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  • 26” fork on 24” wheeled bike? Advice please…
  • mefster
    Free Member

    It’s been a little while since I last posted but I knew who to consult with this conundrum!

    My 11 year old has just upgraded to a 24” Orbea bike bought off his cousin.  It’s a really good spec lightweight bike with 10 speed Deore gears and upgraded with Magura hydraulic rim brakes.  It has rigid forks which keeps the weight down and with my hair-shirt mentality I thought would help him improve his off road skills.

    The bigger wheel size helps off road but I think a suspension fork would reduce fatigue and open up the terrain he can handle.  I’m aware that most 24” suspension forks are found on cheaper bikes and are heavy with a lot of flex.  I was wondering if it would be possible to run  a 26” air fork with some increased sag to reduce the height of the front end. Can you buy (or make) adapters to move the brake bosses into position to use a 24 inch wheel? I’ve been keeping an eye out for an old Pace RC36 fork with bolt-on bosses!  Would running a 26” front wheel slacken the head angle to much and mess up the handling?

    The hubs are not disc and I don’t want to start rebuilding wheels and buying disc brakes.  If my fork plan isn’t viable without throwing a lot of money at it it probably makes more sense to look at a small 26” bike.

    Are there any other solutions?

    Posted 5 years ago
    BearBack
    Free Member

    we did it.. works perfectly for the tech trail riding my boys do round here.

    Posted 5 years ago
    Rich_s
    Full Member

    That’s also my plan with jnr#1’s 24″ bike.

    Just go with disc brakes now – appreciate you think it’ll be a pain, but the forks you can use on the next bike along with the brakes and wheels potentially.

    By the way, 11 and just getting on a 24″? Shirley he can’t be far off 26″ anyway?

    Posted 5 years ago
    mefster
    Free Member

    Great looking bike BearBack! He’s not far off 26” but the 24” will go to his 9 year old brother so still worth investigating.

    I’m not against discs as I’m sure I can pick some up cheaply.  The wheels are the main issue.  Most 24” rims appear to be heavy bomb-proof jobs.  I don’t know if the existing rims warrant the expense of building up with new hubs.

    Are there any decent 24” rim options?

    Posted 5 years ago
    poah
    Free Member

    you would have to make sure the A2C hight is similar and change the hub to a disc.  You can however get an RST F1RST air 24 fork that has canti bosses.  Its a decent wee fork.

    Posted 5 years ago
    uphillcursing
    Free Member

    Worked fine for us. #1 had a 24″ GT Zaskar. The Suntour fork was crap and a swap with a 100mm Reba made one hell of a difference. Disk brakes though.

    Posted 5 years ago
    antigee
    Free Member

    Bought one off someone on here 26 front 24 rear my kids and a pretty wild  subsequent user found it great

    Edit cable disk on front

    Posted 5 years ago
    chris36860
    Free Member

    My 9 year old has a Marin Bayview 24 with WTB disc rims and i’m Really impressed with them.  The forks were rubbish so I lowered a set of Fox 32 130s down to 100mm and they work a treat.  I’m currently  building a XS Orange 5 26er for him for Xmas as he wants to race next year.

    Posted 5 years ago
    mefster
    Free Member

    I’m guessing converting to discs is going to open up more options. Are there any half decent lightweight 24” disc wheels available off the peg? I assume Islabikes must sell replacement wheelsets, although I can’t see any on their website.

    do Specialized, Trek or Scott have any decent wheels on their 24” bikes?

    Posted 5 years ago
    uphillcursing
    Free Member

    There are some AlexRims. Can’t remember the model but there was a thread on here before the forum improvements.

    Posted 5 years ago
    natrix
    Free Member

    Superstar now do a kids performance 24″ wheel set, (£280) see https://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/shop/mountain/mountain-wheels/kids-performance-24-wheelsets/

    Posted 5 years ago
    rossburton
    Free Member

    Condor Cycles do non-bombproof 24″ rims, most likely just AlexRims but available in quantities smaller than “a container”.

    Posted 5 years ago
    rossburton
    Free Member

    Islabike used to sell wheelsets for the Creig (and one of our bikes is running those) but now they ask for your Creig’s serial number before they’ll sell you a pair :(

    Posted 5 years ago
    mefster
    Free Member

    I see condor do rims:

    https://www.condorcycles.com/products/condor-24-mtb-rim

    32H at 460g each for £20.

    im guessing I could get Deore hubs for £30 which with spokes and wheel building may get wheels for around £100, which is probably more in proportion with the value of the bike than the swish Superstar ones at nearer £300.

    I’d already emailed Islabikes who confirmed they don’t sell components. That’s a bit of a shame.

    Do Trek, Specialized and Scott also limit spares to existing owners?

    Posted 5 years ago
    natrix
    Free Member

    Might be worth St John St bikes for a bolt on brake boss thingy, they stock a fair bit of ‘problem solver’ bits.

    They do 24″ rims as well

    https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/

    Posted 5 years ago
    igm
    Full Member

    Generally 26” forks work fine on 24”.

    Also there’s a Stans Crest 24” rim out there.

    Posted 5 years ago
    bigblackshed
    Full Member

    For 24″ rims have a search for cruiser BMX race rims. Somewhere like Alan’s BMX website might have some thing.

    Posted 5 years ago
    i_like_food
    Full Member

    I did it for my son’s last bike. 26″ Reba’s set at 100mm travel, 24″ wheels (stans. crest)

    Absolutely no problems apart from making it a tiny bit slacker which, given his keenness for going downhill fast and a matching hatred of riding uphill, wasn’t really a problem!

    I’ll have a look, I might still have the rims. Pm me if you’re interested.

    Posted 5 years ago
    BearBack
    Free Member

    Both our 24″ wheeled bike are on Stans Crest mk3’s, mix of 28h and 32h build but light at sub 1350g a set with D-lights. Best 24″ rim available imo but pricey!!.
    I’m looking for set of rims to build a 24″ DJ wheelset and most strong wide light bmx race rims are 36h and 36 is massive overkill for a kid
    Alienation deviant/TCS mischief would be the ideal if I could find them with the right hole count

    Posted 5 years ago
Viewing 19 posts - 1 through 19 (of 19 total)

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