Ultimate Kids Enduro Bike Build: Specialized Riprock 24

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Ultimate Kids Enduro Bike Build: Specialized Riprock 24
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flag JTA
O+
Posted: Apr 7, 2018 at 17:39 Quote
Hey everyone,

So it is my little brother's 11th birthday today and for his birthday i decided to give his Specialized Riprock 24 Expert a bit of a...face-lift i guess you could call it. A little bit about me, I'm 16 years old and I work part-time at my local bike shop (literally a dream come true) and likewise, I was able to get a lot of these parts at a pretty good price, but anyways more about the bike. We've had the bike for about two years and the only major thing that I've done to it was replace the fork with a Rockshox 120mm XC32 Solo Air with a 26" fork, other than that just the usuals like bars, grips, pedals, etc. But this time I really wanted to go all out. Just keep in mind though, most of the riding that we do is Enduro Racing, and downhill/bike parks, with general trail riding in between to keep us busy and in shape. So the parts that I chose are most definitely not the lightest, or fastest rolling etc etc, but I chose parts that would let him ride what he like to ride the way he wants to ride them (i.e going fast downhill haha). The parts list is down below...

- Rockshox XC 32 Solo Air 120mm travel w/ 26in wheel in the front (actually started out as an expirement just for sh**s and giggles, but he ended up really liking it so I kept it on there. SO MUCH better than the crappy suntour fork that comes stock
- Maxxis Minion DHF front tire; 26x2.3, EXO casing, MaxxTerra compound
- Maxxis Minion DHF rear tire; 24x2.4, DD casing, MaxxGripp compound
- KS Lev eTen Integra dropper post; this was a bit interesting because the bike wasn't designed for an internal or external routed dropper, but with the help of our shop lead Technician, a drill, and a file the problem was solved the the internal routed dropper was installed nicely
- Shimano Deore XT Derailleur w/ Clutch; we did have some issues with the chain dropping so it really needed a clutch on there
- Shimano XT 11-42t cassette 10spd; this is better than the 11-36 cassette that came stock and is less tiring on his little legs on the climbs, which means he can only shred harder on the descents Wink
- Renthal Fatbar Lite 740mm width w/ 20mm rise; I might trim them down later after i get some more feedback from him on the trail
- Renthal Kevlar Lock-On Grips
- RaceFace Affect Stem 45mm
- RaceFace Narrow Wide Chainring 30t
- A pair of nice Origin 8 flat pedals that I found in the back of the shop about to get thrown away; totally scored on those

Overall, my brother and I are both very happy with the way the bike turned out, and I'm really stoked to see it on the trail. In the future, i was thinking about lacing a 26in wheel to his current hub because i know it has the clearance to fit one, but i'm not sure if I want to mess with the geometry any more than I already have, but we'll cross that road when we get to it haha.

Let me know what y'all think and if you have any questions feel free to ask!

-JT
flag Hammer48
Posted: Apr 7, 2018 at 17:53 Quote
Looks good. Also looks like he's one Happy kid, so good on ya for making your little bro a nicer bike, but more importantly making him happy.
flag JTA
O+
Posted: Apr 7, 2018 at 19:21 Quote
Hammer48 wrote:
Looks good. Also looks like he's one Happy kid, so good on ya for making your little bro a nicer bike, but more importantly making him happy.

Thanks man, he really does love it, and the look on his face when he first saw the bike make it worth every penny and second put into the bike. Big Grin Big Grin Big Grin
flag BikePilotOne
Posted: Apr 8, 2018 at 7:42 Quote
That's awesome! Btw 24r/26f was pretty popular on dh and ds bikes in the 1990s. I'd rock it like that! Keeps it lower and slacker which sounds like just what he wants.
flag slats73
Posted: Sep 30, 2019 at 19:23 Quote
My son has a 20" riprock and he's been telling me how bad he wants a dropper post, he could definately benifit from having one , how hard was it to route cable internally , I was gonna look at ways to do external ,
flag JTA
O+
Posted: Oct 1, 2019 at 9:07 Quote
slats73 wrote:
My son has a 20" riprock and he's been telling me how bad he wants a dropper post, he could definately benifit from having one , how hard was it to route cable internally , I was gonna look at ways to do external ,

It wasn't too bad. What I did was drilled and bored out a small hole at the bottom of the seat tube above where it meets the bottom bracket, then routed the dropper cable up with the der. and brake cable on the under side of the downtube with zip ties like the others. Easier said than done, but the whole thing took no longer than an hour and a half one evening. I drilled out the hole then bored it at an angle to make sure that it didn't pinch it and could go through the hole smoothly. It is a 27.2 seatpost diameter though so depending on how much you want to spend it could be a little hard to find one, but I was dead set on not going externally routed. You can see original post for which one we have on the bike.

