Huffy Fortress 3.0 half fat tire bike.

wesnewell

wesnewell

100 GW
Joined
Jan 31, 2011
Messages
7,171
Location
Wylie, TX, USA
Just picked this up today.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/26-Huffy-Men-s-Fortress-Mountain-Bike-Blue/49058108
Looks like it will work great for what I want.
Steel with modified horizontal dropouts so axle can go all the way in.
Front fork is 100mm axle. Rear is 155mm axle, but can be widened or squeezed in.
3 gear chain ring, 48T and 2 smaller ones. Index twist shifter
6 speed freewheel.But plenty of room for 7 speed or higher. Index twist shifter
Rims are 39mm outside, so 32mm inside.
Stock tires are 26x3.0, 35psi max
Brakes appear to be decent pads.
BB width was 73mm +/- 1mm
This appears to be the closest I've come to finding the right bike frame.
As almost always things need adjusting, including the front wheel which was too tight to spin freely.
I've installed my MXUS 3000 on the original rim and tires with room to spare.
Got about 150 miles on it now if stock tires. I hate knobbies for road use. Got some better road tires coming.
 
I found that a very interesting idea, mid fat. Ideal for those who want to convert to a wider moped rim or tire. No issues with needing a special kit like the 5" tire fat bikes, yet a 3" tire should provide lots of cushion, and even some very good float in loose dirt.

Steel I like, easy to add stuff like disc brake mounts, lengthen it, etc. Put a decent crank on it, and of course more comfy seat, and it's a pretty nice commuter bike for street.
 
What? No disc brakes? Hahaha...

Lotsa things to like about that for conversion. Any ideas about BB width?
 
At Sea Otter this year, plus-sized (mostly 27.5") bikes seemed to be the "new" thing p-bike pushers were hoping would energize a stagnant market if e-bike sales didn't escalate. Like variable hub transmissions, they may be more applicable to e-bikes than p-bikes.
Wes, what motor do you plan to use?
 
That's a nice Huffy. I like the mid-fat idea...

My first mountain bike was a bright orange Huffy, I loved it dearly. Then one day I left it laying in my driveway and my father backed over it with his pickup truck. It was never the same
 
BB width is ~73mm. Added to first post.
 
Still riding the Huffy? Was it really 79.00 or did I read it wrong? The tires would worth that :)
 
It was $129 when I bought it. Worth every penny. They first lowered the price to $99, and then $79. I have no idea if it is still available.
 
I am planning on doing my first build using the Huffy Fortress 3.0 and an Ebay 48V 1000W rear direct drive kit, as wesnewell recommends. My question is, I am assuming that the ebay kit comes with a 1" rim for a 2" wide tire for the rear wheel? Would you still use the 3" tire and wheels (1.5" rim) that come with the Fortress, or would I have to buy a smaller 2" tire/wheel for the front? If I try to keep it a 3" wide tire bike, will I have to re lace the motor into the wheel that comes with the bike? Thanks for the help!
 
Apprentice153! said:
I am planning on doing my first build using the Huffy Fortress 3.0 and an Ebay 48V 1000W rear direct drive kit, as wesnewell recommends. My question is, I am assuming that the ebay kit comes with a 1" rim for a 2" wide tire for the rear wheel? Would you still use the 3" tire and wheels (1.5" rim) that come with the Fortress, or would I have to buy a smaller 2" tire/wheel for the front? If I try to keep it a 3" wide tire bike, will I have to re lace the motor into the wheel that comes with the bike? Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...


Interested in this also.
 
Apprentice153! said:
I am planning on doing my first build using the Huffy Fortress 3.0 and an Ebay 48V 1000W rear direct drive kit, as wesnewell recommends.
Click to expand...

The motor kit might be fine; the bike is most distinctly not fine-- it's self-composting garbage whose only real purpose is finished as soon as some chump pays actual money for it. The rim and spokes that come laced to a cheap hub motor are also garbage. Garbage is all that wesnewell uses, so you have to take that into account when evaluating his recommendations.

When it comes to keeping a bad, so-not-worth-it bike running, he's authoritative. He knows what he's talking about, and his observations are sound. But that still doesn't make it worthwhile for most people. I work on way more of these horrid BSOs than most people have ever seen, and I know that they don't reward careful maintenance-- not that most of them ever get any.

If you really and truly must cheese out and buy a bad bike because you can't stomach a good one, Bikesdirect.com is a way, way better bet than a big-box retailer's bait bike. At least Bikesdirect's stuff can be made acceptable with a lot of work. With a Huffy, the only way to really fix it is to replace every part, including the frame.
 
Apprentice153! said:
I am planning on doing my first build using the Huffy Fortress 3.0 and an Ebay 48V 1000W rear direct drive kit, as wesnewell recommends. My question is, I am assuming that the ebay kit comes with a 1" rim for a 2" wide tire for the rear wheel? Would you still use the 3" tire and wheels (1.5" rim) that come with the Fortress, or would I have to buy a smaller 2" tire/wheel for the front? If I try to keep it a 3" wide tire bike, will I have to re lace the motor into the wheel that comes with the bike? Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...
Depends on which kit you buy. Some come with 25mm rim and some come with a 19mm rim. The 25mm rim is ok for a 2.3" tire, and I wouldn't go over 2.125" on the 19mm rim. By no means would I put 3" tires on either of them. The bike comes with 32/39mm rims. I stripped the rim off the back wheel and installed it on my motor and it works fine with my 3000W motor even though it's a cheap rim. I couldn't find a good suitable 32/39mm rim like the DH39's I normally use at the time. BTW, take anything Chalo says about cheap bikes with a grain of salt. The bikes frame is strong and rated for 300 lbs. iirc. For the motor wheel, if you use the one that comes with the kit, put an appropriate sized tire on it. I'd also recommend putting jam nuts on the inside of the dropouts so you can get a good tight fit of the axle nuts.
 
