MTB mad Dads…

I’ve been posting for some time asking about various ways to build a light, ‘proper’ 24″ wheeled MTB for my son of 8 (next month).

I’ve had the balance bike, the Islabikes Cnoc 14 and the now too small Beinn 20 – Very good bikes I have to say, however, I feel Islabike are now pricing themselves like Bentley and Aston Martin – The Pro Creig 24 is £1500… A Joke!

So I decided I wanted to build an ‘Islabike Creig 24 Pro’ for a fraction of the money and spec it how I wanted it, but trying to emulate the weight of the Creig (9.02kg without pedals).

This is what I’ve done:

Donor Frame: 2013/2014?? Carrera Blast (2nd hand off Gumtree – full bike – cost nothing as I sold all the parts I didn’t want).

I fully stripped the bike down to the frame, and needed to do a couple of jobs before powder coating.

First one was to smooth the weld on the top of the seat tube/toptube support so I could mount a ‘proper’ seat clamp. Done with a cheap hobby grinding/polishing bit mounted in my DeWalt and finished off with Wet & Dry.

The next job was to drill out the cable guides. The reason I did this was to route hydro lines and a full gear outer (I didn’t want to have any gear inner exposed) and make the bike as cable tidy as possible. This was done very easily with an extra long (350mm) 6mm HSS drill bit. As I didn’t worry about the paint work the job literally took a few minutes and tidied up nicely with a file and some Wet & Dry.

The frame went off for painting. I decided on a red with a slight silver sparkle underneath. Looks really good.

Here is the bike built up:

The Spec needed to be light and user friendly for a skinny 8 year old.

Wheels: Stans Crest 24″
Hubs: Novatec D772SB / D771SB White
Discs: Shimano SLX 160mm
Tyres: Schwalbe Rocket Rons (Folding) with inner tubes.

Forks: Exotic Carbon Disc – I don’t see the point of Sus forks yet.

Brakes: Shimano Deore M615
Bar: Easton Monkylite Carbon (25.4mm)
Stem: KCNC Fly Ride 50mm

Saddle: Madison Y04 Junior
Seatpost: Fire Eye FE-PA Alloy
Seat Clamp: Superstar Components

Derailleur: SRAM X7 Type 2.1 Medium
Shifter: SRAM X9 10sp
Crankset: SRAM S600 powerspline (length reduced to 140mm)
Chain Ring: Uberbike N/W

BB: Truvativ Powerspline
Headset: Token TK011A 1 1/8 Inch Pyro Alloy

Bike weighs in at 9.2/3 KG without pedals.

Hope you like it.

Not sure about the Trek and Fox graphics but otherwise I’d have loved that when I was of an age where it’d fir me.

I asked my boy what he wanted on it….

Trek and Fox like his Dad’s Hardtail…. Can’t argue with a birthday request

Nice build. Lad should be happy with that. Wheels are esp’ nice.

What did it cost?

I asked my boy what he wanted on it….

Trek and Fox like his Dad’s Hardtail…. Can’t argue with a birthday request

He’s wrong, but that looks ace apart from that! Top stuff!

make the wheels/tyres tubeless

Bling bling!

Apparently those Rocket Rons although they’re not TR,will go tubeless. Did you consider a tubeless ready 2.4 Fat Albert on the front to go with the rigid fork?
Looks great btw. What was the overall cost?

I can confirm that rocket rons 24 will go tubeless on stans crests. though when your sone slices the tyre in the middle of a rock garden prepare for a dented rim. Now going to go with hutchson toros for our BPW visit

Looks great John!

Definitely worth setting the wheels up tubeless. Did my sons from the word go last year and they have been fine although do need some air putting in every now and then.

Thanks for the info everyone, and the nice comments.

Just for ease of use I’m going to retain the inner tubes for now.

Cost wise it was the wheels and forks that were the massive outlay.

Wheels were: £50 per rim, £70 for both hubs and £50 the pair laced.
Forks were: £105.99

Frame – nothing – sold the stuff off to pay for that.

Powder coating: £70

Cranks were brand new and cost me £9.95 from Halfords (was given a £20 voucher) and the shortening was £44 from a CNC engineering company I knew of where I live in Doncaster.

