Felt Torch Chopper

[toro1978]

I happened upon a discussion on FB where a fellow from the German group mentioned he had a Torch he would be willing to be deprived of for a fair monetary compensation.
So I thought about it for a day or two and since the good gentleman lives just nearby, 25 minutes by train I messaged. (I'd swapped a front wheel with him before).

So exchange took place.

It has the common 24/26 inch wheelset. A combination I must admit I don't particularly like. I had it for long on my electric Felt and I was happy when I finally could switch to 24/24 inch wheels.
Also that red frame with the chrome fork deserve better than a black wheelset.
So I tried just for looks a 24" rim with a 2,125 tire:

While I do like it, it lowers the BB too much, I don't want to lose pedal clearance. Also I have something else in mind...
I tried the moped seat, might stay, have to ride.
Also slapped a headlight on it, will probably order a chrome one. They are actually plastic and very light.

 

[toro1978]

I will later do the front wheel too. Same tire, same size.
I am not sure about the fender, I think I will remove it... Or maybe flip it...
Once I am done with the wheels I want to find a solution to use my own handlebars instead of what comes with the fork.

 

[kingfish254]

Great score! I have always loved how the handlebars extend and retract into the fork legs on those Felt choppers.

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

Hopefully, the larger front tire will raise the front end (and BB). Gonna look cool with them on it.


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[toro1978]

I like the idea behind the bars, but not so much the look.
The result is highly overrated because once it starts accumulating rust the adjustment becomes very hard. I once got the bars as low as I could, but the one side wouldn't go deeper. So today I got them out. It was an epic fight and my arms and shoulders still hurt.

So I sprayed some wd40 in the legs and I will keep on spraying until they move easily.
If they don't I will consider trimming them a bit to get them all the way in.
But I am also considering trimming the grips and use the ends to attach quill stems to them, similar to clip on bars.

Only not attached directly to the fork. This will also allow for more adjustability.
Using stems will allow me to use a reversed brake lever and run the cable through the opening for the shaft bolt.
There are other neat tricks like using quill stems in the fork legs to use as direct mount moto style, but the Felt fork (made by zoom actually, according to small stickers on it) has too thick legs.
I think I will switch to bsa BB and look for a crankset similar to the one on the Carcass bike.
I tried a few seats, but in the end on this bike there can be only one:

I am not a sucker for paint but this one I rather like:

 

[toro1978]

Hopefully, the larger front tire will raise the front end (and BB). Gonna look cool with them on it.


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With the 3" tire it will be ok.

The front brake cable and housing must be replaced. I might look for suitable chain adjusters.
Also not sure, but I think that rear triangle could take 26x3.0. But we all know what happened last time I made such assumption...

 

[toro1978]

I found on the buy/sale German group a guy who was offering handlebars and there was a pair of Felt Chopper "grips" for a 20, so I bought them. I will be able to cut them any way I want and still have a an original pair in case I decide to replace the fork in the future.
The wd40 therapy bore fruit - the grips can be easily inserted. I put them back in so I can put the bike upside down to remove the front tire. It is too large for the bike stand.
That's the fork ends, I quite like them rounded like that:

(as opposed to the fork from the Cafe 750)
There is a small opening underneath the lower crown, it turns out it takes a m6 bolt, nice:

The BB is massively reinforced:

The downtube shows traces of lowrider activity.
So I dressed the front wheel in Creme as well and there's the finished wheelset:

These are in fact the wheels from the Felt Haribo.
I have to run a new cable for the front brake and I have some of my stuff I will use:

I was also happy to find my missing Allen key:

I also found my 14/15 wrench the other day so I I only need to find my cable cutter...

 

[toro1978]

Getting ready to mount the wheels.

As you can see because of the design of the rear triangle you do not need to break the chain. In my case it might be needed to break it open though, because my rear cog has 20 teeth while the original one has 22.
Or I could swap the cogs.
The drive train is still in planning. I don't know what to do about it right now. Put these pedals on it though. The reflectors have to go.

But as I said I am tempted to redo the BB in bsa. Hollow tech II is interesting as a possibility, but would I notice any difference to square taper to justify the cost? I kind of doubt it.
In the future I see it with an electric mid motor though...

