Squirrel asked how I did this mod for my Schwinn cruiser, so I am putting up a brief explanation of how I did it. Actually, it came to me in a kind of accidental way. I had chopped a Huffy frame apart to make a door handle for my firewood box, and since I used only the headtube, I was looking at the rest of the frame and thought, "What else can I make from this?" So I just started dinking around with it, trying this and that. I kept thinking I wanted to make what would look like a girder fork. Then I "saw" what could be done, and in about 20 minutes had this roughed out and fitted, ready for a little paint, and wah frikkin lah! Low riding action was achieved. I put the double brakes on some time later, just as overkill. I only have this one pair of cruiser rims that have enough sidewall for brakes, so they're on it most of the time. I have a killer chrome set that looks nice with some old Goodrich tires too, just have to remember not to use the hand brakes:)
Top Tube, Seat Tube, Seatstay of Huffy donor.
Stem and bars go into seat tube.
Front wheel bolts on per normal location, then the rear dropouts bolt on to the outside of that.
Grab an old, sturdy front brake wire hanger, flip upside down, and bend the end to fit inside of the center of the top tube. I had to Dremmel out about an inch by inch and a half section of the tt to fit the hanger.
Lastly, to strengthen everything up, I pounded a star nut into the tt section, ran a bolt down to it, and cranked it down. Did exactly what I needed it to. Stayed tight over the years too. The only problem I have had is sometimes the stem wants to twist inside the seat tube. I could section a small piece of seat post and re-do that, easy fix. Or hit it with a weld or two, but then it wouldn't be all bolt on, now would it?
To get the seat back and low I simply left the seat post in the clamps, slid it between the top of the seat stays, (wedging the end point of the seat rails around the collar of the seat tube) and made a little block of wood into a spacer to line up with the angle of the seat tube. Finish with a stainless clamp for some extra security, and you're ready to ride!
What else? I would not cut tubes until you get a good feel for how long they need to be to line up. You can always cut more off, you can't cut more on! The whole reason I had to use the star nut was that I cut the tube a little too short to just go straight down through the tube with a bolt. But you know, I think that part is the stealthiest part of the whole mod, so whatever! That's the art of "ratting" on something. If you mess up, fart around until you make something work, right? Later!
l
Top Tube, Seat Tube, Seatstay of Huffy donor.
Stem and bars go into seat tube.
Front wheel bolts on per normal location, then the rear dropouts bolt on to the outside of that.
Grab an old, sturdy front brake wire hanger, flip upside down, and bend the end to fit inside of the center of the top tube. I had to Dremmel out about an inch by inch and a half section of the tt to fit the hanger.
Lastly, to strengthen everything up, I pounded a star nut into the tt section, ran a bolt down to it, and cranked it down. Did exactly what I needed it to. Stayed tight over the years too. The only problem I have had is sometimes the stem wants to twist inside the seat tube. I could section a small piece of seat post and re-do that, easy fix. Or hit it with a weld or two, but then it wouldn't be all bolt on, now would it?
To get the seat back and low I simply left the seat post in the clamps, slid it between the top of the seat stays, (wedging the end point of the seat rails around the collar of the seat tube) and made a little block of wood into a spacer to line up with the angle of the seat tube. Finish with a stainless clamp for some extra security, and you're ready to ride!
What else? I would not cut tubes until you get a good feel for how long they need to be to line up. You can always cut more off, you can't cut more on! The whole reason I had to use the star nut was that I cut the tube a little too short to just go straight down through the tube with a bolt. But you know, I think that part is the stealthiest part of the whole mod, so whatever! That's the art of "ratting" on something. If you mess up, fart around until you make something work, right? Later!
l