Velo City: Bicycle Culture and City Life

Customizing the Cannondale Trail 24

Cannondale Trail 24

It may seem like a bit of an April Fools’ Day joke to you, but if you’re a hardcore mountain biking dad and your son says he’s interested in racing off-road… well, it’s time to get serious.

The Cannondale Trail 24 is built and spec’d for kids, although you won’t see one with a parts list like this.

Cannondale Trail 24
The Cannondale Trail usually comes dressed with an entry-level Shimano drivetrain, designed for safety rather than functionality.

Hugh Flower was the manager of Sydney’s [now defunct] City Bike Depot store and, with many years of racing experience, relished the challenge of building the raddest mountain bike for an aspiring racer.

Here’s the recipe. Using the Trail 24 frame as a base, the stock Suntour fork was swapped out for an RST F1RST fork with lockout functionality.

Cannondale Trail 24
36H ENVY Lite rims by SUNringlé were laced to Hope Pro 2 EVO hubs. An Easton EC90 XC bar holds the Avid Elixir levers, supported by an EVO stem by Leaf Cycles.

Cannondale Trail 24
Charge provided the saddle and GT supplied the pedals, which are turning a pair of Profile‘s legendary cranks. The beguiling simplicity of SRAM’s XO Twist Shifter is the perfect solution for a learning mind: Twist and go.

Well, it sure beats the hell out of my old Malvern Star dragster.

Cannondale Trail 24
Cannondale Trail 24
Cannondale Trail 24
Cannondale Trail 24
Cannondale Trail 24
Cannondale Trail 24
Cannondale Trail 24
Cannondale Trail 24