Hi all,

I know there’s a few Dads on here so thought I would post my son’s latest bike. It’s a Norco Fluid 4.2 with 24″ wheels. The frame is lovely, horst link and a good weight but the stock build was ridiculously heavy at 30lbs (for a 7 year old…) so I made a few upgrades to get the weight down:

Fork: Rockshox SID RCT3
Seatpost: cut down scandium from xcracer
Saddle: Tioga spyder
Wheels: Stans Crest on Pro4 hubs from JRA
Bars: MtZoom Carbon 640mm from xcracer
Rotors: Aliigator from xcracer
Tyres: Rocket Ron run tubeless
Drivetrain: X01 1x 11 speed
BB: Answer titanium square taper 160grams
Pedals: Aest titanium spindle 165grams

[url=https://flic.kr/p/FHZ7ra]IMG_20160325_102248770[/url] by RideTheLakes.com, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/ENJCLe]IMG_20160325_102334437[/url] by RideTheLakes.com, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/FHZ7er]IMG_20160325_102317436[/url] by RideTheLakes.com, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/FHZ6mV]IMG_20160324_204501341[/url] by RideTheLakes.com, on Flickr

The little fella is chuffed to bits with it. First proper ride tomorrow at Whinlatter Forest.

Here’s his old 20″ bike too, will be selling if any interest:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/FzNAj1]IMG_20150904_122750631_HDR[/url] by RideTheLakes.com, on Flickr

nice bike, I’m getting Lewis’s SIDs and shock tuned, they are far too heavily damped for alight person.

The shock feels fine Poah but the SID’s still feel a bit stiff even at 50psi. Hopefully they will loosen up a bit.

How much do you want for the old bike ? If you text me 07919072856

That looks fantastic, lucky kid!

small bump on the monarch R is pretty bad for small people, I’ve got a debonair can on lewis’s which improved it but its still bad.

I’ve recently changed the air shaft to 120 from 100. They were still overly damped for his weight at 100. thought about changing the damper oil to a lighter weight.

He uses full travel on big hits and jumps, just the first bit of travel is poor

Will you be my dad?

howsyourdad, all spent up on the one kid, no money left for a second (-;

Cheers Poah, the monarch r on the Frechdax was brilliant so guess that’s a custom tune. Hopefully this new one will be okay but will see.

ridethelakes – Member
howsyourdad, all spent up on the one kid, no money left for a second (-;

I’ve got 3, they will be getting hand me downs lol

nice! (i’m a bit jealous..) . what cranks are they? & how long?

looks like the standard crank that comes with the bike, Lasco aluminium crank w/30T single 10 sp 152mm

Yes stock cranks as poah says. They aren’t a bad weight and I put a thick thin chainring on.

Are there any decent alternatives to the Rocket Ron’s?

lewis’s ripcord has a pair of kenda kinetics and hutchinson toro’s. not seen the kendas for sale aftermarket and I had to get the toro’s from amazon france.

Rocket Rons are mega light, only 450 which is the main reason I chose them. Went up tubeless no problem too.

If it doesn’t sound too patronising, its worth remembering that the little guys have much less weight so don’t need the same size nobbles that adults do.

@poah

What did you settle on for the rear shock on your sons transition ripcord?

I’m undecided on a debonair can on a RT3 or an CC inline I could get from the US a fair bit cheaper than in the UK.

Any thoughts?

Awesome build. A good mate has the same bike for his 8 year old and the weight kills him, so great to see what you’ve built here.

You say you got the wheels from JRA – who is JRA?

Thanks

@smurf

after talking to a few people I just got the monarch R (and sid) tuned at J-tech. Cost £125 as they are both pretty new so didn’t need serviced. That included pick up and return. The RT3 will have the inherent problems as the R and the inline has even more damping according to TFtuned.

James’s tuning has made the world of difference to the shock and fork. If I could have afforded it I probably would have got the RT3 purely for the 3 way switch.

@boltonjon JRA is http://www.justridealong.com I got lewis’s rims from westbrookcycles and had them built by wheelcraft.

How much are you looking for for the frechdax?
Norco looks rad!

@poah

Many thanks for the update. J Tech helped me out with the forks on the 20″ full sus bike I built (lowered them). I’ve got a Debonair can from the US (work friend is bringing it over next weekend) so I might just get that fitted and then get the shock (and a different) fork set up by J Tech as well then.

No wonder it’s light….you’ve taken all the padding off his saddle!

@smurf

James put one band in the negative chamber on mine. will try it with and without and see what Lewis thinks. I got my air can from bike-discount. changing the airshaft to 120 makes a big difference too, gives that little bit extra up front

Just wanting to say as a “dad” that im loving the norco. Ive had my eyes on them and all the other new 2015/2016 full suspension 24″ bikes for a while now trying to find a decent whip for my 10 year old son who has now out grown is 20″ carrera detonate which wasn’t the best of bikes but did the trick for a while.

My problem is as well as budget limitations my son isn’t “completely” hooked (yet) on mtb, its more a casual sort of thing but always happy to go for a ride round some trails with me. So i didn’t want to spend a fortune, whilst also wanting a decent bike that’s maintainable and actually worth the money you pay.

