# Full size MTB for my 10 year old



## blown240 (Nov 4, 2009)

So my boy has grown out of his 20" wheeled Fatbike. He has had it for 4 years.

I took him to a couple local shops today, and he is tall enough for an extra small 27.5 or 26" bike. Basically a 13" frame.

WE looked at the Trek Marlin 5 for $439 with disk brakes and 27.5 wheels. Also the Marin Rock Spring for $499 at Performance with 27.5 wheels and Disc brakes.

But on my Local crags list there is an older 2011 or 12 Trek with V brakes and 26" wheels for $100.

While I really want to buy him something new, I have so many older 26" parts that I could drastically upgrade the older bike.... 

I have 2 girls that whatever bike he gets will be passed down too...


What should I do? Thoughts?


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## gtsum2 (Jun 28, 2017)

I bought my 10 year old a marlin 7 last year for his bday. Think it’s a 15”? He is 5ft tall now and he rails it pretty good.


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## regiobike (Apr 23, 2017)

My 11 years old son has a Scott aspect 740 29", the frame is xs and i installed 27.5" wheels and 1x10 32t chainring and 42t cassette. He can ride a 26", But honestly I was trying to get something that will work in th future. He loves to climb in this bike and is learning faster the jump area.


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## weeksy950 (Jan 11, 2012)

Whyte 403. Perfect.


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## RMCDan (Feb 28, 2008)

If you have parts, like to tinker, and can find a suitable frame by all means use your spare parts. This route will probably not save money when all is said and done, but there is definitely something cool about a custom ride.

That Marlin 5 kinda sucks. Specs on the Rock Spring 1 aren't bad for $500, but the standover is way high. I couldn't find a full geo chart but it's probably not good. Still, if that's the top of your budget it would be a good frame to upgrade over time and with parts you already have.

Commencal has last year's Meta HT Junior 25% off right now. It's a lot of bike for $800
https://www.commencalusa.com/meta-ht-junior-yellow-2017-c2x22418611


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## blown240 (Nov 4, 2009)

Thanks for the replys!

I love the idea of getting him something and upgrading it over time. The only issue I have is that alot of my spare parts are 26" specific.

I am going to put his current bike on craigslist and see if I get any bites. Then I will have a real idea of budget.


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## Sparkman999 (Dec 19, 2017)

blown240 said:


> The only issue I have is that alot of my spare parts are 26" specific.


Granted, I'm still half a sleep after a late night last night, but can't think of anything other than fork, wheels and tires that are 26" specific...

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## blown240 (Nov 4, 2009)

Ya pretty much frame fork and wheels. For instance, I still have a Judy Sl that would be much lighter than any fork on a $500 kids bike. Plus a bunch of 26" folding tires that would save some weight too...

But most the 26" bikes have V brakes, even new ones. I don't see a point in buying a new bike that has old specs. May as well buy the same bike on craigslist and upgrade it. But the idea of getting him on 27.5 with disc brakes is why I'm concidering spending more money.


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## jimPacNW (Feb 26, 2013)

My son is pretty tall, I had a nice 13" Klein Pulse Comp for him since he was about 9, it was light too (24.5ish), but it got stolen out of the garage (he's now 14, 6'2" on an XL 29er). 
For my daughter, who is now 10 1/2 and average size, I found a like-new Access 13" frame on craigslist for $30, it's disk ready and a nice little 26er frame, Access was the house brand of an now gone internet store (Supergo I think?), - nicely built Taiwan frame. We used a donor bike, and just a few new parts, it's got BB5 brakes & tubeless mavic wheels. 
The cool part is built it together from the bare frame, she at least turned the wrench on every part on it. I got a Toseek chinese carbon rigid fork off ebay to save some weight, it seems to be plenty strong for her weight (65 pounds ish) and non-aggressive riding. I think it's a little over 22 pounds all built up, and a really great little bike. With the donor bike, and everything else, I'm into it for less than $200, including the Fox 26er shock on standby for if she needs a shock more than the lightweight carbon fork.


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## Sparkman999 (Dec 19, 2017)

blown240 said:


> But the idea of getting him on 27.5 with disc brakes is why I'm concidering spending more money.


