Hi guys,
New to the forum, after searching on Google for Carrera Blast/Luna rebuid projects, and found rossburton's Carrera Blast 24" rebuild thread.
I have recently picked up a Carrera Luna (Blast in different colour!) 20" off ebay for £30, which I plan on rebuilding for my 5-yr lad. He's on a 16" Cube kids-series at the minute.
So far I've stripped the entire bike down to individual components, with the plan to strip the paint off the frame, and get it powder coated.
The general plan will be:
- replace front Suntour shocks, with solid forks (Schwinn ones already sourced £15).
- replace brakes with some Shimano Deore v-brakes from a friend (£10)
- replace the grips with Herrmans DD08B Comfort D.D. Dual Density Ergonomic Handlebar Grips from SJS Cycles (£4)
- re-use the Shimano revoshift twist-grip.
- re-use the Shimano Altus rear mech (unless I find a cheap short-cage mech to replace it with)
- re-use the original rims & hubs (replace bearings) and replace stock tyres & tubes with Schwalbe Mad Mikes and Schwalbe tubes (£20 for the lot from SJS Cycles)
- replace the bottom-bracket with a Shimano UN55 68mm (£10 - ebay)
- replace the 150mm steel crank-set with something shorter - any recommendations? (I'm trying to justify the £28 for the Suntour XTR Jnr ones that Ross used!)
- replace the saddle with something nicer
- reuse the handlebars and seat-post
I think that's about it for the minute....
Any comments/suggestions, are much appreciated.
This is the first time I've stripped a bike down, so I'm learning loads in the process!
Next up will be a 26" XS or S frame rebuild for my 11-yr old daughter..... keeps me busy during lockdown!
Cheers,
Andy
Glad to see my thread was useful
From memory the stock Blast seatpost/stem/bars are basically made of lead, so if you can find some cheap ones here/eBay then they'll almost definitely be better. The first Blast build I did had an eBay stem from China, tatty carbon bars that I resprayed black, and a new BrandX seatpost that I cut in half.
I still really rate the Madison Trail saddle though, worth spending the money on something good to sit on.
Hey Ross, thanks for the tips on the saddle. I'm on the look out for one now.
I'm not spending mega-bucks on the bike, as it will only probably see him through 12-18months, only being a 20". But it will still be cheaper than an equivalent Frog/Islabike etc.
Excellent, we haven't had a good Bling Blast thread for ages, need something to upset the Isla fanboiz. Think my daughter had a Luna at some point.
We need pics of progress!
I need to set-up a Flickr account or something to chare the pics from.... leave it with me!
I've only got the ebay pics of it as standard.... will get some pics of it in its current stripped down state.
Top is a 20" bottom a 24" both recently completed and came in about £100 for the pair including buying the bikes. I reckon they're 40% lighter.
these both have alloy trials forks, highly recommended, very light and cheap 2nd hand on ebay.
Hoy cranks from evans are great for 20". If you need wheels german ebay seems to be the place to go.
I recommend ditching the twist shifters. Quality 9spd from ebay will be so much easier for little hands.
bin the post, stem & bars, you can save an easy kilo. Ebay carbon bars are £15, stem is £5 on aliexpress, high end posts are peanuts now and everyone has droppers.
I have to say, 24" is a hell of a lot easier to modify than 20"
The standard rear-hub is a screw-on freewheel type one. Can I swap the 7-speed freewheel for a 9-speed without having to change anything else? Will the Altus mech fit the 9-speed?
I didn't bother looking, no idea on screw on freewheels. Upgraded to a 'normal' hub to make my life easier.
ref saddle, The madison Y02 is great and has FLAMES.
Here's the boy's first 20" with one
Just checked Evans, and they only have cranks for the 12" and 16". I'll keep an eye out for a 20" one somewhere.....
Maybe I'll get a new rear-hub (with integrated bearings, not the loose ball-bearings in the current one!) and do a rim re-build as well....
reuse the handlebars
Are the originals steel 25.4 dia?
It's worth looking for some aluminium bars for the weight saving, weight saved on a kids bike makes far more difference than it does for an adult... doesn't have to be fancy I think I used some old spares bin EA30 on my daughters Hotrock 20 rebuild (cut down).
There's not quite as much weight to be saved from the stem (normally a shortish cast Aluminium one on kids bikes) but worth considering the bars...
Oh and if changing the brakes levers consider if there's a enough reach adjustment to accommodate diddy hands...
[URL= https://app.photobucket.com/u/andyjones98/p/a9f2d1f1-a8e5-42b6-8c89-c3f7ea1367d7 ][IMG] https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/i/andy [/IMG][/URL]
Not worth the faff of building wheels in my opinion, keep an eye on ebay
Something like these:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184268703645
(Seller also has frog forks)
also, don't buy schwinn BMX forks, they'll be way too short, ask me how I know.
