About to Start a Board Track Project

Hi All,

First let me introduce myself, since this is my first post here. My (real) name is Brian and I live in good ol’ Motor City, USA. I recently signed up to join a machine shop “collective” in my neighborhood of Ferndale, so I now have access to all the machine tools I need to really tackle my own board track build to the degree of quality I’ve been hoping for. I’m not by any means mechanically illiterate; I doubt I’d have such a burning desire to build one of these bicycles if I was. At the same time, I’m not an expert, so I had a few questions I was hoping the community could answer relating to my board track build as I finish my plans for construction.

My ultimate pipe-dream, and perhaps it is unreasonable, is to make my own 2-stroke for this board track racer. I don’t like a lot of the China engines, and the idea here is to build as much of this bike from “scratch” as possible. As a kid I took apart mower engines and did basic repairs, but some of the mechanics of the motor bicycle are baffling me.

I would like to make my build a belt driven bicycle, so keeping that in mind, what are the common ways for starting a 2-stroke engine driving a rear-wheel hub belt drive? Do I lift the back end and pedal? Can I make it an electric start with idler? What is historically the most accurate way of starting a belt-driven board track bike?

I have scoured the internet, but perhaps I’m looking in the wrong places…does anyone know where to buy the hoop that bolts on to the rear wheel? Or should I just buy a smaller bicycle wheel with no spokes and fabricate the mounting hardware?

Michigan law requires a tail light and brake light as well as a headlight for mopeds. If most of the two stroke engines being sold only have one wire for aux. power, how do you connect the other two lights?

I have been in contact with Worksman and they are willing to sell me wheels separately, (so I won’t have to buy a whole bike!) Which size should I get for historical accuracy? Whether it is 24” or 26”, will white FELT (Thick or Quick, respectively) fit these rims, or are the Worksman wheels too wide at the rim?

Finally, what's a good set of dimensions for a board track frame?

OK, enough questions from me. I also want to share a little nugget of information to any others looking to build one of these motor bicycles: McMaster Carr is an awesome source of parts! I found ‘em on the Web when I was looking for steel tubing, and man, they have quite a bit more in terms of relevant parts. Particularly, I wanted to let you guys know that they have leather drive belts that can be alligator clipped closed, as well as a belt tensioner! The only thing I’m missing for the belt drive system is the hoop for the rear wheel, as I mentioned above.

Thanks in advance for anyone’s wisdom! Please offer any other additional advice you might have, even if it isn’t part of the question above!

Holy Cow! Thank you to all who replied. FastTed, this online publication will be a HUGE boon, I'm sure. Thank you again. I have done quite a bit of "lurking" on the threads to gather info, but eventually felt like I needed to ask my own questions. I apologize if they have been asked before. I really can't thank you all enough. I will update this thread with pictures as my build progresses. I have no idea how long the build will take, but I'm sure it will be at least a few months. I will be ordering the tube steel this week to get started on the frame.