whats so great about a motorized bicycle?

GoldenMotor.com

paul

Well-Known Member
Dec 23, 2007
5,547
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Kalamazoo, MI
you ever have anyone ask you that? i get asked and also they say i don't understand what you find so great about riding around on a bicycle. finally i came up with a good answer when a friends wife asked me last night.
my response was "do you remember when you were young finding the biggest hill around and flying down it on your bike and the big rush you got?" of course they say yes. almost everyone had a bicycle when a kid and we were all little daredevils. i say its like that the whole ride. i love motorized bicycles. gas or electric., they are just fun!
dnut
 

Dan

Staff
May 25, 2008
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Moosylvania
I think it is just one of those "ya get it or you don't" things. But no one comes back from a ride without a ear to ear grin.

I can remember sitting next to my one speed, very heavy Schwinn, taking a break when I was 8 yrs old. I was in awe of that bike. It was just cool. Sitting there staring at the chain ring and wondering how to put a motor on it. 30 yrs later and shopping online for a bicycle, I saw a CG add. Was in love, hooked and buying one right then and there. For me, it was a fruition of a childhood dream. Then all the stuff I had no idea would come with it. The lessons in mechanics, math, physics and that all came with you guys.

Functional art that is all your own.

That feeling the first time you ride your first build. It's like flying down that hill.



.wee.
 

chainmaker

Well-Known Member
Jan 19, 2010
2,634
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Ma USA
I always tell people its My personal time machine, that takes Me back to being a kid, but being able to do the things I wanted to back then.
 

Harold_B

Active Member
May 23, 2012
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Grand Rapids, MI
I spend at least 10:1 time tinkering with the bike as compared to actually riding it. The problem solving is a creative process in itself and the process is a great deal of the pleasure for me. I get it running, find something else I want to "improve" and the bike is back on the stand. A lot of people will never want that and that's OK but most will appreciate my getting value from it. My understanding is that for many people we have our most "profound" thoughts when doing something mundane. Spinning a wrench on a bicycle isn't really all that demanding at times and it allows my mind to wander. I can think about the little things that are nagging at me or I can think about nothing in particular. It's wonderful. Riding my own MB is a bonus and a fun one at that!
 

ckangaroo70

Active Member
May 13, 2011
864
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Central Illinois
Is there any man in this country over the age of 40 who didn't dream as a kid of having a bicycle with an engine? Of course we were too dirt poor to even think that dream would become a reality in 1978 when I was 8 years old. So I kept the dream in the back of my mind and 32 years later I built my first motorized bike. It was just one of those things that had to be done!
Same reason I have way too many RC airplanes. Hours upon hours standing in the hobby shop as an 8 year old kid looking up at the ceiling at one of those super cool planes. 20 years after that I was flying my very own. It too was one of those things that just had to be done!
It is one thing to get old and it is another thing to get "old minded". My body may age and I may take on more and more responsibilites as I get older, but my mind is young and everything that was super cool to me at 8 years old is just as super cool to me today at 42. Riding that motorized bike is everything I imagined it would be at 8 years old and for those who have gotten to "old minded" to remember all the great things they imagined they would do someday when they got older....we should feel sorry for those who have lost there ability to be "young minded".
I don't measure my life in how long I will live...I will measure it in how well I lived while I was here! People that build motorized bikes are the type of people who refuse to sit on the porch and watch life pass them by!! We are the ones riding by the houses of those who will never get off the porch to go and do the things they swore they would do when they grew up.
 

motorhedfred

Member
Jul 31, 2009
421
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United States
I remember getting a red 24" Sears tanker for Christmas when I was about 7. I loved that bike.

My next birthday I got a plastic "realistic sounding" faux engine for it and thought I was the B.M.O.T.P (big man on the playground) because everyone else was using thier Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays rookie cards in thier spokes.

The next year (the bike was getting a bit worn by then) I got a speedometer from saving my allowance and returning soda bottles for refund* (those of you under 30, ask your parents about that). I promptly headed for the long hill south of my house to see how fast I could go. I got up to an indicated 45 MPH with the handlebars shimmying like crazy and fenders rattling.

Through all of this, I was wondering how to appropriate and mount the 3 horse Briggs from my dad's gas powered reel mower on it. Half a century later, I'm finally getting there.

*$.02 for 12 oz. and $.05 for the quart size.
 

ckangaroo70

Active Member
May 13, 2011
864
126
43
Central Illinois
I got a speedometer from saving my allowance and returning soda bottles for refund*
That was like gold prospecting around my neighborhood. Finding empty pop bottles after school during the week meant saturday morning was "loser pay" pool and pinball at the pool hall.LOL
I was pretty rough on my bikes as a kid as well...so pop bottles paid for several parts that I couldn't find in the local junk ditch.
 

motorhedfred

Member
Jul 31, 2009
421
17
18
United States
I got a speedometer from saving my allowance and returning soda bottles for refund*
That was like gold prospecting around my neighborhood. Finding empty pop bottles after school during the week meant saturday morning was "loser pay" pool and pinball at the pool hall.LOL
I was pretty rough on my bikes as a kid as well...so pop bottles paid for several parts that I couldn't find in the local junk ditch.
Wow ckangaroo70, you surprise me. I thought it was only called "pop" here in northern Ohio....that's why I called it "soda" so everyone would know what I was talking about.

My mom and dad used to go out dancing on saturday nights and they would buy pop and chips and maybe a pizza for us kids and the babysitter when they went out. My sisters never wanted to bother taking the bottles back because the guy at the carry-out was "creepy".

