Enthusiastic in Louisville

Hi all. I love cycling, but now I'm 12miles from work and needing an engine kit. I really REALLY like the Staton chain drive, from the pics and info I've researched. I'm a hundred bucks short of the kit, so I'm almost there!

From this site, what I need is direction to as many threads/posts from both Staton chain drive owners and first-hand accounts as far as power, speed, and reliability... IOWs, 'reviews'. I can't seem to find many.

So, the pain at the pump has me down, but has also lit a fire under my ass as far as adapting to this energy crime against US citizens. Added to my joy of biking, motorizing my bike might be a very enjoyable and fun personal revolt against the gas crisis... Right now, gas is hovering between 4.11 and 4.17 in town. I expect it to be at or above $5 before summer's end. Personally, I WILL NOT pay more than the current price for very much longer for my CAR. I will however pay that rate for the kind of gas mileage we're getting from motorized bikes.

This is personal for me. I'm taking myself off the 'hook' and will not remain caught by this gasoline bs any longer. So, with my career and social obligations, this will be kind of tricky for me. The more reviews I can find for Staton chain drives, the more secure I'll feel about going this way.

I know about frictions drives, and in Kentucky, it rains often.
I don't like the idea of a plastic ring snapped to my spokes.
I don't like bolt-on sprockets attached TO my spokes.
I don't like belts.

I like the left-hand freewheel sprocket and gears in case I wanna pedal, and I like the superior engines that Staton offers.

Thanks for taking time to read, and I appreciate the links beforehand.

Hey all..... well, the Staton chain drive/Mitsubishi TLE 43 kit arrived (finally...ha). Have to let the bike shop switch out the hub first, dish the wheel etc before I can mount it up on my Trek 6000.

Kit's heavier than I thought, and this bike is a 'tall' 26". I wonder about the high 'center of gravity' ... wonder if I should get a lower profiled bike for this. Any ideas?

The Staton kit has held up unbelievably well. In fact, the kit/engine survived a bad accident whereas my bike didn't. So, I installed it on a do4now mtn bike until I absolutely need a better one.

Since the accident, while healing up, I collected the tools needed to make friction drive kits- milled out a few 1/4" thick aluminum channels (almost exactly like Staton's etc.), ordered the small components from various places, and 2 Mitsubishi TLE43 engines.

It's exacting work and takes much patience. But I've stuck with it, and through much trial and very very much error, I've made a FD that's acceptable to my standards. I've never ridden a friction drive before (only my chain drive), so I tried to make my FD feel 'solid' like the chain drive. -That- took some doing... a lot of tinkering then testing, over and over again for months.

My advice to anyone making their own FD, that U-Bracket HAS to be very rigid and strong. I skimped on the thickness of my first one, and it was causing the kit to 'shift' and made my steel drive roller 'angle' on the tire instead of being perfectly horizontal on TOP of the tire.

Also, the drive roller needs to be knurled. I was using a piece of 1" OD cold rolled steel, but after the first couple of miles, it started slipping and didn't have traction to get me up hills. So add to that the U-Bracket problem, my kit was pretty worthless. So I took an old rear peg (about 1 1/4") and secured it TO the 1" drive roller, then tapped/threaded it, screwed it back onto the clutch drum and took it for a test run. WOW. Even with a windy day, it was hauling at 32+mph. It really feels like it'll last for quite some time. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy the Youtube clip of yesterday's test run.

YouTube - Bicycle engine/Friction drive movie Memorial Day '09