RRBBO13 Big Boy BMX (Done !)

[horsefarmer]

This is a 1980's Huffy 26" 10 speed Mountain bike of some kind. Abandoned or stolen and bought cheap at Police auction.

Unknown history includes duct tape looped around rear tire, loose "dork disc" and rear spokes not broken but bent and loose (maybe stretched) both rims seem to run true. Chrome and paint seems decent.

Goal is a cool looking BMX style bike with a full size frame and 26" wheels.
Nothing is "top end" components, as entire bike is salvage and recycled parts. May use new tires and grips if necessary.

 

[horsefarmer]

First, Cut and remove lock.

and cut and remove "dork disc".

Man that rear wheel is very loose there must be 1/2" side to side slop! I thought it was loose or missing wheel bearings or maybe broken welds on the frame, but it all is loose spokes!

 

[OddJob]

When you said those wheels were true, you may have 'spoke' too soon; if you know what I mean!

That rear wheel will likely be a freewheel hub, so prob easy to spin on your BMX single FW of choice. Bars should work well, minus all the shifters, etc.

Going to keep the fork, or going with the straight leg BMX style?

 

[horsefarmer]

I'm going to throw it on the bike stand and try to see if it's a "easy fix". Most of the auction bikes are pretty horrible, but sometimes I get lucky.
Unsure of fork choice yet. Kinda like the blue flake paint on the stock fork tho.

 

[Indyjps]

Good project. Have any donor bikes to pull spokes from? The wheel should true up, spoke tension may be all over. Agree single speed conversion would be cool, I shoot for approx 2-1 gear ratio. 32/16, 34/17. Ive cut the other rings off the riveted cranks to retain the center ring and find a 3/32 freewheel to match the desired gearing.

26" straight chrome forks run about $25-40 on ebay, If you want one, Half that is shipping.

 

[kingfish254]

Welcome to BO13.
Have fun with this one.

 

[horsefarmer]

All the rear spokes took 2 plus turns to tighten, but it came out fine. Front wheel spokes needed attention too, but nothing like the rear.

Shimano Lark rear derailleur freed up with some light oil.

Front der refuses to move and OPC bottom bracket is very sloppy but gonna change it out anyway. Tires aired up and I was able to go on a successful test ride. Removed this bracket,

but I don't know what it was for maybe the fancy Kryptonite lock I cut.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Looks like a fun build!

I hope you keep the derailleur adjusted just right since you removed the 'dork disc'. It would be a sad irony if the chain got into the spokes!

 

[Funkme]

Welcome to the build-off.

 

[horsefarmer]

Looks like a fun build!

I hope you keep the derailleur adjusted just right since you removed the 'dork disc'. It would be a sad irony if the chain got into the spokes!

My policy on dork disc removal is if they are in good shape I leave them alone. Sometimes they are rotten and loose like this one and rattle around, then the gotta go. I will watch the adjustment carefully.

 

[Verrt]

Removed this bracket,
View attachment 79667
but I don't know what it was for maybe the fancy Kryptonite lock I cut.

I have a couple of those lying around. Pretty sure it's from a cheap Bell U-lock rather than the fancy Kryptonite lock.

So with the fancy lock just holding the wheel on, and the cheap lock securing it to the pole, one could theorize that is how it ended up in the police auction in the first place.

 

[horsefarmer]

The cheap Bell U-lock was MIA and the fancy lock was wrapped around the bars and the frame when I got the bike. Many of the bikes I buy at the police auction come with locks wrapped around the frame and not protecting the bike. Record so far is 3 locks on a single bike!
Removed crank and test fitted this mongoose unit.

While cleaning bottom bracket cups, I found notches in them and I thought they were damaged. Because they are on both sides and are uniform, I think they were installed that way at the factory.

Also found serial # and a date code on the original crank. The crank # looks like 87064. I also read that the first digit in the serial is the year so maybe mfg in 1987 or 1988?

This gave me a date to look for, then I saw this video of a 1986 Huffy Savannah 10 speed Bike commercial.

Someone sold one online recently, and here is a picture, even the seat is original!

 

[kingfish254]

Cool detective work on the Huffy Savannah. I've never seen notches like that in bearing cups. Make sure the don't interfere with the rolling of the bearings.
Love the goose ring on there!!!

 

[Yooperman]

Welcome to the build off. It will be interesting to see what you do to the eighties Huffy. Will it be worthy of riding around the big block?

 

[horsefarmer]

One of the goals of the build will to have a comfortable cruiser when done.

 

[horsefarmer]

Besides the Mongoose unit, I tried these...
Redline Big Block.

Haro set up I picked up at a swap.

Tony Hawk crank and FSA cog.

Not many more test rides left on this tire, LOL.

 

[RustyGold]

The bid block gives it a nice vibe

Jason

 

[Brian macumber]

My vote is for the red line set

 

[horsefarmer]

The monster Redline Big Block crank was only made for a couple of years. According to BMXmuseum, "These oversized 1pc. cranks came out in the late 90's. Very short run. This was the industry's answer to crappy one piece crank and bottom brackets problems. The only other company I know that used this oversized 1pce crank as OEM was Mosh aka Giant Bicycles. The bottom brackets for these are still available. The problem is and always has been the sprocket. This was a big advancement in one piece crank design but someone dropped the ball on after market chain wheels." The bearing cups are standard, but bearings are oversize because crank casting and threads are oversize.
Where most one piece crank chainwheels are 7/8" bore the Big Block requires 1" bore!

These are monsters compared to the crank that came in the 88 Huffy 10 speed.

 

[kingfish254]

Those big block cranks are awesome!!