Bicycles Network Australia - Australian Cycling Forums

by **hewey** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 10:43 pm

I got this Giant Simple beach cruiser off ebay. The Giant cruisers arent a common bike, they've got your typical Giant quality, but I dont think the style is quite as nice as a Dyno, Electra or Felt Cruiser. With this I decided to give it look inspired by 1920s and 1930s board track motorbikes.

The night I got it home

Mocked it up with the ape hangers. Still hadnt got the chainguard off completely at this stage

Time to raw the frame!

Ditched the OEM stem and got a threadless convertor, so I could run a mountain bike style stem.

Another mock up to play with the style

My girl got a Felt ladies cruiser bike, which came with some cream quick brick tyres which just didnt go with the mint paint, so I swapped them for the whitewalls that were on this. The cream tyres look great with the black rims, very happy.

Playing around with different bar set ups. Board track style - looks great, not great for riding :lol:

Non-flipped bars - Real comfy cruiser feel, looks okay

Straight bars - Stretched out riding position, kinda like the look

Cracked out the pinstriping paint for some detailing

Blacked out the fully sic chainring...

...and the handlebar centre, the seat rails and the slither of the stem adaptor that shows

First ride pics.

At tweed ride a couple of weeks ago

by **BNA** » Wed Jul 14, 2010 2:10 pm

by **18htan** » Wed Jul 14, 2010 2:10 pm

Hewey...

I love it!

You made the right choice on the bars. I have a similar set of bars on a Dyno Glide Deluxe Girls Frame for the missus.

Did you give it a coat of clear? Or are you going to paint it?

Love seeing build threads. I am about to start the final build on my Pedal Scraper.

by **j-ho** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 11:30 am

I love it mate! Love it! Man, I really need to get my cruiser up to scratch...

by **hewey** » Fri Jul 16, 2010 5:45 pm

18htan wrote:Did you give it a coat of clear? Or are you going to paint it?

Love seeing build threads. I am about to start the final build on my Pedal Scraper.

No clear coat, just wire brush and a half assed 5 minute hand polish to give it a little more brightness but still keep the wire brush marks for that industrial look. The plan was keep it raw and see how it faired, its been ridden in the rain and through mud and looks fine so Im just going to keep it raw and not worry about a clearcoat.

I love seeing build threads too, post up some pics!

by **hewey** » Sat Jul 17, 2010 8:17 pm

by **Mulger bill** » Sat Jul 17, 2010 9:06 pm

^That is a great pic.

Love what you did Hewey

by **j-ho** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 8:53 am

it took me a quick minute to realize that was you in that photo! I thought it was a pic that inspired your bike...

by **18htan** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 12:39 pm

Outstanding pic!

I love it, bloody nice work mate!

by **hewey** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 10:35 pm

Thanks folks

And thanks to my girlfreind who risked life and limb and a lungful of dust as I skidded towards her for the pic! (multiple passes were made, not to her pleasure) :lol:

by **Roc_Doc** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 1:38 pm

Great Stuff. I love the stripped back look but was always scared that I would end up with a rust patina after 24 Hrs. Keep us informed as to how she looks.

by **brauluver** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 5:05 pm

Roc_Doc wrote:Great Stuff. I love the stripped back look but was always scared that I would end up with a rust patina after 24 Hrs. Keep us informed as to how she looks.

I think you may find that the frame is ally, not steel, so rust isn't a risk.

by **retro racer** » Fri Sep 23, 2011 10:36 am

Love this bike, its my screen saver. What are the bars please mate?

by **sjdonne** » Fri Sep 23, 2011 7:19 pm

I was a bit worried when I saw the first pic (just purchased) but the pics got better as did the bike cant decide on the "industrial" Sydney Harbour Bridge Arch bearing image or the sepia "action"shot.Top effort .

by **trailgumby** » Fri Sep 23, 2011 10:15 pm

Was thinking "How is that an improvement?

"

And then I saw the photo. Nice work!

by **hewey** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 1:35 pm

Thanks guys

retro racer wrote:What are the bars please mate?

Bars are stock bars from a GT Windstream (hybrid/comfort bike), just flipped upside down and with bar tape on them. The Windstream is a stalled project... :roll:

Heres a pic I found online of one, so you can see the bars in their natural habitat :lol:

I think a much prettier option would be some moustache handlebars, like these ones made by Nitto. I didnt go down this route as I wanted to keep costs down. Likewise a Brookes saddle would be awesome too.

brauluver wrote:
Roc_Doc wrote:Great Stuff. I love the stripped back look but was always scared that I would end up with a rust patina after 24 Hrs. Keep us informed as to how she looks.

I think you may find that the frame is ally, not steel, so rust isn't a risk.

Yup. Frame still looks the same as in the pics, and she's been ridden multiple times in the rain and not even hosed off afterwards.

The wheel/tyre combo has since been taken off the Giant and put onto my Dyno though