Any suggestions or feedback? We'll be lowering the stem but will likely leave a bit of extra steerer so my son has room to grow. Also, I'm not happy with the I-links and the Planet-X brakes. Individually they are great. But the i-links don't fit into the cable stops on the brakes which is an issue. New saddle, some red-ano bolts, and wire grommets are on the way. We're probably going to switch to a longer crank... same design but moving from 145mm to 150mm. Otherwise, I can't see anywhere I can make changes without throwing a lot of money at the project.

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

Nice overall project. The bike looks huge compared to the kid.

Cool crankset ! How much do these cost ? Any link to a manufacturer, or distributor ?

So, finally, bike weight ?.......anywhere near the projected "under 6kg" ?

Louis

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http://www.ccsalma.com

The front end is tall. We need to pull out the giant spacer under the stem. But when you see him on the bike, actually riding, it is a good fit. The top tube is only 49cm.

The crankset runs US$150.00. It is actually a BMX crankset. But I found it works really well with a double chainring. You can find it at http://speedlineparts.com/products/cranks/sx-mini-cranks/. The design is actually licensed from Answer BMX which has the same crank at http://www.answerbmx.com/AnswerMiniCranks.html.

My scale is dead... I think damaged in the move. I'll have to buy/borrow a new one to get the weight. But it feels close to the mark compared to my bike.

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

looks happy to be riding it, nicely done!

Thanks for the links Ted.

So it's intended for use with a single ring ?
How (any particular placing, or modification) did you install the two chainrings on the crank ?

Very clever. I'll copy you, that's for shure

How tall's Ryder again ? Just for crank arm lenghts comparison with my twin daughters...

Louis

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http://www.ccsalma.com

Ryjder is about 140cm tall (roughly 55in). I chose his crank length by measuring his inseam and comparing the proportions to my own. A professional fitter recommended I use a 170mm crank based on my 78.74cm (31in) inseam length. The 145mm crank worked great last year, but he has grown a bit so I have a new, slightly longer crank coming. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find cranks in 5mm increments. As a result, he is moving to a 150mm... but I would prefer he was on a 147.5.

As for modifications. I made a very minor modification to the spider. Using the Extralite 42/30 chainrings on the 104bcd spider is almost perfect. However, the arms extended a bit further beyond the chainring bolt holes than is normal on a road or mtb crank. As a result, the chain tended to make contact with the arms and "lift" 4 times per rotation. I used a Dremel to grind away a bit of the excess material and shaped the ends of the arms to act as lift ramps when shifting. I'll try and post a detail picture later today. To be honest, I am really impressed with the result. It's not very noticable visually, but it really did improve the shifting. Considering I did it by hand, I can't be more pleased with the result. It was about 10 minutes of effort for a huge performance improvement.

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

That is seriously cool!
Congrats on the build

Your son obviously loves his new bike, you cant wipe the smile off his face!

And nothing makes me prouder than riding down the road with my son (12y/o)

Yeah, we have a lot of fun together on bikes...

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

Out for a ride along the North Sea Coast... "hurry up dad!"

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