Did the same for my boys last year (11 and 12 at the time). They are on Rocky Soul 710's and have been slowly upgrading the components (brakes & drivetrain). Not sure yet if I'm going to spend the money on new forks as they'll likely outgrow the bikes by next year. The stock forks are crap, but they are both pretty conservative riders. One's on a small and one's on a medium, so the medium will get longer use as my younger son will graduate to it. Because of that, I'll likely spend a bit more on upgrades for it. I'm keeping all the parts that have been replaced and will likely put those back on when it's time to sell them.


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## regiobike (Apr 23, 2017)

here is my 11 years old son with this Scott xs 29" Aspect with deore 1x10, 27.5" wheels, got the fox 32 fork from jensen $229 shipped, thats an amazing price, he loves the bike and he started to make jumps on the track, im looking fwd for a full suspension bike in the end of the year and re use the parts that i have.


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## blown240 (Nov 4, 2009)

Sparkman999 - I have 2 girls that love bikes. So whatever I get will be passed down to them. Its funny though, neither of them want my sons fat bike. 

JimpacNW - thats exactly what we did with my sons Fatbike. He really wanted a fatbike, so we went and got a cheap one from Walmart, then changed nearly every part on it. We took well over 10 pounds off of it.


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## cjsb (Mar 4, 2009)

this is a longshot but only requires some search time: consider a used adult bike with very low standover. the latter lets you get seat low enough for pedaling and they can mount/dismount cowboy style. 

i did this on a lark with my 9 year old last year. I lowered the seat on my 2012 Medium Yelli and he fit easily for pedaling. I shortened stem and moved the grips in board of bar ends and he reaches comfortably with no issues. He loves riding this bike on trails with me. this is going to be his main bike for a while. 

i lucked into this so not recommending as some sure-fire strategy. If you already had a bike like a Yelli, Nimble Nine, or some other hard tail from that era where companies were coming out with low standover, then it is a no-brainer. But that vintage bike is old enough now that you might find a used one for not much more than a new and crappy kid’s bike? Might serve you, too as a backup. 


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## blown240 (Nov 4, 2009)

Ya, thats a good idea. I tried to adjust my old Intense to fit him, but its a large and just TOO big.

if this bike had a rear disk tab, I would grab it...
https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/bik/d/trekinch-mountain-bike-small/6541875211.html


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## cjsb (Mar 4, 2009)

blown240 said:


> Ya, thats a good idea. I tried to adjust my old Intense to fit him, but its a large and just TOO big.
> 
> if this bike had a rear disk tab, I would grab it...
> https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/bik/d/trekinch-mountain-bike-small/6541875211.html


yeah, that bike has the right sloped top tube and straight uninterrupted seat tube-and the right price. nothing wrong with v brakes for a kid. we all used to ride them, too.

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## blown240 (Nov 4, 2009)

hmm... Well now you have me thinking of grabbing it.

I wonder how hard it would be to set a bike up tubeless if it has V brakes... I don't think split tube would work...


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## hogfly (Mar 6, 2018)

I'm facing the same decision. My kid has been on a 24" Rip Rock with upgraded components for a couple of years now. He's become a pretty solid rider (Here's a video of him last week at La Tierra in Santa fe: 



 )

He wants to go with a Nukeproof Scout as he wants to stick with a hardtail, and I definitely want to get him something with modern geometry. He also has a BMX and likes to do a lot of AM/Enduro style riding as well as dirt jumping, so I'm still debating if I want to go with a FS bike or not at this point.

The Rip Rock was great because it has 24+ tires which gave him some added cushion for jumping and rocky/rooty tech (which we have a lot of in Arkansas).

So do you all think the Nukeproof Scout is a good solution or would you go with a FS? Suggestions?


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## regiobike (Apr 23, 2017)

Go to full suspension he knows how to ride so a fs will make him enjoy more the track. Jumping and drop are night and day in a hard tail vs fs


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## blown240 (Nov 4, 2009)

My boy told me today that he would rather have a project we could build together, than a new bike. That makes things cheaper!!

I found a AMP Research B2 frame that I would love to build for him. But its a small, not an extra small, so probably too big. Plus the rear shock leaks... But the 90s is calling me big time on that one!


