"Bad Inve$tment" My first Cranbrook project

hotrodgary62 · Jul 29, 2010

Hello, My name is Gary, I am a graphic designer for a sign company and build hotrods and do custom paint and pinstriping, interior work... pretty much whatever. I have been wanting to get a bicycle or awhile to mess around with.

Its a Huffy Cranbrook, I picked up the bike with the engine freshly installed on it for less than building a new one. When I paid the guy and loaded it up, I turned to my fiancee' and said, This is a bad investment lol, Hence the name! Since I got the bike, the chain broke, stuff fell off and I bought alot of fancy crap!

I added a springer front end, front brake, speedo, I replaced the tensioner with a new one I got from a guy on ebay, he made spring loaded, bearing/sprocket ones, I just used the bearing/sprocket on the original tensioner bracket, made the chain alot quieter and smoother! I also remounted all the fenders and made them more solid! I made a sticker for the side of the engine case also & chain gaurd too.

Next I want to get a rear tray for it, recover the seat in brown, maybe upgrade to heavier duty wheels, rework the exhaust and heat wrap it. I will repaint the tank and throw some pinstriping on it.

I got lights for it, which I have not figured the best way to hook those up yet? I have read about hooking it up to the engine, or I have the generator that runs on the tire. Ideas anyone?

Can you rework the pipes anyway you want or will effect how the engine runs? I kinda wanna extend the muffler to straight out the back.

Any info/advice would be much appreciated!! This is my first one!

-Gary

insomniacshotrods · Jul 29, 2010

Welcome to the site! Nice bike and i love the chopped v-dub. They sell longer pipes that come out the back of bike so you should be fine. We put one on a chopper bike that came off a pocket bike just cut and rewelded the pipes to fit frame,runs great. I use a 9volt l.e.d. headlight from - | BikeWorldUSA | Bicycle Parts and Bike Accessories and also the 6volt tail light they sell, ive got the tail light hooked to the white engine wire and it works great. You can also get little tail lights from a truck stop and replace with 6 volt bulb ,just get the lowest watt you can or it will not let engine idle and low speed without killing motor. Welcome to the money pit. lol

KCvale · Jul 29, 2010

Hi Gary, welcome to the site.
NIce looking bike, you have a done a lot to it.

hotrodgary62 said:
Its a Huffy Cranbrook, I picked up the bike with the engine freshly installed on it for less than building a new one. When I paid the guy and loaded it up, I turned to my fiancee' and said, This is a bad investment lol, Hence the name! Since I got the bike, the chain broke, stuff fell off and I bought alot of fancy crap!

I love how you named it, kind of like how people name their boats.

I haven't seen a stock black cranbrook, mine was Champagne colored, did you paint it?

I replaced the tensioner with a new one I got from a guy on ebay, he made spring loaded, bearing/sprocket ones, I just used the bearing/sprocket on the original tensioner bracket, made the chain alot quieter and smoother!

Gary, Gary, Gary... You Don't NEED a Tensioner!
If drive side tensioners were a good thing, motorcycles would have them.
That link will help.
When you get to chain matching from the pedal side, pop the stock 18 tooth rear sprocket off and put a 20 tooth on first. You will find that not only is the bike easier to start, your crappy stock rear hub coaster brake magically works well enough to lay a nice 'J skid' ;-}

I got lights for it, which I have not figured the best way to hook those up yet? I have read about hooking it up to the engine, or I have the generator that runs on the tire. Ideas anyone?

The white engine wire is raw ~7.5 VAC but it varies by RPM.
With a diode and rechargeable NiCad batteries in a 6V light you can run that pulsed DC to it to charge the batteries while your ride, and the batteries will do the rest.

scotto- · Jul 29, 2010

Wow, that's a fine looking "Bad Investment" and a great project indeed! I'm thinkin' a chrome poopoo pipe would look great on it and a little touch-up paint on the seat springs when you re-cover it and the lighting of course. I've run lights off of wheel generators before with a small battery pack, but in order to charge the battery, you have to place a small rectifier or series of diodes between the AC power source and the DC battery. It's easy enough to do.

Welcome and have fun with your new toy!

scotto-

hotrodgary62 · Jul 29, 2010

KCvale said:
I haven't seen a stock black cranbrook, mine was Champagne colored, did you paint it?

