How original, a Cranbrook build!

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maurtis

New Member
Dec 14, 2011
707
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Kyle, TX
Fiiiinally got my Cranny together and running today! My first build was a weed eater friction drive on a Mongoose XR-75, which I sold to help fund this project. I picked up my black 2004 Cranbrook from CL for $25. After deciding to NOT use it for my China Girl build, the powers that be decided that instead of defiling a good bike, that I should use the "perfectly good" bike in the garage, lol. So there ya go...

So the build begins. I ordered an RB80 BGF kit from eBay, the thread for that is here: BGF RB80, larger intake port? The kit was in surprisingly good shape, but there was still work to be done. The intake manifold did not need to be port matched and the ports themselves looked pretty good, but I did ream out the exhaust gasket and pipe a bit. I also lapped the head which had a sizeable gouge in the squish band. I went through the carb, and fortunately the float height was spot on, since it is NOT adjustable! No metal tang on the float, all plastic.

For the bike, someone must have attended to it previously since I noticed a decent amount of grease in the bottom bracket and head, but I cleaned and re-lubed them anyway. I replaced the front fork with the black springer from bikebuyers.com, the one with the shorter center tube and it fit great, no extra threads sticking out or spacers needed. http://www.bikebuyers.com/PART-SUSPENSION-CRUISER-BLACK-80.htm

I think the new Crannys come with 12g spokes, but mine did not. So went to my LBS and asked what they could get with 12g spokes in black for a cruiser with a Shimano E110 coaster. They had a decent price on Weinmann AS7X wheels, so I placed the order. I am happy with them, but think I will go with the Weinmann DH-39 for my next build, I like their beefy look.

Kip Harley hooked me up with one of his layback seat posts, which is absurdly sturdy. I love it, Kip!

I also replaced the sidestand with a Crow Cycles center stand, which proved invaluable during the build. Excellent center stand, I have sat on the bike many times on the stand and it does not flex a bit.

Here is a pic with the layback seat post and new rear wheel, they ordered the wrong front so it did not arrive until a few days later. At this point I had the bars flipped, but could not get comfortable like that, so flipped them back.



Other than the motor, wheels, fork, and seatpost, I also ordered the following from SBP:

- Bolt upgrade kit
- 6x1.0 stud kit
- High Performance air filter
- Petcock (I heard nothing but bad things about the stock petcock, so figured I would start off right)
- Oversized front mount
- NGK B6HS plug

As soon as my stuff arrived, I began the install, woohoo! This will be done in no time, right??? LOL

Mounting the motor went fine, it took me a while to find just the right height and position to make room for the high performance air filter, but eventually everything lined up great. I put a piece of flashing (steel, tin?) between the front mount on the motor side and the frame, just to spread the load on the frame.

During the install, the stock spark plug boot self destructed in my hand. After digging the remains of the plug wire that was glued to the CDI, I contacted Al.Fisherman for one of his solid core spark plug leads since all I could find nearby was resistor wire. I am glad I did, I REALLY like his wire and the rajah plug end. Very cool. I went with a 28" lead so I could mount the CDI under the motor.

I originally had a moped gas tank that I was going to modify to fit, but decided it was not *quite* right, so sold it on eBay and am sticking with the stock peanut... for now.

Then, tragedy! Ok, not tragedy, but wasted an entire day just trying to get the doggone rag joint centered. AAAAAAAARGH! Unfortunately I was sober all day, so cannot blame it on the beer. Of course, this was right before Pirate Cycles did inventory, so I had to wait for them to finish.

When I got the adapter in the mail today with 36 tooth sprocket, I nearly wept...



After getting the adapter, the rest of the build went reasonably smoothly. I had to run to the LBS to borrow their chain breaker since I was having no success removing the link pin on my own, lol.

Buttoned everything up, shortened the clutch cable (still need an adjustable knarp to shorten the throttle, I do not trust my soldering skills), ran out of black zip ties, so please excuse the write zip ties, lol.

Put some gas in the tank, no leaks! I did find later that the stock clear fuel line does leak at the carb after riding and zip ties do not seem to help, so tomorrow picking up some real fuel line and small host clamps.

So, before the initial test ride:







And WOW, surprisingly, the motor fired! It did not idle and four-stroked like crazy, but it ran!!! After tooling around the block, I brought her home to adjust the needle and look for stuff that shook loose. Which was good, since I was about to lose the bolt for the spring on the front end! lol. I locktited everything EXCEPT that one...

After moving the needle to the second to top slot, still four-stroked pretty badly, so then moved to the topmost slot and she ran a lot better. I am sure my main jet it too rich as well, but I figured I would deal with it as is until after my first gallon of 24:1. Hoping to find some Opti-2, but so far no luck nearby. I am not going to worry about getting the jetting spot on while still running my break-in mix.

I have to say, riding the Cranbrick was a ton of fun. I cannot wait until after break-in and I get her dialed in.

The plans for the future:

- Sturmey-Archer 90mm front drum
- Gyes GS-16 seat
- SBP expansion chamber
- Nitto B617 Promenade Handlebar

Whew, long post...

