Banana seat middleweights?
03-23-23, 10:32 AM
#1
Full Member
Thread Starter
Banana seat middleweights?
Howdy!
We have a Taco Tuesday ride by the beach here in SoCal with a mix of bikes, but a trend toward beach cruisers (for the natural reasons), choppers and ratrods, and some neat old vintage stuff--but also some ebikes and the like, because it's about tacos and beer. My wife has given me license to buy a new bike to fill that gap (because rolling up on a titanium roadie would definitely make me THAT guy).
My instinct says "use it as an excuse to buy a shiny Erocia bike," and I still might, but that's not really in the spirit of things. But being born in 1971, I also have a thing for banana seats. There's actually a sting-ray on Craigslist right now that looks OK, but I'm not sure how well I'd fit on something with 20" tires.
I do have pretty short legs (30" inseam) for my height (5'10"), so it might work, but I was also wondering if y'all had any suggestions for more traditional 26"-wheeled bikes that might have had banana seats so I could ride it 5 or 10 miles in comfort.
We have a Taco Tuesday ride by the beach here in SoCal with a mix of bikes, but a trend toward beach cruisers (for the natural reasons), choppers and ratrods, and some neat old vintage stuff--but also some ebikes and the like, because it's about tacos and beer. My wife has given me license to buy a new bike to fill that gap (because rolling up on a titanium roadie would definitely make me THAT guy).
My instinct says "use it as an excuse to buy a shiny Erocia bike," and I still might, but that's not really in the spirit of things. But being born in 1971, I also have a thing for banana seats. There's actually a sting-ray on Craigslist right now that looks OK, but I'm not sure how well I'd fit on something with 20" tires.
I do have pretty short legs (30" inseam) for my height (5'10"), so it might work, but I was also wondering if y'all had any suggestions for more traditional 26"-wheeled bikes that might have had banana seats so I could ride it 5 or 10 miles in comfort.
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03-23-23, 04:34 PM
#2
Senior Member
An old Schwinn frame would be a good starting point, then find some new banana seat and sissy bars on the web. Worked for me!
Original 1987 Schwinn “Miami Vice” Colour 5 speed cruiser.
Original 1987 Schwinn “Miami Vice” Colour 5 speed cruiser.
03-23-23, 05:35 PM
#3
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Thread Starter
Wow. I honestly had no idea you could put aftermarket sissy bars on a frame. I just assumed there was some sort of mystical proprietary tubular mount and never really looked! Thanks!
03-25-23, 07:36 PM
#4
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Many folks during the late sixties, early seventies period, built their own "super-sized" Sting Ray styled bicycles from old 26"(559mm) wheeled ancient Balloon & fifties/60's era Middleweight Huffys, JC. Higgins, Monarchs, Hiawathas, Rollfasts,Cleveland Welding Company, Western Flyers, Columbias, Murrays, Schwinns, Ross,AMF,Montgomery Ward's, Otasco, Kmart, Coast-to-Coast,Elgins,..... & so many other typical basic "cruiser" frames with the typical American style ONE PIECE CRANK and the typical 559mm 26 INCH wheels.
It is INCREDIBLY SIMPLE to construct such a Do-IT-Yourself "SUPER-SIZED BANANA SEAT CRUISER" !!!
All of those ancient 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's bicycles feature the STANDARD 13/16" diameter Seat Post.
ALL THAT YOU WILL LIKELY NEED IS THE 14 INCH LONG sting-ray style SEAT POST.
.....................WALD sells NEW 13/16 diameter SEAT POSTS in a variety of lengths, some even longer than 14 inches.....the New SEAT posts are inexpensive...
...................................expect the NEW Wald seat posts to be just under $20 TOTAL COST including shipping from several leading world wide web new bicycle parts vendors and huge discount online bicycle shops.
..............The Chrome SISSY BARS can and do vary greatly in price, depending upon which Web vendor that you source them from. There is not a huge difference in quality between the lowest cost seller and the highest priced vendor's offering. You may indeed find that some high priced vendor offerings may be of lesser quality than the lowest cost seller's offering when it comes to Chrome SISSY BARS, so do beware of that.
..................The same is true for replica "classic style BANANA SEATS". Price is NOT NECESSARILY THE INDICATOR OF THE BEST QUALITY as the lowest priced-extremely high volume sellers do have the Best Quality reproductions while the highest priced vendor offerings tend to be the worst quality Banana Seats so do be aware of that abnormality.
HANDLEBARS: You've got so many different High-Rise CONFIGURATIONS to choose from........most styles and sizes have been replicated and are currently reproduced out of China, so they are incredibly inexpensive..........................now, certainly what currently passes today for acceptable chrome plating would likely have been rejected as UNACCEPTABLE/too poor for use at Murray, Huffy, & AMF in the 1967 to 1977 era. Schwinn had the best chrome in the world from about 1955 to 1980.
Used handlebars should be inexpensive too, as most all the different styles appeared on MILLIONS of bikes sold in the USA between 1965 and 1977.
..........................HAVE FUN!
.....................................Build It. Ride It Often.
It is INCREDIBLY SIMPLE to construct such a Do-IT-Yourself "SUPER-SIZED BANANA SEAT CRUISER" !!!
All of those ancient 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's bicycles feature the STANDARD 13/16" diameter Seat Post.
ALL THAT YOU WILL LIKELY NEED IS THE 14 INCH LONG sting-ray style SEAT POST.
.....................WALD sells NEW 13/16 diameter SEAT POSTS in a variety of lengths, some even longer than 14 inches.....the New SEAT posts are inexpensive...
...................................expect the NEW Wald seat posts to be just under $20 TOTAL COST including shipping from several leading world wide web new bicycle parts vendors and huge discount online bicycle shops.
..............The Chrome SISSY BARS can and do vary greatly in price, depending upon which Web vendor that you source them from. There is not a huge difference in quality between the lowest cost seller and the highest priced vendor's offering. You may indeed find that some high priced vendor offerings may be of lesser quality than the lowest cost seller's offering when it comes to Chrome SISSY BARS, so do beware of that.
..................The same is true for replica "classic style BANANA SEATS". Price is NOT NECESSARILY THE INDICATOR OF THE BEST QUALITY as the lowest priced-extremely high volume sellers do have the Best Quality reproductions while the highest priced vendor offerings tend to be the worst quality Banana Seats so do be aware of that abnormality.
HANDLEBARS: You've got so many different High-Rise CONFIGURATIONS to choose from........most styles and sizes have been replicated and are currently reproduced out of China, so they are incredibly inexpensive..........................now, certainly what currently passes today for acceptable chrome plating would likely have been rejected as UNACCEPTABLE/too poor for use at Murray, Huffy, & AMF in the 1967 to 1977 era. Schwinn had the best chrome in the world from about 1955 to 1980.
Used handlebars should be inexpensive too, as most all the different styles appeared on MILLIONS of bikes sold in the USA between 1965 and 1977.
..........................HAVE FUN!
.....................................Build It. Ride It Often.
03-25-23, 07:48 PM
#5
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I made an adult sized Stingray by starting with a Schwinn beach cruiser and then replaced the handlebars with ape hangers, and the saddle with a banana seat that attached to a sissy bar at the rear.
