Everything broke

I had a gas tank leak in the groove in the front, it was rubbing and vibrating on my frame, was a hairline crack.
Used seal all, topped with JB weld, about 2 weeks so far so good.

Saint John is FINALLY getting a Princess Auto this fall, going to feel like I am cheating on Canadian Tire.
Gonna have a tent set up for the grand opening!

The little China girl is pretty reliable if you follow the breakin instructions, ride regularly and dont spin the motor too fast.

The kits are CHEAP, and you get what you pay for! It seems like you have been through the basic learning curve that most of us go through, hard to learn just from reading about something.....

IMHO the spark plug, wire and boot are crap, as is the kit chain, and studs and other hardware. I never install the chain guard, and the chain tensioner seems tempermental at best so I tend to run without a tensioner if I can get away with it.

Fortunately it doesn't cost much to replace the studs and hardware, plug, wire and boot and get a decent chain. The rag-joint sprocket adapter isn't the best but if you get one installed well (very balanced) they will work fine and serve you a long time. The final lesson is to learn how to tighten everything down enough, without OVER tightening. I tend to have a heavy hand, so to prevent myself from over tightening I bought a small click type torque wrench so I can dial in the proper torque, when I feel the click I know to stop! The better you mount your motor and have your chain and sprockets aligned the less vibration you will have and then things wont vibrate loose so often. There are different schools of thought on Loctite, I for one am a fan, but some say they would never use it. I used red Loctite on my upgraded stud when I put them in the block/cylinder, and use blue Loctite on the nuts. So far nothing has come loose, been about 1000 miles or so with no wrenching, but I did a LOT of wrenching over the first 1000 miles while I learned my lessons.

So bottom line, are the kits crap? Kinda! LOL But if you build right and take care of the issues above you can get a nice ride, mine has even become reliable so it seems.....

PS On the #41 chain, IDK what to say about the chinese #41 chain you bought, I think I read someone else complain they had one that was kinda crappy like the kits, but I've never had one myself. Since #41 chain is used in farm and industrial applications there are plenty of quality #41 chains available on the market. I got mine through Amazon.com (I think from the online AceHardware sales there), I got enough chain for two bikes for less than $15 bucks delivered. I can't remember the brand, but just search for "industrial" or "farm" #41 chain and you will find lots....

A KMC HD BMX chain is good too. (just make sure your chain breaker is Heavy Duty; broke two)

Stupid question here, but just wondering if white toothpaste can be used as loctite in a pinch?
Ever notice how dried white toothpaste is just like dried loctite, kinda stiff and grippy.

Must experiment.

Toadmund said:

I had a gas tank leak in the groove in the front, it was rubbing and vibrating on my frame, was a hairline crack.
Used seal all, topped with JB weld, about 2 weeks so far so good.

Saint John is FINALLY getting a Princess Auto this fall, going to feel like I am cheating on Canadian Tire.
Gonna have a tent set up for the grand opening!

Click to expand...

Seal All, yeah that's good stuff.

2door said:

Never tried toothpaste for a thread locker but it will take ink stains out of a shirt.

And, I concur with everything nightcruiser said with the exception of using red Loctite. Blue will do the job and if the time comes when you need to disassemble anything you won't be twisting out threads. But like you've heard me say before: "That's why there's chocolate and vanilla." Use what works for you.

Tom

Click to expand...

I make sure to point out that not everyone agrees with the loctite when I post about using it just for that reason. My logic when using it went like this... I have new studs that are way better than the kit studs and more solid than then aluminum threads in my block. I want the studs to be solid in the block and not come out if/when I have to take off the head, if I use blue loctite on the nuts and blue loctite on the studs at the block it's a crap shoot whether the nut will come off or the stud will come out. If the stud comes out thats more wear on the aluminum threads in the block and one step closer to failure there. So I used red loctite on the studs in the block to make sure the studs stay put when I pull the nuts off to remove the head.
Now I have heard warning about the red loctite not being removable, but I am not planning on removing the studs and don't expect this quality hardware to fail. Since I have done this NOTHING has come loose or needed to be re-torqued, before I did this I had to keep tightening the head all the time. It's going on the second season now without touching a bolt on my motor, and she still runs great. If I had not used the loctite I assume the head bolts would have continued to work loose (like they did the first season) and all that re-torquing would probably have ripped out the threads in the block by now. So the way I see it I am ahead of the game on that already and still riding. IF I do indeed come across a reason to remove the studs from the block I know I will be cursing the red loctite, hopefully a torch will help get the job done. If it goes badly then I can either attempt the extraction or get a new case, bottom end or motor. The way things are going now (quite well) I think this motor will outlast by far my expectations if I had not used the loctite, so I am very happy with my decision. (so far, about 1000 miles and counting since the loctite)
I know others have their own point of view and methods to achieve the same goals which probably work just as well for them, but this scheme of red loctite at the block and blue on the nuts has worked out great for me so far, and I would do it again as long as I am working with quality studs. (NEVER use red loctite on a kit stud unless you're looking for the nightmare scenario of extracting a weak assed stud from your block!)

Dasmailca said:

I do want to point out that I wasn't complaining. I'm havin fun. In fact I bought 2 more kits and plan 2more bikes. I'm just happy to learn some of the stuff to look out for. I DO appreciate all the help and support here.
I bought an up graded hardware kit and intend to replace all nut bolts etc. what is the best way to remove studs and is there torque specs somewhere? I don't have a torque wrench tho. (Yet)

Click to expand...

You can put two nuts on the stud and tighten them together and then use the bottom one to turn out the stud (hopefully), if you are going to trash the studs you are removing you could just grab them with vise grips and turn them out.

I recommend that you get yourself a torque wrench, that helped me out a lot. I got one small enough to use on almost everything, its really not much bigger than a standard 1/4" socket drive. It's the "click" type of wrench, you just dial up the torque value on the handle and the wrench will "click" when you achieve that torque, so no PITA needle to read. Here is a link to something similar to what I ordered (but not exact, shop around for the best wrench at the best price).
http://www.amazon.com/Torque-Wrench...80004&sr=1-5&keywords=1/4+click+torque+wrench
This one covers the perfect range for a motorized bicycle, 20-200 INCH pounds. I don't have the torque specs for the various bolts in front of me right now so I don't want to quote the values exactly, but I think I recall using 65InLbs, 85InLbs and 145InLbs on various nuts when I torqued things down. You can search out that information here as I did when I needed it, or perhaps someone else has notes and will chime in with the proper torque values for you.

Dasmailca said:

what is the best way to remove studs and is there torque specs somewhere? I don't have a torque wrench tho. (Yet)

Click to expand...

Double jam nuts on the stud (one nut atop a 2nd nut) always works for me, and wrench the bottom nut to extract the stud. Head torque is 120 inch pounds, or 10 foot pounds (depending on which calibration wrench you get/use).