TLDR version: Put a China Girl in a Cranbrook, it is fun!
 
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maurtis

New Member
Dec 14, 2011
707
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Kyle, TX
Aside from replacing the fuel line and shortening the throttle cable, I also want to trim a few inches off of the sparkplug wire so I can hide it a little better and generally clean up the wiring an bit.

I also want to come up with extra bracing for the chain tensioner, I am quite nervous about the stock one eating my spokes!
 

robbomberbomyea

New Member
Dec 10, 2011
267
6
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57
toledo oh
nice looking build,dont forget locktite on sprocket adapter bolts ,i forgot on my cranbrook, no injury to me but had to retap threads on adapter & replace brake arm .
 

maurtis

New Member
Dec 14, 2011
707
0
0
Kyle, TX
nice looking build,dont forget locktite on sprocket adapter bolts ,i forgot on my cranbrook, no injury to me but had to retap threads on adapter & replace brake arm .
Thanks for the reminder, I used the last of my locktite (actually went through an entire tube with this build!) on the hub adapter itself, so none went on the sprocket bolts. I will hit them tomorrow.

Thanks!
 

maurtis

New Member
Dec 14, 2011
707
0
0
Kyle, TX
Replaced the fuel line with standard 3/16" fuel line from Autozone and spent some more time in the saddle today. I am pleasantly surprised with the vibration levels, I thought it would be a lot worse than they are. Maybe I just got lucky and got one that has a crank that is not horribly unbalanced? Or maybe I am just more accepting of a higher level of vibration as normal ;)

So far I have maybe 30 miles on the bike and everything is still torqued down pretty good. I gave one of my front mounts a quarter turn today, but other than that she is looking good. I do find, though, that when the motor is warm she really does not like to start back up after sitting for a few minutes (like when I stop by the side of the road to make sure nothing has shaken loose).

I have not clocked the speed on this build yet since I am trying to not stay at WOT very long, but my weed eater FD build topped out at 24 MPH, and today on the same straight my China Girl felt a good deal faster, maybe 30-ish? At that speed I backed off the throttle since my brain was saying "toofasttoofasttoofast". The steering is much lighter than the motorcycles I am used to, and knowing that I only have coaster brakes right now makes me not want to go anything above that. The Shimano coaster brake worked great when tooling around pre-motor at 10-15 mph. But at twice that, not so much!

The front drum brake is definitely next on the list!
 

maurtis

New Member
Dec 14, 2011
707
0
0
Kyle, TX
That's a nice looking motorized bicycle, M !

I'll bet it has a 'plush' ride.

:)
rc
Thanks! It was definitely a plush ride when I was about to lose the bolt for the spring on the front end! I think I tightened it too much, though, since on my last ride I did not see any motion on the spring itself...

Definitely looking forward to a new seat, not digging the stock Scruffy Huffy seat.
 

maurtis

New Member
Dec 14, 2011
707
0
0
Kyle, TX
I use a nut to lock the spring's thru bolt ;)
sorry, but I can't remember the size :(
I had the exact same idea! I figured that I did not want to rely on just locktite on a rather important bolt, I took it to Lowes and matched it with a nylock nut that fit, so it is now secured with locktite AND a nylock nut.

On my ride yesterday I noticed that my four stroking was now gone, where on the previous day I had some going on at WOT. Yay, break-in! For giggles, I pulled the plug after doing a plug chop at the end of my run, and it looked surprisingly good. A tiny bit rich, but not all goopy like I had anticipated. I neglected to check the gap when I put the plug in, and it was at 0.023. I gapped it to 0.028 (NGK B6HS).
 

maurtis

New Member
Dec 14, 2011
707
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Kyle, TX
I think I have a problem with my float sealing properly. Out of habit from riding older motorcycles, I turn my petcock off when I shut off the bike, so I never noticed any overflowed fuel.

But when I shut the bike down this afternoon after tooling around the neighborhood, I noticed a small stream of air bubbles on the carb side of my fuel filter (my new fuel line is opaque, but the fuel filter is not).

I noticed these same bubbles when I had the stock fuel line, but that fuel line leaked at the carb, so I figured that is where they were coming from. The new fuel line does not leak at the carb. Sooo... looks like it is time to pull the carb apart again and check the needle and seat and probably lap them, unless I have a rubber needle seat (I do not think the HTs do). I mentioned earlier that this carb does not have an adjustable float, so hoping it is junk in the needle seat or just a minor mating issue.
 

Greg58

Well-Known Member
May 1, 2011
5,353
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Newnan,Georgia
Good looking bike! it sounds like you have covered most of the problems we have had with the upgrades, watch that rear fender for stress cracks on the mounting points. Don't ask me why I know!
 

buttafinguz

New Member
Mar 7, 2012
41
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nashville
Pirate states that the spocket adapter comes in 5 different sizes. How would I know what size to get for my macargi Huntington?
 

maurtis

New Member
Dec 14, 2011
707
0
0
Kyle, TX
Pirate states that the spocket adapter comes in 5 different sizes. How would I know what size to get for my macargi Huntington?
You can measure the diameter of your rear hub. I use a cheap vernier caliper, it only cost a few bucks at Home Depot and I use it all the time. My Shimano E110 hub is a little over 1.5" in diameter, I believe the HiStop and newer Falcon coaster brakes are the same diameter? The Falcon coaster brake that my original wheel was smaller, and the Falcon coaster on my wife's new Huffy Panama Jack is the same size as my Shimano hub.
 

maurtis

New Member
Dec 14, 2011
707
0
0
Kyle, TX
I think I have a problem with my float sealing properly. Out of habit from riding older motorcycles, I turn my petcock off when I shut off the bike, so I never noticed any overflowed fuel.

