intro and a whole string of questions

Hi forum members

I am new to the world of powered cycling and have no experience, just a whole string of questions. I am impressed by the experience/knowledge displayed on this site and am hoping to tap into it as I commence my own "journey" to powered cycling. So here goes. Any answers/guidance would be welcomed:

1. most of the pictured 2 stroke motors I see on this site and on a host of others from the US, Australia, China etc, show motors with casings and parts that look identical although they are branded and priced differently, ranging from as little as us$185, to as high as us$500. Are there genuinely a variety of different (but similar looking) motors out there with differing performance and quality, or are they all just one design, sourced from a factory or two in China, and the different prices reflect different deals by middlemen and different profit margins? If the latter, then why not buy direct from China and cut out the middleman?

2. I live in South Africa, and many of the vendors in other countries will not dispatch to a foreign country, many simply ignore my inquiry e-mails. Is there a dealer out there who is prepared to quote me an all-in price for a kit delivered to my country?

3. I own an old Trek 7000 all-aluminium mountain bike, which I am looking to convert with a 49cc 2-stroke kit. Any comments from the experienced on the suitability of this frame? It has front suspension only and seems to have the right dimensions. However,I imagine the stresses on a frame are considerably higher than for an unpowered bike, factoring in the added weight and higher average speeds of a powered bicycle. Do members advise strengthening/upgrading key parts such as wheel rims, wheel bearings, spokes, steering head bearings, brakes, chain, pedals, derailleur etc to cope with these stresses and still deliver a safe ride?

4. Most members of this and other forums use their bikes as highly economical commuters etc, but I have yet to find members' threads who have set up their MTB's for serious power-assisted MTB trail riding. I would love to hear from guys who have built purposeful offroad conversions and what experiences, kits, do's and don'ts and modifications they recommend.

5. There is not much comment on the blogs on expected engine life. What is a realistic mileage (or Km'age) to expect from a typical 49cc 2 stroke motor kit of Chinese origin? Is it something that one must expect to throw away after three years or 10000 km, or will it go on and on?

Enough to start with. hope I get some good info, and thanks for an excellent, high level forum.

rgds,
steve

Welcome Steve to the forum, glad you joined us

1.) To get motor's direct from china you have to order several thousand, I have not found anywhere in China that you can order one or just a few.
The biggest difference in the motor's is the size ( CC's ) They may look the same, but thier is also internal difference's in some kit's. I think some dealers fire up the motor's and test them out before shipping to customer, and other's just box and ship out. But don't know for sure, just a opinion. And yes the price does reflect the dealer in most case's. I will say this, stay away from Revolution.com, very, very, very bad reputation.

2.) Don't know

3.) Your trek should work just fine but not positive since I am unfamiler with that model. Look here to get the demesion's What kind of bike would you recommend? I have had no trouble with stress, I only know a few with crack frame's but as far as I know no need to do anything except good maintanence. Go over your bike, pack your wheel bearing's check your spoke's, ect. just good maintanece.

4.) I built a full suspension bike just for the trail, did not do what I wanted to so I sold it. Thier are a few here with some awesome full suspension bike's. Weather they use them off-road, could not tell you.

5.) I'm going on year five and well over 4,000 mile's. I have a friend in Nevada with over 7,500 mile's. I think about the average with good maintanece is around 5,000 miles.

I hope I answerd your question's well enough, other members should jump in and give thier opinion.

Thanks, fairracing for taking the trouble to answer all of these. V useful answers.

Steve welcome to the forum...hopefuly some with experience off road will help.

Expect 5000 miles from a frame mount, Chinese engine. Longer if you are good with the maintenance.

Find a seller on ebay who will ship to you, and add in the price of shipping to your total. I'm not sure if thatsdax will shipp internationally, but that's who I buy from.

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If it ain't broke, and you mess with it long enough, it will be.

I've put 40 miles of off-road on my diamondback so far, which is really the reason I built it. It has no suspension, but I don't see that front suspension would really alter anything about engine. It's a 70cc, but I still do a lot of peddling. I just cover a lot more ground. I'll keep you posted on how she does.

hi steve and welcome to the forum. looks like alot of your questions were answered. if any of the dealers reading this thread will send to africa please let steve know. looking forward to seeing pictures of your home land. glad to have you with us

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Hi Steve,

I understand your shipping problems as we in the UK have had trouble sourcing these kits.
I'm messaging you because i'm pretty sure i can help. First off we stock all engine kits 50-80cc so your off roading shouldn't be a problem. Secondly i have negotiated a contract with a worldwide shipping company who may very well be able to help and not charge the earth (i'm prepared to give you a hefty discount to offset postage if it is a problem.)
The price for the engine kits on the website are abnormally high right now, as we have been swamped with orders, so dont worry about that.

Look forward to hearing from you,

Mike Jones
TigerToothBikes.com

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