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## cjsb (Mar 4, 2009)

blown240 said:


> hmm... Well now you have me thinking of grabbing it.
> 
> I wonder how hard it would be to set a bike up tubeless if it has V brakes... I don't think split tube would work...


you have to take a step back here and think of overall. riding with tubes will be fine. On my Yelli that my son now rides it had a 120 Pike and tubeless wheels because it was my bike. But I got a Tallboy 3 frame from SC on warranty and so first thing I did was move Pike and wheels to Tallboy.

I had an old F29 100 mm, which the Yelli fits fine, and put that back on Yelli, along with Bontrager tlr i had hanging on the wall. I thought for a split second about setting up tubeless asthe TLR actually sets up easy, but the I said "He is 9-he is riding tubes.". Been perfect since.

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## jimPacNW (Feb 26, 2013)

I have setup the older Mavic rim brake rims to tubeless, I used some of those Stans rim strips with the valve/stem built in, they worked fine. That was when my son was on an M2 Stumpy pro. I think I had IRC Mythos tires on it, those worked great. Not all non-tubeless tires will work, but some will work just fine. I think the X-king worked well too. My daughters current bike has the more recent Mavics that setup tubeless super easy.


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## blown240 (Nov 4, 2009)

Good to know! Thanks Jimpacnw!


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## POAH (Apr 29, 2009)

hogfly said:


> So do you all think the Nukeproof Scout is a good solution or would you go with a FS? Suggestions?


my son went from a ripcord (24) to a small transition scout with 26 inch wheels.

has your son tried an FS bike?


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## thesmokingman (Jan 17, 2009)

blown240 said:


> My boy told me today that he would rather have a project we could build together, than a new bike. That makes things cheaper!!
> 
> I found a AMP Research B2 frame that I would love to build for him. But its a small, not an extra small, so probably too big. Plus the rear shock leaks... But the 90s is calling me big time on that one!


I dunno about that frame. I'd recommend checking the frames at closeout prices from randombikeparts. They sell a ton of NOS, ie ex warranty reserve stock from Marin.

https://www.randombikeparts.com/collections/mountain-1

Like this FS

https://www.randombikeparts.com/col...-pro-26-15-full-suspension-mtb-bike-frame-new

27.5 xs

https://www.randombikeparts.com/col...-27-5-650b-womens-hardtail-mtb-bike-frame-new

26 s hawkhill

https://www.randombikeparts.com/col...ard-tail-mtb-frame-6061-aluminum-disc-nos-new


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## blown240 (Nov 4, 2009)

Well I completely scored today!

I saw an ad for a bike on craigslist that was at the local play it again sports. They wanted $229, which is a fair price, but I had an old BMX bike that they gave me $50 for, so $189.

Its an older Gary Fisher Ziggurat. From what I can tell it was $1500-$2000 new. XTR rear derailer, LX front, XT shifters, an old Judy XC that works great, and a set of Mavic Crosslink wheels. I need to get a shorter stem, nobby tires, a regular seat post, and ditch the bar ends. 

He LOVES it! and its already about 5 pounds lighter than the bike he is coming off of...


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## blown240 (Nov 4, 2009)




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## blown240 (Nov 4, 2009)

IM not sure whats going on with my pics...


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## POAH (Apr 29, 2009)

blown240 said:


> IM not sure whats going on with my pics...


they are upside down lol


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## Charlie Don't Surf (Mar 31, 2017)

Cool for him! Hope he gets bitten by the MTB bug! Great thing to do together


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## NYrr496 (Sep 10, 2008)

Cool find. I remember how happy I was when my son grew tall enough to ride adult bikes so I could stop trying to make a 24" wheeled bike light. 
He's 13 now and 5'11". Just finishing up a Large 9 Zero 7 for him.


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## blown240 (Nov 4, 2009)

Thanks. I had some time last night, so I started getting it setup for him. First thing was to get rid of the bar ends and the shock seat post. He isn't even heavy enough to compress it. Then I put on a 40mm stem I ordered for him.

Next was to dig thru the old parts bin. He got some XTR shifter/brake levers, XT V-Brakes, and a carbon kevlar bar. I had a brand new 8 speed cassette, and forgot the XTR shifters are 9 speed, so I had to move the shift cable to the back of the anchor bolt. But it shifts perfectly.

Right now the bike is 26.71 pounds. It has 1000g tires on it, and 50/50 clipless pedals. So it should loose a couple pounds more when I get some decent rubber for it and a set of light flats...

I need to figure out the fork too.. It has some front to back slop, not much, but some....


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