what did you do to your motorized bicycle today?

GoldenMotor.com

dodge dude94

New Member
Jun 8, 2012
1,017
1
0
East Texas
Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Tied my carb onto my engine with a piece of scrap brake cable and a cable tie. Lets see if this works. lol
 

BamaJNJ

New Member
Jul 15, 2013
19
0
0
Anniston,Alabama
Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

removed exhaust manifold and did my best to gasket match it...then did same to intake manifold...removed jug and gingerly ground off flashing in intake ports...ordered new gaskets from DAX
 

bigbutterbean

Active Member
Jan 31, 2011
2,417
3
38
Lebanon, PA
Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Don't even get me started, lol. This is going to be a long post. I suppose this story starts with me gathering parts for my 98cc cruiser. I bought a sprocket adapter from a forum member, known as the Howard adapter. Designed by forum member Sgt. Howard to fit the Huffy Cranbrook stock rear wheel. I did not have a Huffy Cranbrook stock rear wheel at the time. When I got the adapter, it was too wide to fit between the spokes on the wheel I had. Not Sgt. Howard or the seller's fault. But I paid good money for it and wanted to use it. I contacted another member to see if he would be willing to trade me his Cranbrook wheel for my wheel and some parts I no longer needed. He assured me that the Cranbrook wheel was in "like-new" condition. He shipped it to me, and I shipped out my wheel and parts. I did my best before going through with the trade to detail EXACTLY what condition my wheel and parts were in. The wheel was not in perfect condition, but very well serviced and taken care of, and just needed a bit of trueing. I received his wheel, and it was in nowhere near the condition he had described. It was badly out of true, the bearings were shot and the dust cover was almost completely shredded. I honestly do not even know how he was driving it (maybe he wasn't being honest with me at all, maybe the wheel was in a junk pile and he dug it out when I first contacted him). I had enough parts and the skill to rebuild and properly service the hub (it aint rocket surgery). So I did that, and took it to the bike shop to have it trued. They told me when I brought it in that it was so damaged that it would never be 100% true again, but they would do the best they could. At this point I figured I would get whatever mileage I could out of this wheel, and replace it later if needed. After driving my bike for about 2 months, I began to notice the back wheel was a bit wobbly. And by this I mean that when I was servicing the hub, I adjusted it properly and put it back on the bike, and I grabbed the tire and the wheel would wiggle. At first I thought I must have centered it wrong, so I re-centered it and the problem seemed to go away at the time. But not too long after that, it did it again. This time it would not go away, no matter how much I fiddled with it. I decided at that time to replace the wheel, and drive it carefully as-is until my replacement arrived. I found a Wheelmaster wheel on Amazon with a Shimano coaster brake for $40 shipped. Ordered it, and a few days later it arrived. I took the adapter off the Huffy wheel, only to find that it would not fit between the spokes of the Wheelmaster wheel. So I took the Shimano coaster brake out of the wheelmaster wheel and put it in the huffy wheel to see if maybe the problem was with one of the old hub components. Nope, problem still there. So I continued driving the Huffy wheel, because it was the only one that my adapter fit. A few weeks later, I was looking over my rear wheel and grabbing it by the spokes to turn it. I went to grab one spoke, and it moved quite a bit. Further inspection revealed the spoke to be broken near the flange somewhere. So at this point, I decided to see if I could order a replacement wheel from Huffy, since I knew that my adapter would fit a Huffy wheel. The replacement from Huffy arrived today. Again, removed the adapter from the problem wheel to install it in the new wheel, only to find that it would not fit between the spokes yet again. At this point, I'm like, are you friggin' kidding me? I have now paid for two wheels that my adapter would not fit. Sick of it, so I decided to take the hub off the old wheel and lace it into the new rim. Followed a tutorial and laced it up. I'm not going to attempt to true it, so I'll drop it off at the bike shop one day this week. I've just about had it up to here with this wheel bullcrap. Next problem I have, I'm ordering a different adapter. Might want to do that ahead of time actually. What a freaking waste of time and money this has been.
 

