Best pre-built cruiser to convert?

[RoadWrinkle]

Aloha to everyone contributing to this board with great info. My very first post here is quite simple: What would be the best cruiser bike on the market to convert to a 1500w-48v "power-cruiser". At 6'0, 250 lbs, I need extra power than most riders, and extra strength in the frame, forks and rims. Would prefer a bike that comes with 7-speed and hydro disc brakes off the shelf. I am not interested in buying a pre-made e-bike for several reasons. Any recommendations would be great!

Big Mahalo to everyone

Big Dan


(moderator edit: moved your non-review / non-test thread out of E-Bike Reviews & Testing forum and into E-Bike General Discussion. Please only use E-Bike Reviews & Testing for reviews or tests, such as you did in your other thread http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=52851 )

 

[gestalt]

If you can find one I would recommend the felt "sixty-8". Also known as the hotwheels. I see them on CL in Cali all the time.

 

[RoadWrinkle]

Man! I am in love!

 

[RoadWrinkle]

I should add: thanks for the pic and reccomendation

 

[wesnewell]

****Do this before your first post or now (it's retroactive)*****
Please go to the User Control Panel, select Profile, and then enter your city, state/province, and country into the Location field (country minimum) and save it. This will help people help you. Example: Wylie, TX, USA. Without knowing what country you are in it's hard to make any recommendations and you will waste your time and others. Thank you.

 

[RoadWrinkle]

OK, Please don't shout at me in red letters, caps or no caps, it is a little much to wake up to. I have posted plenty to let people know I am in Hawaii. AND I have updated my profile so people will be happy.

 

[wesnewell]

I only want to help. Since you seem unwilling to do that for yourself, have a nice life.
Color is to get your attention. ALL CAPS IS SHOUTING.

 

[MadRhino]

Welcome RoadWrinkle. Don't believe it is personal, Wesnewell repeats this (and many other things) to everyone, louder and louder every time to the point of being offensive. Yet he is not mad, only a parrot's manner of a welcome to newcomers.

 

[MadRhino]

About the Felt 68
It is a wonderful bike for conversion, and one of the very few cruisers that has proper brakes.
It is a very rare bike that can be considered a collector's item. For this reason you can expect to pay more than it is really worth, if you can find one.

 

[gestalt]

I believe felt sells the bare frame, would be well worth it I think.

 

[RoadWrinkle]

Thanks for the info re this rareish cruiser, it fits the bill in terms of beefiness for me. Also thanks for the welcome to the forum. I should probably have my morning cup of coffee before I sign on in the future. Thanks Again. I am also looking at a project 346 frame to do this build.

 

[dogman dan]

Thanks for letting us know in the profile what continent you are on. Believe it or not, we can't always remember where every member is from. We have a few people here. So it helps us a lot if new members at least let us know if they are from NA or AU, or EU.

Wow what a nice bike! If you cannot get your hands on one, another option would be to find a very nice cruiser with V brakes, and then either weld brake mounts on the front fork, or get a fork with disk mounts to put on it. The front brake is where you really need the disks.

The main thing to look for, is a good strong frame, preferably steel, but maybe not, and the 7 speed rear gear cluster. Cruisers make really good ebikes, but too many choose the coaster brake bikes to keep costs down. $75 more gets you into dual v brakes and gears. Then a proper rear motor is an option, or dual motor.

Re the other thread, at 20 mph, you will be able to stop fine with v brakes. Your weight will affect the tires more than the brakes themselves. What I mean is the limiting factor will be locking and skidding, which you can do with v brakes.

 

[Drunkskunk]

Project 346 would make a nice bike if you modify the frame. the rear dropouts are the wrong spacing, and they don't have a disk brake mount. If you can weld, this isn't a problem.

That felt is a sweet ride. If I could get my hands on one...
I have a Felt 1908, Its too sweet to convert.

 

[wesnewell]

Have no idea if you can get this in Hawaii, but it's interesting with rear suspension.
http://shop.softcruiser.com/Mens-Cruiser_c3.htm

 

[RoadWrinkle]

Project 346 would make a nice bike if you modify the frame. the rear dropouts are the wrong spacing, and they don't have a disk brake mount. If you can weld, this isn't a problem.

Thanks! I had figured I would be tacking on the disc mnts, but had no idea about the rear d/o dimensions, I am planning on running a Crystalyte H35 geared hub back there with a 7-speed cassette so this is valuable info, thanks again.

 

[RoadWrinkle]

Have no idea if you can get this in Hawaii, but it's interesting with rear suspension.
http://shop.softcruiser.com/Mens-Cruiser_c3.htm

Thanks Wesnewell, we can get those shipped to Hawaii. This is one of the big issues here, shipping lithium batteries via air freight. Almost no pre-made e-bike companies (other than Currie or Pedego) can or will ship an ebike with the lithium out here. So you are limited to the lone Pedego dealer on Oahu or DIY. Most of the companies I have contacted for components (ebikes.ca, amped, HPC, GM) have licenses to ship these lithium's here.

So Hawaii is a DIY "Paradise" by default.

 

[justlooking]

Have no idea if you can get this in Hawaii, but it's interesting with rear suspension.
http://shop.softcruiser.com/Mens-Cruiser_c3.htm

i like this one ,, but hate to think of the cost of postage to the uk,
http://shop.softcruiser.com/SoftCruise-Stretch-shiny-black-400007.htm?productId=14

 

[RoadWrinkle]

Sadly, the great looking Felt Hot Wheels is a bit of a spruce goose: http://www.roadbikereview.com/cat/latest-bikes/cruiser-bike/felt/hot-wheels-sixty-8/prd_419276_5669crx.aspx.

Buying just the frame and building my own drive train would work, but I would like to find a complete bike then make the changes that are required to get this bike to roll and pedal correctly. The Wheels and tires are half the fun here.

 

[RoadWrinkle]

Now this is a fairly sweet Felt "Hot Wheels" e-bike conversion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_WbJshe-zo

What I want to do is remove the Tank from one of these frames and cut an opening underneath it to fit a water bottle battery in there, then re-wield the tank(assuming it is steel) with the opening so you can remove the battery at will. This builder did a pretty clean job of locating and wiring things. HE has talent!