Newbie from Wales

GoldenMotor.com

FurryOnTheInside

New Member
Sep 30, 2013
11
0
0
Wales, United Kingdom
Hi everyone! I'm totally new to motored cycling. Just found the motorized bicycle forum a few weeks ago and have been reading lots and lots and learned so much already so I thought it's time I signed up! I have been reading lots but there's just so much to learn and so much information here from all the helpful forum users.. not to mention all the pics of your truly awesome rides!

Okay so a few things about me: I've been riding and building bicycles for many many years, but never used motors of any sort, except when I had a motorscooter type toy vehicle for a week, until it broke my shoulder (4" front wheel rim was too small to roll to a stop when the 3" tyre had a puncture so I did the air-to-ground-missile thing).

I used to ride 20" BMX freestyle, 24" and 26" mountainbikes (downhill, freestyle jumping, etc), and more recently road-going 26"-wheel bikes.
I have knee problems from my BMX days though, which is making it harder for me to cover the distances that I need to; plus I tend to carry "quite a lot" of cargo on longer journeys which makes the going rather hard and increases the amount of cargo I need (to stay out longer I end up with exponentially increasing water/food requirements). I travel on the coastal cycle paths and mountain back roads of Wales so it makes sense for me to look into motorising my bicycle now as well as towing a trailer for cargo capacity.

The motor I'm interested in is the 69.7cc "Evo4GT" offered by Transformercycles in the UK. I need to figure out exactly where to post to ask if anyone else here has had experience with this company or any experience with there "latest" all black motor... not sure where to put that yet. I need to know if they really do honour their extended warranty or whether they blame "user error" as standard response and I should keep that extra money for spares! I'm going to try to find other MBers from the UK too if I can figure that out.

I'd like to upgrade the setup in the near future with a Sick Bike Parts shift kit if possible too, stealthy rear rack mounted fuel tank, and any other upgrades or mods that are nessesary.

Anyway my current bicycle is a Carrera 'Subway 2' Alloy framed 26"-wheel roadgoing mountainbike with a 20" (BB to toptube) frame, 2" diameter downtube, proper 1&1/8" aheadset, cable operated disk brakes, and a so-called suspension seatpost. I have a rear pannier rack for heavy cargo (food and water mostly), a front lowrider rack so I can carry light stuff like fleece tops etc on there, and I'm planning to get an Extrawheel 26" single wheel trailer too so I won't have to carry all my camping, fishing and snorkelling equipment on the bicycle itself after I've lost some cargo space by fitting the motor and fuel tank.
Looking at others' bikes on the forum it seems ideal for converting to motor-assisted cycling. *excited*

~FurryOnTheInside
 

paul

Well-Known Member
Dec 23, 2007
5,547
44
48
66
Kalamazoo, MI
welcome to our world of motorized bicycles. if you love bicycles you are in for a real treat when ad a motor
 

evogav

New Member
Nov 15, 2008
24
0
0
UK
Hi Furry - I'm in the UK too and I've got an Evo4GT engine on my bike. I had 2 of the transformercycles older engines before this one. Very good engine to be honest. Good build quality...
 

FurryOnTheInside

New Member
Sep 30, 2013
11
0
0
Wales, United Kingdom
Thanks guys! :) Evogav, thank you very much for that info! :) I stillll haven't got around to buying an engine- after much research I have made a parts list & mods list and a basic build plan and I have decided that I need to spend about £2000GBP or $3000US to get the type of bike that I want, sacrificing as little of the original functionality of the bicycle as possible. So it's going to take well into the summer to even save up for phase 1 of my build (frame and drivetrain, engine with stealth mods) so I'm just collecting the little parts that are available locally (and also could be used on my "normal" bikes) until I get enough cash together to start building a multi-speed multi-range drivetrain. I'm still excited, I just know it's going to be a slow process now getting parts together. Hopefully I will finish the build next January when the bike shops are doing good discounts on bars and brakes and stuff. Until then I plan to borrow some parts off one of my Carrera Subway 2 mountain-roadbike hybrids.
Okay so as I said I made a quick parts list and here's the parts I think I "need" to get motoring:

