attempt #3

I'm sure the dax engine is just a tad higher in price because of the hardware swap. But I paid just a tad more for the dax motor than I would have for bgf one. Difference of I think like 20 bucks. And with the hardware swap already done and not having to buy anthing extra was worth the extra skrilla. The motor I am currently running is a hybrid of the bgf and 1st dax engine. I frankensteined it together while waiting on a new engine b/c I'm stoopid impatient and wanted to ride somethin fierce. And now I have a super sik backup engine for just in case. I am really digging the new frame and once front end swap is done I think I will be completely happy and be down to just riding unless something breaks \m/

wooooo hoooooooooooooo thanks dan for getting me on my computer \m/ you rawk man


anyway.... pictures

Dang - 4mos later.... Got bent fork installed, got new 1gal tank. Got a little somethin something in the works for a little later... Untill then pics of where I'm at now - I'm digging it \m/ >.< \m/

James912 said:

Nice build. The rubber on your ragjoint looks like its coming out from between the metal plates. Ya may want to check that out before your next ride. Don't want your sprocket come loose in the middle of a ride. Overall sweet ride. I have a 1 gallon peanut tank too. Love it!

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Good eye james - it looks like its comming apart but its really not. Had to mount sprocket with every 3rd bolt out because holes refuse to line up... But all that's about to change when I finally get a hub adapter and lose the shhhhh rag joint setup that comes with stock kits

On my cranbrook that is true - however I had mounted the sprocket to a 20" rear wheel not 26" so when I swapped the wheels I lost 3 bolts due to not being able to get sprocket holes to line up. I am about to mount up a new hd wheel when it gets here and have since purchased new bolts. Ultimately tho I plan on either swapping shhhhhh rag joint for wither hub adapter or one of those hubs that maounts sprocket directly to the hub with a drum brake. Both options are not in my budget just yet but income tax is right around the corner. Also gonna pull the trigger on a new pipe soon to add to the parts I have comming to me in the mail any day now already \m/

Hmmmmm...... Something to think about I suppose. I'm not sure that vibration would be enough to sway my decision on this. I have found that the rag joint caused muliple problems. First problem is it doesn't stay put, so it wears my spokes. Second it is a biatch to get it centered. Third it totally killed the dustcap on my 20in wheel, which caused bearing failure locking my rear wheel up when I was bout 10miles from the house one day. (Left me super pissed as I walked my un rollable brick to the house)

My first choice would be the hub mounted sprocket with the drum brake. Second would be the hub adapter.

crassius said:

For those unwise enough to use a coaster brake wheel, hogging out the center hole of the sprocket to clear the dust cap is required.

Never seen spoke wear except when someone has rubber on only one side of the rag joint.

Centering only takes practice.

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Most cruisers that I've seen come with coaster brake. And my rear sprocket fit almost perfectly around the dustcap. No hogging out needed.

The tourque aplied to a sprocket with a non solid type mount such as a rag joint set up will cause it to move as the rubber is flexable no matter how much you tighten the sprocket/rubbers/backing plates. Over time this cause wear to my spokes

Not saying you can't get it centered. Just think its almost impossible to not center a sprocket to a hub adapter/ fixed sprocket hub assembly

Been riding around on all of the bikes I've built with just coaster brakes. Never smoked one. Then again I give myself plenty of stopping room and on occasion lock it up and ride it out \m/ >.< \m/ I have recently added a hand brake (rim squeezer) and that makes stopping way easier but I worry about snapping one of the arms off every time I stop. Haven't had it on very long (less than a month) and have worn the pads down pretty good. Would love to install a disk brake but don't exactly have the skrilla to fork over for a kit.

Lucky for me where I live is mostly flat but I have been known to trail ride on my first build ( also had a coaster ) and never had a problem

Broke my throttle today. Grrrrrrr. Lucky I have the chinese 4 wheeler to scavange from. Took the thumb throttle off 4 wheeler bars and mounted it up. Had to lose the black and chrome grips as I'm not useing twist throttle anymore. It worked out cuz I dig the original grips from my cranbrook. They are way more comfortable. Also had to relocate the throttle housing/kill switch till I find a rocker that I can mount to the handle bars. I'd really like to find a headlightswitch/killswitch combo as I plan to mount up headlights soon.

I am also trying to figure out a way to mount up the hydralic disk brake off the 4 wheeler some how. Have the master cylinder, caliper, and disk. Gonna have to find a brake line long enough and figure out a way to mount caliper and mount rotor to rim. Don't know if this is even possible.

