Most tricky werw the specialized carbon wheels. The wheelset is designed for theire carbon hotwalk that comes with airless tires. For whatever reason the wheels are available as a replacement part but not the tires. Therefore I have to combine the wheels with tires and tubes but do the rims have a valveholes? Other problem is the 110mm hubspacing. The balance bike standard is 95mm but these are 110mm wide. 110mm balance bike forks are impossible to get and for futureproof reasons I didn't want to build the rear 110mm wide. Seems like the easiest solution is to shorten the endcaps by 9.5mm on each side. 110mm-(2x9.5mm)+4mm(2mm washer on each side)=95mm. The other problem it the use of an 8mm proprietary axle instead of usual 5mm qr. The thread of the 8mm axle is to short to fit 95mm spacing. I decided to use a stainless M8 thread-bar and do kind of a bmx/track hub conversion with a floating axle. To save the ankles and other kids and adults flesh I went for safe and reasonable round dome head nuts even if I would have preferred to use the fancy but sharp edged titanium bi-hex nuts or even the drilled racing ones. Seat post diameter is even a mess on balance bike. The lack of standards in the bicycle industry is shocking. From 22,2 to 25.4mm you can find everything so I went for the 27.2mm most common adult size. The saddle is a pivotal bmx race seat because the pivotal system stay much lower than classic rail saddle models. The stem is a 25mm short Intend Grace DD. It is CNC machined in Germany with integrated topcap and no sharp edges to save the chest area and face in the worst case of a frontal collision with this brakeless rocket.
Frame:
Custom brazed steel bike with 44mm headtube / 27.2mm Seattube with integreated seat clamp / 95mm hub spacing / Cerakote painted in a uni black gloss
Fork/Headset:
Carbon BXT tapered 30mm to 28.6mm Cerakote painted in a uni black gloss / 8.95mm hub spacing / EXTRALITE UltraBottom ZS44/30 & UltraTop ZS44/28,6
Crankset/Bottom Bracket:
X
Pedals:
X
Drivetrain/Cog/Chainring/Chain:
X
Derailleurs/Shifters:
X
Saddle/Seatpost:
BMX race pivotal saddle / BMX seatpost 27.2mm Cerakote painted in a uni black gloss
Brakes:
X
Front Wheel/Hub/Tire:
S215500005 Specialized 12" Carbon wheel with custom turned 95mm endcaps & solid axle adapter / Schwalbe Kid Plus 12x1.75" 47mm semi slicks
Rear Wheel/Hub/Tire:
S215500005 Specialized 12" Carbon wheel with custom turned 95mm endcaps & solid axle adapter / Schwalbe Kid Plus 12x1.75" 47mm semi slicks
Accessories:
ESI race grips / Spurcycles compact bell / DIN976 stainless-A2 M8 threadbar with pro-bolt tiatium TIWA8 washers & LSSDOMENUT8 nuts / Ergotec 25.4mm handlebar shims / DT-Swiss valve adapters / Schwalbe Clik valve cores
Added by ianiscaratti. Last updated about 1 month ago.
9 Comments
not even mack hubs ? ):
Posted about 2 months ago
you think the 1000$ specialized carbon wheelset, custom turned endcaps, custom made axle assembled with pro-bolt titanium bits is not good enough?
Posted about 2 months ago
But I can see a break ;) Amazing! Why? Because you can!
Posted about 2 months ago
... using a break in the beginning ist the best thing to do. Handling the first "real" will be No Problem then.
Posted about 2 months ago
This are just pictures from Bea's bike made from Starling Cycles.
Mine will still need some time
Posted about 2 months ago
_rd says:
This is great! Balance bikes rule. Both of my kids learned pedal bikes quickly on their first days after mastering balance bikes.
Posted about 2 months ago
ianiscaratti says:
great to hear that they are good to start and learn cycling
Posted about 2 months ago