First build what to look for in a bike

Here are important questions to considerwhen building or buying for yourself or others:

1) What is the predominant riding terrain? (Level ground, hills, asphalt or dirt etc...)

2) What type of physique does the primary rider have? (Large, small, short, tall or health issues etc...)

3) What will the rider's local laws allow and require them to have? (Lookup and personally read these laws.)

4) What kind of bike is being motorized? (Mountain, road, whizzer or recumbent etc...)

5) What is the bike to be used for? (Shows, long trips, around town, off road or racing etc...)

6) How much of a budget is to be used for the build or buy? (All at the start or as you can afford projects etc...)

Seek the answers to these questions in order to get the most out of the bike you're building or buying. We're here to help with any questions you may have. The purpose of the questions to consider is not to overwhelm or confuse you. Rather help you focus in on what will work best for you and help you develop a building or buying philosophy. This site has lots of people who can help you but the only way they can is by asking questions. Any one of the questions to consider somebody here can help you with.

A fool never learns from their mistakes.

A smart person learns from their mistakes.

A wise person learns from the mistakes of others.

Good luck with your build or buy.

"I became rich by hiring people smarter than me". Andrew Carnegie.

Welcome to the forum!

If you want a decent bike cheap, keep an eye out for a nice used quality multispeed cruiser or MTB, preferably with 36-spoke wheels.

Older steel MTBs like Giant, and Trek can be found pretty cheap if you look around. I see decent bikes on CL all the time!

Some of the best bikes are the used ones and the cheaper brand new ones.

A lot of newer more expensive bikes are made of aluminum which is not ideal for motorized bikes because it cracks under excess vibration.

And another thing, the ABSOLUTE minimum for distance between the bottom of the top tube and the top of the crank case is 13". Mine is 13" and the motor barely fits, I had to make an offset intake, I also have to use a few knuckle joints on my torque wrench to tighten 2 of my head bolts.
The plus side is that a tight fit looks more motorcycle-ish, in my opinion.

Toadmund said:

A lot of newer more expensive bikes are made of aluminum which is not ideal for motorized bikes because it cracks under excess vibration.

And another thing, the ABSOLUTE minimum for distance between the bottom of the top tube and the top of the crank case is 13". Mine is 13" and the motor barely fits, I had to make an offset intake, I also have to use a few knuckle joints on my torque wrench to tighten 2 of my head bolts.

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Your advice is for a 2 stroke which doesn't apply to the 49 cc 4 stroke he bought.
His 4 stroke doesn't have head bolts or need an offset intake.

Also aluminum bikes like a Felt make very strong motorized bikes, never heard
of one cracking and have seen 200 cc motors on them.

The aluminum Grubee frames with the built in tanks work well for a 4 stroke.

MotorBicycleRacing said:

Your advice is for a 2 stroke which doesn't apply to the 49 cc 4 stroke he bought.

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Oops, reading comprehension a bit off this morning, and usually at noon, and night. (all the time)

cjlane said:

Those frames look pretty cool. Is there a good vendor on this site that stocks them?

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PistonBikes.com is donating one of those frames for the 66 cc 2 Stroke Amateur Class race prize so course I am recommending them.
or you can just come to the race and win it? lol