WJordan

Is it possible to convert a Schwinn cruiser 7speed to a 21 speed?
What I'm after is making this bike climb hills easier. (paved roads)
Or am I thinking wrong in the more gears, the better on hills?

Is it possible? Is it worth it to do on a cruiser? If not worth it, just tell me, I can take it.

Thanks!
Sorry if this is wrong place to ask!

greyghost_6

The problem may be that your current rear hub is an internal gear hub. So if you were planning on putting a tripple crankset on the front, you cant do that without having a rear derailleur (which internal gear hubs wont have) to take up the chain slack from shifting the gears in the front. So unless the cruiser does not have internal gears, and has a typical cassette sprocket in the rear, you could mount a front derailleur, get a new 3 ring crankset, and get a left (3 speed) shifter. But then you run into finding a cable stop on the frame itself that front shifting requires to pull the front derailleur and shift. No doubt it would get lower gears from the crankset small gear, but it may be simpler to either:
A. If you have internal gear hub, look into an internal gear hub that gives a better range of gears for uphill.
B. If you have open cassette in the rear, buying a new rear cassette with larger rings in back, which may require a longer chain too.
I hope it helps a little. Either way, cruisers are made for flats so its hard to make it good for hills.

WJordan

Thanks greyghost_6! This does help a lot.
I do have the rear derailleur and cassette sprocket on rear. Looks like the cable stop you mention is a problem as I don't have that.

To bad I don't live at the beach where this bike would be most happy, so maybe best to look into a better bike for my needs.
Thanks a lot for the info!

dabac

An easier fix may be to shift the overall range over into something more useful for you. Many bikes have a setup that'll allow the average rider to keep putting power into the pedals way over 25 MPH/40 KMH. If you, like me, find that you're not really using that end it can be fairly simple to lower the gearing w/o really missing what you've lost.

OTOH cable stops aren't exactly high art. There's a bunch of after-market wraparound ones available, or you can make one out of a ferrule, a hose clamp and a spot of soldering/brazing.

HillRider

You could fit a triple crank, bottom bracket, front derailleur and shifter but the project will be anything from somewhat to quite expensive depending on what style crank and bottom bracket you now have. The cheapest change would be find a cassette or freewheel (whichever you have) with a larger big cog.

Otherwise, the smartest thing to do is get a more suitable bike since your cruiser probably isn't worth the conversion cost.

z90

Give us your gear ratios. How man teeth on the front chainring? How many teeth on the largest and smallest rear cogs?

Probably the easiest thing to do is to get a different rear cassette. You also might be able to put on a smaller chainring.

fietsbob

One approach: rebuild the rear wheel with a DualDrive hub.
it is a combination of a cassette with multiple gear cogs on it,
and a internal geared 3 speed hub.

Sachs, now owned by SRAM, made a 7x3 years ago,
now that cog stack has gone up to 8 and 9, the 7 speed discontinued.
and this year Sturmey Archer has added a similar product.

you will have to spread the rear end some,
though maybe not much since you have a derailleur
on the bike already..
8~9mm spread / 126 ->135 4,5mm per side.

then the gear range further adjusted by the size of the 1 chainring in front..

HillRider

Good suggestion. Doing that shouldn't cost more than twice what the bike is worth.

FastJake

+1

Cruiser: meant for cruising, short trips at slow speeds. If you're getting serious about actual riding you will soon want a bike more suited for that.

WJordan

BINGO! Exactly what I was thinking after I started pricing the stuff to do this change. Found out it was going to cost dang near what the bike cost.
I've always liked the cruisers and rode them when I was a kid. But as a kid I lived where grounds were flat enough. Now, I have small to steep hills all around me. Looking for another bike more suited for my needs I think is the best bet. Later on I may want to try to beef up the cruiser just for fun project. Who knows, hmmm... maybe a gas engine. lol

I want to get out there with the big dogs, no fun sitting on the porch!!
Thanks loads to all for your help!

bluefoxicy

"Beach cruisers" are pretty much made for riding around flat land. They got associated with beaches, apparently, due to California and Florida being flat, so you find them near beach resorts.

