Riding in the hood.

deacon · #**211** (**permalink**) 06-17-2008, 08:54 PM

I have begun riding the weed eater bike in the hood. Today I was able to road test it and get a feel for the most efficient way to control the throttle ect.

It actually is a lot of fun and some good exercise as well, since it requires some pedaling up the hills. It has a much different look than the china girl bike so I'm not sure how people will respond to it.

After i get my comfort level up with it, I'll try to see how it does on errand runs. I don't have complete faith in it just yet.

deacon · #**212** (**permalink**) 06-18-2008, 08:28 PM

Today my wife is on vacation. It's her spring cleaning vacation so I had to work my butt off all week. I don't mind at least not after I have finished my chores for the day. Today I rode my weed whacker bike. As long as I stay on the flats and even the small hills it does great. It is miserable to impossible on the long or steep hills. I really need more power.

I did get to feel the wind in my hair since I refuse to wear a helmet on a motorized bike that gets passed by a twelve year olds on a ten speed. The helmet thing just gets me laughed at and that ain't right.

deacon · #**213** (**permalink**) 06-21-2008, 11:45 AM

Today I rode both my bikes the china girl and the whacker. I started out with the whacker for a little exercise. It rode like garbage. (I found out later why). I was pretty much exhausted when I returned.

I rested a few minutes then got the china girl out and went yard sale shopping. Without a doubt the most exciting thing at the sales was the bike. I got stopped by teenaged boys, I got mobbed by foreign speaking young men, I got lots of waves from old men on the side of the road. I swear I should be running for something this election year.

The whacker had too much tension on the drive wheel, that it was not able to skip when it got choked down on the hills. So it just went into drag mode. I still don't have the adjustment quite right but it is much, much better. I think I am going to love the friction drive when I get it adjusted correctly.

If you are into speed forget the whacker it will fly downhill but uphill is a different thing all together.

deacon · #**214** (**permalink**) 06-28-2008, 07:11 AM

Just a quick tip... If you need a single part and are in a hurry, don't ride the bike to the store. You will spend more time in the parking lot talking to strangers about the bike, than you will shopping. I promise you that.

deacon · #**215** (**permalink**) 06-29-2008, 01:22 PM

I rode all three of my bikes today. Well it wasn't much of a ride and I didn't ride them all at the same time, so I guess it isn't all that impressive after all.

I rode the china bike to the home depot for a spring for the chainsaw bike. When I got home I got bored so I rode the weed whacker bike. I am learning a lot about that bike. Mostly how to get the most out of it.

Then I couldn't wait any longer so I took the chainsaw bike out for a test run. 33cc seems to do just fine actually it was a bit hard to keep from skipping. I figured I needed more tension.

Some silly kid on a moped flagged me down. The engine died while I explained that it was just a chainsaw strapped to the back of a bike. Of course I couldn't get the motor to run again. had to push it home.

I worked for two hours readjusting everything. Then I began to have throttle troubles so I decided that enough was enough. I shut it down for the day.

Oh yeah when I tried to start the bike it roared so I flipped the kill switch and adjusted the idle. Then of course i worked for half an hour trying to start that engine. Finally I realized that the kill switch was still on. Duh not much more left for me.

A couple of more days and the chainsaw may join my other drive systems that didn't work quite right. I have electric and will soon have the chainsaw. So far the china bike and the weed whacker seem to be okay. The weed whacker requires more work to ride but it is also fun since the cost to build one is minimal.

I think the combination of a large weedeater motor on a good used ten speed bike would be hard to beat for economy.

deacon · #**216** (**permalink**) 07-03-2008, 10:20 PM

Some of you know that I live in an urban area of North Carolina. So the city of High Point, where I live, decided to put new sidewalks in front of our house. Lots of stories there about broken water pipes ect but this is a bike forum so I will just say this. I rode by the guys on the week whacker and the china girl bikes and there were lots of comments in spanish. Also lots of questions in english.

I made one discovery. Guys love these bikes and women think the aren't nearly so cool. Oh well.

deacon · #**217** (**permalink**) 07-06-2008, 06:53 PM

Things are always in the last place you look, because you stop looking when you find them.

Now weren't that just too deep. Today my wife was off to church and I decided to try to work on the chainsaw bike. I needed a couple of plastic couplings for the gas line so off I went. Of course I screwed up the carb later but this is about the search for the couplings. The place to find them is the auto parts stores. I know this because I have bought several of them this week. The last time I went to the closest auto parts store I bought all they had. They don't stock a lot.

So I fire up the bike and off I go looking for plastic couplings. I went to the next closest store. No coupling but I did have a nice conversation with the parts guy about my bike.

The it was off to the one farther away. Again no couplings but I had a very nice conversation about the bike. I passed on all the pre build cheer leading I could.

In desperation I tried the store I had used where I bought out all they had. Seems they had a delivery truck since my last visit. I was able to buy the two couplers. Oh yeah I had a nice talk with the clerk about Motorbikes,

Do you get the sense that these things are getting more popular. Seems for a change I got in at the beginning of a wave, instead of being drowned by it.

deacon · #**218** (**permalink**) 07-27-2008, 01:30 PM

I rode the new 31cc weed whacker bike today. I have to admit It is a little loud. I drilled holes in the muffler for a little more power so it does give a pretty good advanced notice that I am coming.

I have taken it on all my stress tests routes. I went over the normal test track and it did fine. I took it up the steepest hill I negotiate on a regular basis and it did pretty darn good.

But the funniest thing happened when it took it up the longest incline I know of. That route takes me by a children's park. Since the engine has the holey though not righteous muffler people stopped what they were doing to stare at me. If nothing else I am going to be well known in the hood.

deacon · #**219** (**permalink**) 08-19-2008, 10:23 AM

I took my mtb25 for the last serious test. Would it be acceptable for a real world errand. I took it to the home depot to buy some chain to replace the brake cable i had been using on the gravity clutch to lift the engine. The bike did well. There were two hills I had to help it on but that shouldn't be a problem when I build the 31cc that I plan after the demo bike. It really wasn't an issue with this one just had to pedal a little to keep the speed up.

On the way home an old man,who also rides a bike for health reasons, stopped me. He has offered to buy my china bike. I told him I would be more than willing to sell it. We agreed on a price and he asked me to hold it till he gets paid, since I don't take plastic I agreed.

If he comes up with the money, I am out of the China bike ownership situation. Never again. I really do love my weed whacker bikes. If he doesn't I will put a sign on it and put it in my yard. I would be surprised if it lasts a day.

deacon · #**220** (**permalink**) 09-11-2008, 05:55 PM

something rather interesting happened yesterday. It was dreary so I didn't want to ride the new bike out on a test ride under power, but I did ride it to the end of my driveway a few times to test it with the motor up.

If you check the first of this thread you will find that I live in a neighborhood in transition. It getting a little rough around the edges.

I was at the end of the drive way on the full suspension bike with the engine turned off, when a couple of older teens took a look up at me. One of them asked, "Hey old man, when you gonna build me one of those?"

I was in shock but I managed to reply, "Any day now."

We were both smiling so maybe there is hope for us all yet.