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Looking into building up a proper MTB for me nearly eight year old, what should I be looking for? Links to earlier threads welcome.
Thanks in advance.
Small 26" disc frame with some 24" wheels in it?
Whyte T403. It's designed for kids so all the right bits, but with proper componentry on it.
bike-discount.de have some some small 26er Cube frames for very cheap, friend built one recently for his lad.
+1 for the small cubes on bike-discount. Built up my daughter on and there good frames. 27.5 though, but you could stuck some 26" wheels in it.
How tall is your small person? My boy's nearly 9 and 140cm or so, and I wouldn't put him on 26" wheels: my wife's 26" MTB (14" frame, 21" ETT, so about as small as they come: she's about 155cm) is too big for him to ride usefully. I expect it to be be at a good couple of years yet before he's in 26" territory. YMMV, of course.
He is tall for his age, but not sure how tall exactly, better sort the facts really. Is there anything off the shelf that doesn't cost the earth? Off to google the Whyte.
That Whyte looks amazing, sadly way over budget.
I did see one on Gumtree a few months back, certainly worth keeping an eye out for them. They have easier reach levers and the gears are very very light too.
I'm actually going to Tubeless his wheels this afternoon as he's decided to race XC next weekend.
Problem with your dilema is "What do i get for less money" then answer generally is a worse bike, worse components, but mostly worse weight. The whyte is no super lightweight, but it's light enough and with the gearing it's a decent choice. Building anything else out of spares/ebay is likely to be as expensive or a chunk heavier.
Tricky one... Trust me i debated this time and time again, but when i saw the Whyte in the flesh, it was also the last one in the country in stock at the time... i bought it there and then.
I've just put my two kids on Voodoos... a Nzumbi and a Soukri. Recommended.
I can second the voodoo soukri in Halfords, i picked one up in 14" for my 10yr (148cm iirc) old when it was 20% off. It is a"womans" bike but the geometry helps the bike fit my lad better. It looks huge on him with 27.5 wheels (maybe a touch too big if I am honest) but he is happy bombing about on it and it will last him a good few years. Was tempted with a nzumbi but only 13" was left, and i felt he would out grow it too quick, but this may suit an 8yr old better.
Have to agree with everything you said there weeksy, but still too much to spend at the moment.
Voodoo looks pretty good, especially with a few mods.
Looks like the Bakka is more his size.
Carrera blast is a perfectly good bike if you're on a budget. Get rid of the crap suss forks and stick a rigid on there with a fatter tyre. job = jobbed. Loads on eBay etc, £100ish for a good one.
Blast does look alright, especially for the money. It is a bit of a gamble really spending out if they don't take to riding much.
My thoughts exactly. I can live with spending £90 on a bike if they don't take to it, not so much if I've spent £200+! We've got 2 - a 20" and a 24" (in the pic). I was going to spend a few £ on upgrades, but for the amount they get ridden they're fine as they are 🙂
That is the thing woody, once a little older they can upgrade, but his current bike has the potential to kill him off road.
If you're handy with a wrench then I endorse the Blast rebuild route, there's a long thread on here where I went through my rebuild of a £40 battered (seized bottom bracket, rusted solid mech) Blast to complete strip and rebuild (carbon fork, 1x9 drivechain, deore brakes). Lots of used parts from here means that when he outgrows the frame we can transfer the lot to a XS 26er hardtail and just change the wheels/fork.
Good call woody, i so nearly go a 2nd hand blast myself. Chances are you can sell it on when you are done with it for nor much less than you will of paid for it 2nd hand.
Just been speed readng that thread ross! Any idea on final build weight?
I'm also in process of building up an XS Cube from bikediscount.de using 26" wheels and forks. The frame was about £80 shipped and looks really nice! Also from the germans the BB, HS, seat, post and clamp came in at about £50 for the lot.
Got a set of 152mm cranks of Amazon, lovely set of Fox F100's from ebay and the rest from the parts bin in the garage. Should be a great little bike and last my tall 8 yr old a few years hopefully.
I rebuilt a carrera blast for my lad as well. I'll weigh it tonight and post it up.
