Part 2: Building a Kids 20inch Full Suspension MTB
The bike original paint was chipped and not in a great condition so I decided I should get it re-sprayed. There are quite a few can spray solutions but I went down the professional route. I decided to get it powder coated but to do this I needed to strip the bike down to just it’s frame.
Taking apart a bike
How hard can it be taking apart a bike? Well it is not that difficult but you need quite a few specifialist tools.
First was cutting the cables, and you need a good cable cutter so I chose one from Draper:
The following was easy enough to remove:
- V-Brakes – 5mm Hex Key
- Wheels – 4 x nuts using a 15mm spanner
- Seat post – 5mm hex key
- Rear derailer – 5mm hex key
- Chain – pretty dirty/rusty but I kept it as useful to use as a measure for new chain
- Pedals where really stuck on so a lot of work to prise them off.
How to remove the bottoms crankset?
The bottom crankset confused me, it had a bolt screw, which I removed then I saw this:
Well it seems you need a Crank Puller tool
I purchased a Park Tools one which wasn’t that more expensive than the lesser models. It basically works by screwing into the crank and them pulling against the bottom bracket. It works really easily and allowed me to remove both pedals and crank.
How to remove the bottom bracket?
OK so pedals and crank where off but now I had the bottom bracket to remove:
Another special tool was needed, a bottom bracket remover. Here I just bought a X-Tools BB Tool ISIS – Socket fitting. Like the pedals the bottom bracket was fairly stuck and rusty. Just be careful removing it as not to damage the frame thread.
How to remove the front suspension?
Started with removing the brakes handles, grip shift gear leaver, bell and handlebar grips. Then remove the handlebar and top stem. Unscrew the top nut and with a few taps the front fork and suspension dropped out. There are loads of demos online showing exactly how do to this and just be careful about all the bits (bearings, stem spacers, brackets etc that pop out). Remember which way they went in and place them on your workdesk (floor) in the same order as they came out of.
So now I had no front suspension or fork. But I still had a top and bottom plastic parts in the frame. Again another special tool was required: headset cup remover:
This just basically goes in the frame until you hear it click and then a few taps with a mallet and the plastic cups pop out.
Removal of the rear suspension was a simple few hex bolts.
There are a lot of components that go into making a simple kids bike:
