But, good shout, i've bought a 40mm.
Bit more work required on those wheels, you have mismatched tyres, the logos aren't aligned with the valve and the valves are different, you can't take a picture without squaring all that away!
LOL none of them make any difference to me or him.... My mate pointed it out and i laughed at him.
Slight thread hijack, but if anyone happens to be selling a nice spec full sus, 140-160mm trail/enduro in a small - probably with 27.5 wheels suitable for my 10yr old I am in the market for one! Flexible on budget, don't mind a project, £2.5k max...? Thanks.
weeksy
Full Member
LOL none of them make any difference to me or him…. My mate pointed it out and i laughed at him.
Ah, i get the same, but it is almost a standard now in some facebook groups!
So the 40mm stem arrived and has been fitted. Along with a bit of rotation on the bars as they were angled too far back. Re-adjusted the brakes and shifter/dropper levers and he's ready to play again
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50523947201_4b8c33f25e_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50523947201_4b8c33f25e_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2jYCrgX ]2020-10-24_03-11-34[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
Next Thurs is Katy Curd for i think his 3rd session with her. Between her teaching, Swinley Summit and him playing in the woods with his mates, his progress is absolutely astounding. Next time we're allowed to go to BPW i'm going to be absolutely blown away i fear, i may be able to use some pedal power to catch some bits back, but on the trails, i think i'm in a world of trouble.
Looks good 👍, gloves on shelf need pairing and tidying 😉.
Lol they all go in a plastic box that's about 6" above shot, I'd just got back from a lovely leafy autumn ride.
More bike discussion with the boy today after him playing in the woods.
"Daddy I don't like the brakes" he went into details and it came down to what's essentially the free play and bite point on the XT m8000s. Basically the lever seems to drag a bit before the bite point.
So I grabbed a front SRAM Guide and stuck the lever on, bled it and sent him to test. His reply is 100% SRAM. So I'll fit the rear tomorrow too.
Also moved the shifter inside the brake, closer to grip. He's only got small hands so was too far to reach.
Next up was the Specialized saddle he wanted instead of the WTB one. He's now all good.
His reply is 100% SRAM. So I’ll fit the rear tomorrow too.
He’s got decent taste in brakes....although it’s only a matter of time before Codes will need to replace guides 🤷♂️
weeksy, I'm available for adoption - pleeeease 😇🥺
Actually, even just a brake bleed woud do
He’s got decent taste in brakes
No arguments here, we both run Guides usually, although mine are guide RS, his are R. I think only one of his has replacement pistons at the moment, but I'll do the other once the Alu pistons come in post.
I think we'll keep the XTs though unless I find someone who wants to swap.
Will be fun spending my birthday bleeding his brakes tomorrow lol. Along with tubelessing his xc wheels.
Looks like he is getting used to the bigger frame.👍
That is correct. Not at that time, but earlier in the day. He and his mates love her training, they've been 3 times and their progression is immense.
Highly highly recommended.
Highly highly recommended
I’d second that, I’ve done a group course with Katy and her coaching really works for me. Seeing the clip of your boy has me tempted to book a 1to1.
He's done 3 sessions with her and will do more. Was very proud today either her comment of "he's really talented your boy". Which of course I do know, but it's amazing that someone of her level thinks so too.
IMO, crazy as it may sound, jumping is not his forte, but trails are more him. But we've not yet gone up against the big guys in racing, so I can't say how good or bad he is.
But he's very humble, very polite and enjoying the riding massively, so from my perspective, I'll just see where it goes. If he wants to race we'll find something, but if not, I'll just stand in awe of his talent and try not to embarrass myself too much trying to follow him.
Apologies if I'm gushing a bit, but I'm a little proud of the lad as you may have guessed.
You really deserve to be proud of him. Nice work mate.
Nothing wrong with being a proud parent.
I noticed yesterday how crappy the bearings were sounding when pushing up and down on his bike suspension.
As some of you will know, suspension in that context isn't particularly complicated on pushbikes, so i whipped all the linkage bolts out this morning to check the bearings, some of it was just generic dirt, but basically we've got to replace the full set in the not too distant future.
