rawville
New Member
- Local time
- 12:56 AM
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2009
- Messages
- 13
Hey everybody.
I've been lurking the forums for about the last week soaking up all the info I can before I order my parts this coming Monday.
First off let me tip my hat to you all. I've seen quite a few very impressive builds on this site and I hope that my 2nd or 3rd build can sit in the same class.
But for this 1st build, I'm going budget style. I want to learn the ins and outs, find out what works well and what doesn't, push the bike to it's breaking point, then rebuild it stronger.
Not gonna be much eye candy here, just utility.
To start it off, I picked up a schwinn jaguar for $20 yesterday off craigslist. The guy only wanted $60 for it, but I got haggling in my blood and I couldn't help myself . To top it off it already had multifunction bell speedometer on it. Now, it does have a bit of rust on the chain, sprockets, and brakes, but nuthin a little tlc won't remedy. The seat was also kinda lopsided, but I plan to make my own, so that isn't much of a problem. I linked a pic of it at the bottom. check out the temporary seat made out of a bike rack, a piece of mdf, and a folded towel (not to comfy for longer rides )
I have decided that for this first build I wanna try out one of these HT engines. More specifically a Skyhawk or Starfire. From all my research it seems they are pretty much the same thing, just made in different factories. I did read somthing on another site that suggested the Starfire has a bit more power and is better constructed, but it seems there are more Skyhawk parts available on the market, and since I plan to really put some hurtin on this 1st build, I think the skyhawk is the way i'll go.
I do have a questions about where I should purchase my Skyhawk from though. Preferably somewhere on the east coast (since i live in FL) that carries the blacked out skyhawk kit. If yall know of any dealer besides Pirate Cycles that meets that criteria, please, do tell.
I also plan to pick up one of them jack shaft kits from sick bike parts. Letting the engine make use of the 7 gears on the jaguar seems like the most logical choice, even if it does cost more than the engine kit itself .
while on the topic of the shift kits from SBP, has anyone manage to break the Freewheel that comes with the standard kit? is the Heavy duty freewheel really worth $50 more?
Now for the matter of the seat.
I was thinking of making a custom one. I found a thread on here once with a guy that was making his own, but i can't for the life on me find it again. I was thinking something along the lines of a wide banana seat with springs somehow mounted to the equivalent of a sissy bar for shock absorption. the guy who was making his own seat gave me the idea. he had said he realized how easy it would be to implement after he had already finished welding his seat frame. i sure wish i could find that thread again
anyways, any helpful hints or tips yall could shoot my way would be greatly appreciated.
I'll try to keep this thread updated as the build progresses
Rhett
I've been lurking the forums for about the last week soaking up all the info I can before I order my parts this coming Monday.
First off let me tip my hat to you all. I've seen quite a few very impressive builds on this site and I hope that my 2nd or 3rd build can sit in the same class.
But for this 1st build, I'm going budget style. I want to learn the ins and outs, find out what works well and what doesn't, push the bike to it's breaking point, then rebuild it stronger.
Not gonna be much eye candy here, just utility.
To start it off, I picked up a schwinn jaguar for $20 yesterday off craigslist. The guy only wanted $60 for it, but I got haggling in my blood and I couldn't help myself . To top it off it already had multifunction bell speedometer on it. Now, it does have a bit of rust on the chain, sprockets, and brakes, but nuthin a little tlc won't remedy. The seat was also kinda lopsided, but I plan to make my own, so that isn't much of a problem. I linked a pic of it at the bottom. check out the temporary seat made out of a bike rack, a piece of mdf, and a folded towel (not to comfy for longer rides )
I have decided that for this first build I wanna try out one of these HT engines. More specifically a Skyhawk or Starfire. From all my research it seems they are pretty much the same thing, just made in different factories. I did read somthing on another site that suggested the Starfire has a bit more power and is better constructed, but it seems there are more Skyhawk parts available on the market, and since I plan to really put some hurtin on this 1st build, I think the skyhawk is the way i'll go.
I do have a questions about where I should purchase my Skyhawk from though. Preferably somewhere on the east coast (since i live in FL) that carries the blacked out skyhawk kit. If yall know of any dealer besides Pirate Cycles that meets that criteria, please, do tell.
I also plan to pick up one of them jack shaft kits from sick bike parts. Letting the engine make use of the 7 gears on the jaguar seems like the most logical choice, even if it does cost more than the engine kit itself .
while on the topic of the shift kits from SBP, has anyone manage to break the Freewheel that comes with the standard kit? is the Heavy duty freewheel really worth $50 more?
Now for the matter of the seat.
I was thinking of making a custom one. I found a thread on here once with a guy that was making his own, but i can't for the life on me find it again. I was thinking something along the lines of a wide banana seat with springs somehow mounted to the equivalent of a sissy bar for shock absorption. the guy who was making his own seat gave me the idea. he had said he realized how easy it would be to implement after he had already finished welding his seat frame. i sure wish i could find that thread again
anyways, any helpful hints or tips yall could shoot my way would be greatly appreciated.
I'll try to keep this thread updated as the build progresses
Rhett
Attachments
Last edited: