There’s this funny moment in parenting when you look at your kid and see that an item fits them perfectly. Not in a good way. When said item was bought, bartered, or received, this moment was far away. They’ve been rocking it over-sized or awaiting it in a drawer. Now, it couldn’t fit them better. At this singular tick on the timeline, and probably no other.
A perfect fit is at best the half-life in a product cycle for groms and whether it’s shoes, pants, books, or bikes, it just means that the hour of replacement is nigh. Some items can be acquired on a moment’s notice, others, like tracking down kid-sized mountain bike shoes, might take a bit more time.
I’ve written a bit about the journey to find a bridging bike in between Claire’s excellent Marin SQ24″ and a small adult bike. Thank you to a few industry friends who reached out with options. While the geometry was excellent and the price was reasonable, we simply aren’t interested in a full-suspension rig at this point.
In this case, our specific case, it is not down to price but rather a strong feeling that Claire’s enjoyment of climbing and her progressing prowess are related to her ability to stand up a grind a bike that’s still very heavy relative to rider weight. Descending, that great form, and pressure control at the bar and pedals, that she’s developing is again promoted by riding the rigid frame.
Hot on the heels of the first hit of my Kids’ Bike Buying Advice From A Mechanic series on BikeMag, here’s the first hit of the process of putting together Claire’s next rig.
As with anything I’m writing on MEATengines, or over at BikeMag.com/Gear, I recognize that there aren’t ‘rules’ when it comes to mountain biking for adults or kids. Use a tow rope. Put your grom on a sag-wagon. Heck, many options for motor-assist-ized mountain bikes for kids are right around the corner, and I’m certain we’ll be seeing piles of kids on them in no time. What works for you and your family is for you and your family to decide.
I wouldn’t say I’m eager to ‘debate’ those sorts of choices. It’s riding bikes in the woods. But when folks ask I’m always happy to share what’s worked for Claire. Where I’d min-max a kid’s bike (Pedals! Tires!). Tricks to stay engaged when you’re riding up to and down Bobsled for the 50th time. I’ll note though that I have an unwavering feeling that if a hardtail works here it’ll work anywhere kids are pedaling up and down the mountain.
Pontificating put aside, back to that point about time, we’ve started collecting parts for Claire’s next rig. She’s averaging about three days a week on the pedals this spring and was putting in a couple days minimum through the winter, so while we’re chasing used options and figuring out the best way to hustle up a bike, we’re also willing to invest in a machine that we know is going to be ridden a ton.
Thus far, making the jump from her SQ24″ we have her fresh Chromag Contact pedals and the I9 stem she “found” in my drawer. We’ll go a little wider in the bar and I need to see the bike before we make a decision on the rise, so that will be one of the last parts sourced. We’ll also move forward with her carbon-lever bladed Guide primary cylinders. The plastic levers are just so nice in the winter compared to aluminum.
For new parts, with her Marin going to my nephew, we’ve only picked up two things thus far. First, a fresh Chromag Overture saddle because don’t fix what ain’t broke. These seats are bombproof from a crashing perspective and Claire’s sat on it for hours without complaint. It had to be blue again.
The other new-to-us part we’re very jazzed about, which also magically happens to be blue, is a used 27″ Cane Creek Helm MK1 fork. This fork is significantly heavier than the Float 32 on her SQ24″ but it gives us a level of easy travel adjustment that will make it easy to adjust for this next bike, and also means it will fit the bike after that as well.
A lot of folks are paranoid about buying a used fork. I certainly wouldn’t pick one up sight unseen. But Claire and I did previously put together An ‘Assholes’ Guide To Buying A Used Fork, and I’ll stand by the process. Despite there being a few changes to the MK2, a Cane Creek fork, or shock, can be a great used option as the brand supports its products long term. Helm Yeah!
This fork received a full teardown at SuspensionWerx, some fresh SKF low friction seals, and some lightweight rider magic thanks to Pope Jimmy et. al., Claire’s very excited about writing a riding review but I suspect those first impressions will be around the end of summer or early fall. That hasn’t stopped her from excitedly telling everyone and anyone how awesome it is! (“It’s BLUE! And the graphics FADE!”).
It’s currently set at 130mm travel and with simple clip-on spacers, it’s easy to jump up to 140mm (or more) or down to 120mm (or less) as needed and with the manually balanced (push of a button) negative air spring we should be able to get it working very smoothly for tiny ripper.
Oh, shoot! I was going to leave it there but we actually took delivery of one more fresh piece of the puzzle this morning when Dumpster Bear dropped off a fresh ‘Clairebarian‘ decal for the new bike. That really made the process real. Thank you, Kelsie and Dumpy-B
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