Thought it would be cool to hear stories about how people were first introduce to motorized bicycling and decided to start this thread. To start off, I will share the story of how I got introduced, and how my first bike ended up getting built.
In 2009, I was living in Pottstown, PA with my first wife and looking for cheap transportation. I was considering trying to buy a cheap used moped and was looking on craigslist. I ran across an ad posted by gasbike.net, and at first thought it was a joke or a prank. Bicycle engine? Come on, you cant be serious, lol. But I was curious, and googled it for the heck of it. Found out it was real. Looked at several different suppliers websites, but ordered from gasbike because they were the cheapest I could find. A week later, I got my kit.
Now on to how my bike got built. A friend of mine from work was supposed to help me build it, but he kept coming up with excuses. I got tired of waiting and decided to build it myself. I didnt know anything about mechanics, so the bike wasnt on the road very much at first. I started in August of 09, but the bike wasnt built reliably enough to stay on the road until Christmas of that year. Since then I have built a second bike, and my first bike is no more. But I can tell you this: since Christmas of 09, I have only been to a bicycle shop twice to have work done. Once to have a rim trued, and once to have a crank replaced. Both of those were for my first bike. Since building my second bike, every turn of the wrench was done with my two hands, including rebuilding my rear hub, modifying a pocketbike expansion chamber, replacing the engine, rebuilding a carburetor, installing a wider crank, and adding a rear caliper pull brake to a beach cruiser frame. I have come a long way from where I started, and have learned a lot about keeping my bike running smoothly.
In 2009, I was living in Pottstown, PA with my first wife and looking for cheap transportation. I was considering trying to buy a cheap used moped and was looking on craigslist. I ran across an ad posted by gasbike.net, and at first thought it was a joke or a prank. Bicycle engine? Come on, you cant be serious, lol. But I was curious, and googled it for the heck of it. Found out it was real. Looked at several different suppliers websites, but ordered from gasbike because they were the cheapest I could find. A week later, I got my kit.
Now on to how my bike got built. A friend of mine from work was supposed to help me build it, but he kept coming up with excuses. I got tired of waiting and decided to build it myself. I didnt know anything about mechanics, so the bike wasnt on the road very much at first. I started in August of 09, but the bike wasnt built reliably enough to stay on the road until Christmas of that year. Since then I have built a second bike, and my first bike is no more. But I can tell you this: since Christmas of 09, I have only been to a bicycle shop twice to have work done. Once to have a rim trued, and once to have a crank replaced. Both of those were for my first bike. Since building my second bike, every turn of the wrench was done with my two hands, including rebuilding my rear hub, modifying a pocketbike expansion chamber, replacing the engine, rebuilding a carburetor, installing a wider crank, and adding a rear caliper pull brake to a beach cruiser frame. I have come a long way from where I started, and have learned a lot about keeping my bike running smoothly.