Please Arraider, stop posting such beautiful  pictures. I'm so jealous I like the environment. Maybe a good vacation location for the summer for the family (we all riding mountainbikes).

Nice to see you manage the brake mounting issue. I guess you will never ride a bigger brake at the rear than 160mm.

I see you're riding the bike 2x10. Can you some me the FD cable output and the FD ? I'm curious what kind of angle the cable makes and what you think of it ...

I believe it means you can use a special bracket/hardware kit to mount the shifter and the brake lever together.

This is correct.

There are no dumb questions!

About the group. Looks good. Some part options are out of stock.
Do you know which chainrings you want and what cassette?
The long cage shadow+ is a good one. If you decide later to go for 1x10, it's possible then.

I'm not really sure if the FD is the right one. Don't know what the different is between top swing and top pull. But I think it's okay.

STL-MO

What's this?
Saint Louis, Missouri, USA?

MTB2223 -> Apeldoorn, The Netherlands

On Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/2085591

LBS = Local Bike Store.

Please, ask the mechanic to write it down (on their paper with company logo if possible) to make it official, make a photo and send it to Bert/Peter. And wait for further instruction.
The time is all takes is one of the down side dealing with China and what I understand from you, your country (Portugal).

Please keep us informed. It's good to know if it finally solved correctly.

My recommendation for the 26er is indeed of agility and handling. Of course he will ride a 29er in the future, but the different between the future and now is his size and power. It's a little bit heavier to get the 29er on speed than a 26er. Imagine, you have work hard to get the bike rolling, 'hard' to handle, 'less' agility. All together, give him that much fun you want him to have ? I don't know. The important thing is having fun. A lot of fun. And fun is related to his skills. Technique, as I said before, is so important. With good basic skills, it's so more fun to ride. Think about loose sand, without the correct technique, it's no fun to ride trough loose sand. Even on a 29er.

Let him start on a 14" 26er. Let him work on his skills. And when he wants a 29er after a year 'hard' training (=playing) on his 26er, that shouldn't be a problem. There's a big market for 14" bikes. Here in The Netherlands is hard to get a descent 14" mountainbike.

As I said, my son now rides a 24er. It fits him perfect now. He have a lot of fun with the bike. He's learning a lot, he's working on his physical fitness, he can ride trails of 30 km without problems. When he's home, he's tired with a good feeling. It gives him so much fun. And I think he wouldn't have that if he had a bike that was hard to handle. His new 26er is now waiting for him. Soon, we will make a ride together, first on the road, second off road, third single tracks.

bottom line: FUN! It's all about fun!

Yes, I have a shadow+ rd. But I don't lock it, because sometimes I want to shift 3 gears in ones. When the shadow+ is locked, I couldn't do that.  But last month I changed from 2x10 to 1x10. But I had never a chain drop or even a chain slap with 2x10.