what's the future of the HT China Girl Motorized Bicycle?

Re: what's the future of the HT China Girl?

The fuel supply will not become any cheaper. I suspect there will be an increased use of both regular and motorized bicycles along with scooters and motorcycles. With an expanded market will come more options as people try to cash in on it so I expect there will be more motors manufactured to higher quality standards and increased options for those of us who consider this to be a hobby. Of course it is also likely that the government will decide to cash in on the increased numbers by regulating them and charging fees.

Re: what's the future of the HT China Girl?

I think the future of Motor assisted bicycles lies in the laws of the land. As long as it is legal to ride them, there will always be a future for them.

Re: what's the future of the HT China Girl?

I think they will eventually get banned, especially here in California, not only for safety reasons but environmental reasons. People really don't like small engines as they are a major contributor of pollution.

"According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a traditional gas powered lawn mower produces as much air pollution as 43 new cars each being driven 12,000 miles."

Importing the engines will just become more difficult with higher EPA standards. Then some ridiculous laws will be written and enforced.

We are the ones in control now. We need to make sure that we are in front of the laws proposed at all times. Be active!

I love my MB!

Re: what's the future of the HT China Girl?

NYNEOMITE said:

I think they will eventually get banned, especially here in California, not only for safety reasons but environmental reasons. People really don't like small engines as they are a major contributor of pollution.

"According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a traditional gas powered lawn mower produces as much air pollution as 43 new cars each being driven 12,000 miles."

Importing the engines will just become more difficult with higher EPA standards. Then some ridiculous laws will be written and enforced.

We are the ones in control now. We need to make sure that we are in front of the laws proposed at all times. Be active!

I love my MB!

Click to expand...

That is an absolute crock of you-know-what. 43 of what kind of new car? A Prius on the juice?
Maybe if you found an old Lawn Boy two stroke with a bad plug and ran a mix of 16:1 you'd get close.

O.K., sorry for the mini rant.... Back OT- I think there will always be a "niche market" for this kind of thing. I'm sorry, but once the nerds get a hold of something, it's permanent.

Re: what's the future of the HT China Girl?

the asians in california will keep them alive forever.

this isn't a racist joke, either.

in the cities of Garden Grove and Westminster in Orange County, there's a huge Vietnamese and Korean population. there's even a legitimately recognized part of G.G. called "Little Siagon." (recognized by the state, anyway. people used to knock the freeway signs down as fast as they could put them up.)

there's at least 5 old guys i see on a regular basis with old "chicken motors," with homemade racks and crap all over their bikes.

when i ride through there, or stop at a store, i'm stopped and surrounded, and bombarded with broken-english questions about my bike.

besides that, if we take the first steps, i.e. registering our bikes, getting the proper licenses, etc, they have a good chance of being legitamized. it's hard to ban something they can get fees off of.

if we do nothing, and skirt the law and fly under the radar, we're sunk.

i think the reason we're all getting away with it, is because it's still a novelty to cops and lawmakers. but with more and more bikes being built everyday, someone's gonna notice. and a couple of bad accidents or deaths, and it could be the nail in the coffin for us...

OR, everyone will see how cool and fun they are, and they'll sell their SUV's and Mercedes', and we'll have endless bikelanes, smooth pavement, 2 stroke gas stations with bike repair bays...

...i think i might still be a little drunk from last night...

Re: what's the future of the HT China Girl?

The more laws they pass, the more laws I break! And to think I was once a law biding citizen.
Endless bikelanes. I am likin' your dream. That would be awesome!
2 stroke gas stations, what about us 4 strokes?

Motorized bicycles have been around as long as bicycles and motors. I don't think they will fade away very quickly.

Re: what's the future of the HT China Girl?

I think they are here to stay... They might crack down on the 2-strokes, but then again, they could also see them as real gas savers?

I also think that as they get more powerful & faster, we will all have to upgrade our bikes legal status to 'moped' or even a 'motorcycle'.
I think that once the DMV & insurance companies start making their money from them (just like cars & motorcycles), they won't want to give up the new money!

Re: what's the future of the HT China Girl?

there is hope just remember quality over quanity when building these machines and they should be around for a long time!

Re: what's the future of the HT China Girl?

there will always be a way to get them. by hook, or by crook.
every once in awhile, a certain engine vendor rattles his saber, claiming only HIS 2-strokes be let in to the USA. he toots his own horn so much, that one day the Powers that Be will get tired of hearing it and take a really close look at his motors and discover they are NO better than anyone else's.
therein lies the danger. he shoots himself in the foot with his mouth. make sense?

Re: what's the future of the HT China Girl?

My two cents is that the motor scooter, plug and play easy, with the same status as the gas kit bikes will put the legislation in place. It isn't just the fees for the government, it is the insurance industry as well. For instance a 50cc scooter, even one of our bikes, going thirty miles an hour hits a plastic car. They can come close to totaling the toy.

If by some chance the rider survives, he has no insurance and they come after him personally for the damages to the plastic car. Most scooter riders, by their very nature, would be unable to come up with even 5k to repair one of those toys they call cars now. So the car's insurance gets it under either the comprehensive or the uninsured motorist clauses of the driver's policy. This is not going to make the insurance company at all happy.

It doesn't happen much now because there are still relatively few of the scooters around, but sure as heck the number is growing and sooner rather than later the insurance companies, who are big political lobbyist. will decide they need a law to force us to have insurance. When the happens they will have to register them so they can enforce it. Then it fee time, license time ect. They tried that in NC and it got beat down this time, but who knows what happens when enough regular people get a bad taste for them.