Chalo, Thanks for the reply and advice. I will be checking out bikes on bikesdirect.com I actually have a better bike I could use and was contemplating using it instead of the fortress. It is a Raleigh Talus 3.0 (Ha, just noticed the coincidence with the 3.0! my raleigh is not 3" tires, but standard 1.95" tire). I wanted to keep this bike as a pedal only bike and not mess it up adding the conversion to it. I paid $300 for it 6 years ago. It is also an all aluminum frame hardtail rear with a nice suntour front suspension. I am now actually thinking of putting the kit on this raleigh bike at this time.

Wesnewell, Thank you for the reply and advice too. I kind of figured that you must have to re lace the motor from the kit onto the 32/39 rim. I was curious if you could put the 3" tire from the fortress onto the rim that comes from the kit, so I appreciate your clarification that that would not work. As I said above to chalo, I am thinking of putting the kit on the bike I currently have. I do like the mid-fat tire aspect of using the fortress bike though, so not ruling this option out just yet.
 
The Fortress is a much better option over your aluminum framed bike. The steel frame is a much better option and allows for larger tire selection because of the width tire you can put on it with lots of clearance. I put 26x3.0 flame tires on the back of mine and 2.4" cyclops tire i already had on the front and it rides great. Anyone want a couple of new 26x3.0 knobby tires?
 
Chalo said:
Apprentice153! said:
I am planning on doing my first build using the Huffy Fortress 3.0 and an Ebay 48V 1000W rear direct drive kit, as wesnewell recommends.
Click to expand...

The motor kit might be fine; the bike is most distinctly not fine-- it's self-composting garbage whose only real purpose is finished as soon as some chump pays actual money for it. The rim and spokes that come laced to a cheap hub motor are also garbage. Garbage is all that wesnewell uses, so you have to take that into account when evaluating his recommendations.

When it comes to keeping a bad, so-not-worth-it bike running, he's authoritative. He knows what he's talking about, and his observations are sound. But that still doesn't make it worthwhile for most people. I work on way more of these horrid BSOs than most people have ever seen, and I know that they don't reward careful maintenance-- not that most of them ever get any.

If you really and truly must cheese out and buy a bad bike because you can't stomach a good one, Bikesdirect.com is a way, way better bet than a big-box retailer's bait bike. At least Bikesdirect's stuff can be made acceptable with a lot of work. With a Huffy, the only way to really fix it is to replace every part, including the frame.
Click to expand...

But what if someone stripped the fortress completely lets say they had a 26 inch front fork that could support 3 ince tires and simply wanted the huffy for its rear drop outs with enough clearance for 3 inch tires. After completely stripping the bike leaving just the frame pretty much is it still junk at that points its just a steel frame. Like how can they frock up the frame ? Nvm it has horizontal drop outs. Not dealing with horizontal drop outs on a hub motor.

Also not all hub motors are garbage but thats a discussion that has already been had here you have your view points.
 
boytitan said:
Like how can they frock up the frame ? [...]

Bad alignment, super soft steel, oversized dropout slots, nasty welds, incomplete welds, squashed and spot welded joints instead of mitered, thin plate brake bridges instead of tubes, etc. I've seen all of this and more from Huffy. They are designed to resemble bikes, but not to work like bikes.

[...]Also not all hub motors are garbage but thats a discussion that has already been had here you have your view points.
Click to expand...

Chinese motors are crudely made but relatively uniform. It's the rims and spokes they include with complete wheels that are of horrible quality. Better to order just the hub and have an experienced​ person build it up with good components.

Flatted axles for torque retention are stupid, but that's another discussion.
 
Just to be fair to YESCOM, my 48V, 1000w kit came with wheels that were dished properly and the spokes, while inexpensive-looking are 18 months old and are fine after being tightened once (quarter or half turn all the way around, I forget). The bike runs 28 mph easily (faster if I "request") at 52V.
 
May be too late for me to influence your decisions but the Mongoose Terrex is a good choice to start a build with....steel frame, disc brakes front and rear, accepts 3.0" wide tires. Most big box store bikes are dangerous if you use them for an ebike build. There are better bikes but none better for the price IMO. I have two and they have been working quite well...one with a MAC and one with a BBSHD.

Motors....if you don't plan to ride off road or plan to ride off the pavement but take it pretty easy, the MAC is a good choice. If you plan to ride off road and push it, I'd recommend the BBSHD. If you never plan to leave the pavement I'd go with a Direct Drive. They all have advantages and disadvantages.

Batteries...I'd recommend a 14s or what is commonly referred to as a 52v instead of a 48v/13s....if you can afford it. The 52v will give you a little more power and speed.
 
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