what did you do to your motorized bicycle today?

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Yesterday I used Opt-2 for the first time. Unfortunately, I was having fuel delivery issues. The engine died several times over the last two days. When I reached home, I replaced my FRAM automotive fuel filter(huge) with a Happy Time fuel filter. Gas flowed freely thru the SBP petcock and hose. The Tanaka 47R engine's carb was reset to stock settings.

Today, the bike performed with excellence. However, the engine has starting problems. I need to work on that.

I am loving my super-low gears. First is 46.32:1, second is 39.55:1. Seventh gear is 17.72:1 and eighth gear is 15:1. Low and high gears are all usable.

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

surprising u were able to get that fram plugged up, 57 !
I was thinkin it might be a lifetime filter! lol
Hope u get the carb dialed in quickly.
rc

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

rusty, the fuel filter USED to fill up previously. Before it died, it barely wet the bottom. Unsure if the filter was defective, or that the engine just doesn't have the vacuum to pull the fuel.

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Hey 5-7 Heaven, that's a wide gear range you have. 46 : 1 must be like a Shimano Hyper Low. What's your crusing speed when you get in high gear?

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Hey Scootmeister, I'm using an 11t-34t rear cassette. The bicycle chainring is 24t. The engine sprockets are 11t/72t.
(34/24) x (72/11) = 9.2727. Multiply that by the 5:1 pocket bike gearbox to get 46.36:1

Top speed is limited by the driver's fear, lol.

With 15:1 in eighth gear, I stay below 45mph. I'm usually in 7th gear @ 17.72:1, between 35mph-40mph.

There are no isolated long stretches of flat road where I can really open her up.

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

rustycase said:

.........

So now I gotta look for a replacement engine from a vendor that will ship to Kalifornia. I don't think it would pay to spring for double shipping if I had someone out of state take delivery of it, then forward it to me...

I use the little mab for daily transport around town and really don't want to run it until the motor hand grenades... heck, I like it !

...Setback!
rc

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Rusty, why not just get the top end parts and rebuild it? Someone should be able to ship those to California.

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

rode 2 and from work 34 degrees in Melbourne today... thats celsius for u non aussies = good riding weather, dudes try and talk to me on the road, wave me down, people stare, every1 smiles, not a real common sight here yet the funnest way 2 get 2 work ever

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

started my bike for the 1st time today! It's loud & smelly....I think the paint is burning off the muffler.

First time I tried to start it I forgot to open the petcock. There was a clunk, then a couple of smaller clunks. I'm not sure what exactly went down, but I spent the next 45 minutes scanning the street for the drive chain's master link. Can't believe I found all the pieces.

Back in the garage, I decided to hang it for the first startup instead of doing it on the road. Probably a good thing, because it turns out the throttle is sitting wide open & it can't be slowed down. I probably would've gotten dumped on my butt. Maybe my head. Time to learn about the carb, choke, & throttle.....

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

yea m8r, the paint will burn off the last of its catalysts when heated, along with any oil/crud in the fins, that smell will go away eventually If you don't like the smell of 2-stroke exhaust(I know some people that can't stand that smell-their loss), there's semi-synthetic, and full synthetic oil options for smokeless running. They cost more than good'ol 2-smoke oil though

Rusty, you might even get away with just replacing your bushing/or needle bearing(whatever you have). If you can save it before the piston starts wobbling and taking chunks out of the ports that'll save some bucks. $5 for a bearing/bushing now or $60'ish for a top-end later, eh?

Eject it and inspect it!


This week I found a deal on Kijijji.com(its like Craigslist) for two kits for just over the price of one. They were two hours away, but luckily a friend of a friend's brother was able to pick them up from my Dad's work on his way to visit family. So I finally got the boxes of parts this week, woo! I crack into them... one new/never-ran 66, one lightly loved 66 with a small nick in the jug, no biggie. But then I see these pads of rubber with chunks cut out of them... "uh oh, rubberized mounts" I think. Inspect the used case, and sure enough, not one but both the rear studs were sheared...

Good thing I have extra cases kicking around, but the "new" ones studs/jug are 8x1.125m, and my cases are 6x1m, so had to order in a tap.

Plus there was some weird gunk on the intake, and there was four throttle assemblies and only one NT carb, lols.


The joys of HT tinkering, never a dull moment.

Keep your parts miscellaneous, and keep your miscellaneous parts.

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

I was lucky with installing weaker springs in my centrifugal clutch. With weaker springs the clutch engages just above idle for a smooth takeoff and no jerks. The transition between shifts is also very smooth now. The bike is so much more fun to ride that I probably won't be able to finish the rest of my projects!!!!! This solution will work on any clutch that engages too slowly or with a jerk. I used springs that I had scavenged from discarded appliances or tools. The replacement springs were the same diameter as the originals, but the diameter of the wire is slightly smaller.

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

2 below farh. with 13 below wind chill had to get out the winter bike and winter motor. Spent 12 hours couple of days ago stripping the summer bike and prepairing the winter one.
Today I finished up and took it for a spin up and down the alley and around the block and it's running ok with alot of bottom end power- that tiny little motor sat all summer- I sure am happy that it fired up!!!! After the test ride, I let it sit and idle for a long time.
Still have some summer gass left that I gotta burn up-then it's time for sno-mo oil!!!
I cannot wait to try some of that Shell Advance.
These bikes are my only transportation so I gotta have them runnin- I cannot mess around. Well, all ready for the winter-they say that it's gettin warmer next week.....
YYYYAAAAAHHOOOOOO!!!!!

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

WoW ! THAT is COLD !
I just don't want to deal with that anymore! lol

Whew!

