Irish John
New Member
Felt Heritage Finally Running
Well I finally got the Felt Heritage Cruiser up and running but it can only be motorised using a certain model of Grubee kit. The is one BIG problem and that is the rear V-brake bosses which interfere with most drive trains because the brakes are mounted below the seat stays. I know there have been suggestions above that I could use a chain tensioner wheel/cog to deflect the topside of the chain below the brakes but a tensioner on the driven side of a chain is fraught with problems. The only real solution is to get the brake bosses cut off the underside and alloy welded on the top side where a sane designer would have put them to begin with. This is expensive and specialised work and the alloy welding would destroy a lot of paintwork and I'd need to respray the rear of the frame. Then the bike will have many possible uses and could take a Q-Matic drive which is what I want. The Heritage is the comfiest cruiser I've ever ridden but the rear brakes rule it out as a suitable host for motorising. The other problem is the clearance between the top tube and the curved cantilever tubes is not enough to allow a standard fuel cock so I used a brass one and cut it shorter to fit (see pics).
Then there is the frame itself which only just fits the motor and the choke lever is hard to get at. I did however finally find that the engine tray I had from the terrible JL Hoot kit I had never used (and never would use) fitted this bike so I used it but it has to be tilted upwards which is OK except it looks bad and looks are everything if you are a Virgo.
I also had to use a Grubee Mark 2 gearbox with 10T rigid drive sprocket so the bike has no freewheel which, in the event of a GB seizure would be very dangerous. I really don't like the gearbox not just for the above safety reason but because it is the most incredibly noisy Grubee I have ever encountered. Even when idling it whines like a stuck pig. The motor is a HuaSheng and the rear sprocket is a 44T which is slower than the usual Grubee 11T freewheel with a 48T sprocket and also less powerful on hills. I have been asking on this Forum for years about people's experience with this GB and never had any answers so I don't know the ideal rear sprocket size but it should be less than 44T (probably 42T or 40T) and I suspect it would be terrible on hills that it isn't good at now.
Those who remember when MTBs had the brakes mounted below the chain stays where they were hard to get at and collected huge amounts of dirt might be wondering if that designer moved to the Felt stable.
I attach pics of the working bike but soon I'll strip it down and take the frame to the alloy welders and rebuild it the way I want. Then I'll be able to add to this thread or start a new one.
Well I finally got the Felt Heritage Cruiser up and running but it can only be motorised using a certain model of Grubee kit. The is one BIG problem and that is the rear V-brake bosses which interfere with most drive trains because the brakes are mounted below the seat stays. I know there have been suggestions above that I could use a chain tensioner wheel/cog to deflect the topside of the chain below the brakes but a tensioner on the driven side of a chain is fraught with problems. The only real solution is to get the brake bosses cut off the underside and alloy welded on the top side where a sane designer would have put them to begin with. This is expensive and specialised work and the alloy welding would destroy a lot of paintwork and I'd need to respray the rear of the frame. Then the bike will have many possible uses and could take a Q-Matic drive which is what I want. The Heritage is the comfiest cruiser I've ever ridden but the rear brakes rule it out as a suitable host for motorising. The other problem is the clearance between the top tube and the curved cantilever tubes is not enough to allow a standard fuel cock so I used a brass one and cut it shorter to fit (see pics).
Then there is the frame itself which only just fits the motor and the choke lever is hard to get at. I did however finally find that the engine tray I had from the terrible JL Hoot kit I had never used (and never would use) fitted this bike so I used it but it has to be tilted upwards which is OK except it looks bad and looks are everything if you are a Virgo.
I also had to use a Grubee Mark 2 gearbox with 10T rigid drive sprocket so the bike has no freewheel which, in the event of a GB seizure would be very dangerous. I really don't like the gearbox not just for the above safety reason but because it is the most incredibly noisy Grubee I have ever encountered. Even when idling it whines like a stuck pig. The motor is a HuaSheng and the rear sprocket is a 44T which is slower than the usual Grubee 11T freewheel with a 48T sprocket and also less powerful on hills. I have been asking on this Forum for years about people's experience with this GB and never had any answers so I don't know the ideal rear sprocket size but it should be less than 44T (probably 42T or 40T) and I suspect it would be terrible on hills that it isn't good at now.
Those who remember when MTBs had the brakes mounted below the chain stays where they were hard to get at and collected huge amounts of dirt might be wondering if that designer moved to the Felt stable.
I attach pics of the working bike but soon I'll strip it down and take the frame to the alloy welders and rebuild it the way I want. Then I'll be able to add to this thread or start a new one.
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