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Looking at the Pinnacle Kauri 26 for my nearly 8yo:
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Which looks like a mini 29er for small people. Question is, could I get a small enough frame and build something from spares for less? Any suggestions?
Second hand frames are cheap enough. All depends how well your parts bin is stocked.
There's a nice little Specilized FS frame going for £80 on the FoD group. It looks ace, but having just swapped to a suspension forked CUBE, i decided we're OK for now.
26 seems big for 8 though, my lad is tall for his age and only on a 24".
His next bike will be an XS 26" bike though i think.
Yeah but what frame is small enough? That's the question. 14" would be too big compared to that, no?
Wrestling with this for my daughter. Her mum has the Kauri above, it's a great bike for the gentle blue trail riding that she does. Unless you have a lot of decent parts hanging around already, or very generous mates who have, you'll struggle to build a better bike at that price and weight.
Depends if you want a suspension fork as the Kauri isn't designed for it, but I reckon some 2nd hand lightweight wheels, lighter tyres, seat post and handlebars, you can easily knock 2-3 more pounds off the weight.
I've got saddles, seatposts, cranks, BBs, stems, bars, mechs, shifters, no brakes though. Good tyres and some nice light XC wheels in 26.
How big is your 7 year old?
That Pinnacle is nearly 12kg in weight, a 24" wheeled Hoy Bonaly is 9kg for a similar price, that's a big weight difference when you are 7.
I have some brakes you can have fella.
BTW, if you've seen my 'journey of an 8 year old' thread. My lads Beinn24 was sold today, simply, it was rubbish in Forests/TC's.... The CUBE suspension bike is massively better for him. Even though it's 2-3kg more than the Islabikes.
132cm tall, about 35kg and pretty powerful. But good point about the weight.
Problem is she is very nervous about bumps, so I'm thinking the bigger wheels and availability of decent tyres might really help. And on the way down the extra weight might also be more confidence inspiring.
Just built my boys a new (new to them), pair of Spesh Hotrocks.
The youngest is 10, & on the smaller side for his age. His is a 12" frame, 26" wheel. Rigid Exotic carbon forks, wheels were a cheap set of Pro2's rebuilt with XM119 rims, a whopping £7.50ea from CRC. Used 1x10 stuff picked up cheap but new Deore mech. 24lbs on the scales. It's still a bit big for him to be honest, even with a 50mm stem, but he loves it.
[url= https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/682/31742680723_aac472e2b8_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/682/31742680723_aac472e2b8_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/QmZx5F ]Rowan's Hotrock[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/takisawa2/ ]pten2106[/url], on Flickr
Older ones is a 15" Hotrock. SID forks were a bargain, £60. Hens teeth with a straight steerer & QR. Again, used 1x10 kit. Bits of Thomson & Hope kit as it comes up cheap. 26lb on the scales.
[url= https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/744/32401892652_932d5efdee_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/744/32401892652_932d5efdee_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/RnfaPA ]Rowan's Hotrock[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/takisawa2/ ]pten2106[/url], on Flickr
Don't skimp on tyres. They were on Smallblock 8's, because they are stupidly light, but a kind soul replied to my ad & sold me some Hans Dampfs & High Rollers. They don't seem to notice the rolling resistance. Both love their new bikes. Proud as punch round Cannock last week.
Built this for my boy's 8th birthday last month. It's a 24 inch wheel so nice wheels weren't so easy to come across as 26 would be, but got some Novatec hubs and BMX cruiser rims built up locally. He loves it, but definitely cost me more doing it this way. Excellent spec, mind.
Renthal stem
BMC flat bars
Old XT brakes
150mm Sugino cranks
XT 10 speed gears
Etc.
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Cheap shamanic brakes here ...
https://www.merlincycles.com/shimano-m355-disc-brakes-front-rear-set-98790.html
Built up a bike for 9 yo for Christmas, based on a £35 24" Kona frame from eBay.
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Mostly spares, only pricey items were the Stan's Crest rims. He's about average height for his age and will get a good year or two out of it I reckon.
I just took my soon to be 9yo in to try the 26" Kauri and Hoy. He's 141cm tall with a 63cm inside leg. The bikes were fine from a leg length perspective with the saddle as low as possible but the reach was way too long. Like arms locked straight and really bent forward long. I'll probably buy the Kauri anyway as he still has 3 months till his birthday and maybe I can put a shorter stem on it. But it's borderline. No way a child of 131cm could ride it though molgrips. Not for 18 months at least.
Thanks, will definitely try it next time we are there. The 24 is much cheaper anyway!
Here's my daughter on the Kauri 26 (sorry can't link from phone)
Arms out straight, but torso upright. Where the hell did she get those enormous long arms? I reckon if I flipped and slammed the stem and maybe fit some flat bars the front end would be a lot lower and it might work reach-wise.
But due to the wheel size she had to have the saddle really low to be able to still touch the floor. To the point that where her femur was horizontal. But she still puts her feet down when sitting in the saddle when things get tricky. Perhaps she can have the bike when she learns to keep her feet up.