Sup dudes!
I got myself a Huffy Santa Fe real cheap on FB marketplace and decided to chop it up and make a stretch cruiser
Here’s what it started as:
I played with some ideas on the iPad and came up with this for the frame:
I don’t have a tubing bender so I had to figure out something cool using straight tubing. I like the taildragger look where the frame extends past the rear wheel. I tried to keep all the angles consistent throughout the frame and have a nice flow even though I had all straight tubing.
Time to cut this thing up!
I don’t have a jig either so everything was done either on the floor or my small harbor freight welding table.
Laying out the main loop:
I used 1.5” OD tubing for the main loop and 1” OD for the rear section. I tacked the loop together and laid the 1” over to get the right angle. Notice how the angle stays consistent all the way down from the head tube.
I cut and welded the back half together on my little table. Checking the squareness and fit a bunch of times before zapping things together. Since I don’t have a jig or anything I tacked square tubing to the legs to keep them squared up.
All tacked together. I brought it out of the garage to check it out from more than 2 feet away. You can see the bits of square tubing tacked on there keeping things lined up. The bottom tube running perpendicular to the frame goes all the way through the bottom for strength. I drilled it out with a hole saw and slid it through. I will cut the excess off later.
Here we are mocked up with wheels. Gonna be a belly scraper for sure!
Here it is mocked up with bars and back wheel attached. I made those rear dropout plates just by cutting with a cut off wheel on a grinder and using a flap disc to shape them. I drilled a hole and used a cut off wheel and hand file to make the slots for the rear axle. I also later made a smaller slot to attach the coaster brake and keep it hidden behind the plate.
Mocked up with the bottom bracket and seat post attached.
Here’s how I did the bottom bracket. I cut the old one out of the huffy frame and same as the rear dropouts, cut and shaped plate with the grinder and zapped it up. I used some 1/4” thick steel plate for this since it’ll be a lot of stress on this part. It was fun trying to get that centered and square without a jig but I did it! I had a fun contraption made out of welding magnets and metal rulers.
Here’s a close up of the bottom bracket:
And here’s the final result! Quick rattle can paint job, some fresh tires, new seat and grips and I’m ready to roll! I took it on a cruise a couple miles around the neighborhood and it rides great!
So there it is! All done in my garage with minimal tools and a mig welder! Thanks for lookin! Hope you guys dig it.
I got myself a Huffy Santa Fe real cheap on FB marketplace and decided to chop it up and make a stretch cruiser
Here’s what it started as:
I played with some ideas on the iPad and came up with this for the frame:
I don’t have a tubing bender so I had to figure out something cool using straight tubing. I like the taildragger look where the frame extends past the rear wheel. I tried to keep all the angles consistent throughout the frame and have a nice flow even though I had all straight tubing.
Time to cut this thing up!
I don’t have a jig either so everything was done either on the floor or my small harbor freight welding table.
Laying out the main loop:
I used 1.5” OD tubing for the main loop and 1” OD for the rear section. I tacked the loop together and laid the 1” over to get the right angle. Notice how the angle stays consistent all the way down from the head tube.
I cut and welded the back half together on my little table. Checking the squareness and fit a bunch of times before zapping things together. Since I don’t have a jig or anything I tacked square tubing to the legs to keep them squared up.
All tacked together. I brought it out of the garage to check it out from more than 2 feet away. You can see the bits of square tubing tacked on there keeping things lined up. The bottom tube running perpendicular to the frame goes all the way through the bottom for strength. I drilled it out with a hole saw and slid it through. I will cut the excess off later.
Here we are mocked up with wheels. Gonna be a belly scraper for sure!
Here it is mocked up with bars and back wheel attached. I made those rear dropout plates just by cutting with a cut off wheel on a grinder and using a flap disc to shape them. I drilled a hole and used a cut off wheel and hand file to make the slots for the rear axle. I also later made a smaller slot to attach the coaster brake and keep it hidden behind the plate.
Mocked up with the bottom bracket and seat post attached.
Here’s how I did the bottom bracket. I cut the old one out of the huffy frame and same as the rear dropouts, cut and shaped plate with the grinder and zapped it up. I used some 1/4” thick steel plate for this since it’ll be a lot of stress on this part. It was fun trying to get that centered and square without a jig but I did it! I had a fun contraption made out of welding magnets and metal rulers.
Here’s a close up of the bottom bracket:
And here’s the final result! Quick rattle can paint job, some fresh tires, new seat and grips and I’m ready to roll! I took it on a cruise a couple miles around the neighborhood and it rides great!
So there it is! All done in my garage with minimal tools and a mig welder! Thanks for lookin! Hope you guys dig it.
