Darth Lefty's kids' 20" Hotrock

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

08-07-20, 10:59 AM

#26

Darth Lefty

Disco Infiltrator

Thread Starter

Join Date: May 2013

Location: Folsom CA

Posts: 13,446

Bikes: Stormchaser, Paramount, Tilt, Samba tandem

Mentioned: 72 Post(s)

Tagged: 0 Thread(s)

Quoted: 3126 Post(s)

Likes: 329

Liked 2,102 Times in 1,366 Posts

Quote:

Originally Posted by cs141

My 10 yo daughter has this bike and loves it. She is just on the border between the 20" and the 24", so we opted for the 20". The only issue is that we ride as a family and she has trouble making it up hills that my wife and I can handle on our hybrids. So I'm interested in lightening the bike. I'm not sure if we can do it meaningfully enough to make a big difference. From the dates of your last post your son has probably ridden it some. Can you share your thoughts re: what has worked well?

She might be having a gearing, not a strength or weight problem. The bottom gear stock is 36-28, about the same as middle-2nd on your hybrid, and the leverage from the smaller wheel is canceled by the shorter cranks. The prior owner of my bike had made it a 7-speed with a bigger freewheel, which is a pretty cheap way to get one lower gear. You could also change the crank for a lower one, and the aftermarket ones are a lot cooler... though I think that's only a good idea with a cassette hub, otherwise the top gear will be too low (36-14 with the freewheel is about the same as 28-11 with the cassette).

The changes I made for weight were to change the handlebar for a cheap carbon one from Amazon, and a shorter stem to match the width; and delete the idler and chain guide. There's a lot more that could be done. Nothing on the bike is particularly light. But it's a heck of a lot better than something similar looking from Walmart.

__________________
Genesis 49:16-17

Last edited by Darth Lefty; 08-07-20 at 11:22 AM.