Crank/Wheel/tire q's on felt.

[Ldog33]

As you can tell by my post count and my upcoming questions, I’m a noob, but you have to start somewhere. I just picked up a Felt surf city Huntington Beach cruiser off CL and want to customize it, so bear with me. My goal is to black out all the polished chrome pieces with black substitutes to match my car which is pretty much the same color scheme, Black and blue. Crank-is there one that is black that someone can point me to that is plug and play for this bike? Wheels/tires-I want the fattest tires/wheel combo I can put on, found the thread with the 26/24x57mm wheels in black, but not sure if I should purchase 26’s or 24’s. The bike came stock with 26’s x 50mm with quick brick antique white wall tires, but I'm afraid that if I get 26x57 wheels with 3 inch tires that I might run into issues??
Thanks

 

[Bicycle808]

You'll need a black 1 piece crank (OPC); here's a link to my favorite cheap, obtainable, new-production model:

http://www.niagaracycle.com/categories/black-ops-bmx-crankarm-1-piece-175-cro-mo-black-24tpi
Yeah, I know the pic shows a chrome one, but they offer the black one and as long as the one in your "cart" says "black", you're good. They make a 180mm version too, which may be better for ya.

You'll need a black sprocket to go with it:
http://www.niagaracycle.com/categories/black-ops-bmx-chainring-1-piece-44t-1-2-x-3-32-steel-black there's tons of other options out there, but that one came up in my same search for the crank, plus it's cheap, so...

Not sure what else you want/need blacked-out; those things had, IIRC, 1.125" quill stems, which sucks, but I have a black one of those in my basement. Try to pull the seatpost and see what size is stamped on it. If it's a1" (25.4mm) or a 7/8" (22.2mm), i will be remarkably easy to get a black post to replace it.

As for the wheels: You'll want to measure clearances, both front and rear. The threads on here about the 3g wheelsets should give you a very good idea of exactly how wide the 3" rubber is on the 57mm rims; make sure you have enough room between the seat- & chain-stays as well as the fork blades to accommodate them. Using a 24" in the back will usually help with this, too. You'll want at least an eighth of an inch of clearance on either side of the tire, and preferably more.

If it doesn't look like it'll fit, don't fret: I personally think that the really wide (50mm+) rims look best with 2.125" tires. Just looks meaner to me.

 

[Ldog33]

Thanks for the help and links. I got the black crank and sprocket. Found a black seat post which wasn't easy as it's 27.2. I’m 6-2 so I might have a custom laid back one made. The quill that is on my bike now matches the paint scheme, but to me it sticks too far up, finding a black one that is 1 1\8 is not easy. Found a black handlebar that is identical to the one on the bike, but the ends are longer, might have to cut them down some, no biggie. This bike has the woody car paint scheme, so I bought a different seat and grips to match. I found a used 26x3 tire, bought it and put it on each rim. The rear has no issues at all but the front touches the sides of the forks just a hair, but this tire is not very round, it is round on the top, but flares out on the side. I think rounder tires would work. Bought some black wheels, waiting for them to show along with other pieces. This bike has a three speed nexus grip , which I'm deleting because of the rear wheel I bought; also, I don’t like the look of the shifter up on the bars. I live in Chicago, and it’s flat here, so I don't think I need three gears. But If I decide to go that route I'll take the org. rim down with the hub along with the new black one and have a shop lace it up for me. Now here's another question, If I decide go with three gears I want to mount the shifter closer to the seat, how does one cut the cable on the shifter and what side would I cut to make it shorter?
Thanks again.

 

[karfer67]

The felt frame will clear a 24x3 tire on a felt rim which is wider than others so they have a decent amount of room