 

[toro1978]

So I installed the wheels, also got the fender in a position where it would actually be useful:

The seat will have to go back to the Carcass bike - as you can see the front spring and the tank prevent it from go low enough.
I have an used moped seat on the way (just like the one on the fully only in brown and with thick leather instead of foam), but if I don't like it on this bike I will probably get a used Brooks b66 or 67, because they have an angled frame and spring only in the rear, also only the top row.
I have the bars as low as possible:

The front end should be something like this (might very well stay like this):

I am still considering what to do with the drive train - I could get the 3pc cranks I have (178 mm), or I could use the 6" opc I have. Moving the/a seat lower and further back might require the shorter opc.
I want to ride it some before I decide on the final version.
These did arrive today and will be used for sure:

They are 9/16 thread, but I have adapters so I can use them with the opc cranks.

 

[hamqqea]

Headlight grill looks good. 178 is long for this. 165-170mm is just right for an adult cruiser.

 

[RustyGold]

Headlight grill looks good. 178 is long for this. 165-170mm is just right for an adult cruiser.

You can't stand up to pedal on these, so I was considering an igh and/or longer cranks to make my similar Scythe a bit more ridable.

 

[toro1978]

Lol, sorry. They are 170 mm. I pressed 8 instead of 0 by mistake, with my fat finger.
I don't even know is there such a thing as 178 mm, I know 175 exist.
Actually my bikes always have to be rideable - riding position must be comfortable and pedals have to have enough clearance.

The headlight looks nice, but it is all plastic - you can see there is a piece of the grill missing. It is because I dropped the headlight. The advantage is the low weight.

 

[toro1978]

Well, the shiny parts are also way too shiny, like only plastic chrome imitation can be.
The 3 piece are still on my Felt Haribo, haven't removed them yet because I am not sure if I will use them.

 

[toro1978]

Getting there...
I received the seat and mounted it:

I also mounted the pedals just to see them on the bike:

The adapters make for a q factor way too big (hence reduced pedal clearance in corners), but I just scored a really beautiful 165 mm square taper crankset so in the end the drive train will be converted from us BB to bsa.
Not a cheap pleasure since it is a spider crankset and I will have to get a chainring and bolts. Also "us BB to bsa" adapter and a bsa BB.

 

[toro1978]

I have to report that the seat is not suitable for this bike. Unfortunately it is prone to tip over. There is simply too much leverage at the seat clamp.
But then I had an epiphany. I can simply use a patent seat post - less parts, hence simplicity, plus lower profile:

This is the nirve seat that the bike came with. As you can see the frame has a curve at the end which prevents it from being moved forward. It works like that, but it should be more to the front, closer to the tank. So the quest for a seat continues... Most wide seats I have don't have the rail frame, so can't be used with a patent seat post. The Brooks has rails though, so it might come back.
My cranks have been shipped so I will be looking for a chainring with the following specs - 144, 1/8, 42-44 teeth. Easy find, but not cheap. It will have to be in silver too.

 

[toro1978]

This seat actually does not look bad at all, on the first glance, it also goes well with the fender because of that arch on the seat frame:

It is however incredibly squeaky and has a tear on the left side:

I am naturally very tempted to simply strip it bare, but I don't know what is underneath. I have this one which looks quite ugly with these bolt heads sticking out:

So I don't know if it is even worth the effort.

 

[Verrt]

As you can see the frame has a curve at the end which prevents it from being moved forward. It works like that, but it should be more to the front, closer to the tank. So the quest for a seat continues...

If you flip the seatpost backwards to move the attachment point forward does it have enough tilt range to get the seat in the right position?

 

[toro1978]

Unfortunately no, because of the seat tube angle. Also this seat post has a bit of offset, maybe an inch. It is really just parts not working together - the seat tube has a little too much of an angle, the seat post has a little offset, the seat frame has that stupid arch right before it gets to the springs... I can change two of these and one would probably be enough.

 

[toro1978]

Wow, my crankset just arrived and I immediately bolted the pedals to it:

Sakae, for an amateur like me quite unknown. As you can see this crankset is 165 mm.
I got the BB and the chain ring bolts:

So I need to order the BB adapter and the chain ring. Not a lot of options with these particular specs. Most 144 chain rings are for 3/32 and/or too many teeth (48-53)... Probably will have to be ordered from the UK.

 

[Chainmaker2]

Wow, my crankset just arrived and I immediately bolted the pedals to it:
View attachment 142834View attachment 142835View attachment 142836
Sakae, for an amateur like me quite unknown. As you can see this crankset is 165 mm.
I got the BB and the chain ring bolts:
View attachment 142837
So I need to order the BB adapter and the chain ring. Not a lot of options with these particular specs. Most 144 chain rings are for 3/32 and/or too many teeth (48-53)... Probably will have to be ordered from the UK.

These guys are US and have a selection of bottom bracket adapters
http://sickbikeparts.com/bottom-bracket-adapters/