I've been watching my younger brother tool around on his motorized bike for a couple years. My wife and son had visit to grandma's in San Diego coming up so I figured it would be a good time to give it a go. I'm a big guy (6'4", 285lbs) so this isn't the right toy to try to set a speed record on, but I figured I could put together a fun cruiser for pretty cheap.
I had an original budget of $300... but after carefully considering the potential safety issues of the bike, I decided on upgrading to a hub-sprocket setup vs the rag joint and I was none-too-thrilled with the stock tensioner (even the 4-bolt version). I had images of the damn thing falling in to my spokes running through my head and decided an arch-type tensioner was in order.
As for the bike itself... I knew I wanted to go "all new". I managed to pick up a Kent "Sea Change" (where in the heck they came up with that name is beyond me) at the local Wally World on clearance for ... get this ... $74.50. I'd gone in to pick up a Huffy Cranbrook for $169.00... yeah... my mind was changed.
One thing I didn't like about both the Cranbrook and this Sea Change was the "coaster brake" only. I figured the coaster brake isn't that big of a deal so much as the lack of a front brake is. So I decided to pick up a set of handbrakes... next upgrade will be a single pull two-brake setup... hitting that front brake AND the clutch level is a little... tricky.
In any case... I've only put about 3-4 miles on her thus far... still breaking it in.
Here is a shot of the result... total outlay... approximately $375.00 plus perhaps $10.00 worth of over-inflated priced bolts...nuts...washers... at the local Tru-Value Hardware.
I had an original budget of $300... but after carefully considering the potential safety issues of the bike, I decided on upgrading to a hub-sprocket setup vs the rag joint and I was none-too-thrilled with the stock tensioner (even the 4-bolt version). I had images of the damn thing falling in to my spokes running through my head and decided an arch-type tensioner was in order.
As for the bike itself... I knew I wanted to go "all new". I managed to pick up a Kent "Sea Change" (where in the heck they came up with that name is beyond me) at the local Wally World on clearance for ... get this ... $74.50. I'd gone in to pick up a Huffy Cranbrook for $169.00... yeah... my mind was changed.
One thing I didn't like about both the Cranbrook and this Sea Change was the "coaster brake" only. I figured the coaster brake isn't that big of a deal so much as the lack of a front brake is. So I decided to pick up a set of handbrakes... next upgrade will be a single pull two-brake setup... hitting that front brake AND the clutch level is a little... tricky.
In any case... I've only put about 3-4 miles on her thus far... still breaking it in.
Here is a shot of the result... total outlay... approximately $375.00 plus perhaps $10.00 worth of over-inflated priced bolts...nuts...washers... at the local Tru-Value Hardware.
