Proposed Build

Requirements Analysis:
I need a hill, heat and traffic beater to get me around on a day to day basis. I am in the bay area, Concord Ca, and the cops seem pretty mellow here abouts, and even more so in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties, which are places wherein I have errands to run. I want to keep it to a mellow bicycle speed, max 20-30, with the power band kicking in around the low teens. Chinese reliability is legendary, so I want to avoid them. The original motorcycles were just engines bolted onto existing bicycle frames, and I want to evoke that heritage. There are pics of old motorcycles, that are just single cylinder 2 strokes, bolted on to *Worksman frames*, the photos of the powered Worksmans are unmistakable. This has inspired my concept for how the thing should look, although I am looking for a daily cruiser, not a racer.

Proposed Archetecture:
A Morini Franco Motori, in a new Worksman frame, with a single 44, 52, or 56 tooth sprocket, with shop-fabbed motor mounts.

The Worksman I would order will be loaded, springer front suspension, drum brake, 3 speed coaster rear so I can pedal with the engine, thinking black rims and fenders, factory rack and ding-dong bell, whitewalls, etc.

(P.S. It's my birthday, on the 30th, and I got over a grand to blow...

As an alternative, if the motor does not fit with out cutting the frame, I could get a used Shwinn, and just buy a lot of parts to fix it up. I under stand the motor needs to be 20mm offsides to the right to line up with the sprocket anyway.

The engines under consideration are the S6T 5.8, the newer 6.4, and the S6E 3.2. The lower RPMs are considered highly desirable, as I used to own a 250 Ninja, and thou it made best power well over 10k, I liked riding at around 6-8k much better, as it was less buzzy.

Do I need a special sprocket to be able to use the bike when the motor is off? A freewheel?

Proposed Name of Bike: 1910 Flashback!

I got lots more questions, but what do yall think?

I am up in Concord ATM, not too far from San Jose, where Dean is, I already spoke to Dean on the phone the other day. Santa Cruz is a place I frequent, I plan to move back there as soon as I can.

I hear you about the chinese kits being more appropriate for most newbie builders, but... as I write this, I am reading up on Chinese trade abuses, facing the loss of US jobs, and out of work myself.. there is just no way I can stand to buy from China if I can help it. So, I buy USA first, WW2 competitors second, and nothing else.

In any case, I am not going to use the S6S motor, too buzzy, I want a cruiser, not a racer, so the S6E model looks more my vibe.. still gotta get mounts fabbed.

Ya, I may wind up going with a Shwinn rebuild, which will likely cost just as much money by the time all the goodies are added up. Given the work and cost of modifying the frame, it might not be worth it to buy a new bike just to chop up the frame. Sportscarpat, do you have a price on your frames? And, how well would the S6E work?