I would load them in the Radio Flyer, tie the handle to my seat post with a piece of clothes line (again, those under 30, ask your parents), and off I'd go. Sometimes, it would take two trips to redeem them all. I had all the uneven sidewalk pavers memorized and would pedal and weave my way to payday......those were the days...no bills, no mortgage, no prick bosses, no health problems....sigh*

I'm hoping that when I finally get one motored up, I'll feel the same way I did back then.
 

bigbutterbean

Active Member
Jan 31, 2011
2,417
3
38
Lebanon, PA
People dont ask me what I like about it so much, but they ask the usual questions. Where do you get an engine/kit and how much does it cost? How fast does it go? How many miles a gallon? For me, being able to take something that I put together with my own two hands and drive it around at a cost of $0.05/mi, that gives me a greater sense of accomplishment than I could ever put into words. THAT is what's so great about a motorized bike to me. Not to mention that feeling of freedom I get when I'm out on the road, and the ability to go anywhere I want, any time I want. I think of it as a homebuilt motorcycle. I have never driven a "real" motorcycle, so I have no comparison to ruin my perception (or delusion, lol). But knowing that the first motorcycles were probably not much faster than my bike and even less efficient when you consider the size of the engines and their output (at one time 500cc would net you about 5hp). So its perfectly reasonable to me to think of my bike as a very low powered homemade motorcycle.
 

tooljunkie

Member
Apr 4, 2012
663
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16
Manitoba,Canada
i remember collecting pop bottles,cutting grass,delivering newspapers,raking lawns-yes back in the day people actually used rakes on their lawns and my big paydays-tilling the neighborhood gardens with dads rototiller.i'd push it down the back lane in the spring and start tilling,i think dad let me do it to get me out of his hair.
used to make lots of cash in spring and fall.

we used the scavenged gas motors to build go-carts that wouldnt go ten feet without breaking.
all our parents on the block canned the gas motor games.one little go cart fire and everybody freaks out...

the thought of having my own gas bike didnt occur to me until-last april.
i'm starting my second build.

lots of people ask why a motor,arent bikes made for exercise?
i said i pedal it to start,put my foot down to stop.isnt that enough?
and of course,it beats sitting on the couch.....
 
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Nashville Kat

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2009
1,501
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Jacksonville, Florida
The WEIGHT of it! What else well-under 50 pounds can get you around town and all over the place at thirty- plus mph, that is soo lightweight and convenient otherwise. A scooter seems big and heavy by comparison, a motorcycle may be faster but weighs a ton, for so little more actually.

In fact, as a former racing cyclist- I built my bikes with weight and roll foremost in mind- my bikes pedal BETTER than a lot of other peoples regular bikes , and that leads me to another reason:

COASTING! The ROLL after getting up to power- I like to kill the motor and suddenly I'm cycling, not motoring. These things roll forever and silently, but iot's like someone gave you a great big push. Seems like old times without stressing the old body terribly.

A motorized bike is what the world needs now!
 

DTFuqua

New Member
Jul 16, 2012
76
0
0
Florida
Well, I've always loved anything with a motor. I made put my first motor on a bicycle when I was in my early teens. Long time ago. It was nothing more than a couple of seat post clamps around the lower bar by the rear wheel and bolted through the motor mount holes on the bottom with a chain to hold it up. Had a pulley on the output shaft that rubbed on the rear tire and was it fun. Had to ride it laying over on the right side to keep it balanced but it had a motor and was fast, for a kid my age anyway.
 

Allen_Wrench

Resident Mad Scientist
Feb 6, 2010
2,784
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Indianapolis
I've been asked before "What's the big attraction" for me? I said "I built this, and it works! I didn't just go out and buy a motorcycle, I built this!"
He still wasn't getting it, "But it's just a 49 cc slowpoke."

So I dredged up an old rationalization: "Okay. I'll race you. You drive your car. I'll ride my motorbike. You pick a destination exactly 30 miles away, and we'll race to it. But on one condition - to be fair, we each start the race with only one quart of fuel in our vehicle's tank. The loser has to clean and polish the bike."

I saw by his face that a light was coming on.
 

beach cruiser

Member
Mar 13, 2012
126
1
18
Puget Sound Convergence Zone
Having a motorized bicycle you most likely get alot of smiles & waves from both adults and kids, nods of approval by motorcyclists, and you don't have to put playing cards on the forks with clothes pins to simulate an engine, and you always have a smile on your face while riding. .shft.
 
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Venice Motor Bikes

Custom Builder / Dealer/Los Angeles
Mar 20, 2008
7,266
1,797
113
Los Angeles, CA.
Putting a engine on you bicycle taps into that feeling that you had when you were a little kid & always wanted a engine on your bike... Now we can do it & it's AWESOME!! (^)

I've owned Harleys & other real nice motorcycles, but they weren't as fun as this! (seriously) ;)
 

Allen_Wrench

Resident Mad Scientist
Feb 6, 2010
2,784
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Indianapolis
You know, I think Norm hit the nail on the head. It is kinda like that. It's like finally getting something you've wanted since you were a little kid. And discovering that you enjoy it just as much as you knew you would.
 

ckangaroo70

Active Member
May 13, 2011
864
126
43
Central Illinois
I have owned several motorcycles as well, but my motoredbike is something completely different and the experience is all its own. Buzzing across the landscape at 25mph....you just take notice of so much more that is around you. You take notice of things that you perhaps you had never really noticed before. The motoredbike fits into that "slowing down and taking time to enjoy life" category.