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Right my son has been mtb'ing at Hillingdon (Slipstreamers) since the New Year.
He has now progressed through to the Gold group, so we thought he can try the track for a bit now.
So found a good size carbon bike, I have everything sorted except the cranks really...
He is 165mm, and the bike I bought has a 2x 165mm 50/34 on it. Problem is at some point if he wants to race you lose the 50 and you are left with 10 speed (12-something cassette which is easy to source). I am going to test it, but I am aware I might struggle to get 1x10 working without interfering with the 50t CR.
Ideally. I have a 1x12 eTap Red shifters and mech sat doing nothing and was thinking I could use this. Problem is I can get a 11-30 cassette to fit the wheels, but I would need a c30t to make this legal. Trying to find a crankset in 165mm and is 30t capable is impossible (155mm/30t is no problem)
Any thoughts?
my 165mm cranks are all 30t capable DM and 104bcd
Have you tried spa cycles, they’re usually pretty good for niche chainset so , they certainly sell kids chainsets
I have tried the kids racing site, they will not answer the phone or answer my mails with more than a 'I wouldnt do that if were you' reply to one of my four questions. I have a Basket of a few hundred pounds of stuff but dont feel happy pushing the button until I have an answer.
I will try Spa and SJC
Thanks guys
You could just lose the 50T chainring (keep the front mech as a chainguide, remove the cable and lock it in place using the limit screws), fit a new cassette and the lock the rear mech out so it can't access the highest couple of sprockets. You can buy Junior-specific cassettes (Wiggle / CRC sometimes have them), they're usually a 13-up or 14-up but using a regular cassette and just locking the mech over still works at the expense of turning it into an 8 or 9 speed.
Chainline shouldn't be an issue since it'd be no different to running a 2x. In an ideal world, you'd probably shift it outboard by a couple of mm but it'll certainly work as is.
Used to do Youth gear checks as a Commissaire, seen all sorts of solutions to it. And yes, Youth / Junior bikes sold as they are are vastly over-geared.
I don't get the problem, you don't need a 30t chainring for Youth C / U12 gearing, the roll out is 6.05m, so on 700c wheels and 25mm tyres an ideal combination is 34t front and 12t rear.
So lock the front mech off so it only works on the small 34t ring and change the 11t for a 12t on the cassette to get a full range of gears - which they won't use in U12 racing, so don't worry about a bit of chain rub in the lower gears.
My eldest is Youth D / U10 and on his bike to meet the 5.4m roll out with 25mm tyres on 700c rims we use a 38t front and a 14-32 Miche Primato cassette with the 14t locked off so his highest at the rear is a 15, which happens to be bang on 5.4m roll out. When racing and training he very rarely goes past the middle of the block.
Thst's my Plan B... I have a eTap 1x12 collecting dust and was thinking of using it. Its fast becoming too much like hard work...
Must admit its becoming much like hard work. Mind you I could build a Cx bike around it for the winter ....