It just keeps getting better and better. Trashed nother gas tank. So.... Going with the whizzer tank this go as it has different style mount. Hope this fixes the tank issues. Seems my bend in the top tube combined with vibration at higher rpms, is making a larger peanut tank almost impossible to mount without failing and leaking on longer rides.

While I was at it, I ordered a few more goodies from www.custommotoredbicycles.com. Got a manic mechanic hub adapter and new 40t sprocket. Won't be any change in sprocket size but being as I'm getting rid of rag joint maybe it will help a little with vibration. Also got a chrome bullet headlight that has a scratch in it for super cheap, that will run off white wire. I won't be running it off white wire as I have a 6v mini generator that will mount on backside of magneto so it won't rob my spark \m/.

Still waiting on some other parts that are comming through regular mail. Man they are ridiculous slow. Parts got mailed on the 2nd of this month and still aren't here. I'm starting to get worried looooool.

All in all its amazing how much my ride has changed since the begining. Blows my little mind. Went from scavanged mountain bike to cranbrook cruiser and still getting better and better as I go. I am soooooo greatfull for all the help this forum has to offer and the ideas that are shared here so that I can build the bike I love to ride. Ill continue to post updates as I progress \m/ think just about everyone should build one of these as even when I'm frustrated I'm still having ridiculous amount of fun

Ok so parts that I've been waiting on through regular mail got here yesterday \m/ for future reference and to spare ranting bout how slow regular mail is - took 21 days to get here.

First thing I added was the 6 volt generator to the magneto. Waiting on parts I ordered before I can run wire for light. So I moved on to the puch head. Small hurrdle, had to go get washers to raise nuts high enough so that I could tighten them. Holes are super tight, and couldn't get in the holes with a regular socket. Maybe with a thin wall socket it would be possible. I went with washers so we will se how it works out when I can fire it up. Doesn't seem to be hitting piston at TDC. \m/

Last thing got was new (well sort of) rear wheel. Not bagging on who I got it from but they had painted the whole rim in black paint. It didn't look sooooper horrible, but had a few scratches and some of the paint was beginning to bubble. I was just gonna sand the rough spots and re paint it, but once I started just cleaning the grease off thought it would look sweet clean and shinny. So I stripped the paint off the hoop and scraped most of the spokes clean. Once I got it clean I was amazed anyone would have painted this sweet HD wheel. Got me looking for a new front rim in the scrap parts pile that I can use that kinda matches with 14g spokes till I decide on front brake options.

These are a few pictures of before/after rear wheel and new head bolted on.

These are a few more pictures of where I'm at with it as of today... And one of my sitting on it. Gotta say I kinda look like a gorilla sitting on the cranbrook. Looool still amazing to ride it and can't wait till rest of my parts get here so I can ride it more \m/ >.< \m/

Got my parts this evening. Tore open the boxes and tried to get her back together in time to go on a short ride before dusk.
New tank works great so far. Was a little tricky to get strap bolted up in the front and I have zip ties through the back atm till I can get a day off to drill some holes in my frame for rear bolts. I'm hoping the tiny holes I have to drill aren't gonna be an issue later.

Sprocket and adapter were as cake as could be to mount. And it looks great aswell. I have a little slop in my rear wheel so that too is on my list of things to fix on my next day off. All in all I'm happy with how rear wheel came out \m/

Last but not least was my head light. Light looks great and it fairly simple to install. I mounted it to my fork and wired it up to the new red wire from the generator. Nothing. No lighting of any kind. Also got 0 spark... So pulled the generator off and the magneto and replaced magneto with a spare off another engine. This makes the second one I've replaced. I left the generator off this go and tried to hook up light to the white wire. Total bust. If I was pedaling the light would come on but engine refused to start. So I disconnected the light and took it off. Bike was still hard to start but did fire up and I went for a short ride through the neighborhood.

Bike for the most part runs grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat! Like tony the tiger. Was silky smooth as it wound out. Took a little more to wind it out but I'm good with that. I really can't belive how smooth it rode. No vibrations at all. Not sure if this was new head or adapter and sprocket. Overall I'm happy with the results of the work I put in this week on my sweet ride. I just need to work out lighting situation and ill be good. But for now at least I can ride her lol - epic

Will post a pic or two when I get some off time in and can tune it a little more.