Glad that your luck held out on the Gremlin.
Were all of the Gremlins twin top tubes? I don't remember my buddy's having that.
Were all of the Gremlins twin top tubes? I don't remember my buddy's having that.
Here are the Huffy Gremlin Pictures:
- Thread starter huffyrailsarefun
- Start date
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Yes, I believe all gremlins had twin bar top tubes. I know you could get the gremlin in several different ways though.
Coaster brake single speed rear wheel with a standard fork and 20 x 1.75 front wheel was the base model.
The 36 inch sissybar was an option.
The 16 x 1 3/8 front fork, fender, and wheel were an option.
You could get the gremlin as a three speed with console stick shifter as an option as well.
Colors were either candy, slime, booger gree like mine is, or emerald green fade in parts of the frame with candy, slime, booger green as the main color.
I was told a guy has a gremlin in blue and its the original color but I don't believe him. He won't let me see the bike, won't allow me to see pictures of the bike and every time I ask nicely about it he changes the subject. Yet he insists it's a huffy gremlin and is blue.
So, I guess like anything, blue is a possible color, but not very likely.
I'm seriously considering having my gremlin professionally painted in candy blue and then redecaling it and rechroming it just to say I have one to see what the guy will do when I show him mine. He thinks his huffy gremlin is worth between $1500 and $2000 since thats what he saw raleigh ron charge for his restored huffy rails so he thinks my offer of $350 for his bike, sight unseen is an insult and he is accusing me of trying to screw him out of the bike so I can
sell it for the thousands it's supposedly worth. I found that really funny and found it hard not to fall down laughing once I heard that since he won't even show me the bike exists, not even pictures.
I know my huffy gremlin is no prize and it is rough but I also know it's mine and I can touch it and feel it and I know it's real and really exists at least. It's definately better than chasing down someone's dillussions of granduer and a bike that probably doesn't even exist and isn't even real.
Sometimes its frustrating when you have people tell you all ablout something they supposedly own, tell you they want to sell it, you offer a more than fair price sight unseen and then they accuse you of trying to screw them over because they saw a bike kind of like theirs only different name and model and also perfect, so they think theirs is worth at least that.
It's alot like people and old cars. Someone will have a old car and never do anything with it. But they will never sell it to someone for a fair honest current market value price because then that person might do something with it and because they think that somehow the person is screwing them over on the value. So the car will sit and rust away to nothing because of fear of the person who owns it. Then the person dies, the car is rusted out and useless and gets junked. Now no one gets to enjoy it, and everyone loses.
It's getting that way in the bike world now too. People who own old bikes think they are worth tons of money just because certain brands and models of particular bikes can be woth alot. Automatically people assume every old bike is worth alot, some to the point that they have to get hundreds of dollars for any old bike they own or they won't sell it because they know what old bikes are worth and they won't let you screw them over on the big money their bike is worth.
Although the internet auctions have made it easier to find parts I feel it also has really hurt the hobby. It also killed swap meets big time. Everyone puts everything on *bay auctions now and almost no one brings anything decent to swap meets anymore. Alot of people don't go at all and it really hurts the venders alot. Just my two cents worth. I am not looking at starting an arguement so if I accidently said something you don't like I apologize in advance.
Coaster brake single speed rear wheel with a standard fork and 20 x 1.75 front wheel was the base model.
The 36 inch sissybar was an option.
The 16 x 1 3/8 front fork, fender, and wheel were an option.
You could get the gremlin as a three speed with console stick shifter as an option as well.
Colors were either candy, slime, booger gree like mine is, or emerald green fade in parts of the frame with candy, slime, booger green as the main color.
I was told a guy has a gremlin in blue and its the original color but I don't believe him. He won't let me see the bike, won't allow me to see pictures of the bike and every time I ask nicely about it he changes the subject. Yet he insists it's a huffy gremlin and is blue.
So, I guess like anything, blue is a possible color, but not very likely.
I'm seriously considering having my gremlin professionally painted in candy blue and then redecaling it and rechroming it just to say I have one to see what the guy will do when I show him mine. He thinks his huffy gremlin is worth between $1500 and $2000 since thats what he saw raleigh ron charge for his restored huffy rails so he thinks my offer of $350 for his bike, sight unseen is an insult and he is accusing me of trying to screw him out of the bike so I can
sell it for the thousands it's supposedly worth. I found that really funny and found it hard not to fall down laughing once I heard that since he won't even show me the bike exists, not even pictures.
