Modding the Makena (kids Kona project)

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Not just that, it damages the carbon fibre, weakening it and compromising safety.

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Crankset and pedals on, wheels in, popped the old seatpost, clamp and saddle back in since they fit.
Avid BB7 caliper on the front with a 260mm rotor, basic V brake on the rear.
Just the grips, shifter and brake levers to fit up front, mech and chain at the back and then cabling up.
Weigh-in at this point at 7.3kg is pretty good I'd say.

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Bit of a geary thinky to have now.

The kid friendly shifter I have is 6 speed.
The cassette I have fitted is 7 speed, although I have 8 and 9 speed available.
the mechs I have in mind are 8 / 9 speed.

Now then, a rapid fire type shifter should be OK for her, so I can easily pop something 8 or 9 speed in there, swap out the cassette and job done.

Too easy?

I could keep the 6 speed shifter and 7 speed cassette and just index it to skip the smallest sprocket. Mech is pretty much irrelevant.

Too bodgy?

And a final thought on keeping the shifting light - rapid rise mech. In my mind it should take some of the shove out of up shifts, yeah? That's got to be a help for teeny kid controls, or at least in my mind it is. But my experience here is zero so open to being set straight if I have missed something.

I could use my spare xtr 960 rapid rise mech and 970 9 speed cassette, add a shifter and bingo, light weight and light shifting.

Maybe?

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So, any thoughts on the rapid rise rear mech idea? Would it be of benefit here or have I missed something fundamental?

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The three Dual Control shifters I've had needed adult size hands although they came with "triggers" that could be removed later. If she's learning about gearing it couldn't be easier as moving either of the brake levers up to go up hill and down to go down hill was a simple mantra for my grandson to learn. Hope this helps.

So, like 3 years later she's finally moved on to this bike. She has shown almost zero interest in her bike for the past 2 years which was a a bit of a worry if I'm honest. But last week she saw her friend down the street out on her bike and said she'd like to try again.
So out came the old Islabike 16 (which was now a little too small) and with a bit of running up and down the street she got the pedalling sorted. She's not been off the thing in the past 3 days since, out before school, after school, sneaky ride before bed etc.

Then yesterday she decided that it was time to level up, jumped on the Kona and off she went. I'm pleased to report that everything works, she likes it and appears enthused to ride her bike again. Mission accomplished

I reckon I've got 2 or 3 years until she's ready for the next one. Better get cracking

Brilliant, they are excellent bikes

Great! My boy loved his.