my Black Squirrel ("The Flying Fart")

GoldenMotor.com

anim8r

New Member
Jul 15, 2011
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Michigan
I guess it's time I started a build thread. Seems like a good way to keep track of me & my bike's progress & problems.

The bike is already built, so I won't be doing step-by-step pics. I'll post my before-and-afters over the next few days, along with some stuff that I learned or invented or discovered while learning to build my 1st motorbike.

A little intro, real quick:
I've never fixed a bike before. I'm proud as **** of this thing. I know it's crappy in places & there are some funny mods....but I built it & it runs, & when it breaks down on the road I can fix it & ride it home. That rules.

I built it during the Summer & Fall of 2011 from an early-90's Schwinn Cruiser & a few other bikes, plus some new parts. I couldn't decide on a name: Black Squirrel or Flying Fart? Since it was a unique make/model by now (& I could tell this wasn't gonna be my last project), I decided Black would be the make of all my bikes from now on. This first model would be the Squirrel. Its name is The Flying Fart. (As far as I'm concerned it's a win-win. Depending on which build I go with next, it will probably be a Black Panther, Black Dart, or Black Banana.) I made it through the Summer, but in the Fall I need some help so I brought in a mechanic friend. We're designing his project now.

The motor is a BGF china girl, the 66cc 2stroke. I upgraded the hardware & some other parts, as suggested in THIS CLASSIC POST The rest of what's been done to the bike will be posted over the next few weeks.....probably longer....I'm starting to understand that the work on a motorbike is never really "done".
Rock.
 
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anim8r

New Member
Jul 15, 2011
243
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Michigan
I'm starting to see that 4 miles is about as far as I can get before something goes wrong with my bike. Wheel kicks sideways. Exhaust shakes loose. Spark plug backs out. A couple of times I even ran out of gas. Sometimes, just trying to break the 4-mile mark on my bike makes me feel like Chuck Yeager trying to break the sound barrier.

If nothing else goes wrong, I usually end up losing power on the high end after I've gone about 3 1/2 miles. I'm slowly zeroing in on the problems: I thought it was struggling for air, so I gave it better flow. Then I replaced the spark plug. Then I noticed the spark plug was being shaken loose from vibes, so I locked it in with a little thread sealant. All of these things helped but the high-end power loss is still there.

Today I noticed the spark plug wire is getting shook loose after a few miles. I know I say this every time I notice a new problem, but maybe this is how to prevent the power loss....

One way to find out: gotta get a new spark plug boot.
 

anim8r

New Member
Jul 15, 2011
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Michigan
This isn't the most recent version, but it's close. I'll take some more tomorrow after a ride. This is when I had the cool-but-worthless analog speedo on it.



Now I have a cool-but-worthless chrome bullet headlight in its place. The headlight is really awesome...it's a genuine old-schooler that was still in the box in mint condition. Takes 2 D batteries & only gets about as bright as a very young kid's birthday cake. It'll get rebuilt with LEDs as part of my electronics education. (I've got a whole lighting system designed, but I've gotta learn about electronics before I can make it work.) Here are a couple of shaky shots of the headlamp

 

anim8r

New Member
Jul 15, 2011
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Michigan
ok, so I lied about taking new pics. I'll get around to it.

Since I posted about the spark plug wire shaking loose, I've noticed it's actually deteriorating. Somebody in China has apparently created a accelerated-biodegradable rubber compound. Judging by the rest of this motor, I can only imagine that this, too, was an accident.

After a clumsy search through a paper book & finally deciding that they'd found the closest thing to what I need, O'Reilly's sold me the wrong type of spark plug wire. It's getting returned.

For The Record: I got a new NGK BP5HS spark plug from a local small engine shop.
A t-i-n-y dab of threadlocker keeps it held in place.
AND I've got dramatically-increased airflow from removing the seriously-dense foam sponge from my stock red skull air filter. (It might as well have been made from a solid piece of balsa wood).
After this replacing the spark wire, I should no longer have top-end power loss.
 

