Beach Cruisers

stinkyboy · May 9, 2006

The coolest bike name ever.

http://www.konaworld.com/shopping_cart/FrontEnd/Products/product_detail.aspx?productid=343&parentid=253

Ciaran · May 9, 2006

DRB · May 9, 2006

I bought my wife an electra rosie. It was $300 and it has flowers, those things made my wife happy. She rides it around the neighborhood about once a week.

MisterClean · May 9, 2006

bdamschen said:
Who's got em? What's good? What to watch out for? How much should I expect to pay?

Some friends of mine are looking into getting cruisers for kicking around Monterey. I started looking around to see what was what but have only really found a few manufacturers that I really like. Sooooo...

Who's got one they like? Did you buy it built, or did you get all crazy and find a 1940's schwinn somewhere and build it up? Lets see some pics if you got em.

Electras are nice for the new ones. The big problem with newer cruisers is that the shiitemano coaster brakes suck. If you can get your hands on an older Bendix or a New Departure, they are much better.

I have a bunch of cruisers from a 1938 Huffman (Huffy) to a 1955 Rollfast. It's getting harder to find a men's frame on eBay because they are so popular. The Rollfast was gotten for $38 (including shipping) because the seller mispelled Rollfast with only one L. Find a frame first and just piece one together. It's more fun and can be a lot cheaper and cooler than a new cruiser. The new ones are so dime-a-dozen.

My daughter's '59 Hollywood and my '55 Rollfast.

bikenweed · May 9, 2006

Who has a fixed gear, drop bar-equiped beach cruiser?

I had the vision earlier today, it would be like the bicycling equivalent of the cafe racer, kinda. I'll try to build one this summer, watch out.

noname · May 9, 2006

we used to sell something like this at one of the shops I worked for, they were made by HB cruisers, got all kinds of attentions and were very cool to ride.

noname · May 9, 2006

fo shizzle

BAH · May 9, 2006

I'm a big fan of electra cruisers. Bought my wife and mine from a lbs
paid 270 for hers and 340 for mine I think. Best money I ever spent

Come to find out one of my new neighbors has one too. Went for a ride today actually haha. His is much stylin but not as comfortable to ride. Sara and I can ride ours for half a day and not even notice it.

Here's his ride. He got it at GI Joes in Portland OR for like 500 or something.

buildyourown · May 9, 2006

Derek, you should replace your bars with some flat ones. Then you would be able to stand up and ride better and it would resemble a drag motorcycle.

That's what I would do anyways...

xy9ine · May 9, 2006

my 1970 schwinn typhoon w/. a random mix of new & vintage bmx & mtb stuff:

Ciaran · May 9, 2006

xy9ine said:
my 1970 schwinn typhoon w/. a random mix of new & vintage bmx & mtb stuff:

Best one so far. For me it has to be an old schwinn cruiser frame. I'd love to get two and build them up for my wife and I.

bikenweed · May 9, 2006

Drop bars and a track hub/fixie set up would make that my dream cruiser.

Anyone got something like that built up?

btw, nice cranks. Those are definitely worth more than my personal GDP value.

xy9ine said:

maxyedor · May 10, 2006

It doesn't really matter what kind of cruiser you get, as long as it fits your personality. If you don't mind having a lock go for something nice, otherwise cruise garage sales untill you find something functional for cheap and make it look ghetto.

tartosuc · May 10, 2006

http://www.cookbros.com/
cok bros make some pretty nice cruisers..but they are expensive!

MisterClean · May 10, 2006

xy9ine said:
my 1970 schwinn typhoon w/. a random mix of new & vintage bmx & mtb stuff:

That is one of the best customizations I have ever seen. It's not too overboard like some and is obviously solid and functional. Well done. My '38 Huffy aspires to be almost as cool as that.

Tenchiro · May 10, 2006

I still want a Monster Cruiser

mmmm 36" goodness.

JRB · May 10, 2006

xy9ine said:
my 1970 schwinn typhoon w/. a random mix of new & vintage bmx & mtb stuff:

Best looking bike ever posted here. Nice. :thumb:

Atomic Dog · May 10, 2006

MisterClean said:
I have a bunch of cruisers from a 1938 Huffman (Huffy) to a 1955 Rollfast.

Hey MisterClean,

Do you know how to tell the age on those old Rollfast bikes? I have one in the garage that I bought from the local thrift store for $12. I have no idea how old it is, though. It needs some TLC (I plan on updating some stuff, xy9ine's bike is f'n sweet!) but it rides just fine for the time being.

