Black sails

[toro1978]

Well, this is my starting point, a chopper frame that I couldn't identify:

It is similar to a Nirve or a Velor chopper, but there are differences. The Velor seems to have a more angled headtube and a longer fork and the frame seems larger and longer. The Nirve has the down tube and the top tube welded together and to the head tube, while my frame has the top and down tube not welded together, but each one is welded separately to the headtube. The lines are not quite the same, my frame seems to be shorter too. It has been repainted black, the original paint is dark blue metallic.
It has a US BB, it takes an EC34 1 1/8" headset, it has a a 1 1/8" seat tube and around 127mm between the rear dropouts.
So my plan is to try to fit a downhill fork in this thing and see if it is long enough to work as a chopper fork. I will use for this the fork from my electric Felt, which is a Rock Shox Domain for 27,5" wheels.
From then on, still depending on pedal clearance I will see if I can get away with installing the electric motor, which makes for a much wider Q factor, or I try to reduce said factor by simply converting and installing a track crankset.

 

[PeteMcP]

Cool looking frame. Looks to be loads of room in there for an in-frame e-motor. Looking forward to following along with this build.

 

[toro1978]

I used a Felt cruiser frame for my electric and the motor hangs underneath. I suspect that I might get it in the triangle if I cut off the chain guard mount, which I don't use anyway. But then I probably won't have enough space left for the battery.
So in the end, since I have another Felt cruiser it makes sense to me to simply disassemble the current electric build and use this frame for a rebuild since it would allow me to change the motor position while keeping the battery on the down tube.
I plan to also use the wheels, the seat and lights from it:

The fork is dropped really low, it also has a tall crown which is upside down right now, so it is quite long actually.
If it turns out still too short I have two choices. Either switch to a simpler build and use 155 mm opc... Or look for a rigid chopper fork, preferably from a Felt cruiser, which might be hard to find. The frame actually came with a chain guard and a double crown. I measured it, I think it was around 38-39 mm. So I am clueless where I could find legs that size.

 

[OddJob]

Great ideas and frame! This will be a fun one to follow. Welcome to the BO @toro1978 !

 

[kingfish254]

Love the frame. Even if you end up with shorter forks than chopper length, it should still work. There are a lot of examples of lowered Nirves out there for reference. It really gives the bike a mean stance. This is going to be fun to follow.

 

[toro1978]

I need to hammer these cups out and press them in the chopper frame.

I know people like to lower these. They lower Felt choppers too and they all look awesome. They often use shorter cranks too. We will see how it turns out.

 

[toro1978]

I got the cups out of the fully frame. Then I improvised a headset press and pressed them in the chopper frame.

I also installed the fork, which seems to be just tall enough.

And the rear wheel:

 

[toro1978]

 

[toro1978]

I replaced the Felt stem with this one:

I also plan to try to install this brake:

The BB clearance is around 28 cm, so I should have around 10 cm of pedal clearance, minus a few cm for the suspension, which I set to hard.
I have to install the motor in order to get an idea about the seating position and from then handlebars.
But it looks like I will be needing a seat post.

 

[toro1978]

This is the motor. It is a 250watt Bafang bbs01. It has a freewheel so it doesn't work with a coaster brake.

The display is mounted on the side of the headlight along with the command buttons.

As I suspected the cable for the speed sensor is too short. I will have to check again in the electric forums, I seem to remember there was a solution for this problem.
On the other hand I had no trouble fitting the adaptor cups and the motor in the frame. The adaptors can be purchased from Luna Cycles, last I heard they were 22 us dollars for the pair. I will clean everything a bit, I just mocked it up.

 

[SkyknightJohn]

Looking Good!

 

[toro1978]

I am sick at home and haven't touched anything. My extension for the speed sensor came though.

I am expecting a stem with 25 mm clamp and a 22 mm bars to arrive tomorrow. Will see what works. I think I will run the chain tomorrow too.
Seat:

 

[toro1978]

This chain will be too short, but I actually have two of them so chain length is not an issue. It is a "kmc Kool knight" half link chain and it gets opened and closed with a chain breaker tool, just like any other regular half link, or whole link chain.

 

[toro1978]

The bars came in and they are fabulous!

Then I switched the stem and the spacer to get the bars closer to the crown and farther forward a bit:

They have less curve than the moto bars and different angle too. The frame is not very big so with the seat low the bars were a little too close. Now it feels better. I am also glad that they are black.
The apes were excluded immediately because they were way too tall for this build:

Doesn't look good either. When I bought my Torch the seller brought it with the bars extended all the way up. I couldn't understand how can you hang like that. I rode it two miles from the station to my place and it was the most unpleasant ride in my life.
So this leaves me with my new bars:

So, the motor must be properly mounted. The cables must be fastened to the frame. The battery holder must be fastened to the frame - I am trying to think of a more elegant solution than zip ties, but don't want to drill. I have to run the gearing and brakes cables. Mount a taillight.
By the way the bike sits down so low that I can only leave it with the fork turned left, but if I turn it right the bike falls over It seems that pedal clearance won't be a problem though.

 

[toro1978]

By the way this is the battery.

I think I will remove the Felt logos, which I might reapply to my bare metal Felt's tank.
I do have these steampunk themed beer cans and I plan to cut out of those a logo or a picture for the battery.

I will see which one I will use. Maybe a few... I will cut the ugliest one for a test fit and then will decide on the others.
OH, and if this is the official imperial brew then it won't surprise me if they have rebellions and resistance because it tastes awful.

 

[toro1978]

So, I have a pair of aluminum bar plugs and two headset caps...

A couple of washers and voila:

I connected the brakes. Unfortunately the rear brake cable is just a little too short. The gear cable might be long enough, but I have to cut the frayed end an inch.
The red brake caliper has the adjustable screw at a really weird angle for some unknown reason, so I didn't bother installing it.
I must say that I was thinking of buying this wheelset:

26" wheels from which I would use the rear wheel. (the front has an identical or narrower rim and a nice drum brake hub that I don't recognized). So I was hoping to use the red brake in the front and this rear wheel in the back,with a 3" and not 2,35" like pictured.
However, a bigger tire will make me move the seat forward. So, in the end I decided against it. I quite like it on 24x3.0 anyway.
Still very unsure about that wheelset cause I can definitely use it in the unforeseeable future...

 

[toro1978]

 

[toro1978]

The chain is closed:

And the gear sensor is attached:

I have another frame bag that I can use to hide some of of the electric cables. I need bigger zip ties for the battery holder. Then I can take it out for a ride.

 

[Ulu]

This is the motor. It is a 250watt Bafang bbs01. It has a freewheel so it doesn't work with a coaster brake. View attachment 192004
The display is mounted on the side of the headlight along with the command buttons.
View attachment 192008
As I suspected the cable for the speed sensor is too short. I will have to check again in the electric forums, I seem to remember there was a solution for this problem.
On the other hand I had no trouble fitting the adaptor cups and the motor in the frame. The adaptors can be purchased from Luna Cycles, last I heard they were 22 us dollars for the pair. I will clean everything a bit, I just mocked it up.
View attachment 192006

How do these work? Is there a freewheel device in the BB?

 

[toro1978]

Exactly. When you kick back the cranks turn, but not the chain ring. There are other motors, the tsdz2 from tong zheng, for example, has a coaster brake version.