It's not an amazingly hard job, press it out, press it in... but it can be a little bit irritating as they're obviously a tight fit and getting them in straight is never the easiest job, even with the correct tools.
They're all 6802s which is a generic size for many bikes and wheels etc, so common to replace, but still £50 a set to buy... which is slightly irking. That's the great thing about buying Whyte bikes, the bearing are free... but sadly they're not that size hahahaha.
No massive hurry, they're just a bit yukky, but he doesn't even notice. But will get them done in the coming weeks though.
After watching the ladies DH race I was bored so decided to remove the suspension linkage and pivot and whip the seals off all the bearings and fill them with grease as an interim fix.
They were all fairly yucky and past their best in there, so I've filled all of them with grease and they're obviously a lot smoother. So it's now all back together for him to ride this week.
Did the ones this morning on the axle end at the back... I'm not sure what you techincally call them, chainstay pivots maybe... They're a different bearing than the front/linkage ones being 6801s, but still obviously the same process. So they're full of grease and the contact points all cleaned. I must admit i do enjoy this sort of thing... if only it paid better 🙂
Got the Shockwiz back from Couchie, i don't think he was particularly impressed with it in honesty, but for me it's a super piece of kit.
So it's gone straight onto the Ohlins on the rear of the boys bike and we'll see how he gets on with it playing in the woods.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50589420868_141f42a8e5_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50589420868_141f42a8e5_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2k5q1jh ]2020-11-11_02-01-57[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
First baseline settings taken from playing/jumping.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50590760212_a391ab4419_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50590760212_a391ab4419_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2k5wSsq ]2020-11-11_04-36-58[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
We've now made a couple of adjustments and we'll see what's next.
Style for miles!
sweeeet air.
Looks like they are all enjoying it 👍
Think i heard a squeak on landing there, might want to check those bearings again ;o)
What you don't see in the video is the 8' step up gap LOL. It's beyond me that's for sure. They're carrying a load of speed in and just boom, up and over the gap.
I'd argue that in a technique context i'd make it... but i don't have the balls to try !
Bit of a faff today. We've been having dropper post issues since day 1. Noticed today it was working less than usual. So pulled cable out and the ferrule and cable are basically trashed.
This wouldn't be an issue if Specialized didn't use are bloody rubbish grub screw and barrel to secure it.
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The little one seizes in the barrel so you can't get a new inner cable fitted.
So I've ordered 2 of them and will fit a new inner cable, set to the correct tension as per manual and see how we get on. It may need a new outer too as that's a bit crap, but I'm hoping I can trim it a bit and not have to worry about internal routing.
Was much easier when he had the Vyron.
My boy came back from jumping and him and his mate exclaimed "this doesn't feel right" and "makes a funny noise"
It transpires he had play in his shock / pivot bearings.
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[url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/50775528346/ ]2020-12-29_03-51-20[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url] - [url= https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dariogf.flickr2BBcode_lite ]Flickr2BBcode LITE[/url]
The SWorks bearings are 100 times easier to get in and out than the Whyte. So swapped 6 of them in no time at all.
Will check the rest tomorrow, but there's certainly no play on the top 6 mount points now.
Just skipped thru' (TLDR) Did you get a wheel yet? Got a spare 100x15 he can use. it's only a 23mm ID but its currently got a 2.3 HillyBilly on. If it gets damaged I'm not fussed ... At some point I'd planned to put another rim on the hub but currently it's just sat there.
Yeah we're all good thank you.
Following this thread with interest. Great to see others with keen and talented kids.
Ours is on a Vitus 24, recently mulleted with a 26" Reba and happy up and down on the reds at GT.
Also interested in seeing what 26" full sussers people might have coming for sale in the next six months.
http://imgur.com/gallery/hYN0idD
Not coming up, but he loved his Liv Embolden.
Still jumping like a little crazy thing
As some of you may have seen, my lad is getting bigger and harder at jumping on a week by week basis. The speed they're all carrying into jumps and therefore the height and distances they're carrying is absolutley crazy. The problem comes with the suspension taking a hammering now at times, so today we had a chat about him bottoming his shock out constantly.... Which wasn't ideal of course, but not impossible to sort.
