I’m going to pick one of THESE up for Speeder Jr this week and am wondering about making a few upgrades to make it a bit better than its stock spec.

Things that I’d like to improve:

Stem – SpdR Jr isn’t that big so I’d like to make it a bit less xc. I’ve got a couple of 35/50mm options I can try if it’s got an 1+1/8” steerer that Frog have said it comes with though they’re probably a bit bling for a kids bike – will be light though.

Bars – I could do with some nice light risers if anyone has got any unfashionably narrow ones that are a decent make I could be tempted. Prob about 15-20mm rise and with as small a centre section as possible so I can cut them down and still get eh controls to sit right. Alloy or carbon acceptable but nice and cheap – prob 31.8mm dia though I do have a 25.4 stem somewhere..

Grips – He’s currently on a CNOC 16 so is used to very thin grips – I could buy the IslaBike ones from them but am just wondering if there are any alternatives? The Grom lockons are probably too big diameter so I’m thinking silicon but I read that even the ESI Racer ones are 30mm and that’s the same as lockons – anyone know anything more like 26mm diameter?

Tyres – Going to get some Maxxis MaxDaddys as they just look like proper off road tyres.

Gears – I’ve got a load of good SRAM 9-speed left over after upgrades so I can bin the gripshift and boat anchor mech but that’ll require a new freewheel (not a cassette hub by all account) so it would need a 9 speed freewheel – anyone know if the 9-speed freewheels are a direct swap?
Oh and anyone any experience with 6y/os using SRAM triggers? I seem to remember they were a bit on the stiff side compared to Shimano.

Seat/Post – going to swap the big fat saddle for a Pivotal BMX one should dump a load of weight.

Fork – I know the Spinner one is considered pretty good and is pretty cost effective but will wait to see what the one fitted is like first.

I’m sure the cranks are ok for now and there’s no need for disks at this stage – I don’t think.

Cheers for any input.

Gary

My kids had suspension forks on their 20 inch bikes. I don’t think they provided any benefit

Having ridden with couple of kids on rigid 24 inch bikes I’m even more sure rigid is the way to go

My kids both used gripshifts at that age. The very competent 9 year old I briefly road with last week was using gripshift

Have you seen one in the flesh? They are great little bikes. Suspension forks will be awful & the rigid ones are great

Not seen one yet, in fact this was the first I’d seen. It’s not a current model so there’s not much info available except for that review I linked to. Sounds like a great option and the geo looks a little better than the more hybrid options – this almost looks like a mountainbike. That could just be because it’s got sus forks but we’ll see how it looks when he’s on it.

Because it’s not current I think it got missed on eBay and I got it for bout 1/2 what a 52 or 55 would go for let alone the prices Beinns command so there’s a lot of scope for improvement.

My only real interest in getting him n suspension is the crash he had last weekend at the 417 project WA because he was out of control on one of the bumpy berms at the bottom of the blue and a bit of squish would help those situations.