I've seen a few stinky 24's with 20's on em. Pretty slick and somewhat affordable. Could do the same with a B-Line.
That would be a good plan, and one that I've looked into. The problem here is standover height. It's over 28", and even taking a smaller wheel into account, he's pretty high off the ground.
I would love to get him into a Stinky 24. I had a Stinky back in the day, and loved that bike. I learned a lot about how the suspension works and how to make it work better, and I'd love to have a project that him and I could work on in the garage. That would be the ultimate outcome, that we could wrench and ride together.
is it the length of the 24 that's too big? If its the standover, what about putting 20" in it?
The standover of his Kona is 21", and the L'il Shredder is about the same. I know how I felt while trying to ride a Knolly that was far too big for me, so I get where he's coming from.
His older sister is a few inches taller than he is, and she rides my Cove Shocker around. So I know he's not too far off.
if you're looking for a light 20" wheeled hardtail, have a look at the spawn savage. 22 lbs, within about a pound or two of a little shredder icon i think
http://nsmb.com/spawn-savage-2-0/
(pro tip/hack mod: you can increase the travel on the fork and slacken the hta by chopping an inch or so off the spring. dead easy to do and it works)
seems like it would be too small for an 11 year old but that's just me; my son's tall-ish
don't see why you couldn't put 20" wheels and shorter cranks on one of those to make it work for a little guy. bb seems in line with the wheel-axle height, whereas the shredder dually's bb is lower…
That is a sweet little bike. One major issue with his Kona is its weight. We've cut that down a lot by tossing the factory steel bar and stem, along with the heavy saddle. But it's still made of steel, and weighs more than my Cove.
He's really taken to riding his BMX over his hardtail. He'll rip it in the skate park, the dj's, the pumptrack, pretty much anywhere we go.
I've learned that nothing beats a full suspension when we're riding the rough stuff. Even when I take him to the watershed, he has a tougher time getting the smaller wheels over the rough and rooty parts. Again, I feel where he's coming from. The last time I rode my hardtail in the shed, I threw out my back dorping to falt.
:woot:
How tall is he? You say he's too small to fit his sister's 24" hardtail? Transition Ripcord or Norco Fluid. Both 24" full suspension bikes for 2015. MSRP under $2000. I would think the sizing would be close? Just checked Transition's sizing guide and it states the range is appr. 4'-5' and 60-150lbs. That's a big sizing range.
http://www.transitionbikes.com/2015/Bikes_Ripcord_Sizing.cfm
Good call on the Transition. The price looks good, along with the sizing. I'm going to look a little deeper into that and see if this could be our solution.
That said, Pricepoint has the Commencal Supreme Junior on for $1699, but it's a 26".
Honestly, if he could work with a 24", my options would be endless. But the fact that he's pushing close to 54" tall, and likes to work with a smaller frame limits me.