Fork choice for a childs bike build

Dilemma time, I’m building up a 26″ bike for my 9 year old using a new frame and parts sourced from my own upgrading and the second hand market.

As I see it I have three options regarding forks for around £100.

I can buy a rigid fork, carbon legs steel headtube, and go with a larger front tyre to get some damping effect
I can buy a new Rockshox and add the extra soft coil so it hopefully compresses (he’s not the biggest child)
I can wait a go second hand on a nice pair of DT’s or Fox, however these seem to becoming quite rare now.

Any experience from other folks doing/have done the same?

If you can, spend a little more, then downgrade somewhere else.
This has the potential to be a lardy bit of the build, and you really need an air spring as your child’s weight will vary a lot over their ownership of this bike.

I’d go for a rockshox gold 30 in 80mm to keep the front low. Cheapest from bike discount.de last time I looked and about 1600g.

Some of the low end rock shox are pretty good. I had an XC32 (coil not air though) for a while and I was pleasantly surprised by it. My wife has a cheapo RST on her bike and it’s awful but the XC32 for £96 was actually a proper working fork.

As above though Air would be better for kids though.

So roughly 150% over budget 😀

I agree that the front end weight is a potential issue, which is why I was thinking about rigid forks, (along with the budget element).

The RockShox 30 Silver with an extra soft coil are 2160g

I see a lot more advantages to a light rigid over a sus fork at that age/size of bike.
A 8-10 year old needs such low air pressure that combined with stiction the forks don’t do much unless he’s an unusually hard/jumpy rider. A light rigid fork keeps the front end height range open to what suits (if not low) and saves 600-1000g from the front. That may not sound a lot vs what we see as the benefit of sus but when you look at a child’s body weight vs the bike weight and scale it up to an adult, every kilo saved is worth many times that on our bikes. It really does count for a lot. Factor in weaker muscles and the benefit of learning good balance and I’d say sus forks are pretty specialist rider/terrain needs at that age.
Or, it’s just something they really want and if that gets them out riding, forget all that and fit sus forks : )

So roughly 150% over budget

🙂 😳 ahem, er or wait for a reba in the classifieds? Then space it down to 80mm.

No dirt jumping here, we’re a purely XC/CX family 🙂

Thinking rigid and 2.3 tubeless tyre might be a good initial option.

Maybe it depends on your local terrain too/ race venues/ trail centres etc? With the above-mentioned fork, my lad descends much faster at our local trail centre, and climbs quicker than on his previous rigid 24er. Some of this must be down to the improved rolling resistance of the 26″ wheels, but the fork has made him seem more planted on the descents.

Tk30 gold air, cracking wee fork, plenty movement on my 9 year olds build with air pressure right down. Has helped improve his riding no end coming off a rigid 24″.
On cost, I know we all have budgets but think about how much you spend on kit and how much you want your son to enjoy it as much as you.

I picked up a little used 80mm Sid for my lad, (for £70!!!).
Not got round to his rebuild yet but bouncing them on the garage floor I’m concerned that his relative lack of weight might be an issue overcoming what little bit of stiction they have, although they are buttery smooth. I cant get over how light they are, really nothing to them.

I have an old Pace RC31 that can go on if its an issue, with a bigger tyre.

After Saturday’s bog fest I was hoping my recommendations of a junior Fat bike, a’la Tazzy…, might persuade him, but he’s not biting. 🙂

Manitou make some good lightweight budget air forks.

Something like an R7 or M30 are pretty cheap even new.

No dirt jumping here, we’re a purely XC/CX family

he`ll be bored of that soon enough. take him to a pump track with a proper bike and enlighten him. 8)

rigids every time. low end suss forks are pointless. take a load of air out of teh front tyre too. he doesnt neeed 30psi he’s smaller than you.

he must be pretty lanky to need 26″ at 9yrs old? i’m trying to remember how old my daughter was when i got her a 26er. i`m sure it was older and she was tall for that age group (still is)

I’m doing the same for my 10 year old.

I “splashed out” on some SID world cups off ebay. Stupidly light.

Still expensive but they should last him several bikes.

So i reckon they were worth it for the weight saving.

Plus being air, they can be easily adjusted as he grows.

Originally bought some XC32s but are really heavy for a kid.

I’d definitely be looking at ebay for the lightest half decent 100mm air fork I could find. Suspect you’d be looking at £150 rather than £100, but there’s quite a bit out there. Tapered vs straight is probably your limiting factor (depending on the frame you’re using) – there being more tapered than straight around it seems.

But nice rigids and a fat and supple tyre could be perfect if that suits rider and usual terrain. I’ve transformed smaller bikes with decent fatter tyres, to the extent that they completely stopped complaining about sore hands… that or they just gave up complaining 😉

Worth noting that with kids you really don’t need aggressive treads – they don’t really have the weight to make them work properly. High volume and “fast” treads (think Small Block 8) can be amazing effective.

Some excellent input on this thread, thanks.

I only have the forks, wheels, and brakes to go then we’re there. However the forks kinda dictate what wheels I’m after regarding axles.

Fun project though.

I stuck an on-one carbon monocoque fork on my daughter’s 24 inch bike. Didn’t affect the angles too badly, and the decreased weight more than compensates, so I’d have no hesitation putting one on a 26 inch bike for a smaller person.

The only hassle was being forced away from rim brakes.

Yeah those or the eXotic ones come it at under 800 grams which is kinda nice weight wise.

I have some Rockshox Duke XC forks for sale on the classifieds… They are air forks and weigh ~1700g so not too lardy. They are in almost as new condition and I’ve just done an oil service on them to make sure they are in top condition internally too. Were on my (9 year old) daughter’s build briefly before swapping to some Duke Race forks (the build thread was on here recently too).

Air forks are much better than coils as you can set them up right for a light child…

EDIT: spotted you are in Sweden so not so easy! 🙂

Might be an issue but PM sent.

Air forks work best for kids, but don’t usually come cheap… keep the steerer long a leave a stack of spacers and you will be sorted for the next bike too (unless 650b!). I put eBay Rebas on my son’s Rockhopper and they have been hugely successful. SIDS would be even lighter.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cymXIV_8ymc

Also might be worth looking for some original marz forks. I have a set of 2004 marz marathon forks off one of sweamrs old bikes I’m deliberately holding onto for when sweajnr is older. Simmilar to the sids mentioned above they are light and work well for lighter riders plus they don’t need a lot of tlc.

Reba at atmospheric pressure here. First used at 8 years old. He did bottom them once in the Alps.

To be fair though for UK XC he rides fully rigid.