We all know wheels are one of the quickest, easiest ways to shed weight and improve a bike’s performance. Rotational weight is particularly important, so saving it on a kid’s bike is even more critical to helping the little tykes get up to speed and staying there.
As one of the first brands launched specifically around premium youth mountain bikes, Trailcraft cycles had the challenge of finding good parts to hang on its lightweight alloy and titanium frames. To do so, they worked with Stan’s NoTubes to create a custom 24″ Crest rim, then wrapped it in tubeless ready Schwalbe Rocket Ron tires.
Now, they’ve developed an aftermarket set of wheels with rims from Alex that are available separate from the bike, helping you upgrade any disc brake kid’s bike with a race-worthy set of hoops…
The wheels are laced 28/28 with double butted black J-bend spokes with alloy nipples to Trailcraft’s sealed cartridge bearing hubs. They’re QR only, which makes sense for the wheel size, and only for disc brakes.
The rims are black anodized and come with stainless steel eyelets. Measurements are 26mm external, 21mm internal, and 18mm tall.
“Parents can expect to drop 500-750 grams on the wheelset alone without tires over the stock setup, and another 300-600 grams should they choose the wheelset option which comes with Schwalbe Rocket Ron 24″ Performance folding tires,” says founder Ginger Rosenbauer. “A potential 1000-1500 gram reduction in rotational weight when you are a small rider starting with a stock 26-27 pound bike (or heavier) is huge. This significant drop in overall bike weight makes hills which were once hard become more manageable when you can minimize the rotational weight. Overall reduction of bike weight also translates into an instant confidence boost and better development of key riding skills which will last a lifetime”.
Wheelset weight is 1,500g with tubeless tape preinstalled, which is how they ship. Get them for $389. Or, add a set of Rocket Ron tires to it and have a ready-to-roll set for $479 all in.
Yeah that’s right, wheel upgrades for kids that grow out of their bikes in the blink of an eye. Makes perfect sense.
Makes sense if you want to ride with your kid at a much earlier age. I had mine on full suspension and 24″ wheels (small Turner 4″ travel frame) like this until they were tall enough from 9-11. Then swapped their wheels out to 26″ once tall enough. Pedal strikes can be an issue even with 165 cranks, but still better than designated kids bikes. Kids are not cheap. The rides together are worth it. You’ll see once you have a couple .
The new SRAM NX cranks come as short as 155mm, that would certainly fit 24″ wheels better.
Kids are too expensive. Call me when you release wheels designed to fit my cat.
Sure it’s not for everyone – but you can blow $500 on a trip to Disneyland (or a Taylor Swift concert!) that just a T-shirt memory 3 days later. If this gets a kid out riding for a couple summers who’s to say it is not a great investment.
My 2 boys rode a 24″ bike regularly over a span of 4 years, then I gave it to a neighbor kid who rode it a couple more . I was stunned everytime I picked up that bike by the weight, I would definitely have considered something like this.
This is great. Yeah, 2-3 years for one kid might seem expensive, but I’ve got 3 boys, and they’ll likely destroy any bike by the time the 3rd one’s done. I’m happy to spend the money. Kids really appreciate light stuff. Besides, Craigslist people. It’s like 20-30% off any kid stuff… you can resell any bike easy peasy.
I think it’s too expensive. At vpace.de you can order an even lighter set with (I guess) the same rims anhydrous 24 holes for 250 Eur.
These also have complete bikes with better kit and much lighter for less
What is the internal and external width on these rims?