Hi from Illinois

Hey there. Just joined after a year of moderate lurking. I'm going to convert my bike(finally) and figured I might as well actively join as well.
About me...I Am currently studying mechanical engineering in college...am a mechanophile...and have a beard.
Why I am interested in motorized bicycles? They look cheaper than a motorcycle-more fuel efficient than a car(I am a college student, so somewhat broke by definition), and perfect for just getting around town on a day that's just too nice to have metal and glass between you and the wind.
It's an awesome community on here, and I hope to be able to contribute however I can.

Hello Norvegicus, Welcome to Motorbicycling.com

Please keep us posted on your build.

NO BEARDS... Just kidding welcome to the forum ,it is a great bunch of guys,some hairer than others...

Welcome Norvegicus,

It's always great to have a new rider in Illinois. I'm mid-state in Peoria, but I have 2 sisters downstate by Carbondale. Are you down at SIU?

Wherever you are: Is there an accepted mb community in your area? How do the police view the mb's?

Welcome again,

Catfisher

Welcome to the Show! glad you joined. what part of Il. are you from?

I'm living in Aurora right now. A lot of people ride mundane bicycles around, but I don't know how the police react to motorized bicycles. In the last seven years I've seen one, so they're not too common. I know the state law says as long as the displacement is less than 50cc you only need a standard driver's license and otherwise it's no different from a bike on the roadway though. The only thing I can think of that might interfere with my groove is that city ordinance states all bicycles must be registered/licensed(free) at the police station. I don't know if that applies to motorized ones as well, or if the motor alters the classification somehow. I'm going to call the department and find out before I instal the motor just to get my facts straight.

I will hijack your thread for a moment and also introduce myself. My name is Ray and I live about 30 miles west of Peoria on the Spoon River. I am 40 years old and work in the Peoria area as a Local #6 Bricklayer. My hobby of many years is I fly small and Giant Scale Radio Control airplanes. How I became interested in building a motorized bike relates to my interest in converting weedeater engines into model airplane engines. I got to thinking one day when it became clear that I had more Ryobi 31cc engines laying around then I would ever need for any of my airplanes....the idea of a motorized bike popped into my head. I am a tinkerer by nature and I am the guy at our airplane club that likes to mix my own nitro fuel blends. When other guys are just flying around....my plane is the one dropping parachutes or taking aerial videos, etc etc. Short story is I just like to tinker and be original!

So when the idea of the motorized bike popped in my head I started to do some checking here on the net and found that there are allready many folks allready doing this very thing and that my idea was actually an old idea. After lots of reading on the subject and going thru alot of post....you guys had me very interested. So interested that I just completely scrapped my Ryobi idea and went ahead and ordered me a 66/80 slant head china engine kit to put on a new Ocean Pacific beach cruiser I also just ordered for this project. So as soon as my engine kit and bike show up on my front porch I will post a bit of my progress. Nice to see that there are some of my fellow Illini here. Hand shakes and howdy to all. Since I don't have a photo yet of me and my new motorized bike...I have included of photo of me and one of my airplanes with one of the Ryobi 31cc conversion engines I done. I may still decide to try one on a bike someday.

Good luck! You might want to register the bike before you motorize it. In my experience local police don't yet really take much interest in motorized bikes (at least in the Great State of Florida). If you plan to ride it on a school campus though I would talk to Campus Police they will most likely be your largest source of head aches. Once you build your bike be prepared for lots of fans!

Good advice. My kit is supposed to get here tomorrow, so I can contact the necessary peoples while waiting. The thing I'm really wondering about is whether I'll get any grief over disengaging the motor chain and riding pedal-wise on the bike trails that shortcut through town. Maybe I'll make a camouflaged motor housing (picnic basket anyone?) to avoid hassling when I'm pedaling on a trail.
And: Waubonsee.

That's good to know. It would stink to motorize my bicycle only to find out because of an inactive 30lb hunk of metal that I can no longer use the very convenient trails around town.

Hey guys figuerd I would say hi and let you guys know that im just north of you guys in Elgin. We should get together this year for a ride. I was trying to start a bike club, I'll keep you guys up to date on how that goes.