Kestrel Motors Inc.

New Member
Oct 18, 2011
179
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Nebraska
Where did you get the headlight??? And how much did it cost, (if I may ask). I've been looking for one of those and haven't been able to find a good one for under $50.00!
 

rustycase

Gutter Rider
May 26, 2011
2,746
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Left coast
WoW!

Is that yours, Steampunk?
It is really nice!
What is it?
Pls tell me more!!!
rc


Anim8r, sounds like u just gotta go around the bike and dial things in a little at a time 'til things get whipped into shape! Make sure you take a good tool bag with you every time you don't want to pedal home.
What kind of oil and mix ratio are you running?
rc
 

fasteddy

Well-Known Member
Feb 13, 2009
7,440
4,877
113
British Columbia Canada
Anima8r,
Can an old man offer you a suggestion? I spent over 50 of my 68 years restoring antique furniture and making some fakes to match what people wanted. Never once did I make something that I personally felt was great. What I made was in some of the nicest houses in North America but I was never happy with what I did. The owners were thrilled.

My bike and sidecar are in a major webzine that featured bikes. The last one before the owner passed away. I'm still not happy with the bike.

Don't feel that you don't need to not show us what you built. It's a disservice both to you and us. If you made a mistake we learn from that and if what you feel is a mistake is an act of genius we'll tell you. We all learn from each others efforts.

Steve
 

anim8r

New Member
Jul 15, 2011
243
0
0
Michigan
Where did you get the headlight??? And how much did it cost, (if I may ask). I've been looking for one of those and haven't been able to find a good one for under $50.00!
I got REAL lucky with the headlight. My local bike shop owner dug through his personal stash trying to find one for me. He said if he could find one he couldn't let it go for less than $40. No luck, anyway.
Then one day someone donated one in mint-condition (still in the box) at the thrift store where my roommate works. I don't mean to rub it in.....but this one cost me $1.50.
 

anim8r

New Member
Jul 15, 2011
243
0
0
Michigan
a pic for inspiration!



these can be a pia at times but they sure are fun!
Jeezus, man! You trying to give me a heart attack? That thing's GORGEOUS!! I wish this wasn't a family forum so I could say what almost happened when I saw it. Suffice it to say I'm inspired.

Ya know, I don't really mind the pains & struggles. Since I'm new to all this I just eat it up. Fixing a new breakdown on the road is like earning a new karate belt. Every successful fabrication is a trophy.
 
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anim8r

New Member
Jul 15, 2011
243
0
0
Michigan
Anim8r, sounds like u just gotta go around the bike and dial things in a little at a time 'til things get whipped into shape! Make sure you take a good tool bag with you every time you don't want to pedal home.
What kind of oil and mix ratio are you running?
rc
Thanks RC, that's how I'm taking it. It's starting to feel like I know this thing. It runs a lot better than it used to, at least.
I ALWAYS take a work glove full of tools with me unless I'm just doing a test run in front of the house. My glove holds everything I'd need for a roadside teardown & rebuild except a cone wrench & torque wrench. I'm hoping to eventually replace as many of the nuts & bolts as possible with allen heads, so I can strip the tool kit down even more.

I broke it in with Lucas semi-synthetic at their recommended ratio of 50:1 (2 small bottles to 2 gallons of gas). I'm on the last tank of it now. One tank ago, however, I happened to run out of gas on the way to the 2-stroke shop. The owner filled me up with an Opti-2 mix for $1...that's apparently what he stands behind.
That's probably what I'll switch to. I figure everything's nice & broken in now, so I won't need the detergents of the semi-synth anymore. Hard to tell if there was a difference using his gas or mine, because the switch happened during a spark plug upgrade.
 
