My sons Hotrock FSR 24" wheel

othello

Frame: Specialized Hotrock FSR aluminium
Forks: RST coil (stock)
Bars: Carboncycles alloy
Stem: Carboncycles alloy
Grips: Superstar
Bar Ends: Alloy

Front Brake Lever: Shimano
Front Caliper: Avid
Rear Brake Lever: Shimano
Rear Caliper: Avid

Shifters: Shimano rapidfire
Front Mech: Altus (stock)
Rear Mech: Deore XT

Seat: Odessey hollow rail cromo
Seat Post: Specialized carbon
Seat Post Clamp: stock

Cranks: Truatev (stock)
Chainring(s): 2 rings (stock)
Pedals: SPD

Front Wheel: 24" alloy (stock)
Tire: 24" Rocket Ron

Back Wheel: 24" alloy (stock)
Tire: 24" Rocket Ron

Weight: 27.1lb

My son (aged 8) wanted to show off his 24" wheel Hotrock FSR

I bought this off eBay a year ago and since then have been upgrading it from my spares bin and eBay bargains. The aim has been to improve performance and save weight.

I put on some Rocket Ron's, which are pretty much the lightest 24" tyre you can get and save a lot of weight off the stock tyre, plus its rolling weight I've saved.

The stock stem and handlebar were big lumps of alloy, so I picked up a carboncycles stem and bar combo which saved masses. For some reason my son loves the bar ends and refuses to get rid of them! They came with the bike and are a bit scratched but do him fine.

The saddle is the lightest kids saddle out there and I picked up for a bargain on eBay, along with the carbon seatpost.

I took off the big ring to run 2x8, as the big ring is useless at his age. That saved a few grams. I had an old XT rear mech and put that on. I swapped in rapidfire shifters as my son couldn't manage grip shift. He finds these much better and is constantly changing gear to match the terrain, rather than struggling in the wrong gear as he did before.

A bit of weight got added with the SPDs but he prefers the caged versions rather than a small M520 (he has those on his road bike).

Brakes were a big upgrade. Not only have I saved weight but I've improved performance as the stock brakes were pretty rubbish. All off eBay, I picked up some shimano levers. I wanted Avid's but they were too pricey, but the servo-wave in the levers and reach work great for small hands. The avid cant's are much more powerful than the stock no-name ones that were on there before.

There are two big upgrades left to do, which would yield the biggest weight saving, but also the most cost. The stock fork isn't very good and is heavy. A switch to the RST f1rst air sprung fork would save weight and give a better ride, but thats about £140. Next are the wheels. Finding 24" lightweight wheels is hard, unless I get some built. Specialized in their wisdom (to save money) fitted a freewheel on the back rather than a cassette, which is heavy. But a wheel change will be expensive. I might just live with those for now, and save the money for his next bike when he grows (possibly an Islabike Creig 26). Or maybe I sell this one now and swap him to the brand new Islabike Creig 24.

Anyway, he *loves* this bike. He's ridden trail centres in the lakes, done FoD blue and red, and regularly rides Swinley Forest on it.

mrmonkfinger

Storming ride you've made for you boy there!

othello

Thanks! He has done alright for an eight year old

I'm really torn about the forks at the moment. Do I upgrade (£140) knowing I won't get my money back, though I could keep the stock models and swap them back on for selling. Or save the money for his next bike.

mrmonkfinger

Just a thought:

24" is only 1" difference in radius.

Would a regular 100mm 26" fork work, if it was travel reduced to 75mm?

I guess the trail might be different - but there are a lot of 100mm 26" air forks around. Some quite cheap. And it would obviously transfer straight onto a 26" bike in a couple of years.

othello

mrmonkfinger wrote:

Just a thought:

24" is only 1" difference in radius.

Would a regular 100mm 26" fork work, if it was travel reduced to 75mm?

I guess the trail might be different - but there are a lot of 100mm 26" air forks around. Some quite cheap. And it would obviously transfer straight onto a 26" bike in a couple of years.

Problem is the bike has canti's and a 26" fork has the bosses at the wrong height.

Having scoured a few forums, particularly the MBR one, a few people have tried this. They have picked up old 60mm SID forks for not much money off eBay. They have then had a custom brake boss convertor made, but these people tend to be handy and have a milling machine on their shed! Other option would be to run disc brakes, but that means a new wheel and 24" disc brake compatible wheels are almost impossible to get.

PashleyRider

I'm fairly sure I have a 26>24 V mount adapter kicking about that I made for a frame I had a while back if you are interested in it? Gimme a PM if you are

The Rookie

othello wrote:

Problem is the bike has canti's

Erm V-brakes, not canti's....

Nice looking ride...I think back to what I was riding at 8!

mrmonkfinger

The Beginner wrote:

Erm V-brakes, not canti's....

come on man, 'v brakes' are a kind of cantilever...