Well first of all it does not make a good after dinner drink.
First I built electric friction drive using scooter motors and house hold light switches.
Then I built a China 2 stroke bike kit...
Then I built a dozen or so friction drive weed whacker type bikes.
Then I built some more friction drive e bikes.
Now I ride a bike with a small hub motor.
For power and range the gasoline bikes were superior by far.
for expense, the simplest friction drive is hard to beat.
For convenience the hub motor has them all beat. It is easy to assemble, it is quiet, it is virtually maintenance free. But you can still do a little tinkering on the bike frame itself. I have the least powerful one made I think, but I am beginning to find that more appealing as I go on with it. It is beautifully quiet as well.
The bike makes me think. I never gave much thought to where I was going or what route I was taking with the china kit bike. I also never asked myself, "Is this trip really necessary?" I gave it a little more thought on the friction drive weed eater bikes. With the tiny hubber I give it a lot of though.
I pedal about as much as I did with a small weed whacker bike. There were a couple of friction drives I built that rivaled the china kit. One was the 42cc chainsaw bike. It would pull about anything I put it up against. But it was smelly, dirty in general, inconvenient, and god was it noisy.
So of them all which would I want to own again.... A bike is a very personal thing. No I'm not talking about the fancy paint job or the screwy geometry of the frame, I mean the use we make of them. So what motor pretty much depends on the use I would put to it.
I think that if I was going to commute across town to work (I live in a small town) I could do it easily on a larger hub motor or a china bike kit. If the boss would let me charge it at work, then probably the hubber. If not then maybe the China kit would be better. Why the hub,because I like the quiet and being able to go stealth. So far there has been no real maintenance to speak of. Yes no chains flying off, nothing getting loose, no carburetors to adjust nothing at all actually.
Shopping & errands (Now we are into what I do with my bike) Okay lets be logical here. There are only certain things you can carry on a bike. You are not going to carry a wheel barrow on one. though I have seen guys with lawnmower trailers on back.
So if you are going to the grocery or to your favorite restaurant how far is it round trip. That is where I had to make up my mind. 90% of my trips are within five or six miles of my house. 5% i can't get the stuff on the bike and need my wife's car to manage anyway, That leaves five percent to deal with. Okay I have a second battery pack I can use to increase the range of the bike. I could in theory make a ten to fifteen mile round trip on the bike with absolutely no problem and probably battery to spare. Sorry guys my butt can't handle more than that.
riding the bike trails
That needs no explanation...Electric all the way.
My hub motor is slower than a china kit
but about the same as a Weed whacker friction drive. In other words I'm used to the lack of speed and it doesn't bother me. The range I can cope with pretty well these days, so the basic advantages of gasoline do not outweigh the negatives for me.
That is not to say that I think there is anything wrong with them or that I didn't have a blast tinkering with them. For me at this stage of my life the E bike just makes more sense. I never though I would say that by the way.
So why did you decide to come into the light...electric light that is
First I built electric friction drive using scooter motors and house hold light switches.
Then I built a China 2 stroke bike kit...
Then I built a dozen or so friction drive weed whacker type bikes.
Then I built some more friction drive e bikes.
Now I ride a bike with a small hub motor.
For power and range the gasoline bikes were superior by far.
for expense, the simplest friction drive is hard to beat.
For convenience the hub motor has them all beat. It is easy to assemble, it is quiet, it is virtually maintenance free. But you can still do a little tinkering on the bike frame itself. I have the least powerful one made I think, but I am beginning to find that more appealing as I go on with it. It is beautifully quiet as well.
The bike makes me think. I never gave much thought to where I was going or what route I was taking with the china kit bike. I also never asked myself, "Is this trip really necessary?" I gave it a little more thought on the friction drive weed eater bikes. With the tiny hubber I give it a lot of though.
I pedal about as much as I did with a small weed whacker bike. There were a couple of friction drives I built that rivaled the china kit. One was the 42cc chainsaw bike. It would pull about anything I put it up against. But it was smelly, dirty in general, inconvenient, and god was it noisy.
So of them all which would I want to own again.... A bike is a very personal thing. No I'm not talking about the fancy paint job or the screwy geometry of the frame, I mean the use we make of them. So what motor pretty much depends on the use I would put to it.
I think that if I was going to commute across town to work (I live in a small town) I could do it easily on a larger hub motor or a china bike kit. If the boss would let me charge it at work, then probably the hubber. If not then maybe the China kit would be better. Why the hub,because I like the quiet and being able to go stealth. So far there has been no real maintenance to speak of. Yes no chains flying off, nothing getting loose, no carburetors to adjust nothing at all actually.
Shopping & errands (Now we are into what I do with my bike) Okay lets be logical here. There are only certain things you can carry on a bike. You are not going to carry a wheel barrow on one. though I have seen guys with lawnmower trailers on back.
So if you are going to the grocery or to your favorite restaurant how far is it round trip. That is where I had to make up my mind. 90% of my trips are within five or six miles of my house. 5% i can't get the stuff on the bike and need my wife's car to manage anyway, That leaves five percent to deal with. Okay I have a second battery pack I can use to increase the range of the bike. I could in theory make a ten to fifteen mile round trip on the bike with absolutely no problem and probably battery to spare. Sorry guys my butt can't handle more than that.
riding the bike trails
That needs no explanation...Electric all the way.
My hub motor is slower than a china kit
but about the same as a Weed whacker friction drive. In other words I'm used to the lack of speed and it doesn't bother me. The range I can cope with pretty well these days, so the basic advantages of gasoline do not outweigh the negatives for me.
That is not to say that I think there is anything wrong with them or that I didn't have a blast tinkering with them. For me at this stage of my life the E bike just makes more sense. I never though I would say that by the way.
So why did you decide to come into the light...electric light that is
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The original Next softail is now stripped of most of it's components and I'll be putting the frame up for sale on Craigslist. 
