November 25th, 2008 by 
adam
VANCOUVER - November 21st, 2008 - Most 5 year old kids dream of riding a bike – it’s the first real taste of freedom. Typically the bike doesn’t matter, as long as it has two wheels and can handle dropping a curb or two. But Riley is no regular 5 year old. This kid dreamed big - and sometimes when you go big, it really pays off.
Riley got on the horn and made a few calls to some bike industry guys he knew. A few months later – voila! Riley had a full on custom dream machine with a roster of one-off parts that aren’t even available to fully sponsored riders, never mind a 5 year old ripper from California!
The whole project was almost two years in the making but the bulk of the work was done in about three months. The bike started with a stock Giant 20 inch MTX frame – a tight little ride but no disc tabs. This meant drilling and tapping the MTX to accept custom machined disc tabs.
The biggest challenge was finding a fork that could be set up for 20 inch wheels, getting the axle to crown height right but still be super plush. The guys at Marzocchi stepped up and created a one of a kind, custom Shiver. Everything about this Shiver had been re-worked, cut and machined to fit the bill. They had to get the ride height correct, as well as set it up for Riley, a 40lb rider at best. These guys thought of everything, from the custom decals to the exclusive titanium hardware. Did we mention the word custom yet?
From there this kid’s 2 wheeled Caddy picked up some serious momentum. Hayes produced a killer set of Stroker Grams complete with composite levers and Ti parts – 160mm rotor on the front and 140mm on the back. MRP donated a composite Chainguide and Crank Brothers provided a headset. Kenda threw down a set of 20 inch Small Block 8’s and shifting duties are handled courtesy of an XTR light action trigger and an XT long cage rear derailleur (which has since been swapped out for a short cage version). A Dura-Ace road cassette gives Riley a nice 9 speed spread mated to a DT 370 rear hub. DT Swiss also provided a DT 440 front hub, all laced up to disc specific Alienation BMX rims.
Not to be outdone, Race Face rounded things out with a RIDE O degree offset seat post chopped to a svelte 3 inches, a D2 35mm 0 degree rise stem and of course, the piece du résistance, a completely re-engineered set of Atlas FR cranks. These cranks had to undergo a full on modification. They were carefully scaled down to retain the signature sweeps and machine cuts of the full size versions, yet still had to maintain all load bearing qualities in structural areas. Gently tapering the crank to its final 140mm length was a feat of engineering prowess, Race Face staffers’ spare time, and possibly a six pack thrown in for good measure.
The end result? Let’s just say this may be the most dialled groms bike ever made. So if you’re in California and you see a 5 year old pulling a moto whip on a sweet Giant ride, it’s a good bet its Riley. He’ll be the kid with the bike all his bros (and bros parents) are drooling over.
November 25th, 2008 at 10:35 am
where’s the short cage
November 26th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
What’s wrong with a BMX for a 5 year old?
November 27th, 2008 at 5:46 am
Very cool - Where can I get one of those for my 4 year old huckster?
November 27th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Yeah, that rear derailluer is stupidly long. How could they not see that?
November 28th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
So…the project was two years in the making. That would mean that Riley “got on the horn” when he was 3.
November 28th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
I was really interested to see it until I saw they made a free-ridey bike. is a 5yo really gonna need a dual crown fork??? What I’d really like to see is a kid’s bike that’s a bit more weight proportional. My niece has a “light” 17 lb 16 inch wheel bike. To put that in perspective, that bike for me would be 82 pounds!! To stay proportional with my bike, we’re talking lighter than 5 1/2 pounds. Sure, it would be ludicrously expensive, (like this Giant would be cheap) and crumple if I as much as looked at it, but I’d bet she would have a chance of riding up their steep driveway!
December 1st, 2008 at 7:06 am
My som has one of those specialized little mountainbikes, it wieghs as much as my my bike. This one looks like it probally shares the same characteristic. He wieghs 60 lbs and pedals a 25 lb monster. Christ I should have bought a BMX and this bike looks like it costs 4-5 times as much and still can’t be pedaled up a hill. When will they get it? If his bike was made from the same materials as my bike it should be 7-8 lbs lighter. This does not seem to be an available option. That bike is just a more expensive version of the Specialized.
February 26th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Awesome build but I hate to tell you that our Mini DH bike is much more. Perhaps the fact that we have six inches of travel in the back tops all. We had a dual crown fork built far before this bike surfaced. Maybe you saw us at the Mob in Mohave in Bootleg Canyon? South Mountain in Phoenix? Deer Valley,Utah? Our kid pilot has rode and raced DH since age six and the suspension is absolutly necessary. It is great to see we are not the only ones putting kids on the trails. By the way Kids don’t want to pedal uphill. Technical uphill is nearly impossible for 20″ wheels nor is it much fun. At DH speeds the wheel diameter is able to propel through some pretty tough rock gardens. Also building a bike to compare to the weight ratio that us adults have to our bikes is near impossible. They prefer to shuttle or ride the lifts anyways. DH bikes rule. RocKid Bike Works.