changing a chainring

[Dusty Bin]

If he does use the bike at other times (which I'm sure he does) then it makes perfect sense to leave the youth gearing in situ. We advise all our riders (or parents, to be precise) to leave their bikes on their gear restrictions at all times so the riders become familiar with the gears they race on. Therefore, no need to change anything on a regular basis.

What you call 'bodging' I would call making creative use of the most ideal parts available. For instance, there is no straightforward way of achieving U10 gearing on a 700c bike without utilising 'non-standard' parts (ie 'inner' or 'middle' rings as outers) and locking off part of a 14-25 cassette. Mechanically, however, it works perfectly well, which is actually all I'm concerned with.

 

[boydj]

Why not swap the chainset (and BB) from the old bike?

 

[Dusty Bin]

Why not swap the chainset (and BB) from the old bike?

That would be retrograde, not upgrade...

 

[johnnyh]

Indeed, he rides at all times with the restricted gearing, why would he not, it is restricted for good reasons. He is plenty fast enough on the 39 with a 12 on the back, and it means he spins like a good'un The restrictions are there to protect young riders and develop good technique.

As for why not put the old chainset on... it was a triple 50/39/30 (with the front mech set to block the 50) and will be sold with the bike, this is a compact 50/34, and the 50 will not be used until he is over 16 if at all (currently 13).
When he is an under 16 (in a years time), I will simply change the 12-27 to a cassette with an 11 and bingo, it will meet the restrictions for that age group.