Other than the Saddle, Seatpost/collar, stem, BB and headset. I had everythind else needed.

Basically this bike will be ridden for the next 5/6/7 years by my 8 year old and then by this 5 year old brother (will re-powder coat when he’s ready for it).

So, I genuinely think the money I’ve spent now is a long term investment, the cost will approx £200-£250 each for them (a lot less than buying the Islabikes version) and the bike will allow me and my lads years of being able to ride trails together.

That is lush.
Will you be my dad too?
😀

[/quote]That is lush.
Will you be my dad too?

HAHAHHAHAHAH

Updated photos of bike. Pedals arrived this morning bought Wellgo KC001 they came badged as MaLaGE.

Great job! Planning to do the same thing myself actually – those Carerras are such a bargain second hand.

packer – Member
Great job! Planning to do the same thing myself actually – those Carerras are such a bargain second hand.

Thanks mate.

I found the Carrera on Gumtree and bought the full bike for £30, and I tried to hammer the owner down to £25 – he was a northerner like me so didn’t budge.

I sold the forks for £25 instantly and am in the process of selling the wheels and brakes/discs/bar/stem.

The frame is 6061 Al and is quite light 2.1kg – not the lightest but not bad for free, and the geometry is bang on.

The original full Carrera Blast 24 weighed in at 13.45Kg and I’m down to 9.5kg with pedals this morning. In effect 4kg saving – I’m well happy with that!

9kg for that is impressive and makes me wonder what Carrera have done to the stock bike to make it 16kg out of the box, according to the Halfords web site (http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/kids-bikes/carrera-blast-boys-mountain-bike-24).

most crappy shop bikes have steel finishing kit, bars, stem, seatpost etc. wheels and cassette/cranks are also brutally heavy.

+1

It’s amazing how much you can take off the weight of a kids bike by getting an old seatpost, stem and bars out of the box hidden in the darkest part of the garage.

This is brilliant! Has got me thinking.

So, I genuinely think the money I’ve spent now is a long term investment

Exactly how I justify the money I’ve bled on kids bikes over the last 3 years 😉
Most recent was a set of 20″ carbon lowered susoension forks from Spawn. Adjustable rebound and all! brood eldorado fork

They are mint…

I wish you hadn’t shown me those hahahahahaha

cubicboy – Member
This is brilliant! Has got me thinking.

Do it, I’ve loved doing it. If you’re patient you can get some bargains!

rossburton – Member
9kg for that is impressive and makes me wonder what Carrera have done to the stock bike to make it 16kg out of the box, according to the Halfords web site (http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/kids-bikes/carrera-blast-boys-mountain-bike-24).

Thanks mate, 16kg are what XL DH bikes weigh.

Unbelievable that Children of 3/4 stone (approx 25Kg – my 8 year old) are expected to pick up and ride 2/3rds of their body weight – a joke!

This is 16Kg:

https://www.yt-industries.com/en/products/bikes/downhill/562/tues-cf-comp?c=93

Really nice. I’ve done something similar for my 6 yr old son’s bike – based on a Genesis Core 24 frame.

I didn’t go for tubeless rims, but wish I had. For his weight he has about 5 psi in the tyres to get any give, but that means he get snakebites when he charges through any rocks 🙄

I did go for suspension though (26″ Rebas shortened to 80mm), mainly for the Gnarr/smile factor… the fact that he wants to ride it makes it all worth it so I’m well behind your paint/sticker choices!

It’s made a huge difference to his riding compared to his Bienn 20″ Islabike and I can honestly say the best rides I’ve ever had have been with him over the last couple of months in the FoD and the Alps.

Nice work – enjoy 🙂

i_like_food – Member
Really nice. I’ve done something similar for my 6 yr old son’s bike – based on a Genesis Core 24 frame.

I didn’t go for tubeless rims, but wish I had. For his weight he has about 5 psi in the tyres to get any give, but that means he get snakebites when he charges through any rocks

I did go for suspension though (26″ Rebas shortened to 80mm), mainly for the Gnarr/smile factor… the fact that he wants to ride it makes it all worth it so I’m well behind your paint/sticker choices!

It’s made a huge difference to his riding compared to his Bienn 20″ Islabike and I can honestly say the best rides I’ve ever had have been with him over the last couple of months in the FoD and the Alps.

