"The Huffy Cranbrook is the ideal bike for an easy, comfortable ride around town or along the bike path. The Warm Gold cruiser frame and black fenders coordinate with a pattern design used on the cruiser to give a 21st century style to the classic cruiser. The Cranbrook includes all the comfort features that make riding cruisers so much fun."
That's a quote from the web, not my words. That is not to say that I don't agree that for the money, the Huffy Cranbrook is a sturdy and comfortable ride worth putting between your legs. When I came across this one however, it was not in the best condition and was begging for the rust to be cleaned away and in dire need of greasing all around.
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| The chrome was speckled with a lot of surface rust. |
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| The chain and crank assembly had a little rust and a bunch of gunk and build up. |
The only real mechanical problems that I found could be fixed by breaking the bike down and cleaning it thoroughly the greasing up all the bearings and chain. The paint on the frame and the rims were in excellent shape with no noticeable dents or dings that I could see. I figured that it was worth saving and re-homing at the very least.
After removing Fawn's (my GFs doggy) basket, I brought it into the flat and began breaking it down.
Huffy Cranbrook 26" Men's Cruiser Bike:
Riding Style: cruiser bike
Frame: classic steel cruiser frame
Handlebars: comfortable handlebars with cheap old style grips
Seat: padded spring saddle and quick-release binder for easy adjustments, but man it is huge!
Brakes: easy to use coaster brakes
Tires: 26" x 2.125" whitewall balloon tires but these were weather worn and the paint was cracked.
Rims: durable steel, bronze painted rims
Fenders: classic fenders
Pedals: dual-density pedals
Model No.: 56361
Shipping Weight (in pounds): 42.2185
Product in Inches (L x W x H): 68.0 x 26.0 x 44.0
Riding Style: cruiser bike
Frame: classic steel cruiser frame
Handlebars: comfortable handlebars with cheap old style grips
Seat: padded spring saddle and quick-release binder for easy adjustments, but man it is huge!
Brakes: easy to use coaster brakes
Tires: 26" x 2.125" whitewall balloon tires but these were weather worn and the paint was cracked.
Rims: durable steel, bronze painted rims
Fenders: classic fenders
Pedals: dual-density pedals
Model No.: 56361
Shipping Weight (in pounds): 42.2185
Product in Inches (L x W x H): 68.0 x 26.0 x 44.0
Simple enough right? Just clean it up then grease it up and reassemble it. Then it will be a smooth ride ready for a new owner. But then I got to looking at the curves of that cruiser frame and it got me to thinking.
A two tone paint scheme would really make this ride look as smooth as it would now ride. So I pulled out the cans and slapped a coat of Krylon Gloss Black on selected sections of the frame.
I think that it came out looking pretty sweet if I do say so myself! Now all it needed was a few hand painted touches here and there.
Now granted, I am no Picasso, but it came out passable. I think it give the frame a little flair.
Enough playing around for now though, it was time to get dirty and do the real work. I began by breaking down and cleaning up the bottom bracket and bearings components.
I went ahead and started cleaning the surface rust off of everything at this point as well.
Then I started messing around with how different saddles might look on this evolving cruiser.
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| This was better than the bulky original. |
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| This is the big saddle that this cruiser came with. |
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| I really like the clean look of this tan saddle. |
Having decided on the new saddle and finding some matching hand grips, I was anxious to get this baby back together. I cleaned the headset bearings of really good.
That pitted chrome work was still bugging me even after cleaning it up and making it all shiny again. I went ahaead and slapped a coat of gunmetal silver Fusion paint on the handle bars, crank and other chosen components before I began the reassembly.
After a couple of days of paint time I was ready to reassemble this golden cruiser. I greased up the headset and put on the forks.
Now this ride was starting to take shape! I attacked that bottom bracket and crank assembly next.
I really liked the way it was coming along. This ride went from a good sturdy beach cruiser to a one of a kind Custom Cruiser with coaster brakes!
Those colors accentuated one another well too. I was getting excited now that this ride was so close to completion! It was too bad that I didn't have a better looking set of whitewalls to put on it, but hey this started as a flip bike. I had no idea that I would end up putting this much time into it.
I threw some new tubes on it and put on the original platform pedals.
Fawn supervised the whole process to insure quality and craftsmanship.
It might have been her who first suggested cutting down the fenders on this bike. Maybe I had just decided it would make this cruiser really stand out to chop down the fenders. Where ever the inspiration came from, that is exactly what I set out to do.
For what started out as a generic Crestwood Cruiser I think this Golden Coaster came out looking like a one of a kind awesome ride for cruising up and down the streets of B-town!
Fawny decided that it was way too big for her little legs to pedal though, so it looks like I will need to find this golden oldie a new rider. Any takers?
If you think that you are the right person to put this piece of fun between your legs you can check out the Craigslist ad here for details of how to make this ride yours!
Thanks for dropping by! Now go RIDE YER BIKE!
