Just ordered another rose326 kit.

Do you want another rose326 kit review?

  • Yes. I want a review.

    Votes: 14 93.3%

  • No. I've seen them and don't care

    Votes: 1 6.7%
  • Total voters
    15
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maniac57

maniac57

Old, Fat, and still faster than you
Anyone want to see a report on the current quality of these affordable $145 kits?
Should be here next week sometime so I'll let you all chime in and decide if I do a review.
 
It's always good to be able to see a review, good or bad since it can help new builders decide better which kits are good and which ones are garbage, My first kit I can't say much good about, but after buying a Dax bottom end and putting the jug and piston from the original kit on that bottom end I ended up with an engine I'm very happy with.
 
i just bought this same kit and the engine runs great. Got the kit in the mail friday and got it all put together im just having alot of trouble keeping the chain on the sprocket. So much so i can even get the bike started. Every time i let the clutch in to start the bike the chain pops off no matter how fast or slow i go or how tight or loose the chain is or right in the middle and i dont know what im doing wrong. This is the first motorized bike i put together. The bike is a huffy cranbrook. If anyone has any info on what i might be doing wrong id appreaciate the help. Everything in the kit works great except for i striped the top bolt to the chain tentioner and had to go buy some heavy duty one. Also the sprocket and hub adapter dosnt have the 2 extra metal plates that go between the sprocket and rubber on the outside like the bikeberry kit has for $10 more.
 
Maniac thats the kit I got at a deal in February , it was a bid item. I placed a low bid and won, $125.01 shipped. It runs pretty good after doing the normal porting, tweaking etc. One thing I didn't like was the finish of the fins on the cylinder, a lot of slag from casting was left. After grinding, filing and sanding them it turned out OK. I haven't used any of the kit parts but the carb, I had a bike ready for a engine.
 
I'm pretty sure that rose326 is where I got my current engine. A 49cc china girl.

It's just past it's second birthday. During that time it's driven either my daughter or myself to work nearly every work day. There haven't been many times when we've been at work while that bike has sat at home.

If you factor in the non-work day that I've ridden it for fun or for local errands and such, I think I''m fairly close to the truth when I estimate that that bike has been ridden every work day during those two years. Wait a minute; I'm going to discount that by a total of 4 months. That's 2 months per year to take into account the heart of winter. Because I didn't ride very much then.

Okay, the total number of work days in 2 years would be about 560. Subtracting 80 (to winters) would give 480 days of riding in those two years.

My work commute is 12 miles round trip. So 12 X 480 is 5760 miles in two years. And I'll bet that's a pretty accurate estimate of the number of miles on this engine.

The engine itself has given me no trouble during this time. It starts up every time.

It's been a good one.
 
I have to say that Rose326A has been my Ebay store of choice for both of my Lifan Honda horizontal clone engines and bits for both of my motorcycle re-engines. Always a fast shipper and always responds to questions.

I'm sort of in the market for a 48 cc HT engine. But I'm looking for a used, fixer upper, older design with the non slant head. My desire for a kit goes between the HT engine and getting a CAG pocketbike and adapting it to a bike.
 
Citi-sporter said:
I have to say that Rose326A has been my Ebay store of choice for both of my Lifan Honda horizontal clone engines and bits for both of my motorcycle re-engines. Always a fast shipper and always responds to questions.

I'm sort of in the market for a 48 cc HT engine. But I'm looking for a used, fixer upper, older design with the non slant head. My desire for a kit goes between the HT engine and getting a CAG pocketbike and adapting it to a bike.
Click to expand...

Others will argue with this but...IMHO the Cag's are boat anchors at best.
Unless you enjoy misery and constant fiddling and part replacement, carb rebuilds and clutch wear, I strongly suggest you avoid the CAG's.
They usually run without problems just long enough to keep you interested.
Heartbreak and bad language awaits.
And a HUGE pile of "spares".
 
