[Closed] Kids full suspension build......??

I bought my son a XS Kona FS frame from Winstanley; 120mm travel. Took the 24" wheels off his Kona hard tail plus short cranks drive train etc. It worked fine for him (up to age 13) I put 26 inch wheels on this year and a 120mm fork and it seems to be a good fit now. He was on a 24 inch Kona hard tail until he was about 10 yrs old. I think at 8 I'd be looking at a second hand 24 inch HT frame/bike.

Like this ? [url= http://www.konaworld.com/hula.cfm ]Kona 24 inch[/url]

I was keen to get both my lads on proper bikes with proper kit as soon as possible. I got a small 13" Trek 2nd hand and they both started on that. Youngest was 8 when he had it, he's 10 and has been on a small Trance for the last 6 months or so and that's really helped his riding.

Thanks for the input.
out of intrest big m what trek was that?

A Kona Stinky 2-4 can sometimes be had secondhand at a reasonable price. They will never make a light bike but with visits to the spares bin (mine and several local bike shops) 29lbs including pedals was achieved. Stans rims and hope hubs would probably have dropped another pound or two, but I stopped at that point.

He was riding it on straightforward trails in Les Gets last summer aged 8.

Or how about [url= https://www.propain-bikes.com/en/shop/YUMA-41/YUMA+DH-72.html#enduro-downhill-allmountain1 ]this.[/url]

Igm don't tempt me with links like that!! Lol
very nice!
Kona 24 sounds good. I'll look into them

Saxon, that price was in euros too! Pretty cheap at the moment.

Specialized do their Camber in a kid-friendly version. I think its called the Camber Grom. Seems quite expensive for a kid's bike but its definitely the best one I've seen.

The camber grom is not being sold in the UK unfortunately.

Haha it may be in euros but still 1400!! My mrs would divorce me lol.. but my son would love it!!..... keep it cheap.

crc selling commencal supreme 24 frame only for 700ish... any views on them?

[img] [/img]

Kona Howler with RP23 and air forks (maybe Tora).
Originally built it up with 24inch wheels, now swapped to 26inch.
I-beam post and saddle, 1x10 drive.

Weighs around 30 pounds and bulletproof, Copes with XC around muddy Delamere and the freeride tracks in Leogang.

Saxon - those Commencals were everywhere in Les Get last summer - I think they were the standard kids FS hire bike. They looked good. But at £700 you'd struggle to build it light enough for less than the £1200 (base but very reasonable spec - €1599 if you don't take the 26" dropout option) option in that link.

I got the secondhand Stinky 2-4 on here for £350 I think - and that was a full bike. Comes with coil shock and forks and a heavy crank / BB. Find a giant dealer and you can have a used RP2 (not 23) for £50 because that is/was the standard Giant shock and folks wanted the RP23 upgrade. Reba 26s work well for a child - plenty strong enough. I did splash out on some remaindered carbon X0 cranks in a 165mm (not actually as expensive as you'd think, but not cheap) and 1x9ed the gears out of my spares box.
That dropped 9lbs off the stock weight and total cost of that was under £800.

A frame at £700, plus wheels, drivetrain, brakes, stem, bars, tyres, saddle, forks, etc and you'll hit £1200 very easily.

Very true. But like you I have plenty of spares to build up most A bike. Just found a big hit grom on ebay and it ended today with 0 bids! Arrgghh. I've messaged them to see if it's still for sale. Fingers crossed

And building it is more fun too.

Brand new 2014 Stinky 2-4 on Evans at £1119 if you change your mind - though the spec looks heavy.

Saw a five year old on one of these a couple of weekends ago up at Llandegla - http://www.propain-bikes.com/en/shop/FRECHDAX-46/FRECHDAX+3+-+16%26quot%3B+or+20%26quot%3B-101.html - tiny!

Now that would be nice for our younger son until big brother grows out of the Stinky...

Must look away now.

I've almost completed a full suspension build, based on a Scott Spark 20 Junior (20" wheels, so too small for the OP though). Scott do make a 24" wheel version though.

However, I wanted to echo the comments about cost - I thought "I've got a few parts in the spares box...pick up a few cheap bits on STW...it will be fine".

It's cost me a fair bit more than planned, and taken a lot longer, because once I got underway I realised I was missing lots of little bits - new gear cables, a few tools (different BB to my bikes), cable guides, the right front mech, the right seat post (frame uses an odd size), a small seat for a smaller bum etc etc. It's fair to say I over-spec'd a few things as well, but that's on the basis of re-use over future bikes / years. I reckon about 80 - 90% of parts should migrate to the next bike.

A few issues caused by the new powder coating and parts not quite working together meant a lot of time fiddling about as well. Overall, I have enjoyed it and I'd definitely build the next one. My wife is less keen 🙂

Most of the weight saving came from changing the handlebar (a mint Easton carbon SL for $25 from ebay USA - a friend at work brings a few things over for me), stem (KCNC, about £23), seat (from like a bike), tyres (Mow Joe - took ages to find some at less than full retail)), inner tubes (Intense light tubes from the USA) and pedals (AEST with Ti axles - about £30 on ebay). All fairly easy and potentially fairly cheap to swap.

Getting a new shock made up on the other hand was far from cheap.

Based on the weight of all of the parts it should be a tiny bit over 10kg (22lbs) when finished, saving 2.4kg off the original weight. That's for a full sus bike, running disk brakes and 2 x 9 gearing. I plan to do a build thread shortly.

smurf

its becoming more apparent that it's not likely to be the cheap option I 1st hoped.... might have to do a little re think.
Big question is.. who do we really build/buy these bikes for??? Us or them lol.
His race bmx is just the same.. I spend a fortune on lighter wheels, carbon upgrades etc... now although it's great for his self belief most upgrades don't really make a big difference. the most benifical thing I can do for him is to dedicate a lot of time taking him to practice, race's and mtbing as the more he's on his bike the quicker he becomes. I justify all costs in giving him all the tools so it doesn't slow down his progress.
Anyone with kids into bikes. I couldn't recommend bmx racing enough it really is brilliant!

The question about who the bike was built for has been asked at home a few times, and not by my daughter!

Ahh but Smurf, the kudos when you turn up in the local bike shop wanting some minor part and all the staff are called round to look at "this kids bike"

LOL. I almost had to pop into a local Evans (nearest bike shop) because I'd broken my last one of those little thingies that you put on the end of cables to stop them fraying. I did wonder what they would say if I asked them to pop one on for me.

Fortunately, my blushes were spared as I found a place online selling a bag full, posted to my door for under a pound.

Let's hope my daughter(s) make the most of the bike!