I know from my ebike rides, that motorist hate getting behind a slower vehicle. Bikes they have to put up with at least for now. Scooters and motorized bikes they can at least hate without offending anyone with real power. As long as the bikes fit into a niche of powerless people, the are a target. Let a few millionaires or politicians take up the hobby and we are bullet proof. In the meantime don't be surprised at anything.

I could take my etoys on the greenway bike and hiking combo trail but I don't. No sense causing a confrontation. Let sleeping dogs rest in . So don't be shocked at new regulations. I doubt they will ban all motorized low power bikes, but I do expect to see the cost of ownership go up.

Re: what's the future of the HT China Girl?

Deacon has a point...here in Florida I own a GEM 2 seater all electric car along with my 2 MBs. Only ONE company will insure it...State Farm. These are the folks who announced they were pulling out of the home insurance biz in FL cause they couldn't get a 90% rate increase. The GEM is a street legal NEV, license plates etc. but can't be driven on major roadways. Yet I can ride the MB anywhere. Either way, there are plenty of SUVs willing to pass me at a high rate of speed.

The lawmakers have no incentive to pass laws that favor economy and inventiveness. Folks like us don't have enough $$ to get them re-elected. The insurance co's don't make money on these kinda toys. So they won't write policies on them, which the law requires you to have. The end result is that "better" ideas just ain't legal.

I'm happy that Florida still allows MBs in a separate category from scooters/mopeds and motorcycles. But nobody should be complacent...ask the guys who can't ride a MB legally in their home state.

Doc

Re: what's the future of the HT China Girl?

Technocyclist said:

I've been wondering, what would be the future of our little babies, say 5, 15, 20 years from now...

Would it be better or would it be worse?or would it just disappear as if it never existed, forgotten as a thing of the past?

or would it still be just the same as it is today...

some advancements that has happened over the past year:
1) Slant heads
2) Upgraded Carburetor.
3) Upgraded airfilters.
4) Shifter kit
5) Round clutch pucks.
6) Performance exhaust.
7) Billet Heads
8) Ceramic coated pistons
9) Sprocket Adaptor
10) Engine mounts
11) Frames

so with the coming new year, i hope there will be more advances coming to our little babies...

What do you think will be the new after market products will be this year or hoping to have this year?
What do you think will become of this Motorized Bicycle Industry?
Will it flourish or would it be going down the drain?

If it was in the stock market, buy or sell?

Click to expand...

I hope someone makes a better magneto and CDI

Re: what's the future of the HT China Girl?

quality over quantity means ur sunk these little turds are made in china. have you seen how the 2 minuit noodles u eat are made there? were wound real tight here in aus all state under 200watts. if i stuck my rat in a wheel and welded onto the back tire and told it to run i'd be breaking the law

Re: what's the future of the HT China Girl?

Ya know... global economics and political silliness aside - I for one am deeply grateful for these cheap lil Chinese engine kits. Breakin' down the cost/entertainment factor even for the build I'm currently on (not a "cheap" venture by comparison) and it starts gettin' ridiculous as it's mere fractions of a cent per hour spent amused. As an interesting example, I spent far less on my first build than a buddy has on an Xbox, games, and various accessories... yet I got something tangible as a reward when I "beat the boss" and completed my bike - that's not even including the "next level" which is riding it and all the performance modification options.

I like the primitiveness of these kits, their "poor quality" I view as simply an unfinished state. Whatever the motivation that drove the Chinese to mass-produce such a simple engine designed to readily bolt to a bicycle I'm not particularly concerned with - the end result is a gift to my idle hands. Sure, I could buy another moped or motorcycle... but no matter the amount of customization it's still someone else's product, not nearly as "mine" as the bastardization of assorted parts I call my motorized bike.

Even were I interested in getting a "real" engine to somehow bolt in there, I'm doubly damned in that the engine itself is far more "finished" and thus limiting what I can do with my Dremel - and "unfinished" as it wouldn't in any way be a bike "kit" making the marriage an unwelcome headache, well beyond my skill or interest. I suspect that were I successful, it'd look the Frankenstein it really was with all the problems you'd expect.

For me - it's all of the aspects of these two stroke kits combined, the low cost, the overall simplicity, the required tinkering, both the ascetics and the practicality, the fun of building and riding, the problem solving, the creativity, the endless possibilities in the wealth of aftermarket parts and accessories - all this for far, far less than any other hobby I've played with... heck, I've spent more while on a night out on the town - and I don't even clearly remember that lol

Whatever the future might hold, I dearly hope these things continue to be available. If not just for me - then for the younger generation as well whom seem to be starting to loose sight of the rewards inherent in building something yerself... but that's a different rant heh My pessimism saz that anything this amusing is fated to be fined, regulated, forbidden, or otherwise messed with by the powers that be - but for now I'm just going to continue muttering to myself as I try my best to make alla pieces fit

Re: what's the future of the HT China Girl?

Toss in the number of poor and retired people who could effectively use an ebike if there was an inexpensive kit with low maintenance. These are ideal for us old guys. A DIY build is around a hundred bucks on a thrift store bike. To bad there isn't a kit that is as easy as a DIY build available.

I know that hub motors are coming down, but I just don't see them as the cheap kit. Friction drive for ease of build and maintenance I think is the way to go. Alas most people my age, even if the have the skill, don't trust the things they build themselves.

But yes there definitely is a niche for even the humble lil ebike.

Re: what's the future of the HT China Girl?

Deacon is right! And BarelyAwake has a point. In our own way, we are the evangelists for change. Convince people that they get a sense of accomplishment from the DIY and the rewards of cheap mobility...add in the enjoyment and we might just recruit a few converts.

Doc

Re: what's the future of the HT China Girl?

I just hope the world stays intact long enough to ride at least 10 more years.

Re: what's the future of the HT China Girl?

I have over a year on the same motor. Deacon is right.