History writers are a funny bunch, and you can find a lot of books with non-facts in them. A lot of experts in a lot of fields can cite a lot of things that never happened or are entirely non-true, but are common knowledge in a field. Everything from engineering to computers to bioscience has this, some "authority" writes something silly down and everyone buys it. Someone, at some point, wrote down in a book about American bicycles that "beach cruisers" were made to ride around on sand at the beach, and it stuck.

Funny enough, balloon bikes (so called due to their wide, low-pressure tires) were the base platform for mountain bikes, which do handle random terrain (and hills) to some degree; so there is a degree of truth to this...

Sorting out the whole story behind bicycle history would be interesting. I don't think it's readily accessible, and you'd have to do some digging, probably through bike companies as well as history books. Bike companies will likely have a lot of records that go, "What? Yeah, that never happened" when you flash "history" texts written by silly romantics past them.

Look for a nice hybrid or road bike, depending on your fancy. Hybrid will probably come stock with some lower gears; mine doesn't go into the mountain range, though, and I want to fix that....

fietsbob

yea probably true , especially if its a big box store bought bike, since the name,
Schwinn ,
Has been sold and is applied to imported stuff.

spend Up .. hire a frame builders work.
https://www.ingliscycles.com/ a Schwinn cruiser look in a hand made custom bike.

WJordan

WOW fietsbob, I like those bikes. Pretty cool!

Bluefoxicy, you mention find a nice hybrid or road bike. Road bikes have tall small narrow tires, right? Are they going to hold up to my big ole' 370 pounds when I seat down on it???

fietsbob

370 pounds ?
light bikes will hold you up, but as the stresses on all parts require frequent maintenance

and parts replacement. .

dabac

Well, kinda. They won't fold right underneath you, and may well hold up to careful riding. But you're in the range where you really should be looking at a bike equipped with some tandem parts to get some durability and peace of mind when riding. Particularly WRT wheels you would benefit from having a pair built for your situation.
A less expensive way might be to find an old rigid (steel) mountainbike, stick some DH wheels on to it - but instead of the knobbly tires, fit some Schwalbe Big Apples or similar wide but smooth tires on.
If you stick with Shimano, compatibility across the range is good, and it shouldn't be a problem setting the gearing up so that it suits you.
I'd be wary of suspension. First it doesn't sound like your style of riding would need it, next I fear you might just bottom it out.
But do try to master the concept of "going light". This means that when you know you're going to hit a bump, get out of the saddle and be ready to bend the knees/arms a little to allow the bike to move upward as you hit.

Buggington

I don't know much, but I'm gonna add my worth anyways

I'd say that a decent specced Mountain Bike would be a good suggestion - I do many miles on my Land Rover and (with the right saddle) it's incredibly comfortable. I don't know much about cruisers, but I would say that from this thread they sound fairly similar to the MTBs. I spent about £350 on buying it, and its done 1200 miles faultlessly, aside from a couple of failed bearings and a stretched chain, although that's probably due to me riding it like a bit of a loony

And before people say they're slow, I keep up with and overtake people on it anyway!

bleakertron

I recently purchased a second-hand Fortis folding travel bike. It has a 7 speed cassette on the rear only. I would like to add a 3-speed crankset to the front and possibly change the whole rear cassette and derailuer as well to allow for ease in climbing hills. What are my options? What do I need to know in terms of sourcing appropriate parts?

