Lil' Rocket - a 24" wheeled Transition Bottlerocket-Updated 2/6/17

[squirreldh]

The vision for this build was to create a bike my roommates son can ride and race downhill this upcoming season here in Colorado. Being 10yrs old he is still on the smaller side, but we anticipate him growing over the next season or two and want this ride to last. We made the descision to pick up a small framed slopestyle bike or full suspension dirt jumper. We located a used Transition Bottlerocket on pinkbike.com and had it shipped our way. First step was stripping the frame all the way down for a repaint on the rear suspension and fresh pivot hardware and bearings. Then we sourced most of the upgrade parts off his ride from last year, found a few in my stash, and then ordered in a bunch of new components. The build went smooth, no major snags, and i think it came out well!

Build:
Transition Bottlerocket frame, NOS!!
Fox DHX 5.0 rear shock, 300lb spring
Enduro pivot bearings
Rock Shox Argyle front fork
Cane Creek Angleset zs49/zs49
Race Face Chester stem, 50mm
Kore OCD bars
WTB Silverado saddle
Tahoma seatpost, 30.0
Shimano Zee cranks, 165mm
Shimano Zee chainring, 36t
Shimano hollowtech 2 bottom bracket
MRP chainguide
Shimano Tiagra 9spd Rr Der
Shimano 9spd cassette, 11-28t
Sram PC-951 chain
Shimano Deore 9spd shifter
Specialized hubs Fr and Rr
Sun Singletrack rims, 24"
Dt/Swiss stainless spokes-14g
Maxxis Minion DHF tires, 24x2.4
Shimano Deore brake levers
Shimano XT calipers, XTR pads
Shimano ice-tech rotors, 200fr/180rr
Origin8 pedals
Cannondale Grips
Salsa qr seatclamp

And the build thread:
www.ratrodbikes.com/forum/index.php?threads/lil-rocket.101741/

 

[ZygoteLittle]

I like it; it's a nice clean ride - well done!

 

[burrolalb]

That bike looks like a lot of fun good work he will enjoy it

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[LukeTheJoker]

Nice work!
That looks like a bucket load of fun!

 

[OddJob]

This was a 26 er originally, right? Nice transition to the 24+ look you have going. That fork makes it look like a real long travel DH bike. Good choice on the shorter crank arms, fat Maxxis tires, big rotor in the front; it all works!

I smiled when I saw the Tiagra rear der. Back in the day (late '80s) when I was getting started in mtb racing, we put road 105 rear ders on our rides. There weren't any shorter cage mtb ders of that quality, and the 105 provided much snappier shifting. Of course, we had to mind our chain length carefully navigating the 3x drivetrain, but your application with the 1 x 9 drive works perfectly with this set up.

A ride video would be cool to see him on it....even in the snow....

 

[StevieZ59]

Nice bike. Well built. I used to race DH. With a M1 Intence.

 

[Chad T]

Daaaaang...That's sweet.

 

[TV Casualty]

Hey, more DH guys on here!

Great Bottlerocket. That little dude will have a blast on that thing.

 

[G-Matt]

Great bike with all the good parts . If this is for your kid he or she has got one heck of a trail bike . Way to start them young and get em out of the house and in the trail .


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[squirreldh]

Way to start them young and get em out of the house and in the trail.

Totally! This little guy is the son of my roommate, who used to be a local pro on the DH circuit. We raced together years ago, life happened, then we reconnected a couple years back. His son is now 10yrs old, has been racing BMX his whole life, owns more trophies than me and his dad combined, and may have a career in racing pro ahead of him. I am enjoying being his personal mechanic, hope he goes far in the cycling world if he chooses to.


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[OneHorsePower]

Aww i would so ride this till the wheels fall off , not what we typically see on RRB but very well built quality bike

 

[sdframe]

That is one studly bike!!

 

[squirreldh]

not what we typically see on RRB

Oh yeah, well aware of it being a bit more modern than the traditional RRB build, but since its "anything goes" this winter i figured why not!

 

[Indyjps]

That's a beast, very nice build. Please update with some racing pics when you can.

 

[GuitarlCarl]

Sometimes even us Rat guys gotta whistle...
That's a cool bike.

[emoji450]

 

[Mtn Goat]

Racing BMX... he is going to love that bike! Hope I have to stand in line one day to get his autograph! Tell him good luck & best wishes from the RRB crew!

 

[KJV]

 

[Funkme]

Another cool rider. looks the kid will be shredding the paths with this.

 

[kingfish254]

Cool story and build!

 

[Digdidit]

This looks like an absolute weapon!