Kids DH bike
- Thread starter Kntr
- Start date
5" would be a lot for a 20" bike i think.
stinky 2-4 comes to mind though...
stinky 2-4 comes to mind though...
Eveyone I have ever seen was a custom one off build. I think Frank the welder built the one that is Chain Reaction 3.
Logan Mullaly was on a Scott 20" a few years ago. Might want to try PM'ing his dad. masterofgroms I think.
Logan Mullaly was on a Scott 20" a few years ago. Might want to try PM'ing his dad. masterofgroms I think.
Didn't BMW build a one off?
My son is almost 10 and his small Armageddon is still a bit too big for him. I'm hoping within the next year he'll be able to ride it.
KONA make a 20" full suspension bike, like a mini Stinky
what forks would you put on it? I think that is where things get messy for the little un's
My son started on a Small frame with 24" wheels, was too tall for a while but he learned to ride it in no time.
The Stinky 2-4 is great but isn't cheap.
The Stinky 2-4 is great but isn't cheap.
I have build two of these bikes. The key for me was to find a frame that was not a URT. Most of the little bikes are. If you can find one with a swing arm of any kind, you can make it work. Understand that the angles won't be perfect, but it should work just fine for this level of rider. I considered bikes from Wal-Mart to straight up bike shop quality bikes, which at that price point they are pretty much the same. The bike shop bike will probably have better parts on it. That's not too important due to the fact that you'll probably end up removing most or all of those parts anyway.
Fork: I started with a fork that was air sprung but switched over to a Fox 36 to try to get a slacker angle. This worked out well. The downside was a very tall BB. I was worried about this but my riders never seemed to have any problems with it. The slacker angle and taller front end gave them some added confidence going into rocks.
Rear Shock: I bought a half dozen used air cans of a variety of manufacturers until I found one that fit the best for the bike I chose. I used a muck longer stroke shock which also contributed to a higher BB, but to increase the travel I had no choice. As it all turned out, the tall BB was not a bad thing mostly due to the bike just being so small it actually provided some added ground clearance. I imagine there was some tradeoff with stability and turnability here, but at this level, they did not appear to struggle. My focus was teaching them to maneuver rocky sections with confidence(probably the biggest challenge for the little wheels), and learning to jump a fully suspended bike. The bike accompolished this pretty well.
Parts: I used all my best spare parts and stole some from their BMX bikes to make it work. Answer makes a 4" rise carbon bar that is much wider than most little bars.
That's pretty much it. Of course I'd be happy to answer any questions you've got. I can even take a couple of shots of Logan's Scott if you think it'll help. Good luck and be creative.
Fork: I started with a fork that was air sprung but switched over to a Fox 36 to try to get a slacker angle. This worked out well. The downside was a very tall BB. I was worried about this but my riders never seemed to have any problems with it. The slacker angle and taller front end gave them some added confidence going into rocks.
Rear Shock: I bought a half dozen used air cans of a variety of manufacturers until I found one that fit the best for the bike I chose. I used a muck longer stroke shock which also contributed to a higher BB, but to increase the travel I had no choice. As it all turned out, the tall BB was not a bad thing mostly due to the bike just being so small it actually provided some added ground clearance. I imagine there was some tradeoff with stability and turnability here, but at this level, they did not appear to struggle. My focus was teaching them to maneuver rocky sections with confidence(probably the biggest challenge for the little wheels), and learning to jump a fully suspended bike. The bike accompolished this pretty well.
Parts: I used all my best spare parts and stole some from their BMX bikes to make it work. Answer makes a 4" rise carbon bar that is much wider than most little bars.
That's pretty much it. Of course I'd be happy to answer any questions you've got. I can even take a couple of shots of Logan's Scott if you think it'll help. Good luck and be creative.
I was thinking a Stinky 24 with custom 20" wheels. My daughter is only 6yo and her Diamondback is just not enough. It has a front shock but doesnt even move under my weight. She rides single track with us already.
Here is a sequence shot and you can see her front tire hoping over the root. A real front fork would be a lot better.
