Jc Higgins Gentleman's Cruiser.

[SSG]

I wanted to recreate the typical teens diamond frame type bicycle using easy to find modern parts. This bike combines the comfortable riding position of a cruiser with the light weight and low rolling resistance of a road bike. The paint is factory black with some of the orig. gold pin striping remaining. The rims are 700c double wall deep v type which have a similar rounded shape as metal clad wood wheels. Once I have a few miles on them I'm going to paint them faux wood grain. These big wheels keep the 28" look. The rear hub is a coaster brake for simplicity. Classy all white tires top them off. Building this bike has been a disaster, I got carried away and spent more than I should have, then realized this bike is plagued by odd non-standard sizes. The headset cups are a weird size so I had to mix match parts to get something that would work, the bottom bracket is a uncommon Swiss thread. I got it assembled today only to find that the cranks will not accept a 9/16 pedal, nor a 1/2. They must be french thread. I'm going to have them tapped for 9/16 pedals for now. I can't wait to ride it!

 

[Gold Street Customs]

Thats what I would like to do with this one , yours is a beauty. Where did you get your tires?http://ratrodbikes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=13055

 

[Anonymous]

Thats a handsom Higgins! (I never used the word handsom to describe a bike before)

I like it!

 

[SSG]

Nice scout! The tires are vittoria zaffiro 23x700. I got them on ebay when they were on sale. You can find all white 23x700 CST C740 tires for about half the price of the vittorias. They are like $35 for a pair and they look the same. I discovered this shortly after buying the expensive ones of course.

 

[blink]

hey, where did you buy the wheels?
i am in the market for a couple sets.
i found some on the bay for $130 or so a set free shipping.

did they have decals on them?

 

[SSG]

The ones you saw on ebay are probably the same ones. They were $130 with free shipping, which was the cheapest I could find them. I removed all the stickers. Because they are double wall and deep, the rims are a little heavy for road bike wheels but probably a little lighter than your average cruiser wheels. The rims are 32 spoke. The front hub is decent quality with a quick release axle but the coaster brake is pretty much the cheapest one available. I may swap it out for a better rear hub depending on how it rides after it has a few miles on it. I haven't ridden them yet so thats all I can tell you.

 

[Multipass]

WOW - I really like this bike a lot. It's well thought out, clean and simple but still packs a visual punch. Even though the cranks are being troublesome, they fit the look of the bike perfectly.

-Mp