Unfortunatly as 2015 – 2016 has been a good year for kids bikes, it means there arnt a lot about on the second hand market, however i did manage to pick up a used kona shred 24 (2016) and although slightly heavy stock i really like it. Its a middle road between mtb & jump but im changing it to be more mtb.

Gearing is left to do now, not sure weather to just try changing the 32T to a narrow 30T and keep the 7sp. Or keep the 32T and put a 7 speed megarange on giving him a 34T on the back, or get new hubs with standard freehub so i can run a normal cassette and go 1 x 9 or 1 x 10 (11 – 36).

I would also like to swap out the spinner grinds, i serviced them last night which made them a lot better, but there still quite stiff and springy. The rockshox on the norco looks really nice!

Anyways here is a quick pick.

I got lewis a carrera blast as a first bike and modded it once he got a bit more interest. Personally I would change things on the bike to make it more kid friendly so on the blast I changed the brakes and the shifters which made it eaiser for him.

If he has issues climbing then the 30t will help and go from there. Finding a second had 10sp kit shouldn’t be that hard but getting wheels is a bit of an out lay

Wow, that Norco is a stunner. I’ve been working on a 24″ bike for my (nearly) 8yo but nowhere near that class or cost. I’m more in the same camp as gibbon with that kona. Came by a Giant for £100 from a friend which had a horrible fork on it which has been binned in favour of a rigid which I managed to get from Frog, it’s really lightened it up despite it being chromo and was only £30. Next step is to get rid of the vile crankset, I’ve got a superstar NW 30T ready to go on which should help. Further down the line when he gets more keen I have a set of (second hand) SIDs coming but that’s going to need a new wheel as it’s V brakes at the moment so the links above are helpful, thanks.
I think I’m more excited about it than he is!

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I’m also just about to finish up ‘Lardboys’ new 24″.

It’s an XS Giant trance, which is running 24″ wheels, with Superstar ultralight hubs on Stans crest 24’s. Got Rocket Ron’s on them.
It’s got a SID 26″ fork up front, with XT drivetrain bits. Found some lightish 150mm cranks to run a single ring and 9speed rear. Bars and stem are standard but light without spending loads.
Not sure on weight yet, but it should be better than a cheaper 24″ stock build.

Photo’s to come.

Sounds good lardman, where did you get your Stans?

Got them from ‘Just Riding Along’
I didnt get them to build them, because i wanted to build them with Lard Jnr ‘helping’ so he could see how wheels were built.
Expensive for a kids build, but the real issue with most little people is how the bike pedals. I wanted it to ‘feel’ as light as possible, to keep him keen on riding it. Same with the Rocket Rons, they’re really light.

I might need to have the rear shock tuned for his weight, but i’ll see when its been ridden a couple of times.
Changing the oil weight in the forks should sort the damping enough for his lighter weight.

Lovely looking kids bikes.
My eldest has outgrown the balance bike I made her and, unbeknownst to me until a few days ago, her Grandad has bought her an Apollo for her birthday
🙁
I’m going to have to alter a few things…1st up, the XTR M960 V-brakes I picked up free 🙂

lardman – Member

I might need to have the rear shock tuned for his weight, but i’ll see when its been ridden a couple of times.
Changing the oil weight in the forks should sort the damping enough for his lighter weight.

won’t make any real difference. You’ll have to get both tuned -made the world of difference with lewis’s ripcord

Yeah, thought that might be the case. I’ll see how it rides when he’s on it next weekend.
He’s a pretty big lad for an 8 yr old, as he almost weighs as much as my wife!

For those building up kids bikes;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kettenradgarnitur-SR-Suntour-T20242-Zähne-schwarz/dp/B0029MP3AO

Dump the rings and fit a thick/thin.

@leku….
Yep, those were the ones i used. not too bad for weight once the pined granny/middle was removed, and the N/W ring fitted on them just fine. There are NO tabs for granny ring however, which is a shame.

If you want a granny then the Thorn 4-bolt triple comes in 150mm. They’re very nice cranks, used them on a 24″ build:
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/thorn-104-64-pcd-triple-crankset-mk2-black-prod31813/

Has anyone come across any 4-bolt cranks shorter than 150mm? Want to drop the gearing range on a 20″ and 150mm is too long.

Nope couldn’t find any as I wanted 140s for Lewis but got the thorns as the next best thing

@lardman Lewis 80lb kitted up.

I’ve gone with the thorns too, couldn’t find anything shorter.

Just found these at superstar; crests on their switch hubs for £250; good deal?

http://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/crest-24-kids-bike-special.htm

Given their weight no. I got Lewis’s crests and novatec hubs built up for the same period price but a lighter wheel set.

Little Lard’s Giant is pretty much there…..

Yet to ride the shock set-up to see if it works for his weight, but hopefully we’re going to get a dry weekend to do some testing.

Dont have scales, so cant reference weight, but the wheels especially are really light.

Looks good!

Quite long? It’s hard to judge with the camera angles. You might want to experiment with a slightly swept flat bar, depending on how he get’s on with it as it is.