Modding the Makena (kids Kona project)

Time to get these wheels finished I reckon.

Tyres on, look alright I'd say.
Front says 1.1kg, rear 1.2 which is decent given the budget rim and straight spokes. Just cassette and skewers to add in to that.

Forgot to weigh the old wheels while I was truing these in the frame, put it all back together without thinking. I'll get them next time.

Nice man. I like the look of the novatech hubs - quite tempted to pick up a set and build some wheels myself.

Steerer on those carbon forks might be a tad long.

(honestly, I didn't even think about that)

Rear wheel with HG51 7sp cassette, 1.4kg. The xtr 9sp cassette I have in the spares box is fractionally lighter but not enough to loose sleep over (yet).

Standard wheels weigh in at 1.7 and 2.2 kg, so it's looking around 1.4kg saved on the wheels alone, from the 12kg starting point that's a nice ~10% drop already, good start in my book that.

Stripped everything down a few weeks ago. Washed, polished and waxed the frame ready for the build.

Bare frame comes in a tad over 1.5kg.

Lopped a bit off the end of the carbon forks, popped an old Hope XC headset in to replace the standard threaded jobbie, cheapo stem that's nice and short and nicely light, and a couple of spacers from the spares box. Bars are trimmed Syncros easton affair karma'd on here a while back.
All topped off with a Hope head doctor instead of fitting a star nut, because a) I couldn't get a flipping star nut in and b) matches the headset.

Time to starts on the parts.

I actually spent money on this bit, a shiny new HUP kid size crankset and a matching bb, it's all pretty light being alloy, standard 104mm bcd so plenty of choice for chainrings. I finished off with a used Middleburn ring, a DMR bashguard and some wellgo pedals.
I was a tad surprised that these metal cage pedals came in lighter than the original plastic ones.

If that's a full carbon fork, a star nut would have been a terrible idea anyway. An expansion plug is the correct part for the job.

yep, not going to get that to fit right, or stay put if it did go in.