I know my huffy gremlin is no prize and it is rough but I also know it's mine and I can touch it and feel it and I know it's real and really exists at least. It's definately better than chasing down someone's dillussions of granduer and a bike that probably doesn't even exist and isn't even real.
Sometimes its frustrating when you have people tell you all ablout something they supposedly own, tell you they want to sell it, you offer a more than fair price sight unseen and then they accuse you of trying to screw them over because they saw a bike kind of like theirs only different name and model and also perfect, so they think theirs is worth at least that.
It's alot like people and old cars. Someone will have a old car and never do anything with it. But they will never sell it to someone for a fair honest current market value price because then that person might do something with it and because they think that somehow the person is screwing them over on the value. So the car will sit and rust away to nothing because of fear of the person who owns it. Then the person dies, the car is rusted out and useless and gets junked. Now no one gets to enjoy it, and everyone loses.
It's getting that way in the bike world now too. People who own old bikes think they are worth tons of money just because certain brands and models of particular bikes can be woth alot. Automatically people assume every old bike is worth alot, some to the point that they have to get hundreds of dollars for any old bike they own or they won't sell it because they know what old bikes are worth and they won't let you screw them over on the big money their bike is worth.
Although the internet auctions have made it easier to find parts I feel it also has really hurt the hobby. It also killed swap meets big time. Everyone puts everything on *bay auctions now and almost no one brings anything decent to swap meets anymore. Alot of people don't go at all and it really hurts the venders alot. Just my two cents worth. I am not looking at starting an arguement so if I accidently said something you don't like I apologize in advance.
The Blueberry Gremlin story sounds a lot like the mysterious Grape Krate that entertained us
:arrow: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=66633&hilit=+grape+krate
:arrow: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=66633&hilit=+grape+krate
Yes it does. First it was the grape krate, then the coal krate, then the blueberry krate.
I like the idea of those bikes and it was nice when I saw that people had repainted and restored their krate bikes in those colors. I read the story about the dealer only grape krate prize bike and how the bike was thrown out by his mom and only the chainguard remains. It's easy enough to distress paint and decals and make something look old. I know that several people are out there to verify the story but I still have a hard time believing it. I mean where all the records of it? If the records were destroyed in a fire or thrown out or something then surely alot more than just a few people would be able to verify the story since there were tons of schwinn bike dealers all over the united states then. Schwinn was pushing hard in advertising about every kid should own a schwinn bike back when the krate bikes were all the hype. there were schinn bike dealers selling schwinn bikes all over the place back then. So shouldn't there be a whole ton of dealers able to confirm the grape krate theory instead of just a small handfull?
I think it's great to build bikes in colors the factory never offered. Most of the time the colors the bikes came in from the factory were limited and alot of the colors were pretty gross. I mean pea soup green (schwinn's campus green), dark navy blue, candy booger green (huffy rails and huffy gremlins), and other such colors are neat but when thats all thats offered on some bikes is one or two colors (for example how many purple huffy rails did they make?, it seems like almost every huffy rail is purple, once in a great while a burnt bronze one appears and thats about it)..then it's great to see a bike built completely stock except in a nice, bright, cool color. I just don't like people claiming it's a special prototype or a limited dealer bike or an experimental bike without hard core paperwork and absolute proof to back it up. Otherwise anyone and everyone would do it and say their bike is rare to get way more money than the bike is actually worth.
It's all great fun until someone claims it to be real and authetic without any real hardcore proof.
I like the idea of those bikes and it was nice when I saw that people had repainted and restored their krate bikes in those colors. I read the story about the dealer only grape krate prize bike and how the bike was thrown out by his mom and only the chainguard remains. It's easy enough to distress paint and decals and make something look old. I know that several people are out there to verify the story but I still have a hard time believing it. I mean where all the records of it? If the records were destroyed in a fire or thrown out or something then surely alot more than just a few people would be able to verify the story since there were tons of schwinn bike dealers all over the united states then. Schwinn was pushing hard in advertising about every kid should own a schwinn bike back when the krate bikes were all the hype. there were schinn bike dealers selling schwinn bikes all over the place back then. So shouldn't there be a whole ton of dealers able to confirm the grape krate theory instead of just a small handfull?
