These weeks I was looking for the next bike for my 9yo and didn't have much success - everything "kid" is ridiculously heavy and/or has crap components unless you pay $800+. Fortunately my wife has a habit of buying stuff that turns out too small for her so I have a Java Moka 26" MTB in frame size S here, exactly the 37cm he needs (although it's a tad long), with OK weight and components. Thing is, he just doesn't get how the 24 gears work yet, and TBH they're total overkill for what he rides anyway, 80% of which is spent on a longish but mostly flat school commute.
So my idea was to try and fit an internal gear hub such as the 8-gear Shimano Alfine on this bike. It's a regular 135mm rear hub so that should be fine. The disc brakes on the Alivio are center-lock as opposed to the 7-hole ones she has but I guess if I get a new disk, the position will be the same as the for any other brake, right? What seems most problematic at the moment are the vertical dropouts though.
This guy
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Vuy-e8EsQ
just installed a chain tensioner, so I guess I could do that, but I seem to remember seeing some conversion kit as well.
Has anyone done this yet or could advise some other things I'd need to watch out for?
So my idea was to try and fit an internal gear hub such as the 8-gear Shimano Alfine on this bike. It's a regular 135mm rear hub so that should be fine. The disc brakes on the Alivio are center-lock as opposed to the 7-hole ones she has but I guess if I get a new disk, the position will be the same as the for any other brake, right? What seems most problematic at the moment are the vertical dropouts though.
This guy
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Vuy-e8EsQ
just installed a chain tensioner, so I guess I could do that, but I seem to remember seeing some conversion kit as well.
Has anyone done this yet or could advise some other things I'd need to watch out for?