Your bike has the twin top tubes on top, right? (I mean kind of reverse of the top tube layout of the old schwinns)

JRB · May 10, 2006

I saw a sweet Schwinn in front of a store at lunch. I am going to try to remember to stop on the way home.

xy9ine · May 10, 2006

MisterClean said:
That is one of the best customizations I have ever seen. It's not too overboard like some and is obviously solid and functional. Well done. My '38 Huffy aspires to be almost as cool as that.

thanks. it was a fun project. you can pick up old schwinns pretty cheap still. i rode it last summer in its all original beater-esque state, but decided i needed a project over the winter. a recently revived nostalgia for my early mtb & bmx days (ahh the 80's) dictated the parts spec. amazing the stuff you can find on ebay. a quick rundown of the parts:

typhoon frame - removed kickstand & chainguard mounts. stripped & powdercoated.
mountain cycles suspenders fork. 2" elastomer travel. the first production inverted fork & disk brake.
profile bmx stem, seatclamp, chainring
tuff neck bmx cruiser bar
brooks b5n saddle (cut down swallow - style)
jad bmx cranks (machined hollow aluminum)
crupi bmx pedals (knarley sharp cages)
doublewide rims (stripped & polished)
hookworms
bullseye front hub
morrow coaster brake (circa ~1936)

classic elegant lines, really fun to ride (though coaster brakes take a bit to get used to). i'll definately hold on to this one for a while.

MisterClean · May 10, 2006

Atomic Dog said:
Hey MisterClean,

Do you know how to tell the age on those old Rollfast bikes? I have one in the garage that I bought from the local thrift store for $12. I have no idea how old it is, though. It needs some TLC (I plan on updating some stuff, xy9ine's bike is f'n sweet!) but it rides just fine for the time being.

Your bike has the twin top tubes on top, right? (I mean kind of reverse of the top tube layout of the old schwinns)

Those middleweights were made for ten years, 1955-1965. Zap me a pic and I can give a rough guess. Those frames are so classic that the Raleigh Retroglide was based on them. The weirdest thing about the geometry is the 16" seat tube and 24" effective top tube. Automatic lowrider geometry.

MisterClean · May 10, 2006

xy9ine said:
thanks. it was a fun project. you can pick up old schwinns pretty cheap still. i rode it last summer in its all original beater-esque state, but decided i needed a project over the winter. a recently revived nostalgia for my early mtb & bmx days (ahh the 80's) dictated the parts spec. amazing the stuff you can find on ebay. a quick rundown of the parts:

typhoon frame - removed kickstand & chainguard mounts. stripped & powdercoated.
mountain cycles suspenders fork. 2" elastomer travel. the first production inverted fork & disk brake.
profile bmx stem, seatclamp, chainring
tuff neck bmx cruiser bar
brooks b5n saddle (cut down swallow - style)
jad bmx cranks (machined hollow aluminum)
crupi bmx pedals (knarley sharp cages)
doublewide rims (stripped & polished)
hookworms
bullseye front hub
morrow coaster brake (circa ~1936)

classic elegant lines, really fun to ride (though coaster brakes take a bit to get used to). i'll definately hold on to this one for a while.

Those Morrow hubs are a trip, with the brass brake shoes. I have both a a prewar and a wartime Morrrow hubsets. The war set is going to get powdercoated for the Huffman.

I bought a "grab bag" of Schwinn parts on eBay a couple of years ago and still have a bunch of stems, BB sets, headsets, forks, etc. Having all of that makes customizations easy. One great place to get great replica parts is Maple Island Sales.

The '61 Hercules I'm customizing for my daughter is going to have a Bendix Red Band kickback. The frame is a step-through that is super lightweight and will make for a nimble and zippy beach path machine.

Cheap is all relative as far as old Schwinn cantilever and camelback frames go nowdays. They are about twice as much as they were five years ago, with the big boom in cruiser bikes the past couple of years. Yard sales with the "only rode it on Sundays" bikes are the best deal.

surfinguru · May 10, 2006

Good timing on the thread because I'm in the same situation. My GF just picked up this one a couple of weeks ago:

MisterClean · May 10, 2006

Tenchiro said:
I still want a Monster Cruiser

mmmm 36" goodness.

Those things handle like poo and are required to have super short cranks because of wheel clearance issues with the pedals.

xy9ine · May 10, 2006

MisterClean said:
Those Morrow hubs are a trip, with the brass brake shoes.

no doubt - and sooooo heavy. has about 4x the shoe surface area compared to the 'modern' units. its burly. no wonder the repack racers held these in high regard. finding 1/2" cogs for the hub was a pain, though (mine came with a skip tooth cog). i almost thought i'd have to bin the unit, but finally tracked down a guy in cali with some vintage inventory.

sounds like you've got some cool projects in the works - keep us updated.

stinkyboy · May 10, 2006

BAH said:

More photos of her, fewer of you.

:drool:

DRB · May 10, 2006

stinkyboy said:
More photos of her, fewer of you.

Yeah Mrs. BAH is more than a little hot.

Ciaran · May 10, 2006

DRB said:
Yeah Mrs. BAH is more than a little hot.

I agree. Mrs BAH gets :thumb:

for being hot.

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