Hi all,

My 9 year old has an Islabike cross bike with 26″ wheels. I was thinking about trying to take some weight off it and the obvious place to start is the wheels.

I’m struggling to even know what make and models to look for on Ebay.

Any recommendations on a lightweight set of rim brake 26″ wheels. That don’t cost a fortune. Second hand would be fine.

Have you actually weighed the islabike wheels? 26 opens up more options but I’d be surprised if there weren’t easier places to loose weight. Currently doing this for my daughter’s pretty old lauth 24.

In all honesty you’d be better off saving the money for a Hup for the next bike.

Edit: Sorry, should have added, the Luath is quite weighty, cassette is the biggest weight but frankly you’re better off with a large sprocket on it anyway 40t or so and a smaller chainring (28 or 30t). depending on its age, the fork is quite weighty too. The wheels aren’t that bad however your talking stumping up a fair bit of case for a marginal weight saving. Less draggy tyres will help if riding off road (particularly racing) such as small block 8’s.

Fitting a titanium square taper BB will save about half the weight of the current BB of it’s square taper.

By the time all that’s done (or found some reasonably priced light weight 26″ wheels) it’ll be time to move on to the next size up.

a Hup for the next bike

Where’s the fun in that? But yes, she’d probably fit one now.

My daughter has a Luath however I had an endless quest trying to find some old mavic crossmax’s on Ebay for a sensible price (they’re around £350 quid). She’s had the bike about 18 months and she’s just moved on to a Milnes X-Wing we picked up for £500 that’s about half the weight of the Luath and has 700c wheels and it’s pink!

So if you want to save weight on wheels – Fill your boots 😉 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/195433552857?hash=item2d80bf5bd9:g:J6kAAOSwF1VjJZDW

Excellent work @scruffythefirst

Your probably right about saving for his next bike.

I’ll check out the HupCC and Milnes bikes.

Have a look at the NWCCA buy and sell group on facebook. Usually some CX bargains on there for kids.

I have a crazy idea. Is it possible to rebuild the wheels with less spokes?

He only weighs 30kg so could get away with half as many spokes I reckon.

You’re happy to risk your childs safety? Sure go for it.

My cross wheels only have 18/20 spokes in them and I weigh 80+ kg. Never failed me even when being pretty rough with me.

There’s 24? In a standard lauth wheel? How much weight is taking 4 spokes out going to save?

I’ve taken a fancy to Forme Carver Jnr. I’m going to keep an eye on the classifieds for a second hand one.

Looks like he’ll be on his stock Islabike this season.

Also keep an eye out for scatto bikes.

Reason I’m modding the lauth is mostly to fit shorter cranks and smaller brifters as she can’t really ride it and I need to move her up a size to hand down her beinn 20 to her sister. If she gets competitive next season I’ll have a rethink but we do more MTBing.