Surly Disc Trucker Frame & Fork, 700c Version (26"x2.1 tyre clearance) (£330)
Transformercycles : 69.7cc 2-stroke "GT4" slant-head motor kit with 8mm studs (£200) ***--- OR
rose329a : 66cc Engine ONLY + Chrome Muffler (£105ish?)
Halo SAS Wheelset 26"x36mm 36/48h (£124)
Shimano Saint PD-MX80 Pedals (£50)
Shimano Deore M615 Brakes (£60)
Sturmey Archer Parking Brake Lever (Right) (£8)
FSA The Pig sealed headset (£20)
Cinelli 65* Stem (£15, SJS)
KCNC Rampant 6061 Alloy Flat Wide Bar (£24, SJS)
Seatpost Gusset Lofty 27.2mm (£22.50, Wiggle)
Rear Rack (disc compatible and wide) (£?)
Front chainrings, 30T, 42T, 54T, 48T (£?)
Cheap cycle computer x2 (£20, eBay)
FSA Control Center computer mount, 31.8mm (£10)
Torque wrench (3/8") 10-80NM range (£24 , eBay)
Compression Tester (£15, Amazon)
Gear pullers [set of 3, 4, 6"] (£15, eBay)
ISIS Bottom Bracket Remover (£10, Amazon)
Dremel (£40-£97)
KMC HL710 nickel plated BMX chain (£22 at Tesco.com)
Shimano 9-speed chain (£16-£26)
Bionicon C.Guide V.02 (£35, Evans)
shimano-r443-triple-89-speed-front-derailleur (£20, Wiggle)
Tacx Ball Bearing Jockey Wheels (£10, Amazon)
Scrap Alu to practise dremel work and some for making RHS chain tensioners
Derailleur Cable & Outer (£20-25)
Red Tacky Grease (£4, eBay)
JB Weld (£10)
Carburettor Cleaner (£4 eBay)
Fuel filter (about £5)
Fuel tap (under £10)
Fuel tank (small plastic) (up to £15, eBay)
Silicon Hose 13mm polyester reinforced 200C (£8 per metre)
High quality synthetic/castor 80/20 oil to run (£18 per L)
RTV Silicone Gasket Maker (£5)
Alcohol & Turps (£?)
320 grit sandpaper (£?)
Kopr Kote (UK equivalent of) for head gasket (£?)
Petroleum-based oil to break in (£?)
Nice new drill bits (£??)
Tap set (small) (£??)
Lots of spare flat washers and lock washers (£?)
Pipe fastener (for exhaust pipe lower mount) (£?)
Silicon Hose 30" (£8 per metre)
Shrink tube 6mm diameter (£?)
Spare woodruff keys (mower shop) (£?)
Valve grinding paste (£4, eBay)
Loctite 222 (low strength threadlock) (£4, eBay)
Loctite 263 (high strength threadlock for studs) (£4, eBay)
Loctite 243 (50ml) (medium strength threadlock) (£14)
Helmet mirror (£10)
Road Helmet (£58, Wiggle)
--- Check On One for Schwalbe tyres.
Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour 26"x2.0" (50x559) (£25 each, Wiggle)
Schwalbe Kojak Folding 26"x2.0" (£36, Wiggle) (light spare tyre to carry)
Schwalbe Marathon XR 26" x? (£?) (tough & heavy tyre)
Schwalbe Mondial 26"x2.15" (£45 each, Wiggle) (toughest & heaviest touring tyre)
Schwalbe Big Apple LiteSkin Kevlar Guard Folding Tyre 26"x? (£50 pair in sales)
Schwalbe Marathon Supreme 26"x2.0" (x2) (£36 each, Wiggle) (light & slick racing tyre)
Schwalbe Big Apple 16"x2.0" (£?)
Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pro Folding Tyre 26" x 2.10 (54-559) 695g (£70 pair) maybe??
Schwalbe Winter Spiked 1.75" (47-559) (£26 each, Wiggle)


U.S.A stuff:
SBP : Head Stud kit M8x1.0 OR M8x1.25 ($10)
SBP : Engine Hardware kit ($10)
SBP : 2 Stroke HD Shifter kit ($200) ---MINUS crankset, bottom bracket, the FW chainrings, chain
SBP : ISIS Crankset ($38)
SBP : Bottom Bracket Cartridge 148mm x 68mm ($47)
SBP : Chain Tensioner - Primary/Left Side ($33)
SBP : Front Engine Mount - large for mount stud spacing (??mm) and downtube diameter (??mm) ($15)
SBP : Freewheel Spider - 5 arm 130mm BCD ($24)
SBP : 9 tooth sprocket ($7)
SBP : Keys ($3)
SBP : NGK Iridium BPR6HIX x2 ($14)
SBP : Silicon tube 6" ($7)
SBP : Engine Sound Dampeners ($14)
SBP : Head Gasket 8mm ($5)
SBP : Grip shift 8spd ($16)
SBP : 10T Engine Output Sprocket ($TBA)
SBP : Dragonfly (Jaguar) CDI inc. coil
Juice Moto Parts : Titanium wrist pin ($19)
Kingsmotorbikes.com : 2.5L underslung gas tank??? ($35) (sh!tty company to order from allegedly)
JNMotors : Throttle cable
JNMotors : Clutch Cover Gasket ($5)
JNMotors : TTO Temp Guage ($40)
JNMotors : HP Walbro Carb Kit +RSE Reed Valve Kit "Stage 2 ($190)
[email protected] -- r.e. Thermal Isolation Spacer!!!

