You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
My eldest daughter is 11, pretty much 5'and growing like a weed. She's outgrown her old bike and instead of going for some crappy 24" halfords thing I thought it would be nice to build her a bike [using a s/h frame probably] that she can just about use now but will be perfect in 6-12 months when she's taller.
Realistically the bike is going to be 90% used on the road and 10% on firetrails with maybe a little bit of delamere forest track thrown in for good measure.
So I at the moment I'm thinking that maybe a 14" Inbred or even a small Pompetamine might be OK along with flat bars and maybe disks.
Gearing is a tricky one though. She's not really going to need 3 x 9 so I'm thinking that maybe a 2x9 or 1x9 would be better..... or does she even need gears - singlespeed to save weight!
Anyway, before I start buying things give me your suggestions for what would make a good kids bike.
low weight is key
yep, so rigid fork was also on the list
I have just built my little brother one he is also 11. I used a 14 inch Kona frame, dart forks and 1 x 9 gearing with a 50mm stem and seat right down. I put on it some old hayes hydro disc brakes with reach adjust and 140 / 160 discs. I used some Halo twin rail tyres which are perfect for casual off road and the street riding he will be doing. This hopefully should last him until he is around 13-14 depending on whether he gets my dads or mums tall gene! Its not light but bomb proof and he loves it.
I bought a "dirty Jo" frame as it is very light for climbing for my son (just 13) Bought all the bits off here including an old pair of air Rockshox recons which can be adjusted for his light weight.
Sadly he would rather play on his Xbox than go for a ride! 🙁
Alfine hub and belt drive would look pretty cool, I'm starting to think that a 1 x 9 would be ample, maybe single speed isn't such a daft idea!