we do have a river.
Though I've dug through these forums in the past couple of months many, many times, I've yet to post. I'm hoping you guys will think the wait worth it.
I purchased this bike, a Genesys Onex, from a local non-profit organization that repairs, rebuilds and sells bikes. I purchased it for $60.00 on a whim, without really knowing what lay ahead. I just knew I liked the 29er look, style and the all aluminum frame. And that I wanted a motor on it.
What I didn't realize is, the 29er is probably NOT the best choice for a first build. I quickly found out the frame was all the wrong sizes for everything. The 29" wheels had a spoke pattern that made attaching the rear cog a nightmare, the handlebars were too big and worst of all, at 5'8", sitting on this bike I felt like my crotch was being shoved up under my chin.
So... first, 3/4" was shaved off the seat mount. It may not seem like much but after some seat adjustment, my feet touch the ground. The seat now sits pretty much on the frame with just the welds and the post clamp above it. While others haven't had a problem with chain positioning, I did. I had to end up cutting a foot or two off the rear fender (I'll get around to smoothing the corners a bit one of these days) as the chain kept hitting the fender. Since the handlebars were the wrong diameter, as per one guy's hack on these forums, I sawed off the handle bars and shoved 3/4" PVC into the ends to get the throttle and clutch to fit. While some scoffed at this on his thread, I'm here to say, the PVC ain't coming out and there's no bending it.
There were other issues that proved a real pain, like stripping out Chinese screws just by looking at them, having to cut a notch in the chain guard to get it to ziptie to the rear posts, having to add nylon spacers to the fuel tank studs to extend them out (Nobody in the Iowa cornfield carries any sort of nut that would fit them) and just a host of other, "are you kidding me, I gotta figure out a way around THAT?" things that went wrong with this build.
But, the instant I decided to put fuel in the tank and dump the clutch... all those aggravations got left in the yard as I whizzed down the streets of our lil nowhereville town. In one day of riding it, just the number of slack-jawed ogglers I've racked up, tells me I'll be a sensation tomorrow morning at 5 a.m. when the farmers park their tractors at the cafe for coffee and their morning b.s. session.
While bikes like this may be so commonplace in California as to be ignored on a regular basis, here in our lil town, we have one lawyer with an electric tricycle and now my loud, smoking, obnoxious, but fun-as-**** gas bike.
Thanks to all of you guys who've posted your ideas and experiences on this forum, I referred to them, and your pictures, often when building this.
Oh and because this bike exists in the Iowa cornfields... it runs just fine on our ethanol blend.
Without further ado... my first build. A corn-fed Genesys Onex 29'er.
Though I've dug through these forums in the past couple of months many, many times, I've yet to post. I'm hoping you guys will think the wait worth it.
I purchased this bike, a Genesys Onex, from a local non-profit organization that repairs, rebuilds and sells bikes. I purchased it for $60.00 on a whim, without really knowing what lay ahead. I just knew I liked the 29er look, style and the all aluminum frame. And that I wanted a motor on it.
What I didn't realize is, the 29er is probably NOT the best choice for a first build. I quickly found out the frame was all the wrong sizes for everything. The 29" wheels had a spoke pattern that made attaching the rear cog a nightmare, the handlebars were too big and worst of all, at 5'8", sitting on this bike I felt like my crotch was being shoved up under my chin.
So... first, 3/4" was shaved off the seat mount. It may not seem like much but after some seat adjustment, my feet touch the ground. The seat now sits pretty much on the frame with just the welds and the post clamp above it. While others haven't had a problem with chain positioning, I did. I had to end up cutting a foot or two off the rear fender (I'll get around to smoothing the corners a bit one of these days) as the chain kept hitting the fender. Since the handlebars were the wrong diameter, as per one guy's hack on these forums, I sawed off the handle bars and shoved 3/4" PVC into the ends to get the throttle and clutch to fit. While some scoffed at this on his thread, I'm here to say, the PVC ain't coming out and there's no bending it.
There were other issues that proved a real pain, like stripping out Chinese screws just by looking at them, having to cut a notch in the chain guard to get it to ziptie to the rear posts, having to add nylon spacers to the fuel tank studs to extend them out (Nobody in the Iowa cornfield carries any sort of nut that would fit them) and just a host of other, "are you kidding me, I gotta figure out a way around THAT?" things that went wrong with this build.
But, the instant I decided to put fuel in the tank and dump the clutch... all those aggravations got left in the yard as I whizzed down the streets of our lil nowhereville town. In one day of riding it, just the number of slack-jawed ogglers I've racked up, tells me I'll be a sensation tomorrow morning at 5 a.m. when the farmers park their tractors at the cafe for coffee and their morning b.s. session.
While bikes like this may be so commonplace in California as to be ignored on a regular basis, here in our lil town, we have one lawyer with an electric tricycle and now my loud, smoking, obnoxious, but fun-as-**** gas bike.
Thanks to all of you guys who've posted your ideas and experiences on this forum, I referred to them, and your pictures, often when building this.
Oh and because this bike exists in the Iowa cornfields... it runs just fine on our ethanol blend.
Without further ado... my first build. A corn-fed Genesys Onex 29'er.
