Child Riding Style Advice please.

Just googled those rims and they get much more bad reviews than good ones. Keep the hubs, but get some serious rims, maybe even proper downhill ones.
Yes, this will slow him down a little due to added rotational weight, but you can only true a bent rim so often before you have overtensioned spokes and loose ones.

...or you could teach him to ride with more respect for his bike rather than just hammering through everything? At 11-years-old he weighs next to nothing so the bike should be able to cope with what it was designed for...

...get a retro DVD and watch it with him; show him how it should be done .

Have you fought him some skills in riding, lifting wheels, dropping weight?
But to be honest the answer is straight there. Time for you both to learn the simple art of truing a wheel. Something he and you can use whenever and wherever.

Though if he's hitting through to the rims to give it he jolt, stick some more air in/ get fatter tyres....

Either way sounds like he loves his biking and any skills repairing it himself.

Thank you all for the advice.

I will see if there is a wheel building class available locally.

I have been looking for larger tyres - but clearance on the chainstay bridge is tight and I am struggling to get any thing bigger than a 1.95 with reasonable mud clearance to fit. are there any higher profile 2.1's around?

We_are_Stevo":wkdoqky8 said:

...or you could teach him to ride with more respect for his bike rather than just hammering through everything? At 11-years-old he weighs next to nothing so the bike should be able to cope with what it was designed for...

...get a retro DVD and watch it with him; show him how it should be done .

Click to expand...

Good idea can you recommend anything suitable please?

put mavic D521s on it. If he's riding hard enough to bend those you have a junior steve peat on your hands.

cce":w951girq said:

put mavic D521s on it. If he's riding hard enough to bend those you have a junior clumsy oaf on your hands.

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Many of the top DHers are very light on kit, that's why they are top DHers, they finish races.

Bullpup":3ca48ax7 said:

We_are_Stevo":3ca48ax7 said:

...or you could teach him to ride with more respect for his bike rather than just hammering through everything? At 11-years-old he weighs next to nothing so the bike should be able to cope with what it was designed for...

...get a retro DVD and watch it with him; show him how it should be done .

Click to expand...

Good idea can you recommend anything suitable please?

Click to expand...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FUNDAMENTALS- ... 4175b31693

My little guy just turned 13, I bought him his first 26er for his birthday. It's a used Cannondale SX900 with a Lefty. He's totally thrilled about his first set of disc brakes! My son has learned the limits of everything he can by smashing them to little bits. We all learned this way at his age. We speak about this often as it tries my patients sometimes. His last bike was a 19lb Specialized Hotrock custom 24" (also bought second hand), that on scale was the same as me riding a 50lb bike. I'm hoping that this bike will be the start of him knowing some of the limits and riding within them. All I can offer by way of advise is to be patient with him and talk to him often about the costs of his pushing things beyond their limits. Most of all enjoy his successes and growth, soon will come a day when he passes you on a climb. That will be a very special day for you both.