Carrera Luna Build 24″

After seeing how small my daughters Isla bike has started looking I thought I had better get around to finishing the Carrera Luna I bought for her.

I’m really pleased with how its turned out.

The original bike was bought for £20 from gumtree with the intention of throwing most of the parts in the bin.

I started collecting parts as and when I saw them and had parts in my spares collection. Total spent is around £130 minus my existing parts. I haven’t weighed it but its really quite light and could lose a bit more with better wheels. In honesty the original wheels are not as bad as I expected but the original tyres weighed a tonne. I was planning on changing the wheels but I doubt Ill bother.

My daughter chose the colours and I got it chemically dipped then sprayed it fluorescent yellow with a silver glitter lacquer on top.

I may look at increasing the forks to 80mm so I can run them a bit softer and still get some travel. At the moment to get them soft enough to move the pressure is so low they are not fully extended. I may also set the wheels up tubeless for a bit of puncture protection.

IMG_5424 by Andrew Downing[/url], on Flickr

Full Spec

Frame: Carrera Luna 24″

Forks: Fox F120. Spaced down to 60mm.

Headset: Original Carrera

Wheels: Original Carrera (de-stickered)

Tyres: Schwalbe Rocket Ron

Handle Bars: Race Face Next SL Carbon

Stem: Race Face Turbine

Grips: Santacruz Palmdale

pedals: DMR V6

Crank: Suntour XCT JR 150mm (original rings thrown away)

Chainring: Raceface Narrow Wide 32t

Bottom bracket: Shimano Un71

Rear Mech: Shimano XTR 9speed

Rear Shifter: Shimano XT

Cassette: Shimano XT with bottom but one cog removed.

Brakes: Sram Elixr

Brake Rotors: original Carrera

Saddle Post: Orange

Saddle: WTB Devo Carbon

Saddle Clamp: M-part 31.8mm Slim

Nice work.

My lad has outgrown his 24″ Blast which I rebuilt – this is now being up-cycled for my 7y/o daughter.

Nice build mate and at a good price too.👍

Nice build mate and at a good price too.👍

Thanks

I think the tyres were the most expensive part at £37 for the pair.

Nice! I’m currently building a Blast and Luna for my twins, your spares box must be a bit more substantial than mine!

Is the crankset factory white?

Thats nice that. Keep meaning to gwt my lads blast powder coated but never seem to get round to it….

Nice

The cranks come in white or black in various sizes.

I got mine from an eBay shop and rang up before buying and the owner checked that the rings were removable and the bolt holes are a standard bcd. Some of the cheaper cranks I looked at had riveted rings that were made to look like hex bolts and wouldn’t of worked.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F152487439243

That’s a pretty shiny build.  In a few weeks time I’m getting a delivery via my parents of a knackered Blast for my daughter so will be doing the same again.  I take it the standard rear hub is 8-speed sized?

The standard rear hub has a 7 speed freehub which is not as long as an 8/9/10 speed freehub, hence the OP having to fit the cassette minus one the sprockets.

I would consider that after the brakes, shifter/drivetrain and tyres the next upgrade should be the wheels because the standard rims are rubbish.

The cranks come in white or black in various sizes.

It’s worth noting that SRAM do their NX crankset in 155mm arms, which is perfect for kids. It can be a little tricky to get hold of and it’s a bit more expensive (less so, if you take into account the 32t N/W chainring that they already come with), but it is a proper 1x crankset which uses a more modern GXP BB rather than a traditional square-taper (you may consider this good or bad depending on your opinion on such things!).

Nice build!

Erm, yeah, I meant 7.  Think I’ll strip my wheel down and rebuild it around a spare hub.