ORBO Silver Mule - 2 speed all terrain cruiser type thing

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Saw the Instagram post and coincidentally about to start a project build after taking about 4 months acquiring all of the parts I need. Here's the original plan that started the ball rolling and some of the parts so far (some loosely assembled to give me something to look at until I get the rear wheel)

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Welcome to the RRB f-Rat-ernity! Rho Alpha Tau baby. Rat on!
 
So the wheel is built and good to go, so only parts I need now are the tubes and bolt for the seat tube. I ordered the 2 speed SRAM automatix back in September, but due to a Europe wide drought on these hubs and self imposed budget constraints, I had to wait until late December for it to arrive.
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To give a slightly more detailed description of the project, I basically want a straight-bar cruiser type bike that'll take me along dirt and potholed gravel tracks with the odd short punchy hill, I don't need it for any mountain climbing. I also want it to be comparatively light weight compared to other cruisers without spending much cash on parts.

The frame is an early 90s 17inch claud butler Reynolds 653 MTB frame, the optimum size for the sissy bar banana seat combo. 1 1/8 headset with light 90s MTB quill stem. The reach is a lot longer than I'd ideally like, but itll work and I'm giving it a try to stay within budget. Handlebars are black stingray bars, which I'll be shimming to fit the stem. Black bmx front brake lever which I already had and rear coaster brake.

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Rims are plain aluminium from the original bike, with a SRAM automatix 2 speed coaster hub built into the rear wheel. Tyres will be cream wall DMR super moto jump tyres, which are super light and have a really nice medium tread.

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Apart from that it'll have 38t front chain ring with 19t rear, red half link chain, silver bear trap pedals, 20inch banana seat, black sissy bar and led front bullet light. The only difficulty so far was finding the right lenght 30mm alloy seat post, so I'm going for a 25.4mm post with a 25.4 - 30mm alloy seat post shim.

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The automatic gears should change up at about 12mph to 126% of direct drive to give a nice turbo boost, but I'll have to wait and see how good it is for my knees.

And today I've put some of it together, nothing tightened, but just to get an idea of how it'll look. Tyres and frame looking good, and its one tall bike. I feel like the sissy bar is a bit too high, but was always going to be an experimental project. I'll also definitely swap out the stem for something with a shorter reach after a few good rides.

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Crank disaster Noooooooooooo! Want to punch myself in the face right now. Was hoping this would fit as I already had it, looked perfect and was perfect for a 2:1 great ratio. Time to reassess. Any thoughts on what to order as a replacement to avoid a repeat situation?
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Not the first time I've stupidly assumed a part would fit. "Never assume, it'll only make an ... out of u and me"
 
Have you made sure the longer side of the crank spindle is on the drive side?

Luke.
Good point and now you mention it the longer side is on the non drive side, still wouldn't be enough clearance though. I'm going to needed a longer spindle.
 
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I can't wait to see this thing on the trails

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
OK, so swapped out the bottom bracket for a new one with 122 spindle for perfect chain line and so the chainset would fit of course.

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Looks-wise it's exactly how I wanted it, but it's really horrible to ride, which probably won't surprise many people apart from myself. Anything over 30mins in the saddle is really uncomfortable and terrible going up even tiny hills. Basically it's a waste of a Reynolds frame.

Going to make some radical changes, so in a way it's nice to know that the project isn't finished.

The plan is now to switch back to the long reach stem, get rid of the stingray bars and use the original alloy handlebars that I'll trim down to 38cm for storage purposes, replace the ridiculous banana seat and sissy bars for my spare Charge Bucket saddle and add a chain tensioner for the saggy chain. Was fun while it lived in my head at least.
 
I'm diggin the muscleklunk look
 

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