Recenty Ive been getting her on some steeper stuff and she is doing real well. She always asks me why she cant have a better bike.
Please post some pics of the kids bike. Anyone have one they want to sell?
Here is a sequence shot and you can see her front tire hoping over the root. A real front fork would be a lot better.
Recenty Ive been getting her on some steeper stuff and she is doing real well. She always asks me why she cant have a better bike.
Please post some pics of the kids bike. Anyone have one they want to sell?
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I cant find it on their website. Link?
she looks fast!
Ill look at the shock today and see what I can do. Its scary to watch her ride a fully ridged bike down a rough trail. I havent taken any recent pics but she is riding some pretty steep stuff where both her tires are skidding. I need to get her better tires too. Now with 3 of us riding, this is getting expensive.
not much in the way of functional 20" duallies out there. norco has the razor, but the components are (not surprisingly) crap, and i'm sure the damper is useless. it does have disc mounts though (i think discs on wee bikes is a great idea; kids rim brakes are typically nominally functional, compounded with low hand strength & low leverage issues of small hands), and perhaps with some crafty parts swapping, it could be viable.
http://www.norco.com/bikes/kids/20-inch/razor/
the scott spark might be a viable starting point as well:
i'd probably be more inclined to stick with a h/t with component upgrades. check out this sweet little ride. love the singlecrown to d/c fork conversion. there's probably a few older forks you could pull this off with using off the shelf parts. stock 20" forks are shiite, so something like this is a great idea. my kid is only 2 & i'm mulling over the possibilities already...
kona has a 20" w/ discs:
http://www.norco.com/bikes/kids/20-inch/razor/
the scott spark might be a viable starting point as well:
i'd probably be more inclined to stick with a h/t with component upgrades. check out this sweet little ride. love the singlecrown to d/c fork conversion. there's probably a few older forks you could pull this off with using off the shelf parts. stock 20" forks are shiite, so something like this is a great idea. my kid is only 2 & i'm mulling over the possibilities already...
kona has a 20" w/ discs:
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I have seen some people take a small or extra small bullet frame and put a smaller i2i shock to lower the BB height, add a single crown fork, flat bars, and 24" wheels. It turned it into a pretty small bike that was nice and something that allowed the child to grow into the frame which made it somewhat future proof. I would also use an air shock since it will be easier to adjust for lower weight riders.
This is probably overkill for this application but in year it may be worth considering more seriously. And it will save a little money by having a bike that can easily convert to a larger one as the child gets taller.
This is probably overkill for this application but in year it may be worth considering more seriously. And it will save a little money by having a bike that can easily convert to a larger one as the child gets taller.
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THIS is a GREAT thread. So far very informative.
Sorry I can;t offer any assistance but as mentioned above my son recently turned two and I'm scheming already. For his second birthday I purchased a balance bike for him to get accustomed to the feeling of riding. It doesn't have pedals or brakes.........he just scoots it along. http://www.skuut.com/
As far the aforementioned dual sus ride............sorry. But I'll be lurking her to glom some info! Thanks and good luck with the quest!
Sorry I can;t offer any assistance but as mentioned above my son recently turned two and I'm scheming already. For his second birthday I purchased a balance bike for him to get accustomed to the feeling of riding. It doesn't have pedals or brakes.........he just scoots it along. http://www.skuut.com/
As far the aforementioned dual sus ride............sorry. But I'll be lurking her to glom some info! Thanks and good luck with the quest!
Am I the only one that thinks discs is a bad idea on a kids 20" mtb? they're for kids of 5-8yrs old.. I'd be worried about them losing a finger, especially boys trying to copy daddy and trying to do a bit of maintenance. maybe I'm worrying too much, anyway, V-s are strong enough since most kids that age don't weigh very much, one tip tho.. when setting up Vs for a kid, keep the cables nice n smooth, bend the cantilever springs so they are are much weaker and wind in the levers as close as you can, my daughter can lock each wheel with one finger quite easily with her brakes set up like this.
wow, having 40 precious little fingers (4 kids) in my household I am surprised I didn't think of this. good call.
