Greeting from dynamic downtown Dickinson, Texas

GoldenMotor.com

Blank Check

New Member
Feb 6, 2011
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Dickinson, Tx
I've been knocking around the idea of building a bike for a while now...searching for parts, pros/cons of different brakes, hub vs. spoke sprocket attachment, 2 stroke/4 stroke, fenders vs. no-fenders, etc. I took a few trips to the local bike shops and asked questions; they said I was crazy and that it was a bad idea (frame weakness, components not built for the job, etc.), but frankly, I'm not so sure that they knew what they were talking about on several points.

Anyway, I came up with this arrangement: the Chinese Grubee 66cc/80cc 2-stroke mated with a Micargi Falcon GTS frame? Has anyone tried it? I scaled the images as best I could but I don't really trust the sharewarepseudophotoshop program that I have.

(Keep in mind that the exhaust is purely a guess. I don't know the numbers to create the expansion chamber, and this is my first attempt.)

Any suggestions or advice is welcomed.
 

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2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
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Littleton, Colorado
Welcome to the forum. You've come to the right place for help and advice.
There is no reason whatsoever that your idea can't be realized. You're not asking for the impossible. In fact, your concept should make for a very nice ride. Go for it, disregarde what the bike shops tell you and come back here if you need help.
Keep us posted on your progress too.
Tom
 

Blank Check

New Member
Feb 6, 2011
8
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Dickinson, Tx
Hey, thanks 2Door. I need all the encouragement I can get.

My first question is whether or not the Grubee Happy China Girl Time 66cc/80cc will fit on the Micargi Falcon frame. It looks a little tight and my photoshop program is very difficult to properly scale. add this to it, I'm not particularly confident about cutting or welding too much. Well, yet, anyway.

Again, thanks for the welcome.
 

wheelbender6

Well-Known Member
Sep 4, 2008
4,059
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TX
Welcome to the forum, Blank. A China girl will probably fit, if you modify the intake (like they do with the Schwinn banana seat bikes from the 70s). If the seat tube interferes with the carb, you can saw the intake manifold into two pieces and reconnect them with automotive heater hose. You will make it flexible where it can be moved to the side of the seat tube. Plenty of examples on this site.
Bike shops should be more helpful because you will likely purchase parts for your motorized bike from them. There are some mountain bike shops in Phoenix that sell electric and gas assist bikes. They get it and see the potential.
For your first build, I would motorize a steel framed mountain bike or beach cruiser. Installing a motor on these frames will be very straight forward and you will soon be riding and enjoying it.
After you have that motor kit broken-in and you are more familiar with it, you can transplant that kit to a challenging custom bike like the Falcon. Just my 2 cents.
 

Blank Check

New Member
Feb 6, 2011
8
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Dickinson, Tx
WheelBender, thanks for the advice on the carb. I'll be finding out soon enough what will be required. About the bike shops: yeah, you'd think, but.... ****, who knows? I probably just got them on a bad day. When I actually get started I post pics.
 

biknut

Well-Known Member
Sep 28, 2010
6,631
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Dallas
Welcome to the forum from Dallas. I think you plan is a good one. Don't pay much attention to opinions about motor bicycles coming from a bicycle shop, they don't know squat in most cases. BTW where's Dickinson, Tx? Close to Dallas I hope?
 

Blank Check

New Member
Feb 6, 2011
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Dickinson, Tx
BikeNut...Hey!

Well, Dickinson is between Houston and Galveston on I-45...its a NASA bedroom community.

To everyone: I've been hanging around the Texas Laws area of the forum and now I know why there are so very few (I've never even seen one in person) motorized bicycles here. I'm not so sure, now, that this is a project that I want to pursue after reading all that. Our government...I just don't know. Seems I may as well just get a motorcycle license and buy a suzuki.
 

biknut

Well-Known Member
Sep 28, 2010
6,631
409
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Dallas
BikeNut...Hey!

Well, Dickinson is between Houston and Galveston on I-45...its a NASA bedroom community.

