Strongest Cruiser Frame?

[Moseph]

So I just noticed today that for the second time in a little over a year I've had a frame break. They are both 69 Schwinn Typhoons, the first one snapped right behind the front tire where the cantilever bars meet the rest of the frame and the other one cracked on top of the bottom bracket shell. I figure there are a number of things leading to these failures. First of all, I'm a bigger guy weighing in at about 260 lbs. I ride just about every day and put the bike through its paces, and often times stand up to get up hills. Add in the fact that you're dealing with almost 50 year old frames and that's not a winning combination. The first one last me about 4 years and 4100 miles of riding and the replacement one lasted only 15 months and about 1900 miles. I'm just not really sure where to go from here. I obviously want to replace it with another one but maybe it's time I find something else for a daily. Do any of you guys have any recommendations? I'm partial to the old cantilever frames with a banana seat and large apehangers.

Here are some pics of the failures

 

[TR6SC]

Superman bends steel in his bare hands!
Very impressive destruction. That BB damage is amazing. I'm not sure if this Elgin can withstand the power of the Moseph, but it's got the right seat and bars.

 

[GTs58]

Wow!

I've seen where a cantilever bar broke on the weld to the down tube, but never a down tube bust in half. I doubt the Heavy Duty American's frame is any different, but I'd try an older Schwinn frame, might be built better than a 69.

 

[Greg Kozak]

I'd look into a Worksman.

 

[Harley Mclemore]

I'm 6 ft 4 460 lbs and I haven't broken a frame yet. Now pedals bars and cranks well that's a different story and I had to stop standing up because it would shear the crank arm or the chain. Here's a pic of me next to my 41 western flyer which is basically my daily Rider

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[GTs58]

I'm 6 ft 4 460 lbs and I haven't broken a frame yet. Now pedals bars and cranks well that's a different story and I had to stop standing up because it would shear the crank arm or the chain. Here's a pic of me next to my 41 western flyer which is basically my daily RiderView attachment 888694

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That has to be some serious proof that the older frames were better.

 

[bikemonkey]

I'd look into a Worksman.

I have seen a few Schwinns broken at the downtube and also cracked welds at the chainstays /bottom bracket but never one with a bb shell cracked like that - that bike was truly hulked! I would cut out that section of the frame and have it mounted on a base as a trophy...

I worked in a Schwinn shop in the 1980s that also sold Worksman. These were mostly sold to young, bunny hopping surfer dudes. Over time, the high failure rate at the upper lug of the down tube (as compared to Schwinn cruisers) was bad enough that the company president (Wayne Sosin) flew down and spent the afternoon in our shop discussing the problems (we sold a lot of cruisers).

One of the big contributing factors was the 12 ga. dimpled steel rim with .120 ga. spokes added so much mass to the front end that the downward inertia on constant bunny hops just beat the hell out of the bike. So Worksman beefed up this section of the frame and kept on rollin'. They warrantied every broken frame, even some we felt had been badly abused but Wayne insisted as he wanted their bikes to have the best rep on the boardwalk - it worked.

 

[Greg Kozak]

bikemonkey, do you know why they stopped making their own forks and switched to the imported uni-crown forks ?

 

[DonChristie]

That is impressive damage! Kudos! As far as a stronger frame, older is built better/stronger material and the geometry of a straightbar is better than a canti. Think of the early mtb guys bombing mountains. They seemed to prefer the straightbar!

 

[bikemonkey]

bikemonkey, do you know why they stopped making their own forks and switched to the imported uni-crown forks ?

I mentioned a similar thing happening with Schwinn/tubular forks in another thread about 1980s cruisers.

Just as we dealt with our Schwinn rep, we showed Wayne a huge carton of new OEM Worksman bladed forks we had accumulated. By customer demand (which we stoked) almost every Worksman cruiser was modded with Wald Super Jet bars, foam Jeromes (long foam on handlebars), a four bolt stem, and a chrome tubular fork - all installed when the bike was bought or hopefully one was modded on the floor ahead of time. That was some good jack for the shop and happy customers. Wayne could not believe our cruiser market (except for the orders) and he loved it. Worksman even custom painted cruisers in pink, purple, etc. by our request and then later put them in their line for other dealers. Crazy time to be dealing cruisers...

Oh yeah...every cruiser got a free color matching nylon frame pad with our shop name screened on it. Our reputation was such that it was "cool" to have a bicycle bought from us...