So my dad gave me an old Schwinn RoadMaster that was abandoned at a construction site about 10 years ago. At one point I had a 42 cc engine with a 20 inch propeller on the back of it but when I found out about these motor kits I just knew what had to happen. Obviously I went with a army bike theme. As my handle implies my passion is recumbent and eventually I'll motorized one but I must say this was one really fun build. I'll finish it up over the winter but I had to get it together to write this year.
My first motorized bike build
- Thread starter Rambling Recumbent Man
- Start date
Thanks man. Brought it up out of the basement peddled it for 10 feet dumped the clutch and its been going strong for about 50 miles now. This is fun!!!!
As a lot of people here will tell you, it is not only fun, but addictive. By the time you tackle the motored version of your recumbent you'll have a lot of experience to guide you through the build.
SB
SB
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I can't add anything to that. It is a clean build.
Thanks for sharing your bike with us and congratulations on a successful first.
Tom
Looks great! It also has the appearance that it has spent its whole life as a motorized bike since everything is color matched and the engine looks like it was made to fit that frame. Welcome to the forum.
Very nice looking bike. So many builders just install a kit, but painting makes it look like the motor belongs.
Looks good. Very clean. Must say I'm a sucker for diamond-framed bikes and would like to build one someday.
No front brake?
No front brake?
All fixed. I took everything apart cleaned everything up nice and found no real conclusive evidence of any one single failure. I am guessing that a random chunk of slag casting fell off and jammed the clutch and crank gears. I cleaned everything up and it started right up no problems took it for a quick ride good as new. Wish me luck!
i like to put the coil under the engine on the seat post then run a longer copper core wire to the plug. makes for a clean frame, just a thought...
By the time you tackle the motored version of your recumbent you'll have a lot of experience to guide you through the build.
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Looks nice!
Nice paint work and motor mount, and dual brakes.
I recommend you do some cable work though.
You are stuck with the throttle cable because of a nub on each end, but you can get your brake and clutch cables right by just cutting the outer black cable cover to the perfect length so you don't have spaghetti poking out.
Just a cosmetic detail, but something that always bugs me on my builds if I don't get it right is all.
Again, well done!
Nice paint work and motor mount, and dual brakes.
I recommend you do some cable work though.
You are stuck with the throttle cable because of a nub on each end, but you can get your brake and clutch cables right by just cutting the outer black cable cover to the perfect length so you don't have spaghetti poking out.
Just a cosmetic detail, but something that always bugs me on my builds if I don't get it right is all.
Again, well done!
Very nice looking build...
For the throttle cable, treatland sells those cable knarps that'll let you cut off the larger nub so you can trim the cable, just take the measurements on the larger nub and replace it with a screw on knarp and problem solved... I don't think anyone makes one that would work on the small side, but they do have some small enough for the big side. Another thing you can do is if the screw on the end is too big or in the way would be to replace it with an allen set screw that's been trimmed to fit. You can solder tin the cut end of the cables to help prevent fraying but this step isn't mandatory, it just helps if more adjustments are needed etc...
The other alternative is to make a mold and silver solder a new end onto the cable... this takes practice, but once you get it down its not too hard to make reliable cable ends.
Here's the treatland link for the cable knarps... https://www.treatland.tv/SearchResults.asp?Search=knarp
For the throttle cable, treatland sells those cable knarps that'll let you cut off the larger nub so you can trim the cable, just take the measurements on the larger nub and replace it with a screw on knarp and problem solved... I don't think anyone makes one that would work on the small side, but they do have some small enough for the big side. Another thing you can do is if the screw on the end is too big or in the way would be to replace it with an allen set screw that's been trimmed to fit. You can solder tin the cut end of the cables to help prevent fraying but this step isn't mandatory, it just helps if more adjustments are needed etc...
The other alternative is to make a mold and silver solder a new end onto the cable... this takes practice, but once you get it down its not too hard to make reliable cable ends.
Here's the treatland link for the cable knarps... https://www.treatland.tv/SearchResults.asp?Search=knarp
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that bikes frame is awsome i wish i could find one that would be so easy to install, what are your guys thoughts on road bikes with these kits?
They are hard to find and not cheap delivered, like $12 a pop but I did score a couple from my local bike shop for like $18 and used them on custom 2-stroke throttles.
All it really comes down to for a build like this is route what you can't change to look nice like the throttle, and adjust everything else you can change to match.
I so love working with 4-stroke now.
I can cut the throttle cable like anything else and just put a 2-stroke clutch arm brass cable end on to connect it to the carb.
I call things like that 'buttoning them up'.
Sure a little time consuming but not hard, but the difference of being a highlight on the metaphorical 'red carpet' appearance or not.
I have to say that this build with this frame was incredibly easy. No major problems it seems like this was the frame these engines were designed to go on. One of the more fun Bill I've ever done
