any bike might one day crack one day. as far as being cramped, my seat has rails underneath it to slide back on. it doesnt just sit in one fixed position with no adjustment. I also have straight handlebars, but even with cruiser bars, I was fine. I am quite comfortable on my bike, thank you very much. as far as making it so many miles, i have put a lot of miles on this bike. having had it for two years, i cant say how many miles, but i ride a lot. now honestly im tired of arguing about it. i didnt have anything negative to say about your building choices or anyone else's on this site. if all you have is negative things to say about others building choices, please keep them to yourself.One day it just might? A bike to me should be very trust worthy to the tune of about 20 thousand miles in the least, of my expectations for frame integrity..but that is just me.. As for ''thin walled tubing''' and inferior alloys I've totally had first hand experience. I have cracked the head/fork tubes on Huffies twice ''Scary''. Have Cracked the trailing arms in the rear on three occasions no motor was involved, no stunts just plain peddling. This was my younger days when I was lighter in weight too.
Your at 6 ft 2, weigh almost 300 pounds! That must be one cramped up rough ride! Like sitting in a tiny car with the steering wheel pined to your chest and no prayer of getting the seat to slide back.. lol Ask me how I know!? I be 6 foot tall 260 pounds and would flee for my life from the likes of that.
Oh yeah with daily cargo I can far exceed 300 pounds on occasion.
Last here is the funny part it's all made in china now so ....Choose carefully. Cranny I say no. IMHO.
Life has got better over here over the years and reading on this subject over many forums. I can simply buy decent grade steel that the walls of the tubing are not too thin and of course be a good grade alloy. Make my own! No more cramped up Clown circus Bear acts here
I did make to 6000 miles on this Pyle ..Never ever again
Which low cost STEEL cruiser frame is best?
- Thread starter turbo1889
- Start date
why would a guy (not me, another member on this forum) who knows a lot about bikes and a lot about engines, put a predator in a cranny if they were junk? http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=35490 you gonna tell this guy his frame is about to crack too?
Your bike will crack before mine's will will.
Now that's a pretty Kewl coincidence mine does too on that old bike. I chose my seat for its extra long rails and uber Kewl tool storage. The boost bottle was interesting to play with but was a wast of money. The front motor mount was done totally wrong too on it.
Ok?
No more Mister Hyde here! http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc4000/GoatHerder123123/BoXerandFrame003.jpg
Wow we was arguing?
Oh boy. Lets tell every one with great pride to use the cheapest stuff and totally trust trust it no matter what! At least that is what I am getting here?
No just you because I wanna be a meanie lol. Never mind my personal experiance it doe's not amount to squat aye?
If it is on the internet it must be right
I am gonna bust out some bailing wire now.. Yes I do have experience with bailing wire and understand how to twist the stuff!!
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Hey!! can we get back to helping this guy pick out a bike that ain't go'n to break the bank, sometimes Sports Challet has clearence sales on some Dammn Fine! bikes, go to a local cycle shop and see what they got that someone dropped off and never came back for,Personally go to bikebuyers,com they have 100's of bikes to choose from.
Hey Turbo.... the pic's you posted yesterday are both Micargi bicycles the black one is a Rover which is a good solid bike and has been used in hundreds of buildsthe red one is is also a micargi but I can't think of the name it now carries, the Rover is cool!!!
OK here is one pict and yes 52 chain ring on knobby tires and a tight rear cassette. This flies through the city for a real work out. I don't care about speed just the workout.
http://motorbicycling.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=28871&d=1283972071
Keep an eye on Craigslist for something old too. Check the local good will places. One of the going consensus's has been to try to find a older better steel frame.
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The OP's question: "Which low cost STEEL cruiser frame is best?"
The answer: The Felt Slant beach cruiser......it is versatile and accommodates wide hubs, FAT tires, an array of threaded or non-threaded forks and head sets and on and on. Unless of course you think $300 is not low cost for a quality built steel framed, name brand cruiser. The best at a reasonable price by todays standards, period.
Riding workouts are how I got started with top speeds but now I pull my 3 and 4 year olds in a Schwinn trailer at about 18 to 25 mph. May not seem like much,but I do that for 2 hours and maintain no less than 18 mph other than stopping and such. Oh,and while I understand the need for gears,I ride single speed bicycles religiously.
Horizontal rear entry drop-outs too! 130mm rear wheel spacing.......2.5" Hookworms swim in the rear triangle, seriously.