Nice work – enjoy

Thanks mate.

Just a quick question. Where did you get the Genesis Core 24 Frame from? The cable management and routing option on the 2016 frame is fantastic.

Cheers

Go ghetto tubeless on those kids bikes. Simple and effective

@johnski15 An outdoors place in Scotland was selling their fleet off secondhand via Pink bike. I bought it months ago, hid it in the loft from the nipper and did it up with forum parts slow-time.

Poor little sod had to earn 100 stickers (jobs, homework and general good behaviour) to get his hands on it. Took him ages, even with me trying to give them to him so he had it in time for our summer holiday to Bourg St M!

The Core 24 frame I have is probably 2015. The only negative is the higher BB compared to an Isla or a Cube. It’s come up pretty light though.

@beerback. I tried with some Stans24″ rim strips but cracked after 30 min of buggering around with my homemade ghetto compressor bottle-thing. The rim height is really high so the tyre was really loose. I guess i could try lots of layers of yellow tape? Do you think that’d do the job?

The standard Blast is not 16kg, that’s an error. I’ll weigh one tomorrow but I think 12 ish would be closer. The Web monkey has probably taken the gross weight including the box and packaging.

Nice work OP!

boriselbrus – Member
The standard Blast is not 16kg, that’s an error. I’ll weigh one tomorrow but I think 12 ish would be closer. The Web monkey has probably taken the gross weight including the box and packaging.

Nice work OP!

Thanks mate.

The Carrera Blast 24 that arrived at my house weighed in at 13.45kg – More than my Trek Stache 29er and about the same as my Nukeproof Mega 275.

I tried stand tape and with the alienation deviant my kid has the tire was super baggy, and yep, no joy.
I went full ghetto. Left the stand tape in, used a 16″ tube (his are 20″ wheels), inflated on the rim with no tire, slit down the outer circumference, opened out, tires mounted with latex added. Inflated with a floor pump. Use a craft knife to remove the inner tube ‘wings’ and you’re away.
I have had no issues pulling tires off to repair cuts with patches and remounting back on the same inner tube ‘strip’

i can confirm that the Rocket Rons go up fine tubeless on the Stans crest 24’s. No problem at all and make a super light wheel for little people.

Can also take some beating on the rocks, when you only weigh 30kgs

XS giant frame, running 24″ stans wheels. Shocks tuned for weight by TF, = little man very happy.

crests go up easy with gorrilla tape.

got Lewis’s old carrera blast down to under 22lb with a suspension fork and heavier wheels than the crests.

This thread is just getting better and better!
My daughter has the F1rst forks on her bike too and all I’ve done so far is swap the riser for a Richey flat bar that was conveniently lying around. I’m thinking about changing to a single ring set up because she doesn’t have the strength to turn the gripshift, so I’m thinking a 28 or 30 tooth ring with a Tourney Megarange (the 14-34 hobbies) cassette for starters.

If we’re doing photos…

Here’s a crap photo, but you get the idea. Was a the top of the Borsat lift in Tignes/Val D’isere.

Better photo, but not really of bike, more of gratuitous Mt Blanc shot.

Hmmm, struggling to get non-thumbnails. Bugger…

I’ve a pile of bits to revamp my lads 24″ Spesh Hotrock.
Starting with some Pace 420mm RC31’s. They should shave a load of weight compared to the awful stock forks,
Already has a Thomson stem & some lighter bars. Going to be running 1×10. Stock cranks should be ok, not sure if they do any decent 160-165mm cranks.
Then it’s all down to wheels. Tempted by the Stans rims, but pricey though. Already have some XT hubs. Can lace them myself. Need spokes.

Great thread.

So, my (very tall) 8 year old (145cm) is outgrowing his Felt 24″ and I’m thinking of going up to a 26″ bike, probably with a 14″ frame with the bonus that 26″ will have more choice on spec and second hand parts.

What sort of height have others made that jump?

If anyone’s interested I have a 24″ Specialised FSR, v brakes on the rear. 24″ suspension fork + headset. Seat collar and seat post. I got it before deciding I wanted front and rear discs and a hard tail.

Email (in profile) if interested,just rather a nipper was riding it than it being in the loft.