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manuel

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So, griffs been rocking his commencal ramones 14 since he was 3. He is 5 in February and still a shortarse (and probably will continue to be for his age). He is on the limit on size on the ramones now, and has been for a while, so we need something new. Bike prices seem to have risen a lot, and I’m loathed to get a 16” wheeled bike, so what I’m looking for is a decent 20” wheel one with low standover. Hopefully something that can last a long time. The best looking thing looked like an early rider belter with the gear hub, but they are rare as hell on eBay and I’m not sure the standover will be low enough anyway. 
 

any suggestions/experiences?…

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I got Ash a Bergamont 20" plus bike (https://www.bergamont.com/gb/en/product/bergamont-bergamonster-20-plus-boy?article=286849222) and swapped the saddle for a low profile BMX saddle to begin with so he could use it properly. When I was looking it was between that and the Vitus 20": https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/vitus-20-kids-bike/rp-prod194920

Finn had a Carrera Blast 20" which worked fine for him but a bit more basic than the Bergamont and Vitus.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Not sure if you've sorted anything out yet but GoOutdoors are selling the Polygon Relic for £200 in their Black friday Deals. In typical GO fashion they say it's the Relic 24" but all the pictures show the Relic 20" so who knows...

MY21-RELIC20-ORG-P.png

Edit: It's also showing as out of stock online and even though pretty much every other item you can check stock in your local store for this you can't. Jeez I hate GoOutdoors.

 

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Vitus came back in stock and they randomly delivered it today (told me it would be next week!)

looks pretty cool but the tyres are mahooosive! Going to get something smaller to roll around the neighbourhood on and get used to it. 
 

73EB1211-3C61-492A-A358-0461414EB376.thumb.jpeg.564dd3a24bc0926d850b90a5a8ec59b3.jpeg

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8 hours ago, monkeyseemonkeydo said:

Looks sweet :). I've struggled to get replacement tyres along the same lines but have just run some replacement chunky ones instead and it's all good. I also added a set of suspension forks just because! Enjoy!

Which forks did you get? I was thinking about it but availability is zero at the moment. There seems to be suntour and rst spex air forks that look decent.

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  • 1 month later...

Aneurin is taking to the balance bike really well so we're thinking that we ought to get a small bike to have around the house ready for him to pick up when he's ready. Going to be a while before he can fit the Isla 16 we have in stock.

Wife spotted an early rider belter 14 for 100 quid on Facebook, a bit of tidying on the edges but that's not an issue, let's see how long he takes :D

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Except what was sold as a belter 14 is actually a belter 16 :rolleyes:

To match the isla 16 that we already have in stock.....

His 6 month older cousin can borrow the isla and he will have to grow into the ER.  Recommended inside leg of 40cm, Anuerin is 30cm from foot to nappy (cloth nappy so at least 2" thick) and growing like a weed so it'll probably not take him long to get on it.  In the mean time I'm going to see if I can't fashion a combined seatpost/clamp so we can fully slam the saddle :)

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The commercial ramones 14 that griff had is about the lowest standover/seat height i could find. He was a shortarse but got on and could ride at 3 at around 92-94cm tall (can't quite remember but know it was less than recommended). 

If he wasn't still so short it would be for sale but he still needs the seat on his new bike.

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Well Aneurin was 88cm when we measured him a few weeks back, he can currently climb onto Persephone's frog52 and reach the pedals with both feet, I think sheer bloody mindedness and willpower will get him to fit :D

Can always make a plywood saddle cutout with a hole to fit over the seat tube stub, couple of zipties to the toptube and some closed cell foam padding, all he needs!

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On 1/5/2022 at 4:20 PM, forteh said:

Except what was sold as a belter 14 is actually a belter 16 :rolleyes:

Oh and it has a cracked and welded driveside crank that the seller managed to not mention or take photos of!

Looks a good weld though so I'm not concerned, but how the hell do you crack a crank on a 16" kids bike? :D

It's a bit smaller than the isla16 so he will be a bit quicker onto it, in the mean time a friend of mine has a grandson who is just growing out of his frog40 but can't quite fit into the 20" frog that he has to grow into.  Going to do a part time swap, isla16 for frog40 till Aneurin is big enough to move onto the early rider.

edit: needs new brake cables as the old ones have never seen lube that I can tell, also the bottom bracket bearings were notchy to all hell, too much happy jetwash I think (MX racing family). Cartridge bearings all round though so popped the races out, prised out the seals and soaked them in thinners for ten mins. Repacked with waterproof grease and now much more freely spinning :)

Got to try to clean and lube the belt freewheel now, it's an odyssey unit and appears to be fully rebuildable so will look into that one. Dripped some oil into it in the mean time and it's better than it was.

Belt drives are a bit of a faff to tension with sliding dropouts, if the wheel's not perfectly square the belt slides off the side of the sprockets :D

Picture added of the gunk that came out of the two bottom bracket bearings :o

PXL_20220107_194824193.jpg

edit again: sorry not an MX family, turns out it's Ben Birchall as in half of the IoM TT sidecar outfit racing brothers duo :D

 

Edited by forteh
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

So Persphone is 7 on Thursday and she appears to be growing again because her frog52 is now looking rather cramped!

I accidentally a whole whyte303 for 250 quid, collecting it on Thursday evening, got to drive a couple of hours up the M6 to Leyland but that's not too much hassle :)

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303 is bloody lovely, really well sorted bike and absolutely mint condition barring a couple of very small scrapes. I think she might have put more on it from the first ride over Cannock this afternoon with Daisy who was travelling back home to brizzle with her mum and popped in for a ride :D

https://instagram.com/pint_size_cyclist?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

PXL_20220408_122454275.jpg

Edited by forteh
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  • 2 weeks later...
2 hours ago, FrankMCG said:

Hi! Have you ever wondered what the point is of bothering to have kids grow up in a year? The bike and the brand doesn't play any role at all. It doesn't mean that they should ride on old bangers for sure

You're on the wrong forum if you want to suggest bike brands/models don't matter, Frank...

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I had spent some time building a balance bike up for my 3 year old with some old school parts like fsa headsets, hope seat clamps and some cut down koxx bars so was slightly disappointed that on the second ride on it he questioned where the pedals are! So I was stoked to come across this on eBay for £50 last night. Pleased his first pedal bike comes from A brand I rode when younger! 
 

 

A3F72CA2-4A71-4C41-A4B0-69956386F506.jpeg

Edited by Matt24.
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On 4/20/2022 at 8:32 AM, FrankMCG said:

Have you ever wondered what the point is of bothering to have kids grow up in a year?

My kid is due in August, so I'm not an expert, but I think that's just what they do mate. It's not just a year either, they keep doing it.

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  • 1 year later...

I've just jumped in at the deep end! Having recently upgraded the boys' Voodoos with dropper posts and Microshift 10 speed clutched geartrains I've just ordered them a Vitus Mythique 24 and a 26 from CRC for Christmas... Won't sell the hardtails immediately and may transfer the droppers over as the Mythiques only come with rigid posts and Box 8 speed drivetrain so may do a little switcheroo but hopefully they'll be pleased. They better be!

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