Advice: Light MTB frame & rigid forks to make a kids CX

Looking for ideas and inspiration, essentially my lad (9yo) wants a CX bike, a road bike is too limiting, CX makes more sense.

Now I know we have the excellent Isla bikes, but prices are steep, and I know 2nd hand holds it price well etc. I can also get Moda bikes inc a junior CX discounted.

I just fancy having ago myself and putting something together, with a decent groupset.

Scouring Ebay for small frames is hit and miss. Any recommendations on what to look for? I think looking for xxs MTB frame and 26inch wheels is a good start, there are more of them? that the equivalent CX.

Any ideas of what to look for, something with skinny tubes, steel (don't mind if its alu), with a fairly level cross bar, i.e. not too much slope.

I assume you're looking for something with rigid forks, are you going to fit drop bars?

If so, have a look through the manufacturer archive: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/v/M ... r+Archive/ I would look for something from 1990 to 1993, before front suspension and suspension corrected frames started appearing and something with a short-ish top tube to work better with drops.

For example, from recollection, Marin and Kona tend to have a fairly long top tube for a given frame size, whereas Orange were a bit shorter. You'll probably still want a short reach, high rise stem to make an MTB frame work with drops though. There's a thread here for drop bar-ed MTBs: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... op+bar+MTB

A small Kona frame might be a good start - their geometry looks like it might suit.

Shifting may be the issue, STi levers can be quite long for small hands. From memory you can buy junior brake levers which would be ideal with barcons. Barcons will then allow friction shifting at the front as road STi and mountain front mechs require different cable pulls plus a lot of faffing to get to index properly.

I have a spare set of froglegg brakes for the cost of postage plus a dinky short reach stem if you get stuck.

My post seems to have gone awol!

What I was saying, is will I get away with a road 2x8 or 2x9 setup, I know 10 speed would require wider stays at back? The reach on the leavers should not be too much of a problem, I have some plastic spacers to bring the reach in a bit.

8, 9 and 10 share the same cassette freehub?