Good spot on the frog rims and forks/frame. Will keep an eye on them.
Thanks for the tip on the forks to... I'll check the 'length' when I get chance later.
These are the ones I've got:
I’ve got some bars you can have I’ll dig them out of the garage they are something proper cut down. Also new twist shifter bit can’t remember speed.
I bought a super cheap small BMX saddle off CRC for one of my builds it looked so cool.
If you've bought them fair enough but forks are one of the best opportunities to save weight. Knocked about 1.5kg off on that carrera with alloy forks.
Just checked, and I can 'return' the forks if they're not the right length.... will check later.
RE: jkomo - that would be awesome if you have the bars.
The shifter looks in Ok condition, so I'll stick with it until I get a new hub and 9-speed mech etc.
I may have some spare short carbon bars that never got used
The standard rear-hub is a screw-on freewheel type one. Can I swap the 7-speed freewheel for a 9-speed without having to change anything else? Will the Altus mech fit the 9-speed?
You might be able to get an 8 speed screw on FW, don't think there are many (if any) 9 speed.
Oh and check the rear OLN/dropout spacing, many 2" kids bikes use 130 rather than 135 to improve chainline, which means road hubs become an option.
I rebuilt the rear 2" for my daughter (130mm spaced) with a Claris hub so the bike could have QR axle and take an HG Cassette, hub cost about a tenner IIRC plus a spare evening to lace, and I simply changed the stock front axle from nutted to QR (I think it was a couple of quid).
Being able to remove the wheels from the kids bikes makes packing the car for a family trip or even a quick whip round the woods so much easier and the cost was (in that specific case) very minimal....
What are people doing for pedals on kids bikes these days? Wellgo kc001 are hard to come by, I think I found some on AliExpress but I'm waiting to see what actually turns up.
A back up plan would be useful.
135mm rear drop-out spacing on this one. QR sounds like a good plan, although if we're going out for a ride, I'll be taking mine (29er) and the daughters..... so bike-rack will be stuck on the roof!
Pedals..... good shout. Hadn't considered them. The ones on it are very stiff, won't even do a single rotation unaided.
Front-fork... from the bottom-crown race to the drop-outs, the Schwinn ones are about 20mm shorted than the standard Suntour shocks. Will that make a noticeablce different? Overall from the drop-outs to the stop of the steerer, they are the same length. The Schwinn steerer is therefore 20mm longer. I was going to cut it, but I suppose I could use spacers to keep the stem & bars at the original height..... Not sure how much it will through the geometry out. However, this is for a 5yr old to knock about on, so it's not like it's being used for a Sportive!!!
I still endorse the KC001, the one catch is that they have *metal* pins which isn't terribly friendly on little legs. I'm looking at the cheapest Race Face composite pedals: cheapish, studded but plastic, coloured.
Just found a Suntour XCT Jnr chainset on ebay... £18 delivered. 152mm crank length. Should be Ok for a 20", and will also fit when he moves on to a 24". Has the advantage of being able to run single now, and then triple on the 24".
This is the one I did. Will adds couple of better pics tomorrow.
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/nearly-new-bike-day-for-my-daughter/
Bookmarking, love these inventive kid bike builds.
Trying to get the pics to show in the forum, rather than having to put the links, but they're not showing... any ideas??
Stripped the wheels down the other night, and found that someone had put a 26" tube inside the rear tyre!!! wtf!!
Managed to get the freewheel off eventually. The shimanot-type generic tool I had, wouldn't quite fit. Took a bit of encouragement to engage enough to enable me to get enough umph to get the freewheel to loosen.
Trying to keep within some sort of budget..... and make it a bit of a mid-term project, as I don't think he'll be needing it until late summer! But, in lockdown, I'm bored, and spending too much time on ebay looking at ideas..... I've found some womens "Marin" handlebars locally for £10.
I'd be looking for 130mm-140mm max on 20" for a 5yo.
They do exist, more than 18quid though but you maybe able to make a 4 bolt BMX square taper set work with a MTB chain line.
I'm struggling to make the move to 152mm cranks on my 10yr olds 27.5 bike.
Might stay at 145mm for another year.
This is what the one I did ended up like:
Rough spec:
Forks from Early Rider
Wheels off eBay (for Shimano cassette)
Sora/XT 9-speed
Avid brake levers
XTR v-brake & Clarks mechanical disc brake
Madison Trail saddle
BX bars, stem & seatpost from CRC
140mm Suntour cranks
Bashguard made by me
Been doing some weighing thins morning, and I'm pleasantly surprised by the weight of the handlebars and seatpost. Crankset seems to be 'ok' inc pedals, and is 140mm.