KC, yes, I should pop it apart to look, but I have no spare parts on hand. Not even a head gasket.
...if I bought a con rod bushing for a nickel, they'd probably want to charge me another nickel to mail it... wouldn't pay. and I'm not even sure if it is the wrist pin, or if it even uses a bushing, or a bearing.
The top end kits seem to come with a piston and rings, but no wrist pin or bearing???

Any advice on cheapest barrel WITH piston, rings, wrist pin & ... well, I don't know if my 48cc skyhawk is bushed or not! ???

From ded cold, I set the plunger choke on, it starts in the first 5ft and runs for a warm-up 300-400ft, then I can take the choke off and run a mile or so to the market or hardware store. It's still reliable. I don't want to give it up ! lol

m8r... U did the right thing! ...NOT going back out for another spin... always good to set and look at things, (especially after something has broken), when you're enjoying the excitement of that first ride!
...the slide in your carby may be position incorrectly...
with the spring OFF, you should be able to move the slide up and down quite freely with the cable end... if not, be sure it's rotated for proper alignment of the groove.
the groove goes towards the drive chain side... the small ramp at the bottom of the slide is for the idle speed adjustment and goes towards the clutch side of the engine.

I went up to the hardware and bought replacement screws for the parcel rack I took off a parts bike yesterday. Will change 'em out tomorrow. Don't want it to end up like a floppy fender boggled up in the back wheel ! Ever !!!
I'm a big spender... 40 cents a piece for #5 metric screws and a dime each for washers!

Best
rc

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

I am not sure, but I think it is just the shoes chattering against the drum when it is at an engine speed that is just not quite enough to stretch the spring hard and fully engage the shoes. It's a 2 shoe clutch (tanaka) so I think they are just bouncing back and forth when it does that.

I have a duplicate motor and I am going to put it on another Dax drive. If it does not do that, I would suspect it is the drum then. The drum does not visibly deviate when turned by hand, and it does not move left or right, as it is locked in place tight by the 1" roller with set screws.

lowracer said:

Is it the clutch shoes that are chattering? or the clutch drum not spinning totally true?
I have had similar issues with both my BMP kit & 2 Staton double bearing clutch drivers. It wasn't the clutch shoes or the bearings, but a loose/wobbly drum. On the BMP kit, I had to install an extra 1/2" washer which allows the shaft-end screw to remove excess play from the 1/2" shaft removing drum play. On both Staton drivers, there is no threaded end to the shafts, but by removing the driver, laying it flat on the ground & installing one to two extra 5/8" washers between the pulley & bearing & pushing down on it while locking the pulley set screw, it also removes the play allowing the drum to spin totally true...
-Lowracer-

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Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

siameaze said:

rode 2 and from work 34 degrees in Melbourne today... thats celsius for u non aussies = good riding weather, dudes try and talk to me on the road, wave me down, people stare, every1 smiles, not a real common sight here yet the funnest way 2 get 2 work ever

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Purty awesome Siameaze

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

I rode my Schwinn Avenue cyclocross bike with no motor kit today, on some mtb trails. It was fun, but not enough fun to deter me from putting it back on mb commuter duty when I get the other Dax kit (1st one moved to wife's bike in hopes of getting her butt off the couch).

The low bottom bracket makes this bike less than stellar for off road riding, but the low stand-over height is great. It is very fast on singletrack type trails but is limited by the narrow (700x38) tires.

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Hahha. I like the Metric System, but I have not gotten used to Kilometers per Hour or Degrees Celsius yet. When you said 34 degrees in Melbourne, I was thinking, how odd. It should be summer weather there. Then I remembered....

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

LOL Happy, me too

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

anim8r said:

.....it turns out the throttle is sitting wide open & it can't be slowed down......

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Also check the routing of your throttle cable.. too many tight turns and it will bind up in the cable sheath. There's a good thread around here on shortening the throttle cable, I haven't tried yet but it's on my to-do list when I get my hands on a bit of silver solder, which is around $10 from many retailers. Last time I looked the place I went to was actually sold out, so the project will wait until I'm there again.

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

happycheapskate said:

Hahha. I like the Metric System, but I have not gotten used to Kilometers per Hour or Degrees Celsius yet. When you said 34 degrees in Melbourne, I was thinking, how odd. It should be summer weather there. Then I remembered....

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I'm from the switch-over generation here in Canada, they started teaching us the old way, then told us to forget that and shoved the metric system on us. I use both in different areas, feet and inches for short/project measurement, kms for driving distance... Pounds more often than kilos (outside work, where I have to use both for shipping). The place it works out best (for me) though has to be liquid measures.. so much easier to make up gas/oil mix with a base-10 decimal system than with gallons and ounces.

I use a couple of different sites for converting units, this one: Metric-Conversions.org, and Master Unit Converter. They cover everything I've needed to convert (so far). As a rough rule of thumb, 10 km=6(.2) mi.

Today is clear and sunny, but cold. Close to freezing, there's still frost in the shadow of the house. However I'm going to gear up and take the new motor out for a 'confidence run' in a little while. Once I'm happy with it I'll feel better about riding out to go to work in the dark @ 7am.

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Rode mine to the end of the block today. Out of 6 attempts, I made it all the way twice.
The problem of the wide-open throttle only came back once, when I didn't have the cap thingy screwed in all the way & the brass barrel slipped out of position. Just b-a-r-e-l-y missed nailing the van parked across the street. (That was pretty fun, I gotta admit). Still working on the throttle adjustment. It kinda works a little, but it doesn't make much of a difference if it's mostly pulled or mostly relaxed, the result is about the same: it just kinda runs.

RC - good call. Turns out the barrel was the problem. I got it sliding, but I think it's in backwards....the groove is on the clutch side & the bottom notch is on the drive side. Is that probably why the throttle isn't doing as much as it could?