Cheers,

Blayke

veganbikes

This is a 10 year old thread that hasn't been updated since then. However on your bike I wouldn't put any more money towards it chances are you have put the worth into that bike. It is using the cheapest parts and can be bought for $200 when new. It is also a folding bike and typically those are going to be single chainrings at the front to facilitate folding and a large gear because you are running small wheels which spin up quite fast and would be over spun on small chainrings. If you were desperate to add gears you would need a shifter, a front derailleur that can fit around your seat tube and a crank and bottom bracket along with cables and housing. Also need to make sure it won't cause issues with the tires you have and any other parts of the frame which is the reason most don't go double or triple front. What exactly is your plan for this bike? Folding bikes are really best suited for short point to point trips from multimodal travel or something to keep in the back of a car. If you are looking for more gears you might consider a higher quality bike. I know Tern does a bike or two that has a double at the front and larger wheels and they make some of the finest folders out there. Brompton is another nice one but single only and mostly if not all internal geared hubs. Dahon does some cheap stuff but again 1 chainring.

Bigbus

Wow! You're breathing life into an old thread. I am not familiar with your bike, but I'm pretty certain that you'll need a longer rear derailleur, a clamp on front derailleur, preferably a friction shifter (that's just me making life easier) possibly something under your BB for a cable guide, or a top pull frt derailleur. Since I like tinkering, I would find me an old 21 spd bike for cheap and begin figuring out how to wrangle parts onto my Fortis, which would then be renamed to Frankenstein. Good luck, If I were your neighbor, we'd make it happen for sure.

bleakertron

Thanks for the reply. I know it is an old thread but I saw some great feedback and figured I could grab some attention quickly. I purchased the bike for $30 AUD so I'm not too fussed with putting money into it to make it my own 'frankenstein' bike as another commenter put it. Ideally, it would become a portable touring style bike; one with a couple of bags for a quick weekend camping getaway. In the USA, my permanent residence, I have a KHS TR-101 fully equipped with front and rear racks and bags and under t-bar bag. I went all-out back in 2011 and spent roughly $2500 USD to get it ready to cruise the country and live on, but alas my lifestyle changed to working at sea so something more compact and travel-friendly is a must now. I have also been in need of a new project to work on so I think this is it.

bleakertron

​​​​​​​Thanks for the info, mate! I like the name 'frankenstein'. I'll start looking into some spare parts and old bikes, see what I can't piece together. I'm hoping to have the hard work done on it in a couple of months. I normally work at sea, so this would come with me so when I arrive in port, I can getaway for a weekend or at least get to a hiking destination a bit quicker. I love a good bike camp/tour.

I will keep you updated on the progress.

Cheers

veganbikes

No worries. That bike isn't a great candidate for touring. Certainly you could tour on just about anything but over all the bike isn't a great project for that. It probably won't handle much weight and the derailleurs aren't very durable. There are certainly things you could do to make a little nicer but I wouldn't put that money towards that bike.

The Bike Friday New World Tourist is an excellent folding bike for touring and it is made in the U.S. The R+M Birdy (which cannot be gotten in the U.S. sadly) is also a neat choice it is full suspension and they have front and rear racks for it. It can be had with a 10 speed deore drivetrain or Rohloff for ultimate reliability. If I was looking for a long term bike especially one for travel overseas a lot I would want a very durable reliable bike. Save the low cost stuff to bike to the subway and leave it all day.

This could also be handy in figuring out folding bikes for touring since Alee spends his life doing it.:
https://www.cyclingabout.com/best-fo...cycle-touring/

Retro Grouch 

How often do you use your fastest gear? If your answer is seldom, the cheapest and easiest solution will be to replace your front sprocket with one that has fewer teeth.

Iride01 

Zombies again.

Bill Kapaun

+1
IF you stated the size of the cassette (likely a Free Wheel if 7 speed) AND front ring, one can do a bit of math.
How often do you use the highest gears.
IF you never use 6 or 7, a chain ring downsize may do the trick.
If you have a 34T largest cog that you never use, change the "cassette" to something with a smaller largest cog, like 28.
You'll likely have to change to a smaller ring no matter what, but with smart choices, you might be able to get a solid 7 USEABLE gears.