I did not paint it, thats the factory color, black. But I might repaint it this winter?
And thanks for the advice on the tensioner and lights!!!

scotto- said:
I'm thinkin' a chrome poopoo pipe would look great on it and a little touch-up paint on the seat springs

I'm not sure I know what you mean by poopoo pipe? lol. I will def fix the springs when I recover the seat.

Thanks everyone!
-Gary

scotto- · Jul 29, 2010

I'm not sure I know what you mean by poopoo pipe? lol. I will def fix the springs when I recover the seat.

Thanks everyone!
-Gary

Hey Gary, this is one type of poo poo pipe...not too be confused with doo doo.. harhar laff

Love the name of your Cranbrook by the way....classic! Nice stickers too.

Egor · Aug 2, 2010

Hi Gary I like the bike and looks like a fine investment. LOL One very important thing you need to know. Those fenders are very dangerous the upper bracket is so thin it will crack and break if that happens the small wire stay at the rear will wrap up the wheel and stall the bike throwing the rider. What I do with all those fenders is use a liberal amount of Silicone Rubber around the upper mount, so the fender is actually glued to the bike, or make up some extra strong brackets. I have seen too many posts about this problem and some gruesome pic's of the riders. Be safe and have fun, Dave

jrbrown3 · Sep 14, 2010

Nice project!

adb140275 · Sep 14, 2010

i like the displacement sticker on the gear cover...

fishguts · Sep 15, 2010

I dig the bike and the V-rod. I'm a reject from the volksrod world ... have built a few and have one in the works now, but have turned to the bike thing looking for something a little easier on my aching bod. Your project is looking really cool.

KCvale · Sep 16, 2010

adb140275 said:
i like the displacement sticker on the gear cover...

Stickers can be so much fun. Everything I build gets a new round one for the right side clutch cover, and depending sometimes customized to the owner.
A fun cheap way to customize for sure.

It has been a couple of months, how is the bike holding up Gary?

Al.Fisherman · Sep 16, 2010

Very nice looking bike, although I really don't like the way he mounted the engine. Keep a very close eye on the down tube for possible cracking. I NEVER drill holes in bike tubes..........anymore.

hotrodgary62 · Oct 13, 2010

Thanks for the compliments. So far its running great! After a little work and straightening out and fixing its fun to ride!

I put front brakes on it, re-did the wiring on it, and made a headlight / front fender mount. Stole an old brown seat off a bike at my dads house. And threw a rattle can white paint job on it and some red pinstripes. I still need to figure out how to hook up the lights, I like the idea of a rechargeable battery pack type set up.

Its dirty right now, I took it on a 10mile ride a while back and havent had time to clean it.

Heres some pics, -Gary

tire · Oct 13, 2010

i'd say that seat completes the loook of the bike.

is your rear spoon brake still operational?
have you considered painting the clear fuel filter black or white?
can you clarify your headlight/power source? i'm no good with electrical and am looking for a similarly sized headlight.

KCvale · Oct 17, 2010

hotrodgary62 said:
I put front brakes on it, re-did the wiring on it

Ya, all motorized bikes need two brakes. How did you re-wire it Gary?
I'm curious as I sell a re-wire kit with a CDI ignition module keylock that replaces all the stock wire up to the neck for the kill button connectors.

Nice job, it looks great.

hotrodgary62 · Oct 18, 2010

KCvale said:
Ya, all motorized bikes need two brakes. How did you re-wire it Gary?
I'm curious as I sell a re-wire kit with a CDI ignition module keylock that replaces all the stock wire up to the neck for the kill button connectors.

Nice job, it looks great.

Suppose I should have worded that differently, I just re-ran the wiring. It was cobbled up, the connectors were all loose and taped up.

-Gary

hotrodgary62 · Oct 18, 2010

Thanks for the compliments. I had looked at your key switch kits, they are pretty slick, when I get a couple extra bucks I might have to get me one!!

I think the the springer rides pretty well, not as sturdy as a mountain bike style shock front end thats for sure, but it works well!

-Gary

2door · Oct 18, 2010

Nice looking ride, Gary. Keep up the good work. Enjoy and ride safe.
Tom

biknut · Oct 18, 2010

When I look at your bike the word smooth comes to mind for some reason. And root beer floats.

KCvale · Oct 21, 2010

hotrodgary62 said:
I think the the springer rides pretty well, not as sturdy as a mountain bike style shock front end thats for sure, but it works well!
-Gary

They look cool that's for sure, I was just wondering if they made a big enough difference over a solid fork but I'll take that as a yes.

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