Yup... I remember the Cag's... Everyone had them then they got banned in most cities... But yeah... you could spend hours working on something on them for it to run maybe 30 minutes and something else breaks... the best ones were the water cooled ones that had nearly 7 horsepower, I remember they made a bunch of those then just up and quit making those engines... can't find the liquid coled engines anywhere anymore and you *might* see a few left over parts on a few websites if you're lucky.
I've always wanted one of those Blata Origami pocketbikes back when those were still popular... looked about like a Cag with a top speed of about 60mph thanks to a little tiny 40cc engine that put out 14HP at 15000 rpm
 
yo, quick update on the rose kit i just ordered and got put together, i took the chain tensioner off and just put some shims between the motor mounts and its running like a champ. almost used a whole tank of gas and got to bike to idle on its own, just took a few runs around to block and its starting to get broke in. its definatly worth the $145. ill post some more picture and a video tomarrow of the bike running and idling so you can see what it looks and sounds like. im running a 16:1 mix in it right now. only problem with the kit is the chain tensioner. its more of a chain derailler then a tensioner.
 
The kit I'm currently using on a Murray Westport came from rose. So far, it's been reliable; but being the mounts were not meant for a 1" tube, it does move a little bit, but that hasn't been a problem yet. Please post about the gas tank because I'm curious as to whether yours will have some kind of coating in it because mine has a black coating of some sort instead of bare metal like the last two that I had. I'm still running heavy on the oil, but it doesn't seem to mind, doesn't even foul the plug that much either. I started it at a 25:1, and I think I'll leave it there because I think the smoke trail looks really cool going down the sidewalk and it still has a ton of power and tops somewhere in the high 30's.
 
it's called a jackshaft kit - several places usually have them - one place is 'sickbikeparts.com'
 
wtwrestling07 said:
yo, quick update on the rose kit i just ordered and got put together, i took the chain tensioner off and just put some shims between the motor mounts and its running like a champ. almost used a whole tank of gas and got to bike to idle on its own, just took a few runs around to block and its starting to get broke in. its definatly worth the $145. ill post some more picture and a video tomarrow of the bike running and idling so you can see what it looks and sounds like. im running a 16:1 mix in it right now. only problem with the kit is the chain tensioner. its more of a chain derailler then a tensioner.
Click to expand...

Two things:
16:1 is FAR too much oil and your motor will never run right.
The tensioners almost ALWAYS require a twist to line up. I use a huge crescent wrench to give it the proper twist. DO NOT try this ON the bike or you will likely bend the framestay.
 
I wanted one of those kits, but I live in California. Looks to be about the same add the one I got. Only mine in black.
 
maniac57 said:
Others will argue with this but...IMHO the Cag's are boat anchors at best.
Unless you enjoy misery and constant fiddling and part replacement, carb rebuilds and clutch wear, I strongly suggest you avoid the CAG's.
They usually run without problems just long enough to keep you interested.
Heartbreak and bad language awaits.
And a HUGE pile of "spares".
Click to expand...

OK I will defer to your previous experiences.

Although I have to say it sounds like the problems that CAG engines have is that they're set up too 'hot' for their mechanical durability. Being someone who's nursed along obsolete cars far beyond what 'normal' people would get out of them, I could see detuning the CAG's would probably extend their life greatly.

From what I've read they frequently damage their plastic shroud and recoil starter, so an aluminum replacement would be a good first farkling, and a optimized bit of shrouding off the left side of the cylinder. I would also try adapting the reed case/block to a smaller pumper carb from a 30 cc engine. The pluses I see with the CAG's is that they're a reed valve, they have an integral air-cooling fan and recoil start, they fit a bunch of the rear rack kit's like the Stanton and GEBE with the 74mm clutch. I'm not looking at running these at super legal speeds, I'd be happy with about 25-30 mph and better reliability.
 
I'll be honest. The main reason I hate CAGS so much is because they SHOULD run like greased pigs but simply REFUSE to.
All the parts are there, It's quality is fair, certainly no worse than the HT's, yet they are utterly frustrating.
I tried for YEARS to get one to run for one week consistently and failed totally.
I have issues.
 
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