Huffydavidson

STREETRACER/MANUFACTURER
Jan 29, 2012
1,076
4
38
st.louis,mo.
Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Installed new primary and new secondary chains on the shift kit using the KMC 410H chain. WOW big time difference talk about a proper fit . no more 415 no more running a 41 I'm done running chain that's to WIDE for gears and I'm ordering a KMC Z30H to run my Shimano 7 speed 34-14. Ya boys smoother is always faster!brnot
 

trackfodder

Member
Sep 8, 2008
347
3
18
Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Today I finished the seat suspension. The 1-3/8" tires were driving my spine into my skull. I removed the seat post clamp and greased the post. Then a car valve spring and a cad plated (OLD curtain rod) 5/16" dia. guide that loops around the top tube and turns 90 deg. with the ends anchored in partial notches milled into the seat frame clamps that secure the seat round support members. This keeps it from swiveling or coming out. It seems to work great. The spring is just right so it doesn't bottom out and still absorbs shock. Well worth doing and almost as good as a rear suspension. Now I need to consider making a front spring system that is stable.
 

VIKTR

New Member
Jan 10, 2012
193
0
0
San Diego
Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Don't even get me started, lol. This is going to be a long post. I suppose this story starts with me gathering parts for my 98cc cruiser. I bought a sprocket adapter from a forum member, known as the Howard adapter. Designed by forum member Sgt. Howard to fit the Huffy Cranbrook stock rear wheel. I did not have a Huffy Cranbrook stock rear wheel at the time. When I got the adapter, it was too wide to fit between the spokes on the wheel I had. Not Sgt. Howard or the seller's fault. But I paid good money for it and wanted to use it. I contacted another member to see if he would be willing to trade me his Cranbrook wheel for my wheel and some parts I no longer needed. He assured me that the Cranbrook wheel was in "like-new" condition. He shipped it to me, and I shipped out my wheel and parts. I did my best before going through with the trade to detail EXACTLY what condition my wheel and parts were in. The wheel was not in perfect condition, but very well serviced and taken care of, and just needed a bit of trueing. I received his wheel, and it was in nowhere near the condition he had described. It was badly out of true, the bearings were shot and the dust cover was almost completely shredded. I honestly do not even know how he was driving it (maybe he wasn't being honest with me at all, maybe the wheel was in a junk pile and he dug it out when I first contacted him). I had enough parts and the skill to rebuild and properly service the hub (it aint rocket surgery). So I did that, and took it to the bike shop to have it trued. They told me when I brought it in that it was so damaged that it would never be 100% true again, but they would do the best they could. At this point I figured I would get whatever mileage I could out of this wheel, and replace it later if needed. After driving my bike for about 2 months, I began to notice the back wheel was a bit wobbly. And by this I mean that when I was servicing the hub, I adjusted it properly and put it back on the bike, and I grabbed the tire and the wheel would wiggle. At first I thought I must have centered it wrong, so I re-centered it and the problem seemed to go away at the time. But not too long after that, it did it again. This time it would not go away, no matter how much I fiddled with it. I decided at that time to replace the wheel, and drive it carefully as-is until my replacement arrived. I found a Wheelmaster wheel on Amazon with a Shimano coaster brake for $40 shipped. Ordered it, and a few days later it arrived. I took the adapter off the Huffy wheel, only to find that it would not fit between the spokes of the Wheelmaster wheel. So I took the Shimano coaster brake out of the wheelmaster wheel and put it in the huffy wheel to see if maybe the problem was with one of the old hub components. Nope, problem still there. So I continued driving the Huffy wheel, because it was the only one that my adapter fit. A few weeks later, I was looking over my rear wheel and grabbing it by the spokes to turn it. I went to grab one spoke, and it moved quite a bit. Further inspection revealed the spoke to be broken near the flange somewhere. So at this point, I decided to see if I could order a replacement wheel from Huffy, since I knew that my adapter would fit a Huffy wheel. The replacement from Huffy arrived today. Again, removed the adapter from the problem wheel to install it in the new wheel, only to find that it would not fit between the spokes yet again. At this point, I'm like, are you friggin' kidding me? I have now paid for two wheels that my adapter would not fit. Sick of it, so I decided to take the hub off the old wheel and lace it into the new rim. Followed a tutorial and laced it up. I'm not going to attempt to true it, so I'll drop it off at the bike shop one day this week. I've just about had it up to here with this wheel bullcrap. Next problem I have, I'm ordering a different adapter. Might want to do that ahead of time actually. What a freaking waste of time and money this has been.
Whoever said there was no need to reinvent the wheel was full of horse poo

lol

I refuse to use a rag joint to mount a sprocket to a rim, I have one bike that has the sprocket welded on another with a jackshaft.