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anim8r

New Member
Jul 15, 2011
243
0
0
Michigan
Anima8r,
Can an old man offer you a suggestion? I spent over 50 of my 68 years restoring antique furniture and making some fakes to match what people wanted. Never once did I make something that I personally felt was great. What I made was in some of the nicest houses in North America but I was never happy with what I did. The owners were thrilled.

My bike and sidecar are in a major webzine that featured bikes. The last one before the owner passed away. I'm still not happy with the bike.

Don't feel that you don't need to not show us what you built. It's a disservice both to you and us. If you made a mistake we learn from that and if what you feel is a mistake is an act of genius we'll tell you. We all learn from each others efforts.

Steve
Thanks for the input, Steve. Honestly, I didn't think anyone was reading this lol
I was mainly posting here so I could have a reference for my modifications....kind of keeping track of my education & progress. Sometimes I forget what a great online community this is. I appreciate your interest, & I'll do my best to follow up. From now on, when I say pics are coming -- pics will be coming. In fact, I'm heading out right now to take a few.
 

anim8r

New Member
Jul 15, 2011
243
0
0
Michigan
current phase (click the thumbnails for the big pic)


I figure I should go ahead & get all my worst mods out in the open. Here's a selection:
The tensioner, a classic POS. I didn't trust it when I first saw how it was supposed to be set up, & my concern was confirmed when I read on the boards how many other riders have problems with them. So here's the temporary solution. Clamped a beefy bracket of some kind to the rear of the frame, then bolted it to the original tensioner. Then I put a strong bungee strap on the bracket to keep it from sliding downward on the frame. It all feels like overkill to support the crappy original tensioner, yet I still don't trust it. I plan to get rid of it via half-links.


Here's what's going on with my fenders. First, a zoomed-out pic to show you where this setup is happening:

Then, the setup itself:

Ok, so these fenders weren't exactly made for this bike. I'm pretty stubborn. I got em to fit, & they're stable. I used some of the info Bairdco posted in this GREAT THREAD ON FENDERS. Other stuff I kinda made up as I went along. All the supports have been cut down to size, then JB welded back together. They're all on their own fastening points, so if one goes bad, the other can hold the fender up til I get it fixed. (why didn't i take pics of that?) As shown in the pic, I slotted the rear fender in the middle, buffed the slots down, padded the slots with double layers of innertube, then hung it from that little cross bar using zipstrips. The rubber lining keeps the slotted parts from chewing through the zipstrips.

The front bracket on the rear wheel:

yeah.... it didn't come like that. I can't imagine the originally-intended setup would be anywhere near as stable, though.....this thing DOES NOT MOVE. It's a couple of stiff metal strips bolted together in a zig-zag, then bolted to a part of the frame that I don't have a name for.
 

steampunk

Member
Mar 10, 2011
440
0
16
lakewood co
sorry i somehow missed the post that you asked about the pic... i got that pic off of a page that i got linked to by ibedyank...its def on my list of jaw droppers for sure...thought it was an appropriate pic given the name of the thread and such

and a side note...a thought for a future project on the fender thing...check out the hardcore fenders from planet bike...ive had really good results thus far
 
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anim8r

New Member
Jul 15, 2011
243
0
0
Michigan
Got a #41 chain to replace the original. Got some 1/2links to go with it, & so I finally got rid of that damn tensioner. It rolls smoother on the #41, for sure. But the rear wheel seems like it wants to kick sideways even earlier now, rubbing hard on the left inside of the frame.

I've never been able to take a ride without my wheel tools because of that. After constantly dealing with it, I finally asked the original owner if the bike was ever in an accident. Turns out it was hit by a car. I think the frame might be bent, & that's probably what's causing the wheel to twist.

So I'm thinking about a mt bike build. I'm not a fan of the looks, but it might be what I need. I imgaine I'll have a quicker takeoff with the MTB, too....the cruiser has terrible takeoff, but in a straight flat run it could hit 38. Kinda wish I had a 24" mtb to build on....