So what you need is 'volume spacers'
[img] [/img]
These in essence change how the suspension curve works so it ramps the pressure differently and won't (in theory) bottom out quite as easily.
So whipped the shock out and removed the air can..... Well... i actually never... it was IMPOSSIBLE !!!! Even holding it in a vice it wasn't shifting.... Some say to use a wrench strap, but i didn't have one lying about.
I then came across a post which said to use this technique
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51126843626_e7c63e0149_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51126843626_e7c63e0149_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2kTUrnU ]2021-04-20_09-09-50[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
Holding it in your workstand with an old inner tube to secure and stop damage, then undo the top piece... Which actually worked a charm. Picked the large spacer and will send him out tonight to test, well, i say 'send him' he's desperate to head out anyway lol. So i'll not have to send him.
So what you need is ‘volume spacers’
Don't forget you'll also need to increase the air pressure as he gets heavier, to maintain sag.
Don’t forget you’ll also need to increase the air pressure as he gets heavier, to maintain sag
Sure mate, goes without saying yeah. Currently sticking more air in it isn't helping though, hence why i thought i'd check the volume spacers. It had none installed at all, so it's now got the larger one in there. His problem is, even though he's quite light, they're hitting things hard, fast and landing hard at times too. It's astounding to watch just how hard they hit things, well, astounding to me anyway. My lad was away with the MiL this weekend so was gutted that his 2 mates did the new black final gap at Swinley Summit, so he'll be hitting that soon as we can... Although with plans currently he may have to wait a little while.
Never bloody ends with these things. I noticed when putting it all back together we had a bit of wheel wobble on the back.
Trying to feel if it's frame bearings or wheel, after all i only swapped the wheel bearings a couple of weeks back.
Easiest way to find the answer was to fit the spare wheel of course... nothing, not a slight movement at all. Perfect.
I then had a play with his and noticed we have 3 caps, 1 on the drive side, 2 on the non-drive side. One of them was slightly loose, so tightened it up and it's all golden again.
It makes me laugh the time and effort me and one of the other parents puts in. He's got 2 of the jumpy kids and obviously 2 bikes to spanner. The pair of us put countless hours in.
My lad made me laugh this morning as he was asking about a job that his mate needs doing on his bike but didn't want to ask me to do.
"how much will it cost if Alex gets that done at Banjo Cycles?".....
"about £50 was my reply"
"oh wow, really "
"Yes son, really really"
I think he's now starting to grasp the countless money we'd be shelling out if i couldn't do all of this stuff.
My lad is the 3rd rider down
effort 😎
was hoping for a whip and a scrub on the tree where the bark was missing though
was hoping for a whip and a scrub on the tree where the bark was missing though
LOL i'm sure he'd do requests if i asked. They're constantly working on technique, changing, moving the bike and themselves in the air. But mostly they just wanna go bigger and bigger, which i'm trying to reign them back on and instead of going bigger, to do it 'better'. I'm hoping and thinking they're starting slowly to listen. But they sit and watch Youtube with people going massive and that's what they want to do, forgetting that they're only 12 years old of course !
how much will it cost if Alex gets that done at Banjo Cycles?”…..
Don't discount Bikelux for a lot of jobs, might have less waiting times too.
They take fix your bike vouchers too 😜
Couple of the guys I ride with have lads the same age. The stuff they are now doing is insane, again they spend their time either riding and digging or watching you tube, just no fear hitting the big stuff. It's costing my mate a fortune keeping his son's Bossnut rolling as it just keeps getting smashed to pieces (broken shock bolts, axles, fork dampers, mechs), he's got a new bike on order but we all know the issue with lead times. Us 'dads' are now just competing with ourselves to get better.
it's my lads 13th birthday in the not too distant future and he's got a full on National Level Downhill race in Wales in Sept.
So i thought we'd send him there kitted out in a custom jersey.
for anyone doesn't know, don't ask how much they are LOL... they're bonkers expensive.
This is his bike below so we went on a theme based upon the bike colours.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50493615277_0252e2467c_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50493615277_0252e2467c_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2jVWYDK ]2020-10-16_07-43-44[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51163382423_0dfa061d39_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51163382423_0dfa061d39_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2kX8H6a ]customjersey[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr