Sounds like a good plan to be honest, if a fair bit of work.

Only one to add – have you seen the new Saracen kids bikes? We were impressed and reckon we’ll sell a few of these this year:

http://www.saracen.co.uk/bikes/kids/junior

A few dads here have gone wild with Carrera Blasts, getting lighter forks and bits from their spares bins. Been a few threads that should come up with a search.

I skipped the 24″ with my lad to a 26″ frog. Like TomB said above it’s made a huge difference to how far fast and the type of stuff he rides he loves it.

Buy a s/h bike like the Ragley, and then put 24″ wheels on it.

Did this with my youngest.

Discs on Islabikes new super expensive range!

I bought a Carrera blast for £60 off ebay, stripped it down to the frame and headset (which is fine), then fitted:
RST F1rst air 24 forks.
Avid disc brakes.
Sun singletrack rims on shimano hubs, rear now changed to a superstar hub.
Rocket Rons.
SLX 10 speed rear mech. Deore shifter.
XT 11-36 cassette with 42t superstar expander ring.
Suntour 152 cranks (square taper BB I already had) removed chainrings and fitted Superstar N/W.
Wellgo pedals.
Hope bash guard (so it didn’t mucky his school trousers!)
Truvativ bars. Got some Carbon ones to fit now.
lizard skin grips.
RSP 50mm stem.
Madison saddle.
no name seat post.

It handled Les Gets and Samoens in August.

This is him/it just before descending from top of Samoens to Morillon.

And descending the road from Morillon ski resort after a hard ride!

I looked at building something up from a massive box of spares but in the end bought a 24″ orbea mx team https://www.orbea.com/gb-en/bicycles/mx-24-team

I managed to find a shop damaged one – paint chips only.

Its been great. Its about the same weight as an islabike, but more MTB.

MY Lad who is nearly 8 loves it – with a 1 x 9 speed he can ride all the hills
The brakes are not bad – could do with better pads – but its minor thing.

We’ve got a 20″ Orbea MX that was my lads before the carrera, now passed down to my daughter. Great little bikes. lovely low stand over frame. I did think about getting a 24″ one but the carrera came out cheaper. Daughter wants it spaying a different colour when she gets it though!!

I’ve done this, but I do suspect that it always ends up costing a lot more than what oyu totted up in your head when you started 😉

Dead cheap 24″ Kona stuff frame, recycled 9spd drive train, wheels built from ebay bits, most other bits from the parts bin, although I ended up buying Thorn cranks and a new set of Deore brakes. Fork (and welding and respray on the frame) were courtesy of skilled/generous mates! But it probably cost close to 400 in the end with all the bits and bobs:

Little Kona by Jonathan Bateman[/url], on Flickr

If I was doing it now I’d probably just cough up for something new like a Commencal Meta HT 24 or possibly get any good frame with disk mounts (eg Orbea) and start bits swapping from there.

I’ve just picked up this…

…and have similar plans. I decided against going the carrera route as I figured most of the bits would get ditched anyway. Time will tell. Currently trawling for wheels and forks, so if anyone has got a suitable 80mm air fork hiding out anywhere, then please have a look here:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/wtd-sid-80mm-fork

We had the HOY 24″, it’s a 1*8. I fitted RST forks and decent tyres. Great for alps, bike parks, uk up and downs in the UK etc. Lack of disc brakes has been the only could-do-better for us too.

We are looking at the Ragley for their first 26er not that they are 10.

Good luck.

started lewis on a carrera blast but changed the brakes and shifters as they were shit. once he started showing an interest in actually going off road I modded it a bit with new wheels, tyres, forks, shorter crank and a 1×10 system. Eventually got it down to under 22lbs

Then I got him a transition ripcord and basically took everything off and replaced it with stuff I already had plus I got the shock and fork tuned to his weight. Standard bike is about 30lb, lewis’s is a little over 25 with a dropper post.

Between 11-12kg as a guess.
Can’t argue the attention to detail

Geographically specific tyres, who’d a’ thunk it!

That yellow Carrera looks good – was it resprayed / powder coated?

I built a 20″ full suspension bike and it took a lot more time and money than thought…but it’s v good spec on the basis I’ve 2 kids and as many parts as possible were either sourced from the spares box or will move to another bike in the future. More details here – http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/build-report-custom-scott-spark-20-junior

I’m now swapping parts off a 2015 Transition Ripcord picked up a while ago in a sale. Replacement parts are from the spares box, ebay etc and I’ve recouped £200 – 300 selling the removed parts.

Biggest weight savings on both build were:

– Tyres and inner tubes
– Bar & stem – carbon bar in 27mm and a KCNC fly ride stem
– Fork – For the Ripcord I’ve used an old SID that J Tech modified, along with the rear shock, so suit the lower weight