To everyone: I've been hanging around the Texas Laws area of the forum and now I know why there are so very few (I've never even seen one in person) motorized bicycles here. I'm not so sure, now, that this is a project that I want to pursue after reading all that. Our government...I just don't know. Seems I may as well just get a motorcycle license and buy a suzuki.
I was thinking the same as you last year before I started riding my motor bicycle around Dallas. Back then I called my local police and ask about the legality's of a motor bicycle. They told me they were illegal anywhere on the street or sidewalk. I then ask what law I would be breaking if I rode it on the street. After passing me around to 3 different officers with no answer, I was given voice mail to leave a message. Nobody ever called me back so I decided they didn't know what they were talking about. Now it's 5 months, and 500 street and sidewalk miles later. I've ridden night and day in Dallas, Farmers Branch, Addison, Carrollton, Richardson, Garland, Highland Park, University Park, Irving, SMU, and UTD Dallas. In this time I've seen many patrol cars. Often I head straight for them to make sure they get a good look. In this time I haven't had one single problem. As a matter of fact it's hard for me to even get their attention at all. I have been waved at by police officers in Farmers Branch, and Addison one time each. That's it. My motor bicycle does have a headlight, tail light and mirror. I do wear a bicycle helmet whenever I ride. I am 54 yrs young. This has been my experience so far, and it's seems common to others in Texas.
 

Blank Check

New Member
Feb 6, 2011
8
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Dickinson, Tx
Biknut, thanks for responding. I spent over an hour at Texas Transportation Code - Texas Attorney Resources - Texas Laws and I think I can do this if I approach the bike as a moped. It amounts to a couple of fees a written test (no practical, it seems) etc. Not, the big deal that I was afraid it was.

About Addison: I remember Addison...loved it there. I probably spent a little too much time at Carson's Palace and strangely enough, at the Bent Tree Grill. I used to fly out of Addison airport back in the days when I was a flight instructor.
 

biknut

Well-Known Member
Sep 28, 2010
6,631
409
83
Dallas
Biknut, thanks for responding. I spent over an hour at Texas Transportation Code - Texas Attorney Resources - Texas Laws and I think I can do this if I approach the bike as a moped. It amounts to a couple of fees a written test (no practical, it seems) etc. Not, the big deal that I was afraid it was.

About Addison: I remember Addison...loved it there. I probably spent a little too much time at Carson's Palace and strangely enough, at the Bent Tree Grill. I used to fly out of Addison airport back in the days when I was a flight instructor.
My advice, for what it's worth;

Don't ever refer to your motor bicycle as a moped in Texas. It's impossible at this time to register a motor bicycle in Texas because there's no VIN#.

Just ride it and don't worry about it too much. If anyone wants to make a federal case about it, about all they can do is write a ticket for riding an unregistered moped, which is an equipment violation not a moving violation.

If you should happen to be cited it's very unlikely the case wouldn't dismissed if you tell the court you want a trial. Motor Bicycles are a admitted gray area in Texas law. That's what I was told by an officer in the DPS that's in charge of the motorcycle saftey division. If you know the right things to say there's a very good chance you would prevail in court. That's their opinion.

This should give you all the ammunition you need to win in court.

