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Frames with large BB drop?

2.5K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  OlavMe  
#1 ·
Looking ahead at next bike(s).

Current 20" is a Cannondale Cujo, which worked out great for us -- the freakishly large BB drop & short seat tube made it possible to start on the 20" a lot sooner than it otherwise would.

It also meant that the bike wound up with a normal-looking BB height when he got a little taller and we switched to a suspension fork.

Anyone have any suggestions of other 24" / 26" / 27.5" frames that have particularly short seat tubes and low bottom brackets / big drops from the rear axle to bottom bracket?

Added benefit if they can fit at least a 2.6" tire in back, but that's not necessarily a must.

Next step may be the 24" Cujo, but availability may be an issue and it seems like a waste to buy new when the only thing I really want is the frameset.
 
#2 ·
Here are the figures from a few that I have in my 24" bike comparison spreadsheet. However, there are a lot of other specs that I would look at for selecting a bike beyond seat height.

Haro Beasley 24
ST: 305
BB Drop: 40

Scott Scale 24 Rigid
ST: 310
BB Drop: 40

Commencal Ramones 24
ST: 280
BB Drop: 30

Vitus 24 Plus Kids
ST: 335
BB Drop: 45

Haro Flightline 24+ DS
ST: 305
BB Drop: 45

Rocky Mountain Vertex Jr 24
ST: 310
BB Drop: 40

And I would look at the entire bike geometry, especially when considering a suspension fork upgrade. It would be good to know what the OE fork A2C and tire clearance are, as well as the same for whatever aftermarket fork you might consider (Suntour XCR 24 Air: 415mm/54mm, RST F1RST Air 24: 410mm/55mm) to account for the geometry and fitment changes you'll create.
 
#3 ·
#4 ·
If you love the low BB height of the Cujo I won't say it's wrong. I got onto that theme a while ago when Isla bikes showed up. In the case of my kids, they grew faster than their motor control, and I was surprised to see them take better to longer cranks, which go hand in hand with higher BBs.

130mm cranks seem a little small to me for a 24+, but that's just my opinion, and it looks like the Cujo 24+ is pretty close in ergonomic geometry to by son's Timberjack 20+, which has 140mm cranks.
 
#5 ·
The big thing with the huge BB drop is that it turns into a somewhat "normal" drop + slacker head angle if you move to a suspension fork.

Most of the other frames I've looked wind up with a huge BB rise when you switch to a suspension fork.

I've been trying out shorter and shorter cranks on my own bikes for the past few years and have 140mm cranks now on my Stache now -- at this point I'm pretty well convinced that most everyone runs cranks that are far longer than optimal.
 
#7 ·
I'm pretty much just looking at the Junit fork, which is 500mm A2C for the 24" 145mm version, which would raise things up quite a bit more than the Suntour.

I really like the Cane Creek Viscoset damping headset uppers for reducing wheel wobble & decreasing the effort to keep the bike going in a straight line over rocks & roots, so that would preclude using most of the angle adjusting headsets.
 
#8 ·
My 7YO daughter is very short, I think she is less than the 10th percentile. Roughly 44.5" tall at age 7, almost 8. The shortest standover, long wheelbase, 24" bike I could find with a tapered headset was the Rocky Mountain Growler Jr 24. Bottom bracket drop was 40 and seat tube height was 300. She fits on it pretty well. After swapping the fork to the 100mm J-Unit the head tube dropped a few mm. She is only about 50 lbs, she almost never uses more than 80mm of travel on that fork, I think I have about 20 psi in it now and all the valving is open. With the J-Unit, new headset, tubeless, and a Rocket Ron on the back, the bike is about 26 lbs. Front tire is still the Vee Crown Gem 24x2.6, it actually works really well for our local trails.

The chainline is kind of lousy and the drive train was junk, otherwise i am actually pretty happy with the bike overall. I also swapped on 130mm Spawn square taper cranks and they were a big improvement.

Couple pics, ignore the frowny face, her brother was trying to aggravate her. 🙄
 

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#10 ·
Im currently in the same situation. Our 7 year old, went straight from the balance bike to the Islabike Beinn small (20) 2,5 years ago, and she is now about to outgrow it. Been hunting high and low after XXS 26 frames/bikes. Ended up yesterday with buying the Vpace max 26. 330mm seat tube, 70mm bb drop. The Vpace website is in german only, but apparently they do answer e-mails and ship worldwide. I found and bought my frame used at pinkbike.

Frame only is about 349 eur plus shipping