His is built with RST F1rst air forks, sun singletrack/superstar wheels and rocket ron tyres, 1x10 deore/SLX/XT gearing with N/W chainring and 42th expander cog on the back, Avid hydraulic disc brakes, suntour XCT 152mm cranks with square taper BB, truvativ carbon bar and Spank Grips.
It'll be on its second trip to Les Gets/Samoens this summer.
[/img][/url][url= https://postimages.org/ ]photo storage" alt="" />He'll be growing out of it soon though so i've also been looking at the Cubes on bike-discount. The blast will be going to his sister for another couple of years though.
Looks good!
I found our lot grew out of 24" silly quick.
This is one of ours aged 8 on his Islabike
[url= https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7454/13739578913_5eb2f4507a_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7454/13739578913_5eb2f4507a_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/mW7W8B ]Callander House Falkirk MTB trails[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/matt_outandabout/ ]Matt Robinson[/url], on Flickr
Another aged 9 on same bike:
Are the Outandabout family all giants? I'm only 5'9" so my kids are not going to be lanky.
Maybe...!
It was aged 8/9 that they all moved to 26"...
Eldest is shortest, nearly full grown at 5'10", middle is 15 and 6', youngest is (nearly) 13 and 5'9"....
My Blast is very similar to ads678 but Islabike Creig wheels instead of Superstar, and a carbon fork instead of a f1rst. Carbon bars are light but stock seatpost was surprisingly heavy (still need to swap that). I'll try and weigh it tonight too, but I thought my thread had a final weight in it somewhere.
I have a 9 year old on 26" and I'm very average (in all departments) - he's catching his 12 year old brother in height, but both have been 26" for some time. One on a small skinny Duster (which is ace) and the other on a Cannondale 13" frame with Headshock picked up off here. They both want that Whyte though 🙂
My 9 yeard old is loving is Saracen Mantra 24 - brilliant wee bike.
Just over 11kgs with mud guards on. That's using a luggage strap type scale thingy.
Probably save a few grams using the sram nx cranks with external BB.
I built up a bike from a load of old bits and a highly discounted frame from commencal. 26er. Look on their website - they used to have really good discounts on old frames.
Frog do a good MTB range - 62, 69 and 72 - https://www.frogbikes.com/lightweight-kids-bikes/mountain-bikes/
Commencal Normal xs frame - if I knew how to do it on the new forum on my shitty phone I'd link you to my "Bike that STW built" thread from just over a year ago
Not sure if its what you are looking for, but I just advertised a 2014 Giant Trance XS full bike on the classifieds.
Its about as small a bike you will find, in a proper build (eg proper sized wheels, adult-standard components).
I've got my 8 year old a charge cooker 24 frame and fork, I kept eyeing up used carreras and hotrock but the charge frame was a bit too good to pass up...
The rigid fork is about 1kg so I decided the ~600g penalty over and above that for some front suspension was worth it and I'm modding some old Bombers to suit her size/weight...
All the rest (wheels, drivetrain, braking is in hand)...
I'm quite enjoying building another bike for someone else's needs/tastes, I think she's going to love it TBH, the colour is exactly what she would choose herself, all done I reckon it's going to be about £200 spending spread out over a couple of months (plus "free items" from the spares box) which is probably getting on for used Islabikes money, but worth it I think and a bit more thought put in Than just buying her the default bike...
I will probably end up doing another build thread when I'm done, just because every bugger with kids likes showing off the "mini-rigs"... 😉
Just got my 8yo a Trek Superfly 24. Great bikes but buying new is a bit of a luxury, got 2 boys who love biking and they are 5years apart to both will get good use out of them.
Went with the 24 as 26 seemed to be a step too far, weight and size wise. I got my first 26 when I was 11, bmx before that. (‘90 Raleigh Mustang)
Was thinking earlier, as I was putting my commuter away next to my wife’s 13" Spec Hardrock that we will be building his next bike. Hope to make it a good project to work on together.
Should get 2 years out of the 24er though.
XS Cotic Soul here picked up off the bay and already set up with exactly the right components (e.g Thorn 140 cranks). My lad was riding it before he was 8 🙂
My wife has a 13 inch hardrock which has hardly been used and may well be called to duty at some point. My boy is 127cm tall at seven and a half, so I am currently almost decided on a Voodoo Bakka 24 with a few mods.His younger brother is just turning three, so still on the balance bike, but will inherit the mx16.