Banana Seat high handle bar cruiser

[seand1109]

Looking to see if anyone has modified there RR6+ with a banana seat and ape hanger bars like the old Schwinn Sting ray in the 70's...

[handlebar]

I never liked the Sting Ray, but, come to think of it, I modified my Radrunner and my Radmissiion along similar lines. Neither had any suspension.

I started with my Radrunner. My concern was stability. I moved to seat about 12" aft and it steered much better. I could put more torque on the pedals, and bumps were easier because there was less weight on my butt. However, depending on the height of the bars, moving the seat back can put more weight on your arms. I added a stem riser and changed bars so that now the bottoms of the grips are 47" off the pavement.

After moving the seat on the Radmission, I added a riser and an adjustable stem to get the grips 45" off the pavement. Yesterday afternoon, I began experiencing sharp pains when I moved my elbow. It must have come from hitting a bump on my Radmission an hour before. I'd noticed nothing at the time, and I'd ridden that bike 1100 miles without trouble. Sure enough, when I rode around the block, bumps were very painful.

There was no pain on my Radrunner. What a difference two inches can make! I'll stick with the Radrunner until my elbow heals.

[John Rose]

When I were a lad (teen) I upgraded my trusty 24" diamond-frame coaster bike with a banana saddle and a sissy bar. I left the stock handlebars on though. This gave me better leg extension and a longer reach.

The unexpected benefit with the sissy bar was when I climbed the hill back to our house with my left arm holding a bag of groceries from the convenience store. I found that I didn't have to stand on the pedals for the climb, which normally required both hands on the handlebar. I could merely stay seated and push the pedals, with my back against the taller-than-usual (18-24" above the seat?) sissy bar. A bit harder on the knees, but it got me home, all of 435 meters.

The benefit of the longer saddle was, of course, being able to give rides to girls on the seat behind you. 

It was a bit much harder to dismount though. 

[Ddaybc]

I remember those sting rays. I still have fond memories of mine.