Part 3: Building a Kids 20inch Full Suspension MTB
So I have a frame and all the parts removed, time to get it painted and order some new parts.
Powder Coating a frame
I saw lots online about just stripping the original paint/decals off the frame and then spraying it with bike paint. This sounded like a good idea initially but I watched lots of videos and noticed that the amount of time/effort seemed high for not particularly great results. Called a few local companies and found one that would shot blast the frame (remove the original paint) and powder coat it with whatever paint colour I wanted. Powder coating is basically the same paint method as it came out of the factory so would be good for the length of the bike’s life. A few people said shot blasting and powder coating is bad for an aluminum frames but the specialist company said it would be fine. So off the frame went to the paint shop and this is what it looked like after:
I was really happy with the results, the colour was amazing and the finish was really high, the paint is extremely thick.
Installing 20″ front air suspension fork
So as highlighted in Part 1 there was only 2 options for Air suspension forks for such small wheels. I managed to order a new Spinner Air Grind 20 from Poland and it arrived a week later. Here it is against the old one (black is new, silver is old):
So the fork tube was massive compared to the old one, looks like I needed to cut it gulp…
I bought a fork tube hacksaw cutting guide, which looked like this:
I put this in my work bench and the fork tube in this tool. Used a new hack saw to cut the tube, a metal file to make sure it wasn’t rough. Cleaned it all up as didn’t want any metal shards to get in the frame bearing later on. Now how to install this back in the frame?
You need to install a new star nut in the tube which looks like this:
But I bought a Park Tool Threadless Nut Setter to make sure it was exactly central which looks like:
Fixed the fork back in place after cleaning up all the steering bearings and added the rear suspension and this bike is finally taking shape:
