I would like to transplant the Girvin girder fork from my old mountain bike to a single speed cruiser (or even a 3 speed hub cruiser for that matter).

The majority of the cruisers I have found so far still use the older style, non-integrated headsets, most likely 'cause they still work fine and are inexpensive. I need to find something that uses the later, larger style in order to transplant my forks.

Any folks know of a cruiser set up this way? The only suitable cruiser I have found so far is the Firemans Texas Cruzer, but they want 600 bucks for a frameset! I am sure it is nice, but there has to be another option.

Any suggestions?

Otony

Schwinn sting ray has an Ahead set.
Havent measured its head set, but there ussually 1 1/8th

Old Kona A'Ha

The KHS Wedgewood and Fleetwoods from the late 90s had threadless cockpits. I had one for a while. I paid about $150 for the frameset on ebay and just used other spare parts I had laying around to build it into a SS commuter.

There was an issue of Bicycling that featured all the new 'hi-tech' cruisers with various appropriations from MTBs - it was ca. Jan 1997. I remember Jamis, KHS, Schwinn, Kona and others mentioned - but not all had the 1 1/8" steerer.

I'll try to find that issue tonight.

I believe Nashbar offered a cro-mo cruiser frameset around the same time....If all else fails, hunt up an old Litespeed TI cruiser:D

actually, re-reading the OP - since you were considering old 3 spd roadsters, are you looking exclusively for the curvy cantilever beach bike/paperboy frame style? If not, why not just find an old hardtail MTB frame with horizontal dropouts if possible and use that instead?

I think modestly priced but decent mountain bikes from the 1992 era will have this combination.

The KHS Wedgewood and Fleetwoods from the late 90s had threadless cockpits. I had one for a while. I paid about $150 for the frameset on ebay and just used other spare parts I had laying around to build it into a SS commuter.

There was an issue of Bicycling that featured all the new 'hi-tech' cruisers with various appropriations from MTBs - it was ca. Jan 1997. I remember Jamis, KHS, Schwinn, Kona and others mentioned - but not all had the 1 1/8" steerer.

I'll try to find that issue tonight.

I believe Nashbar offered a cro-mo cruiser frameset around the same time....If all else fails, hunt up an old Litespeed TI cruiser:D

Cockpits? really? I've seen it said a couple of times on here, but I find it just strange.

Funny the Fleetwood was mentioned, as I had one of those for a few years. I donated it to a monk in San Francisco for transportation, but it was stolen from him in a jiffy, sad to say.

Right now the Girvin is on a beat up aluminum Trek MTB. I have given some thought to just doing a single speed conversion on it BUT the Girvin forks remind me so much of the old Indian motorcycle girder forks I was wanting to put them on something sort of retro.

I took a long look at a Felt V12, but most Felt cruiser frames look so darn massive, almost bigger than the frames of those old Indians I mentioned! Ideally, I would like to find a retro frame that has the second tube below the top tube, like the bike "Workman" makes for example. Failing that, I suppose the type with the twin small diameter tubes below the curved tube would look good as well, but like I wrote, most of these style bikes come with standard 1" (or the older .833") threaded headsets.

I will just keep looking I guess.

1997
Kona
A'ha http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?Year=1997&Brand=Kona&Model=A'ha&Type=bike
I own 2.

Funny the Fleetwood was mentioned, as I had one of those for a few years. I donated it to a monk in San Francisco for transportation, but it was stolen from him in a jiffy, sad to say.

Right now the Girvin is on a beat up aluminum Trek MTB. I have given some thought to just doing a single speed conversion on it BUT the Girvin forks remind me so much of the old Indian motorcycle girder forks I was wanting to put them on something sort of retro.

I took a long look at a Felt V12, but most Felt cruiser frames look so darn massive, almost bigger than the frames of those old Indians I mentioned! Ideally, I would like to find a retro frame that has the second tube below the top tube, like the bike "Workman" makes for example. Failing that, I suppose the type with the twin small diameter tubes below the curved tube would look good as well, but like I wrote, most of these style bikes come with standard 1" (or the older .833") threaded headsets.

I will just keep looking I guess.

Hmmm....what about a Bianchi Milano?

1997
Kona
A'ha http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?Year=1997&Brand=Kona&Model=A'ha&Type=bike
I own 2.


Finally listened to you. you are right, that is it. Will work perfect! Wanna sell one, heh-heh? :p

Ideally, I would like to find a retro frame that has the second tube below the top tube, like the bike "Workman" makes for example.

Straight-bar cruiser.

As in Schwinn DX, older Rollfasts?

If you are heavy you may need to beef up the bottom bracket, etc...

My observation is that my Rollfast has beefier tubing than my '95 Cruiser SS, and the older the steel the most TLC you may need...the Schwinn is STIFFER than the Rollfast in my opinion.