Total:
Locally available parts: (£1252 + shipping + at least 20 items not yet priced up)
U.S. parts: ($776 + shipping/tax) ($776 = £470)
(£1252+ £470 = £1722 )

£1722 + shipping/tax from U.S.A. + parts not yet priced up) ($2834+ !)



+ 24" wheelset and tyres
+ ANOTHER MOTOR ASSISTED BICYCLE OR TWO! ;D


***--- (QUESTIONS FOR MOTOR IMPORTER:-
What is the front engine mount stud spacing (centre to centre), is it 41mm, or 48mm?
Do/can I get a spare 10 tooth output sprocket?
Do/can I get a gear puller included?
What is the thread pitch of the 8mm studs?
Can I get just the engine and exhaust, not the whole kit?

Looks like an exciting build huh? :p Looks like it'll take me a LONGGG time to save up for all those parts!! Oh well! :D
Thanks for the welcome everybody! :)


EDIT: I should mention the frame listed is 700C version of the Surly Disc Trucker, plan is to use it with a 4" travel Marzocchi Bomber fork, open oil bath SIMPLE fork. The 700C S.D.T. has a huge BB "drop" and the longest chainstays of any "normal" (not longbike) touring bike, and IMO will kick ass with the front lifted by a longer fork on it and then the whole bike dropped down onto those bombproof 26" MTB wheels. >:D
 
Last edited:

xseler

Well-Known Member
Apr 14, 2013
2,886
151
63
OKC, OK
WOW!! That's quite the compendeum of high quality parts and supplies --- if I should ever have the need for a strategic planner, you'd be at the top of my list!

One item kinda caught my eye......valve grinding paste. Intrigued about it's use on a 2 cycle setup.
 

FurryOnTheInside

New Member
Sep 30, 2013
11
0
0
Wales, United Kingdom
Haha thanks xseler you should see the (not even detailed) 70 step build instructions I compiled from various tips I gleaned from comments in about 1000 forum threads I read. xD I just wanted to make sure I do the jobs in the right order and make sure all planned modifications and components are compatible with one another. There is nothing new in my plans but perhaps it's taking (what in my mind is) the best from various other people's stealth/tour/workhorse builds they have kindly written about. Trouble is now I think it'll take me a long time to even get enough parts to begin bolting bits together.

Valve grinding paste is just the easiest and cheapest type of grinding paste to source. Grinding paste is not definitely neccesary on all engines but on some with overly square and noisy cog teeth it gas been used to finish/round the teeth of the primary cogs by applying it instead of thick grease and running the bike til the teeth wear down a little, then it's cleaned off and replaced with proper tacky grease. This quietens the noise from inside the clutch cover and is tackling the root cause of the problem which will still take some more improvement with addition of inside and outside clutch cover sound dampeners from Sick Bike Parts (outside one is inc in the shift kit).
There are not too many jobs like this in my plan, it's mostly bolt together "plug n play" type stuff, just a little filing here and polishing there, so WHEN I post a thread of the build it should be easily reproducable by anyone with basic hand tools.
 

xseler

Well-Known Member
Apr 14, 2013
2,886
151
63
OKC, OK
Gotcha on the grinding paste --- I just used a little Red-N-Tacky grease and installed the clutch cover dampener. Made it quite a bit quieter. (Say that 5 times fast in Welsh!! :D)

Looking forward to your progress!
 

FurryOnTheInside

New Member
Sep 30, 2013
11
0
0
Wales, United Kingdom
Aye, it is a little known mod. I think only one mention of it on any forum (by Jaguar, IIRC), so may well not be needed; but for only an extra $3 on a $3000 build it may be worth a try! :) I'm used to pedal powered bikes (I have six at the moment!) so even if this noise/ friction/ power loss is only very minor, in my head it's important enough at least to look for the root cause of the (what I've read is an) annoying noise, which is poorly meshing gear tooth profile according to my reading.
It'll be a while til I have enough parts to start building so it's going to be later in the year before I can post any "progress" but I promise I will try to document as thoroughly as I can, to return the favour, as all the ideas and info for my build-plan have been distilled from other forum members' posts. :)