Building Schwinn OCC after weeks of research. Am I good to go?

xdrzz said:

Hello guys. I'm new here and I decided to make an account after about a month of browsing these forums. I'd like to say that this a great forum and it's loaded with invaluable information, and has helped me figure out which type of bike I want to build and how to build it.

I chose the Scwhinn OCC Stingray.

I know there are a few difficulties in doing this build but I'm confident I can handle them. I just want to make a list of the items I am buying and would like you guys to tell me if I'm on the right track.

-The bike, Of course
-66cc 2 stroke Grubee gt5 kit
-Motor mount from Barry
-Exhaust from Barry
-longer chain
-sprocket and sprocket adapter from pirate cycles.com
-front brakes

That's all I came up with. If I'm missing something please let me know. Also, do I really need the sprocket/sprocket adapter from pirate cycles or does the motor kit come with one that will work with this bike?

Thank you all for your time and advice.

Click to expand...

Welcome There's lots of Stingray bikes to look at here. One thing with them is they are a kid's sized bike, make sure you fit the bike. I had bought a LA Cycles BigMo. It's the same size as a Schwinn but curved where the Stingray has straight tubing. I was simply too big for it. I got a DynaCraft West Coast Limited, a much bigger bike and still has the chopper style. Paid $75 on craigslist for it. There are others including Schwinn that have a more adult sized bikes, I think the Schwinn version is called a Stingray XL. There was also a Fat Boy I think it was called, very rare. It had the rear sized tire on the front with special forks.

There's a place called Bargain Basement Bicycle Parts that have replacement forks with the brake mounts and the brakes to go with it. They can be a little different to order from. You place your order then they call and talk it over with you. There is a small surcharge, they really arn't setup for public sales but that cost is lower that finding the parts elsewhere. In fact, the prices are so low they are almost unbelieveable.

I don't know about the sprocket fit on the back wheel, I never got that far

Other then upgrade on hardware, and also not sure about the hub adapter. I'll go look at the bike I have and see if a adapter can fit in the spokes.

Just checked a adapter in the chopper I have...the adapter is the way to go as long as you can get the proper diameter to fit your axle. I also checked spoke placement and will be much better then a rag joint. 3 bolts vs 9 bolts.

Your list looks good. Me and my stepson built stingrays with Grubee GT2's (the 48 cc) The one thing I HAVE to confirm with you is YES get the Pirate Cycles sprocket adapter. We did for both of our builds, and I'm so glad we did. For one thing, the one that comes with the kit is cheap crap. The spokes on the OCC wheel are laced differently than a standard bicycle wheel, so you'll struggle with fitting the screws through the wheel. We discovered this when my stepson wanted to try to use the ragjoint while waiting for the pirate cycles adapters to arrive. (Can't blame him for being impatient). All the other legitimate reasons to go this route are on Pirate Cycle's website- Better quality, you're driving the WHEEL HUB and not HALF THE SPOKES, and the fact that you can buy different sprocket sizes will definitely be appreciated if you want to tune it later down the road. Plus if I remember correctly, being able to "slide" the adapter back and fourth on the hub was crucial to lining up the chain properly in both of our cases. You definitely don't want to deal with broken spokes on the already under-spoked and over-sized rear wheel on these bikes. I have a few tips for you too that should help a lot; the memories are coming back to me now when I think about all the different obstacles that we faced (and overcame) when we first started out with these builds. For one, get yourself some different bars. I am 5/9 and My knees hit the stock bars when I try to pedal. You have a horrible center of balance too with your hands that low. I have about 2 foot tall mini apes on mine now, (not the same ones in our youtube video) and my stepson just used standard sized BMX crossbar style handlebars on his, and they are so much more comfortable and really increase your handling. Another tip, which I'm surprised I have never seen in any of the Youtube videos I've seen for motorized stingrays- (except for my own which you can reference if the following description makes no sense to you) You can use the nylon roller wheel "chain tensioner" that comes with the kit and NOT hack your brake pads like Barry suggests if you mount the tensioner on the INSIDE of the bottom frame bar. I forget if I disassembled it and re-situated it, just have the longer length piece with the diagonal slot for the idler wheel on the inside of the frame, and the small piece on the outside of the frame. Make sure you have the idler wheel at the lowest point of travel; don't think for a second that it's going to stay put if you try tightening it somewhere in the middle (like it's designed to be used). We had to use a half link for both of our chains to get the right length, and it can be a pain getting both the drive chain and the bicycle chain at the right lengths and both tensioned properly, but it can be done. We also bought 415 bicycle chain, but it would not work on the sprockets. If you run into this problem, we ended up using roller chain meant for garage door openers. You'll also want to make sure to go to your local hardware store and get better quality bolts that are just a smidge longer the ones that came with it. It actually tightens down really well on the square frame, and it lines your chain up perfectly. It also re-directs the chain just over the brake calipers so you don't sacrifice any break pad surface, and this allows you to use a different size sprocket in the future. (you will have to get a new length of chain if you do this however) A bonus result is the profile of the chain looks great. If you search "military style bobber" on youtube our video should come up (i.c. Street pirates) Good luck with your build!

im not sure what happened, but i ordered the sprocket adapter from pirate cycles advertised to fit the occ and it dosnt fit. adapter is bigger then dia. of my hub. been trying to e-mail them on situation but no response. in mean time my prodject on hold.

Look over the many occ builds and decide just what you want to do with your tensioner. I have built many occ's. I kind of chuckle when I read people saying stay away from the occ rag joint setup. I have used the hub adapter and it makes things easy and is very dependable. However I also have had a few occ's with rag joints that have never given me the least bit of trouble(but more work to install). Pirate cycles has a good reputation and I do not worry that they will make things right with you.
Use higher handle bars than the original cafe style. The steel pedal arms can be offset with a good vise and a leverage pipe.