Racer Boy Ian has already outgrown the mountain bike recently built up for him, only lasted a few months. That'll happen when you're the fast growing (almost) 13 year old. He's now riding (or will be shortly) the same size frame as me. Welcome to Crazy Town, I'll be your Tour Guide, please keep arms in tram at all times.
Scored this Performance Access XCL Comp frame direct from Performance for $180 on July 4th, and it arrived today. Larger version (18.5") of the same frame I built up awhile back, that one being the 14" model. Amazingly, Ian rode the smaller version for two years. Adding a longer seatpost with setback, along with a longer stem, extended the life quite a bit. Lots of cool memories thanks to that little frame.
The Sette frame we'll soon retire measures at 16 inches. Nothing wrong with the Sette frame - build or ride quality - and a screaming deal at $90. It's just now too small. So there you have it, 14" to 18.5" in three years (or so). My, how they grow.
These "bargain" frames are fantastic for the money and work well. The build quality and graphics are much higher then you'd expect, and they ride great. For keeping a young racer on decent bikes, I can't come up with a cheaper solution. I just keep moving the old school XTR parts kit and Fox fork from frame to frame.
Parts transfer/build to follow shortly....