels.

I’ve got a 14” black inbred frame that was my lad’s if anyone interested. It didn’t get much use as I found an XS Anthem and built that as well. Just stripped the inbred down and ready for sale.

Could be interested – how much?

xs cube – when he was 9. Can’t remember height. It had probably 10cm of seatpost showing. And we went straight to 27.5 too. For a fraction less standover,  it’s a quicker bike.