I think it's great to build bikes in colors the factory never offered. Most of the time the colors the bikes came in from the factory were limited and alot of the colors were pretty gross. I mean pea soup green (schwinn's campus green), dark navy blue, candy booger green (huffy rails and huffy gremlins), and other such colors are neat but when thats all thats offered on some bikes is one or two colors (for example how many purple huffy rails did they make?, it seems like almost every huffy rail is purple, once in a great while a burnt bronze one appears and thats about it)..then it's great to see a bike built completely stock except in a nice, bright, cool color. I just don't like people claiming it's a special prototype or a limited dealer bike or an experimental bike without hard core paperwork and absolute proof to back it up. Otherwise anyone and everyone would do it and say their bike is rare to get way more money than the bike is actually worth.
It's all great fun until someone claims it to be real and authetic without any real hardcore proof.
But the Grape Krate was real. Krazy Kev even had a certificate of authencity. 
Why does the date read 1976 on the paper? Schwinn and every other bike company in the United States was no longer allowed to build any bikes with stick shifters on them after the 1973 year. From 1974 on stick shifters were illegal, banned by fearfull, overprotective mommys not letting kids grow up without protecting them from the world. Schwinn would never have been allowed to build, sell, or even give away any bike with a stick shifter on it after 1973, yet the date on the paper reads 1976. I'm sorry, I don't buy it. It doesn't add up. The bike in the picure clearly has a stick shifter on it and the date reads 1976. I guess you could argue that the date was the date the paper was copied but that makes no sense. I'd need proof of a date by schwinn that is before 1973.
Schwinn would never risk their reputation or legal action and or fines by secretly assemling bikes illegally just to give them to certain dealers as special secret gifts. No business takes risks like that. Schwinn corporation was far too smart to risk losing so much by doing something clearly illegal.
The print is also too bold on the paper. It clearly came from a modern computer. Back then the print would have been thin because no one had computers or internet. Everything was done on typewritters. The lettering on the paper is not right.
You can also see where the bike picture has been cut out of a picture and posted onto the letter, then copied. If schwinn wanted to use a picture of their krate bike it certainly wouldn't have a lawn and sidewalk around it and the picture wouldn't be so obviosly hastily cut and pasted. I mean look at it, the tops of the handlebars have been cut right off, schwinn never would allow such a crappy picture of their coveted krate bike to be so grossly shown in such a sloppy way, especially to their best dealers.
If your going to try and insist that this paer is real then Schwinn obviouly wasn't the great company we all thought it was. Obviously schwinn had no problems doing illegal things and showing their product in shoddy, crappy pictures. If this document is real then schwinn corporation is obviously a very horrible bike company that didn't care about its products or the following the laws. I don't buy this paper is real anymore than I buy that wal-mart sells bikes better than schwinns used to be.
Schwinn would never risk their reputation or legal action and or fines by secretly assemling bikes illegally just to give them to certain dealers as special secret gifts. No business takes risks like that. Schwinn corporation was far too smart to risk losing so much by doing something clearly illegal.
The print is also too bold on the paper. It clearly came from a modern computer. Back then the print would have been thin because no one had computers or internet. Everything was done on typewritters. The lettering on the paper is not right.
You can also see where the bike picture has been cut out of a picture and posted onto the letter, then copied. If schwinn wanted to use a picture of their krate bike it certainly wouldn't have a lawn and sidewalk around it and the picture wouldn't be so obviosly hastily cut and pasted. I mean look at it, the tops of the handlebars have been cut right off, schwinn never would allow such a crappy picture of their coveted krate bike to be so grossly shown in such a sloppy way, especially to their best dealers.
If your going to try and insist that this paer is real then Schwinn obviouly wasn't the great company we all thought it was. Obviously schwinn had no problems doing illegal things and showing their product in shoddy, crappy pictures. If this document is real then schwinn corporation is obviously a very horrible bike company that didn't care about its products or the following the laws. I don't buy this paper is real anymore than I buy that wal-mart sells bikes better than schwinns used to be.
Im pretty sure that fork does not work, its just for looks. My buddy had one in his basement collecting dust, the fork did not work. Wish I would have grabbed it up but I wasn't really into muscle bikes back then, he tossed it about a week after showing it to me.
Swet, Sweet bike BTW!
Swet, Sweet bike BTW!
Your right. These forks were made for their looks. These are hard to find forks. They were made to look cool. This fork is complete and all the real hard to come by items are in good shape. The fender is straight, the front wheel is in good shape, the fork crown plate is nice and the fork itself isn't all pitted like most are.
