Today I’m looking for something different a cruiser bike. If you visit a bike shop there is obviously you have found a cruiser bike rack that you see. It’s quite a selection, but I didn’t come for any cruiser bike and here we are going on details.
Pricing Issue
I came for this specific one and this is a huffy Cranbrook under 80 bucks, a still best cruiser bike for women with an amazing break but that doesn’t mean it is easy to persuade.
Let’s look at what else they have like this Kent-based side, the base, a nice-looking bike. I really liked those red rims, but it’s got something that I didn’t come looking for.
I’m not looking for gears today and this has a rear derailleur. You also caught a glimpse of the Schwinn midway 150 bucks.
I love the Schwinn name, a lot of nostalgia there, but unfortunately, this bike also has a rear derailer. This looks nice and it doesn’t have a rear. It’s also huffy. So that’s a plus.
This is the huffy Lusso, but it costs more than the Cranbrook thing is I think that the Cranbrook fits a niche that doesn’t exist anymore.
You hear everyone talk about how sturdy their old bike they bought from a big box store was back when they were in.
I’m thinking that maybe back then bikes, weren’t trying to do what they’re trying to do today.
None of the marketing and the mountain bike styles and the full suspensions, all this stuff, companies are trying to throw onto these bikes without increasing the price.
That means quality’s going to suffer. So that’s my theory. I take this Cranbrook off the shelf, the way they assemble it at Walmart and it should last for years without any problem.
That is until I ran into a problem and that is that the one on the had a warped rent. I checked with the employees and they only had one more bike in the store and it was boxed up and the bike assembler.
Durability
I have no way of transporting a boxed bike home while I am looking for old-school durability. That doesn’t mean that I’m not modern enough to want something right now.
So, I need to look for an alternative. What about that? No Lusso Italian for in luxury that might explain why it costs more than the Cranbrook, because of the components.
Look like they were the same thing as the Cranbrook, just with a fancy paint job and a couple of extra racks and a Chrome Medallia, who am I to let costs get in the way of pseudoscience.
I plunked down 130 bucks and I’m out the door with this thing. Let’s just hope that No Luso, doesn’t also translate to, for DLA. I let my pseudo-scientific ambition get in the way of common sense.
I brought it from my old bike rack and its super clamp has a problem clamping down on metal fenders. This bike has metal fenders.
So that means I had to use some Alabama engineering to come up with a way to get this thing two and a half miles to home. After a very slow drive home, I made it and nothing was damaged.
Even the tags were still in place. Now that I’ve got it at home, I get to look at what I bought for 130 bucks and It does look good.
Now it’s important to note, I’m not going to do any adjustments to this bike. I’m riding it exactly as it came off the shelf, all I’m doing is taking off any hangtags and warranty information and looking at the placard to see what they say it can do.
It looks like they’re pretty honest in this case for 130 bucks, Chrome wide sweeping handlebars with huffy comfort grips that come poorly adjusted kind of the wrong angle.
Besides the Chrome quills stem is a plastic huffy cup holder. Now it’s plastic, but it looks like leather. A nice touch on the other side, you have a cell phone holder.
This fit my iPhone seven plus I figured I would get an aluminum huffy name, placard being with all the Chrome that’s on this bike.
Instead, you get a foil sticker that pans out to show that nice basket upfront. Just thinking old tins. Most of this bike is still very little plastic.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that the fenders are still and by modern standards, they’re very thick as is the Husky rigid fork. Now I’m a sucker for tires that aren’t black.
So, this coral-colored 26 by 2.1 generic street tires look great and they have 10 sides. The steel frame has a very amazing to look at.
It’s all still the only plastic on it is that Chrome medallion that says huffily since 1892, with all the beefy components.
I was shocked to see how cheap the stickers look on this, but not good at all, but the saddle to be very nice has a leather look to it, but it’s actually vinyl, but a cool touch is the Schwinn in huffy branding.
The steel rear rack can handle 22 pounds, add the 10 from the front and you get 32 pounds of potential cargo-carrying capability.
The rear still fender has a reflector position, like an old tail light, and that coral or contrast perfectly against all this black steel, and the chain guard looks kind of like an old Western flyer.
Versatility
Really cool and It’s still nuts but not sure of the gearing ratio, but the crank arms are Chrome and around.
The pedals will like they’re designed solely for comfort they’re Hills in every direction leaving. So I need to get this fixed gear bike onto flat ground. That means I’m going to transport it.
So, I’m going to use my old Harbor freight Brattle rack. If I can get the bike on it, it may work out much better than the saris for this bike, with the strategic use of some zip ties and padding.
Think I’ve got this thing on this Harbor freight. Should get me where I need to go, got the bike off the rack.
I turned around and I saw this couldn’t believe how well the bike looked like it fit. Matter of fact, it fits so well and I was so excited.
I hopped on it without a helmet, made it about 50 feet before I realized I’m riding a Walmart assembled bike without a helmet with my helmet on, I felt a little better about hitting the streets with this thing.
Now it’s not fast and this is a cruiser and it apparently means slow cruising because you’re not going to break any speed records on this bike, but that’s not what it’s about.
It’s about smooth ease and it does deliver on that. It’s very nimble and agile, but you don’t go fast.
As a matter of fact, my average speed over the entire day of riding this bike was six miles an hour you may not have speed, but chap and lots of it, this bike traversed streets that I ride daily and it just floated over bumps.
That’s because of that dual-spring seat that you sit and that upright seating position, nothing feels like it’s happening fast and nothing feels like it’s happening.
It’s just an easy pleasant and all the casual comfort aside. I did have one issue with this bike and that’s that I couldn’t stop on it and I could slow down.
If I put everything that I have on the bike, I remember coaster brakes. When I was a kid, I could lock up the tire easily and slide downhill.
It doesn’t happen on this bike. So, something’s clearly not right, but to take it by the bike shop on Tuesday, but I’m hoping it doesn’t end up like this old huffy.
This was in front of the bike. Somebody just gave it up. The brakes are an issue. The only other problem is a problem with me. I’m not conditioned for a single-speed bike.
So I find out that areas that look flat might not actually be flat, but on flat roads, this thing’s perfect, and definitely no Lusso would be taken up by the bike shop.
This thing will be a great long-term experiment. Hope it holds up. Like I expect it to there’s a lot of steel and not much moving.
Conclusion
So maybe this might work and I’ll report back with how this thing’s doing periodically if I do some good long-term tests. Thanks for reading my post. Have a great day and stay tuned with Outdoorxsports for more great bike articles.
