Hey everybody, this is my second post on here after my introduction post. First off I'd like to say that there are some amazing bike builders on here who have created amazing works of art and this website is very inspirational to say the least. I'm glad I stumbled upon it. I'm posting a scratch built bike I made based on a 1952 Hawthorne I bought at a swap meet. It was incomplete and after searching for some parts without any luck (mainly a tank), I decided to take the parts I had and make a frame the way I like beach cruisers....long and low (what can I say, born and raised in SoCal...haha) I didn't just want any standard stretched beach cruiser you could pick up in a shop, I wanted it to have an old feel to it. The only two rules I was pretty set on were no straight tubes (other than the head and crank piece) and no seat tube. So I got the tape out and made a full size mock up. The pieces I used from the Hawthorne were the springer fork, wheels, handlebars, crank and sprockets (which are skiptooth). I also used the crank tube because it has the original Chicago Welding Company serial number which keeps the old feel to the bike. The seat is an NOS junior banana gold sparkle item from the 70's I picked up on ebay. During the design phase I didn't take into consideration the bottom curve interfering with the chain...whoops. I ended up making a chain tensioner out of an old skateboard wheel and the chain is redirected and rides on the wheel. I'm pretty much done with the bike for now as I'm in the process of moving but it rides nice and it has the look I was going for. Thanks for a great website!