I like it a lot! That thing has held up sweet so far to your 212cc predator! I know how wicked the test runs get when tuning for racing scenarios. Nice win at the track too Scott. You have beat that thing like a scalded dog. A set of triple tree forks on the front of that frame would look sexy too with a disk brake.Horizontal rear entry drop-outs too! 130mm rear wheel spacing.......2.5" Hookworms swim in the rear triangle, seriously.
I don't think it gets much better than that for the Op in simplicity because you can stuff anything in that frame....No it's a K2 that one is hidden. http://motorbicycling.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=33332&d=1298137634. Gonna go electric on it instead of a H.T eventually... Oh yeah forgot about that one lying on the right by the dish.. it's a Sun looks a lot like the Dyno Glide.
Wow that is a great pace D__gizzle!!
I only used three gears in back primarily and '''only''' use the 52 up front regardless of the hills are wind I face. Gears are sweat! Off road? well to and from work every day in the city is enough getting home here against a real mountain slope side like the ''Sandias'' and the wind here lol is enough to make anyone honest. The smaller front cog is just for show and to have it. Getting the front derailleur to behave with a wider bottom bracket and 180 cranks, shrug well just never shift to that sprocket as its a bit of a pita...
Managed 4 nice full sus bikes geared this way in my life time. Getting a good front cog on one of these type bikes is almost impossible. Then of course the right rear shock spring combo..hy
The early Huffies came with nice big front cogs.
I actually got mine from Ann old Huffy Contestant. It looked like a road racing bike. I have the chainring on GT pedal arms and some REALLY old crank bearings. No problems in almost 3 years on my everyday bike. And its q Pacific Sabotage.
I would think that the quality of all of the complete bikes under $200.00 are going to be similar. You 'should' be able to expect a good one to two years on these frames IF:
If you are not hopping off curbs, avoiding large pot holes and bumps, not adding a bunch of weight to the bike, are a light rider, mount the motor correctly without stressing the frame and don't add a huge fork to the bike.... - frame wise. As OP stated, many other items that came standard on the bike should be replaced.
If you do ANY of the above, I would suggest a higher quality frame such as a felt, especially if this is a bike that you plan to keep and ride for awhile.
What would be nice is a steel 'frame only' that was beefier and slightly larger than a typical beach cruiser (frame size is usually 18") for under $200.00. as a build platform. Essentially having the manufacturer spend the extra money from the components in producing a higher quality frame. Felt does make a frame only, but since it is aluminum they want almost as much as for a complete slant and eliminates the possibility of easily modifying the frame.
http://www.feltbicycles.com/USA/2012/Cruiser/Cruiser-Frame-Kit.aspx
If you are not hopping off curbs, avoiding large pot holes and bumps, not adding a bunch of weight to the bike, are a light rider, mount the motor correctly without stressing the frame and don't add a huge fork to the bike.... - frame wise. As OP stated, many other items that came standard on the bike should be replaced.
If you do ANY of the above, I would suggest a higher quality frame such as a felt, especially if this is a bike that you plan to keep and ride for awhile.
What would be nice is a steel 'frame only' that was beefier and slightly larger than a typical beach cruiser (frame size is usually 18") for under $200.00. as a build platform. Essentially having the manufacturer spend the extra money from the components in producing a higher quality frame. Felt does make a frame only, but since it is aluminum they want almost as much as for a complete slant and eliminates the possibility of easily modifying the frame.
http://www.feltbicycles.com/USA/2012/Cruiser/Cruiser-Frame-Kit.aspx
Anybody want a FELT? They should give you guys one free for all the promotion. J/K but seriously wow.
I personally like classic American bikes, when bikes were 100% built by American's. I ride a 1978 Schwinn Corvette 4 stroke. I've been looking for a 50's era Schwinn straightbar frame, but they are a rare item and are pricey this time of the year. Felt bikes are very nice, but not for me... I'd rather built a bike from the ground up and watch it turn into what was envisioned at the start.
I dont know, man. had my cranny for 2 years, and im no small guy. I ride hard, too. bumps, potholes, manhole covers, gravel, just about anything except off-road. I dont jump off curbs, but i have hit some hard bumps. my bike is made of steel. as far as extra weight on the bike, I do have an oversized 2 gallon plastic gas tank that came off an old yamaha 3 wheeler. I usually put a gallon in at a time. I dont like to fill it because it sloshes around and gas comes out of the vent hole in the cap. but a gallon weighs around 8 pounds, the motor adds probably 25 or 30 lbs, plus i weigh almost 300 lbs, so with a full tank, thats almost 340, plus whatever the bike weighed to begin with. i trust my bike so much, im converting it to multi-speed so i can install a shift kit. quality and price dont always go hand in hand. expensive stuff aint always quality, and cheap stuff aint always junk.