But when I shut the bike down this afternoon after tooling around the neighborhood, I noticed a small stream of air bubbles on the carb side of my fuel filter (my new fuel line is opaque, but the fuel filter is not).

I noticed these same bubbles when I had the stock fuel line, but that fuel line leaked at the carb, so I figured that is where they were coming from. The new fuel line does not leak at the carb. Sooo... looks like it is time to pull the carb apart again and check the needle and seat and probably lap them, unless I have a rubber needle seat (I do not think the HTs do). I mentioned earlier that this carb does not have an adjustable float, so hoping it is junk in the needle seat or just a minor mating issue.
Whoa, I have no idea what kind of crack I was smoking when I originally took my float bowl apart... My float does have the standard metal tang and is adjustable, and the float height looked pretty good at about 21mm from gasket surface to the bottom of the float. Buttoned everything back together, still seeing the small trail of bubbles in the fuel. I even blew through the fuel inlet with the carb inverted to make sure it sealed, and it did. BUT, I just read a post where someone said the small metal tangs holding the needle need to be bent or they contact the carb body and do not allow the needle to seat fully, so I will check that...

I must have been rebuilding too many lawn mower carbs lately, huffing too many fumes and getting confused! lol
 

Sgt. Howard

Active Member
Sep 28, 2010
186
58
28
69
Okanogan, WA
When I built my Cranbrick, I didn't have access to this site. Several folks here and on the other site warned that the Cranny was a deathtrap... and up to 2009 they WERE! My first build is a 2010- that's when they went to the 12 gauge spokes and double tabs on the front fender. Since I've built mine, the Cranbrick/China Harlot combination has become one of the more popular builds amongst newbies and veterans alikeI know I have been touting it's advantages, not the least of which is price.
Curently starting on the 24" wheel burgundy Cranbrick- the engine JUST fits in there!
the Old Sgt.usflg
 

diesel278

New Member
Apr 6, 2012
12
0
0
Boulder,Co
Kip Harley hooked me up with one of his layback seat posts, which is absurdly sturdy. I love it, Kip!
so how much and how do i get one? i've been trying to make one of these and so far no luck. my seat post size is 25.4mm and can't find one any where. i love the laid back look and comfort.
hook me up PLEASE! i'll pay ya good!
 

maurtis

New Member
Dec 14, 2011
707
0
0
Kyle, TX
so how much and how do i get one? i've been trying to make one of these and so far no luck. my seat post size is 25.4mm and can't find one any where. i love the laid back look and comfort.
hook me up PLEASE! i'll pay ya good!
You can check out the thread here: Laid-Back Seat Post Thread

Kip charges $20 for the post and $10 shipping. Just email him the size of the seat post hole on the frame size and the size of your seat clamp and he custom makes them.

As far as my carb problem, I took it apart again and bent the "smaller" metal tangs holding the needle (not the tangs holding the float) and put it all back together and no more gas leak!

I cruised around the neighborhood, putting in about 10 miles and it was fantastic! Soooo itching to get through my break-in mix, lol.

Every time I look at my bike, the peanut tank mocks me. I need to start working on a custom tank.
 

maurtis

New Member
Dec 14, 2011
707
0
0
Kyle, TX
Made it through the first gallon at 24:1. I was going to go ahead and go to 32:1 for the second, but think I will stay at 24:1 for the second gallon too, just to be safe.

The bike is running great, idles nicely, only a tiny bit of 4 stroking early on at WOT, but gone after warm up. The only issue I am having is getting the motor to fire after sitting for more than a few minutes. It takes me a good block or so to get the motor to fire and idle on its own. The choke does not seem to make a difference. I still need to find the right combination of choke and tickler, it seems. I do not think it is clutch slippage since the engine is turning over, and I can pull the clutch and it tries to fire on its own, but dies pretty quickly.

I am still running the stock jet (NT carb) with the needle at the topmost position. I did a plug chop earlier, and it looks pretty good to me:



I wonder if maybe the needle at the leanest position is masking a slightly too large jet, and that is making starting difficult? I did not want to mess with tuning too much until I got past break-in, but think I might go ahead and order a 0.69mm jet. I assume the main jet being a little too large would not affect startup that much, if at all, right?
 
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diesel278

New Member
Apr 6, 2012
12
0
0
Boulder,Co
the only thing i can say is check those stock petcocks. with mine in the "off" position, it still leaks fuel and at a pretty good rate as well. problably at least 2oz. in 30 seconds.