**this will void the warranty of the bike
flag chrisl17
Posted: Jan 4, 2020 at 6:22 Quote
[Quote="JTA"]Hey everyone,

So it is my little brother's 11th birthday today and for his birthday i decided to give his Specialized Riprock 24 Expert a bit of a...face-lift i guess you could call it. A little bit about me, I'm 16 years old and I work part-time at my local bike shop (literally a dream come true) and likewise, I was able to get a lot of these parts at a pretty good price, but anyways more about the bike. We've had the bike for about two years and the only major thing that I've done to it was replace the fork with a Rockshox 120mm XC32 Solo Air with a 26" fork, other than that just the usuals like bars, grips, pedals, etc. But this time I really wanted to go all out. Just keep in mind though, most of the riding that we do is Enduro Racing, and downhill/bike parks, with general trail riding in between to keep us busy and in shape. So the parts that I chose are most definitely not the lightest, or fastest rolling etc etc, but I chose parts that would let him ride what he like to ride the way he wants to ride them (i.e going fast downhill haha). The parts list is down below...

- Rockshox XC 32 Solo Air 120mm travel w/ 26in wheel in the front (actually started out as an expirement just for sh**s and giggles, but he ended up really liking it so I kept it on there. SO MUCH better than the crappy suntour fork that comes stock
- Maxxis Minion DHF front tire; 26x2.3, EXO casing, MaxxTerra compound
- Maxxis Minion DHF rear tire; 24x2.4, DD casing, MaxxGripp compound
- KS Lev eTen Integra dropper post; this was a bit interesting because the bike wasn't designed for an internal or external routed dropper, but with the help of our shop lead Technician, a drill, and a file the problem was solved the the internal routed dropper was installed nicely
- Shimano Deore XT Derailleur w/ Clutch; we did have some issues with the chain dropping so it really needed a clutch on there
- Shimano XT 11-42t cassette 10spd; this is better than the 11-36 cassette that came stock and is less tiring on his little legs on the climbs, which means he can only shred harder on the descents Wink
- Renthal Fatbar Lite 740mm width w/ 20mm rise; I might trim them down later after i get some more feedback from him on the trail
- Renthal Kevlar Lock-On Grips
- RaceFace Affect Stem 45mm
- RaceFace Narrow Wide Chainring 30t
- A pair of nice Origin 8 flat pedals that I found in the back of the shop about to get thrown away; totally scored on those

Overall, my brother and I are both very happy with the way the bike turned out, and I'm really stoked to see it on the trail. In the future, i was thinking about lacing a 26in wheel to his current hub because i know it has the clearance to fit one, but i'm not sure if I want to mess with the geometry any more than I already have, but we'll cross that road when we get to it haha.

Let me know what y'all think and if you have any questions feel free to ask!

Bike looks mint mate, just got my some one and was looking to change the gears to 10 speed... are you using the original rear wheel and hub? Thanks chris
flag whattheheel
Posted: Jan 4, 2020 at 8:03 Quote
I have drilled so many frames for an internal dropper I cannot even count them anymore. Just go slow and do it once and do it right and you're all good to go!! And JTA, that is awesome!! Great work big bro!!
flag JTA
O+
Posted: Jan 5, 2020 at 7:51 Quote
[Quote="chrisl17"]
JTA wrote:

Bike looks mint mate, just got my some one and was looking to change the gears to 10 speed... are you using the original rear wheel and hub? Thanks chris

Thanks man! Yes i am still using the original wheel/hub, just with a different drivetrain.
flag JamieKnight
O+
Posted: Jan 5, 2020 at 20:21 Quote
Looks brilliant. Reminds me of the old big hit with the 24/26” wheel combo Smile
flag du88
O+
Posted: Feb 24, 2020 at 23:55 Quote
What cranks did you use?
flag JTA
O+
Posted: Feb 25, 2020 at 7:28 Quote
du88 wrote:
What cranks did you use?

I used the stock cranks that came on the bike. 155mm in length i believe (could be totally wrong). they're a little heavy with the cartridge BB but not too bad.
flag danoiz
Posted: Apr 7, 2020 at 12:03 Quote
This is awesome! I know this is an old post, but I'm looking to upgrade my daughter's Riprock 24. For the rear derailleur, did you use a 10 speed XT with a medium cage (GS) or long cage (SGS)? Also, what about the derailleur hanger? Did you replace or use the one that was on the bike? I'm personally looking to go to an 11-46 and use an SLX M7000-GS but with a 10-speed shifter and trying to figure all this out.
flag JTA
O+
Posted: Apr 8, 2020 at 8:58 Quote
danoiz wrote:
This is awesome! I know this is an old post, but I'm looking to upgrade my daughter's Riprock 24. For the rear derailleur, did you use a 10 speed XT with a medium cage (GS) or long cage (SGS)? Also, what about the derailleur hanger? Did you replace or use the one that was on the bike? I'm personally looking to go to an 11-46 and use an SLX M7000-GS but with a 10-speed shifter and trying to figure all this out.

So I didn't change derailleurs to accommodate for the bigger cassette and instead went with a goat link, which proved to be a terrible idea. I could never get the hanger straight cause with the link that gave it the b-limit space to clear the larger cassette, when I went to bend the hanger back you pretty much had to do both individually. it was a mess. Go with the 10-speed long cage if you want to use the 11-46. to my knowledge, I think Shimano only does the 11-46 in 11 spd, and an 11-42 10 speed but I may be wrong. whatever you get, just make sure the der. is designed to accommodate the larger range. You may be able to find a better range 10-speed cassette from someone like sunrace.
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