Cindy Flores

Training Specialist III

TxDPS Motorcycle Safety Unit

512-424-2817 or 800-292-5787



ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
GREG ABBOTT
April 15 2004

Opinion No. GA-0179

bla bla bla,

Article 4413(37) contains no definition of either “automobile” or “motor vehicle.” We must
therefore look to other statutes and case law to discern the meaning of those terms. See La Sara
Grain Co. v. First Nat ‘I Bank, 673 S.W.2d 558,565 (Tex. 1984). In Nichols v. State, 242 S.W.2d
396 (Tex. Crim. App. 195 1), the court held that the word “automobile,” as used by the legislature
in describing the offense of driving while intoxicated, “is a generic term which includes the motor
vehicle commonly known as a ‘truck.“’ Id. at 397. In SmaZZ v. State, 631 S.W.2d 201 (Tex.
App.-Corpus Christi 1982, no writ), the court held that, for purposes of the offense of driving while
intoxicated, “automobile” is broad enough to include “motorcycle.” No Texas case has held,
however, that self-propelled farm or construction equipment is embraced within the definition of
“automobile” for purposes of article 4413(37).
The Texas Supreme Court has held that, in common usage, the terms “automobile” and
“motor vehicle” are not synonymous:
The courts have held the term “motor vehicle” to be different from
and broader than the term “automobile.“. . . Common usage has
made the phrase “motor vehicle” a generic term for all classes of selfpropelled
vehicles not operating on stationary rails or tracks, and
therefore, as a result all automobiles are motor vehicles, but the
contrary proposition is not true. The term “motor vehicle” is much
broader than the word “automobile” and includes various vehicles
which cannot be classified as automobiles.
Slaughter v. Abilene State Sch., 561 S.W.2d 789’791-92 (Tex.. 1977). There is no single definition
of “motor vehicle” under Texas law. Under the Certificate of Title Act, for example, “motor
vehicle” includes “any motor driven or propelled vehicle required to be registered under the laws of
this state; a trailer or semitrailer . . . that has a gross vehicle weight that exceeds 4,000 pounds; a
house trailer; a four-wheel all-terrain vehicle . . .; [and] a motorcycle, motor-driven cycle, or moped.”
TEX. TRANSP. CODE ANIN. 5 501.002(14) (Vernon Supp. 2004). For purposes of Motor Vehicle
Safety Responsibility Act, a “motor vehicle” is “a self-propelled vehicle designed for use on a
highway
, a trailer or semitrailer for use with a self-propelled vehicle, or a vehicle propelled by
Mr. Mac Tristan - Page 5 (GA-0179)
electric power fkom overhead wires and not operated on rails.” Id. 0 601.002(5) (Vernon 1999).
Other statutes define “motor vehicle” in various but similar ways. A number of statutes emphasize
the “highway use” aspect in defining the term. See, e.g., id. 0 647.001 (Vernon Supp. 2004) (relating
to the motor transportation of migrant agricultural workers); TEX. TAX CODE ANN. Ej 162.001(44)
(Vernon Supp. 2004) (relating to motor fuel taxes); TEX. NAT. RES. CODE Am. $ 116.001(8)
(Vernon 2001) (relating to compressed natural gas).


http://www.oag.state.tx.us/opinions/...pdf/ga0179.pdf



I think this clearly defines a motor vehicle as self propelled, not human peddled. This should at the very least establish a benefit of doubt for a jury. This is probably why the DPS told me it's a gray area in the law, but didn't volunteer to tell me why.
 

wheelbender6

Well-Known Member
Sep 4, 2008
4,059
221
63
TX
Blank - The police have paid no notice to me in Katy if I'm riding on roads with a speed limiit of 35mph or less and limiting my speed to around 20mph. (Mopeds, ebikes and gopeds are restricted to 35mph streets also).
If you must travel roads with higher speed limit to leave your property and run your errands, the gas assisted bike may not be such a good choice for you in TX. However, if there are sidewalks along those higher speed limit roads, you could probably travel them by ebike if you ghost pedal.
 

Blank Check

New Member
Feb 6, 2011
8
0
0
Dickinson, Tx
Biknut, I'll do that.
Wheelbender6, (I hope that name wasn't the result of a string of accidents) I confess, I'm just looking for a new toy. I imagine that if I just 'play nice' I won't have any trouble.
 

Blank Check

New Member
Feb 6, 2011
8
0
0
Dickinson, Tx
So one of the local kids comes up my driveway looking for my son. I looked at his bike and suggested that a motor "would fit perfectly in there and would be a kick."
He says to me, "Yeah that old man that lives next door to me has one."

I'm down the street in a couple of minutes hoping to see a china girl in the flesh.

Sure enough, Starfire in a huffy cruiser "cheapest one they had." We talked about it and his experience with Dickinson's finest. He'd been stopped once and they just wanted to see what it was. I'm not worried anymore.

Any current vender recommendations for the 66cc?