I am going to build a simple cruiser for my brother but want to use a disc brake rim to mount the sprocket.
 

bigbutterbean

Active Member
Jan 31, 2011
2,417
3
38
Lebanon, PA
Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

I would never have used a rag joint on a 98cc cruiser. I made up my mind about that from the beginning. Now I'm glad I did. Especially with the condition this wheel was in when I got it, instead of 1 broken spoke it would have been 10, and me with my azz on the ground due to a completely taco'd wheel.
 

trackfodder

Member
Sep 8, 2008
347
3
18
Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

One thing I think is worth doing on a China Girl is to get a half-link, cranked link, offset link, or whatever you want to call it, for the peddle chain and throw the d---ed idler as far as you can and remove the necessary links from the drive chain. BIG improvement. Also a trip to the lawnmower shop will supply a decent shutoff for the tank as well as a good filter. I always mount the coil under the tank out of the weather.
Also on most of the other type bikes I have built, I machine an ally drum the I.D. of the O.D. of the brake drum and mill 4 places to tap to insert 10 X 32 Allen heads in and then cut the drum in half laterally. Then 3 ally spacer tubes through the spokes to secure the sprocket to using 5/16" flathead Allens countersunk in the sprocket. # 41 chain works great although just used peddle chain on one OK. If I can raise $50 I am tempted to get a rope starter/centrifugal clutch so I can stick one on a little scooter. Around here they seem to let the electric scooters go without tags etc. even though they haven't peddles so maybe I can do it too. As for the rear wheel, Worksman industrial bike wheel is about $66 and has 0.010 spokes and a heavy rim wih spoke dimples like a cycle..trk
 

dracothered

New Member
Jul 25, 2012
973
1
0
Howell, MI.
Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Got insulted with my first post over on the site mopedarmy.com

Mitt GROMney (jimbodaddy74) — 30 minutes ago
I think you found a way to make the ****tiest moped even ****tier.
 

bigbutterbean

Active Member
Jan 31, 2011
2,417
3
38
Lebanon, PA
Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Yeah, a Worksman wheel would probably be best, but unfortunately I have no way of knowing if the adapter I have will fit or not. DIY adapting is not an option for me, as my bike is my way to work and I've got nothing to fall back on if I fudge it up. I'm lucky my brother is in between jobs for a few days and can run me to work the rest of the week. While I appreciate the suggestions, please understand that I've already thrown enough money at this wheel issue, and not using what I have would be a total waste. I built this bike to be an investment, hoping that it will eventually pay for itself in gas savings (and as long as it stays on the road for at least 2 years, it will). But if I continue spending money on wheel after wheel, the bike becomes a money pit, and that I can't have. I'm determined to work with what I've got in order to attempt to make the parts I've already bought at least somewhat cost effective. If I can't do that, then I'll look at other setups.
 

trackfodder

Member
Sep 8, 2008
347
3
18
Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

If we are talking about a China Girl, get a half-link, or offset link, cranked link (for the Brits) for the peddal chain and shorten the drive chain as needed.
 

bigbutterbean

Active Member
Jan 31, 2011
2,417
3
38
Lebanon, PA
Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Its not a china girl, and the chain length and how it is tensioned is not relevant to the wheel or the sprocket adapter. It is a 98cc minibike engine, and I have no choice but to use an idler because of the way my gearbox is designed. Without a tensioner, the chain will rub part of the gearbox. But I use the spring-loaded idler, which absorbs most of the force that might otherwise pull the idler into the spokes.
 

bigbutterbean

Active Member
Jan 31, 2011
2,417
3
38
Lebanon, PA
Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Today I dropped off my newly built wheel at the bike shop to have it trued. I went up to the counter and told the guy I'd laced it myself, but wasn't ready to attempt trueing. He said lets look and see if its laced correctly. It was, so that made me feel pretty good. I would actually encourage others to learn how to lace wheels. Its not terribly difficult. I may build my own wheels for my next build, but that's a long ways off yet. The next project that I've got in mind will cost 3 times as much as my current build, and I will need to have a better work space than what I do currently. But lacing this wheel has given me a new sense of accomplishment, despite all the frustration I've dealt with over my recent wheel troubles. I'll be back on the road by Sunday at the latest. I'm very happy.