I've been putting together bikes for myself and some friends, and I thought... Why not for my son?

So over a couple of bottles of beer, I spoke with Jeremy Sycip of Sycip Designs last year (who does beautiful bikes!) and started planning a bike for my 5 yr old son.

So the first thing we had to do is see what bike he'd want.. And we settled with a 20" geared MTB. At least he'd get to enjoy the bike longer (as compared to a 16" MTB).

Jeremy came out with a proposed geometry:





After the geometry, the most important aspect of a kid's bike is the paint job... What paint scheme would be cool for a kids bike?

Since my son loves Hotwheels, I looked at their website, and chanced on their muscle cars... I particularly liked the paint scheme of their 70' Monte Carlo:




The frame was done last month, and we had the frame and fork shipped to Spectrum Powder Works of Colorado Springs, Colorado for the paint job. I had them do a matching frame and fork paint scheme. The frame's done! And before shipping the frame to Sycip designs in Santa Rosa, they took a couple of cellphone pictures of the frame and fork. It's a wet paint finish, but the cellphone pictures don't quite do the paint job justice:






Right now, am getting the parts together.. I'll be flying to the US next week for the 2012 North American Handmade Bicycle Show.

Am more excited about building this bike than my previous bikes!

If anyone plans to go to the show, drop by the Sycip booth! The bike will be on display in the booth during the show

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Groovy Cycleworks 650B SS | Ibis Bow Ti | Ibis Steel Mojo | Indy Fab Ti Factory Lightweight | Indy Fab SSR | Indy Fab Rapha Planet Cross | Parlee Z5 | Pegoretti Marcelo | Sycip Carbon Roadster | Sycip Disc Cross Dresser | Sycip Diesel

That is very cool! I'm a big fan of "REAL" bikes for kids. I've built a couple which are on this forum for my son. The single front chainring is a good way to go initially. Front derailleurs require a lot more effort to shift and a much longer throw, so they are a challenge for little ones... whether trigger or twist. Also, a good BMX crankset is the best way to go as they are available in any length you might need.

I hope you have another child. That's such a nice looking rig, it would be a shame to have him outgrow it in a year. Sadly that's what happened with my son and his 20" bike. Luckily number two will be riding in another year or so.

Good luck with the project. If you have any questions or run into any snags, feel free to drop me a line. I've probably run into the same issue at some point already.

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TED ESSENFELD
Schoorl, Noord-Holland, Nederland
Bike Pics
English Custom Steel Internal di2
Litespeed Ghisallo

Looks like a very nice project!

Nice...I'm getting my Sycip Monstercross frame very soon. Both Jeremy and Spectrum do great work...

The bike will be in good hands after my son grows taller.. Jeremy's son will be riding it.

Decided to just convert MTB cranks into a kids' crankset.

Thanks! Will drop you a line soon.

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Groovy Cycleworks 650B SS | Ibis Bow Ti | Ibis Steel Mojo | Indy Fab Ti Factory Lightweight | Indy Fab SSR | Indy Fab Rapha Planet Cross | Parlee Z5 | Pegoretti Marcelo | Sycip Carbon Roadster | Sycip Disc Cross Dresser | Sycip Diesel

Got the cranks..

Converted a 175mm square-taper crankset for the bike.

Cut off a portion of the arms, and drilled in two holes on the arms.. So now it's a 130mm - 150mm crankset.

Now to buff the cranks.

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Groovy Cycleworks 650B SS | Ibis Bow Ti | Ibis Steel Mojo | Indy Fab Ti Factory Lightweight | Indy Fab SSR | Indy Fab Rapha Planet Cross | Parlee Z5 | Pegoretti Marcelo | Sycip Carbon Roadster | Sycip Disc Cross Dresser | Sycip Diesel

Got the cranks..

Converted a 175mm square-taper crankset for the bike.

Cut off a portion of the arms, and drilled in two holes on the arms.. So now it's a 130mm - 150mm crankset.

Now to buff the cranks.

_________________
Groovy Cycleworks 650B SS | Ibis Bow Ti | Ibis Steel Mojo | Indy Fab Ti Factory Lightweight | Indy Fab SSR | Indy Fab Rapha Planet Cross | Parlee Z5 | Pegoretti Marcelo | Sycip Carbon Roadster | Sycip Disc Cross Dresser | Sycip Diesel

Can you adopt me? I'd like a sweet SyCip MTB!

- Vince

The frame and wheels arrived in California! Can't wait to see it tomorrow!!

The wheels are Industry Nine wheels.

The guys at I9 used MTB disc hubs and mated it to BMX rims.. They did a one-off spoke length for the wheels for the bike...

Jeremy Sycip used his mobile phone to take the picture, and even with the low quality of the picture, the bike looks Bad Ass!!

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Groovy Cycleworks 650B SS | Ibis Bow Ti | Ibis Steel Mojo | Indy Fab Ti Factory Lightweight | Indy Fab SSR | Indy Fab Rapha Planet Cross | Parlee Z5 | Pegoretti Marcelo | Sycip Carbon Roadster | Sycip Disc Cross Dresser | Sycip Diesel

Yours is a much prettier project than mine. I am sure your son is going to love the bike. It's fantastic.

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=93521&hilit=kids

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TED ESSENFELD
Schoorl, Noord-Holland, Nederland
Bike Pics
English Custom Steel Internal di2
Litespeed Ghisallo

Thank you very much. Am just happy he likes to bike.

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Groovy Cycleworks 650B SS | Ibis Bow Ti | Ibis Steel Mojo | Indy Fab Ti Factory Lightweight | Indy Fab SSR | Indy Fab Rapha Planet Cross | Parlee Z5 | Pegoretti Marcelo | Sycip Carbon Roadster | Sycip Disc Cross Dresser | Sycip Diesel

Got in California yesterday night and built up the bike today.

First off was to cut the ENVE seat post:





Then we put in a Cane Creek Bicycle Relief Project headset (no. 229 of 500 made):





Jeremy Sycip putting on the ENVE stem and handlebar.



The front end of the bike:



The bike built up:

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Groovy Cycleworks 650B SS | Ibis Bow Ti | Ibis Steel Mojo | Indy Fab Ti Factory Lightweight | Indy Fab SSR | Indy Fab Rapha Planet Cross | Parlee Z5 | Pegoretti Marcelo | Sycip Carbon Roadster | Sycip Disc Cross Dresser | Sycip Diesel

That's just stunning hope the little one enjoys it

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Groovy Cycleworks 650B SS | Ibis Bow Ti | Ibis Steel Mojo | Indy Fab Ti Factory Lightweight | Indy Fab SSR | Indy Fab Rapha Planet Cross | Parlee Z5 | Pegoretti Marcelo | Sycip Carbon Roadster | Sycip Disc Cross Dresser | Sycip Diesel

AWESOME!

Two Suggestions:

First, drop the big ring up front and put on a bashguard. Use the limit screws on the front derailleur to keep it on the granny and middle ring. Little guys will never use the big ring. The bashguard will come in handy as he learns to get over obstacles and will keep pants and flesh out of the gears. Little hands have a tough time shifting front derailleurs anyway.

Second, consider a smaller disc rotor. For that size wheel a 140mm rotor should suffice.

It's a beautiful bike. Well done!

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TED ESSENFELD
Schoorl, Noord-Holland, Nederland
Bike Pics
English Custom Steel Internal di2
Litespeed Ghisallo