Part of the problem I had with V Brakes is the space available at the back wheel. I found them akward and wound up using a Magura Hydraulic on the rear and a Disc on the Front. The second bike I did I used discs on both front and rear.
As far as safety issues with discs go, my 2 year old stuck his finger in a rotor once, all it did was bruise his nail, I guess he was lucky. He is now 3 and he appears to have enough common sense to avoid doing that again. I'm thinking that by 5 or 8 years old, they should be smart enough to know better. At least an American Kid I mean.
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As far as safety issues with discs go, my 2 year old stuck his finger in a rotor once, all it did was bruise his nail, I guess he was lucky. He is now 3 and he appears to have enough common sense to avoid doing that again. I'm thinking that by 5 or 8 years old, they should be smart enough to know better. At least an American Kid I mean.
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Are Hydros still widely available? I think this would be a good option to eliminate leverage and strength issues that could arise from a small hand applying enough power to a rim brake.
and fwiw.........I almost tore the top of my finger off on a rotor and I'm an old man. I couldn't imagine what that would do to a small finger. Yikes..............glad he got off easy!!
that's because kona doesn't make a 20" FS rig.
i've been wanting to build up a FS rig for my boy as well but it's very difficult to do around a 20" platform. i've see one of the bikes master of groms has produced (?) at snowshoe and massanutten. it's built around a scott spark jr 20.
http://scottusa.com/us_en/product/1675/11748/spark_jr_20
as far as forks go, you could dramatically improve your daughter's bike with a better fork. the stock 20" forks are crap. i've modded two manitou forks for noah and they've worked very well for everything from freeride/dj's/light DH. a full size fork will mess with the geo a bit but the added plushness is worth it.
his current fork is a manitou minute spv; i had to cut springs, drop the oil weight down to 2wt for the spv to work but this fork is buttah! feels like a kids monster T
i think i'm gonna hold off on building up the 20" FS rig because he should be able to fit on a 24" bike before too long.
i also run a magura hydro rim brake on the rear. it's lighter than disc and most 20" frames don't have disc tabs anyway.
if you're looking to do anything other than XC or DJ's, a v-brake IS NOT strong enough for little hands. the amount of leverage required for them to work well is nearly impossible for a small kid to create. on long rides where there is a lot of braking, a v-brake will make your kid's hands miserable.
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Mate, i look after 12 kids (Mon-Fri) one is dyspraxic, when in charge of kids I am the epitome of common sense!As far as safety issues with discs go, my 2 year old stuck his finger in a rotor once, all it did was bruise his nail, I guess he was lucky. He is now 3 and he appears to have enough common sense to avoid doing that again. I'm thinking that by 5 or 8 years old, they should be smart enough to know better. At least an American Kid I mean.
department stores sell 20in fs bikes, just replace/ rebuild the heavy parts. there right spring for the back might be the hardest part, some bikes are better than others
as for brakes, don't forget old cantilever brake levers are longer so you should get more leverage
as for brakes, don't forget old cantilever brake levers are longer so you should get more leverage
How about the Commencal Supreme Mini DH that comes in a 24 inch may not be as small as you want.
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wow, he's sending it pretty big! you should send him off to peaty when he's 10-11 :biggrin: he'll be the next big young gun on the circuit!
Yes, I have been looking into one of these for my 10yr old daughter. Let her loose on my 7pt7 though and she handles it very well so will have to see.
http://www.commencal.com/news/bicycles/pictures/supreme_mini_DH_1.jpg
Whoa, that is absolutely awesome. Hats off to Krutor, leaves a warm place in your heart knowing there are still people out there who care
haha..that would be cool. he's been sending it since he was 4 but he started to show signs of burning out a little this year so we chilled out on riding everything but bmx for a while and did some other things....but i think a season of little league has restarted his thirst for riding again.
DH isn't is forte but he's getting more comfortable with it. he just loves to boost dirt jumps and race slalom/bmx