Stem = 180g
Handlebar = 225g
Seatpost = 275g
Crankset (inc pedals) = 940g
Rear rim (inc hub, exc axle & freewheel) = 675g
Front rim (inc hub, exc axle) = 645g
Suntour Forks = 2200g
Frame = 1450kg
Tyres & tubes = 1600g
Replacement Scwhinn forks = 1200g
So there's 1kg off straight away with the forks!
New tyres and tubes are on the way from SJS, so I'll weight them when they arrive.
152mm will be miserable for a 5yr old. Proper crank lengths make more of a difference for confidence than anything else.
as someone who got way too deep into this (see above) I cannot recommend enough to be patient and wait for the right bits. You'll just end up buying them anyway!
Forget about stuff moving on to the next bike, you'll get 2yrs+ minimum out of a 20" bike, saving a tenner on cranks is an irrelevance.
The Hoy 20" wheel cranks are 114mm, the 24" wheel cranks are only 140mm. They're far from perfect but they are cheap and available.
don't discount buying a cheap complete bike off facebook marketplace just for the cranks!
Going back to the screw on 9 speed. I did this on my lads 24" and managed to get a decent range which has worked perfectly. Think it was like this
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CONVERT-6-or-7-SPEED-MOUNTAIN-BIKE-INTO-9-SPEED-WITH-INDEX-13-32-FREEWHEEL-BLOCK/201588184969?hash=item2eef979789:g:fMsAAOSwq5pXPyDH
search for 9 speed freewheel
So there’s 1kg off straight away with the forks!
I weighed everything I took off then everything that went back on and I got mine down from 11.3kg to 9.5kg
Just been looking at freewheels.... tempted with the 7-speed 'mega-range' 14-34T. Anyone had any experince of one? What are they like to set-up? Do you need a specific rear-mech?
Pics from the original For Sale ad.....
Has the advantage of being able to run single now, and then triple on the 24″.
Don't do that.
Single now, 1x on the 24". 9 speed 11-36 cassettes and compatible mechs are cheap as chips (an old 9 speed Sora can do that and is small cage) and that should be enough range with a well picked chainring. If not then you can get wider cassettes paired with a 10-speed MTB mech.
Cheers Ross. I'm going to take the pedals off the cranks tonight, and then re-weigh the cranks to see if they're worth replacing.
What are peoples thoughts on a 'flat black' paint scheme?
I might give it a try on an Islabike Rothan frame I've got in the garage, that I need to also rebuild!
Some goodies arrived today:
- rear mech hanger (old one was bent)
- headset - inc integrated bearings. Went for black, keep it stealth.
My son's bike is a flat black Brand-X HT01 frame with black bars/fork/seatpost/etc. Pimped it with purple seatclamp/headset/stem and custom decals so it has purple chevrons on the toptube.
Have ordered the Madison Trail Youth Saddle for this project, and also my daughter. Got 2 for £24 delivered on eBay!
Going to go for a 9-speed cassette style rear hub, with a Sora short-cage mech I think.
I'm going to use the existing 140mm cranks, until I find something lighter!
Thought I'd have a go at stripping the paint myself, using some Screwfix No Nonsense paint remover.... didn't even touch the paint on the Luna even after 2-coats and a 2-hour soak!!!
So, I'm now trying to find a bead-blaster or chemical stripper who is currently open in the Notts/Derby area.
I've got a powder-coat lined up with a friend as a favour, but he hasn't got a bead-blaster on-site.
If you were closer I could have bead-blasted for you as I did mine on the work one..
Just had a quote of ~£20.... sounds reasonable to me. Going to drop the frame off tomorrow for the guy to have a better look at.
also got a quote for £30 for a chemical dip'n'strip. any pro's or con's of dipping vs bead-blasting?
Picked up the frame from the bead-blasters this morning.... now just need to mask it up and drop it off for the 'free' powder-coat that a friend owes me!
The Madison Trail saddles arrived today as well. Look rather comfortable, compared to the standard one!!
I'm now just trying to decide if I stay with the standard handlebars, stem, and seat post. Or do I upgrade them?
Same with the crank-set... the current one seems 'ok' and is only 140mm.
The pedals need replacing though, the bearings are shot. Any recommendations? I'm thinking resin based, as he's only 5-6, so bear-trap style ones are going to just shred his shins everytime he comes off it!!!
Managed to get a few jobs done this weekend on the project-bike.
- cut the steerer tube down to the same length as the old forks (185mm) using a pipe-cutter! Nice and clean/smooth cut.
- rubbed down and sprayed matt-black: seat-post, handle-bars, stem, cranks
- bought some Wellgo/Raleigh pedals: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004KTRKM8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
- bought a new 6/7-speed chain
- soaked the rear mech in degreaser, hopefully it will be good enough to go back on
Just had confirmation that the frame has been powder-coated, and is ready for collection!
I'll pick it up tomorrow lunchtime, and then the re-build can start on Wednesay morning! Watch this space!