I've always loved the beach cruiser cantilever frame. I've built 2 such bikes in my lifetime so far and my recent interest in rat rod bikes has brought me full circle and I am totally hooked. Last week in the dead of winter I stumbled upon this red Huffy cruiser in our local kijiji site and couldn't believe my luck. The price was right($85) and the mere fact of finding one around here was amazing.
So I brought my new baby home and decided to start the transformation right away by removing stuff that I didn't want like the fenders. The removal of the fenders required that I take off the wheels to get to the fender bolts. While I took off the front wheel I heard the distinct sound of dry bearings in the headset assembly. Now this bike is very recent and to my knowledge has never been serviced and it should have some factory grease left in it...NOT! Those headset bearings were bone dry. I just couldn't believe it. I figured that the bottom bracket bearings might be in the same shape and I wasn't wrong, bone dry as well. It's not a matter of the bearings running out of grease, the grease was never present in the first place at all.
Now I know most of you are thinking, "what do you expect, this is a cheap bike" and I agree. But, I've worked on cheap bikes before from Canadian to Hungarian communist era made bikes and this as just never happened. There was always some grease left!
Low end mega store bikes don't have the best components and that is a given to most of us, but the basics must be there. Would you ever buy a car without oil in it? I don't think so. Grease is a fundamental element in your bike. Apart from protecting those bearings from wear, it also provides you with a better ride by reducing resistance on all those moving parts. A well greased bike will always be easier to pedal than one who isn't.
This is a prime example of why you should spend the extra bucks at a local bike shop. The quality of the bikes is better and I would be very surprised that such a situation would occur. Now this thing is just a cruiser and is used for riding around the neighbourhood, but they also sell mountain bikes. I'll let your mind paint THAT picture!
So for my taste, this bike is just a blank canvas for a custom ride. I've already changed the no bearing cheap plastic pedals for real ones and I will also change the front wheel hub in the near future. I will also push the "no grease" investigation to the rear wheel coaster hub. I have to be careful since these things tend to commit suicide on me when I open them up. Yes, I will post about it even if I fail so you can all learn either how to or how not to do it.
If you haven't gone tru this entire blog yet and want to know how to take apart a one piece crank bottom bracket, check here for the fork headset, check here
Simply pack everything with green axle grease and reassemble.
Til next time, ride safe and Godspeed.
Gerry
10 comments:
Sweet ride.
I'd Tap That!
I need your help! I just bought a beach cruiser and when trying to adjust the seat the seat came off the seat post, the post fell down into the frame and now...it's STUCK!! Now I am not a cyclist -- just bought this for neighborhood cruising -- so I have no idead what to do. Any advice most appreicate
Wow! First time I hear this one. Usually the seat post doesn't want to come out. Depending on how deep it went down, you have 2 options. If it's close and you can reach it, use a gooseneck/stem and tighten it inside the seat post. You would be able to wiggle it out that way, the inside of a seat post is about the same size as the inside of a fork tube. If it's way down there, just get yourself another seat post and put in on top. Cut it if you have too. That's the best I can do for you, good luck.
Gerry
The seat tube that fell into the frame shouldn't be stuck in very hard.
You could also try a coat hanger with a hook bent on the end to reach the bottom of the seat tube, and just pull up.
There shouldn't be too much friction stopping the seat tube from coming back out if it fell into the frame under its own weight. You could also try flipping the bike upside down and firmly rapping the seat tube down on a solid object. I'd use a 2x4 to protect your seat tube from damage.
It'll come out, just cycle through a few methods until you find out what works for you.
I agree with you about the love for the beach cruiser cantilever frame. They are classy looking and always bring me back to my days growing up riding my Schwinn cruiser!
Check this place out, they seem to have nice cruisers and good prices.
Cruisers for Sale
I just purchased my firest used Cruiser from a friend and I need to buy some wheels for it. The ones that where on it where bent. Where do I start and what should I look for?
If the wheels are 26 inch, they are very common and easy to find. You can replace the entire wheel or just the rim if the hubs and spokes are in good condition. Look on the sidewall of the tire to see the size, it should read "26 X 1.95 or 2.125" or whatever size it is.
Gerry :)
(Seatpost fell down into seat tube)
An additional insight for future mishaps! If the seatpost is within a range of 4"-5" of the top of the seat tube, a plumber's nipple extractor can be used, available at most any big box hardware store. You will need to guesstimate the inside diameter (ID) of the post to be extracted, buy an appropriate extractor, and go to town with it using a ratchet and 1/2"socket.
It's actually quite surprising just how much in common a "new" cruiser has with an "old" cruiser - pretty much all the mechanicals swap right over, no problem.
A lot of the "foreign" manufacturers of cruisers have simply used an old American bike as a template right down to the bearing sizes and what have you. It's nice because it's pretty easy to find bits that will work on the old bikes, and likewise you can buy old parts and fit them on your new bike. Old bearing races for instance are WAY better made than anything you can get today...
We've got a bunch of tech pages on taking care of cruisers over on our site:d
Vancruisers.ca
Post a Comment