Old Guys Simplex moto-peddle bike

I echo Rick's thoughts about this. So many companies let some one do the heavy lifting and then wait until they can steal the load. I believe cnolmotorsport is based in California and has most everything they sell shipped from China. That is how they were able to get your adapter.

Steve.

Hi Steve,
Thanks for weighing in. I actually emailed the guy on my adapters and he claimed ignorance, saying he just buys stuff from china and resells, with my product being part of that. Whatever, we know what he is up too. Sometimes, fairly often actually, I get orders from weird addresses or names and just refund those orders. There is a chance I am denying honest people from my parts in doing so. Shipping parts to countries know for intellectual theft always worries me. Would I ship a part to China? No. If I do they will ship thousands back.
Pat

Sad to here it. read it. And there is the evidence. Good to know.

Hi Pat,
I just went to his web site and looking around lo and behold there is your board track racer drop loop complete with a poorly made stainless steel Indian style gas tank and cheesy looking drop handle bars. One of the photos had a V twin motor that looked suspiciously like your electric V twin. Out of curiosity I priced what he's offering on you web sites parts list.

Drop loop frame.
Indian style gas tank.
Board track handle bars.
Economy seat.
Sprocket adapter.
Shimano110 rear wheel.
77 car drum front wheel.

I added the cost of the forks that he uses and sells. Other than that It's all Pat's prices.

Total is $1735 using CNOL forks

His price is $1,600 with free shipping.

Sure narrows the choice for me. Pat's with made in America quality.

CNOL is not including the vastly superior quality parts the Sportsman Flyer is using. I simply matched part for part.

Steve.

Feel like I should stick my head above the parapet here and risk having it blown off. First off, Pat at Sportsman Flyer has my full respect as a manufacturer of what are undoubtedly the finest bikes in our hobby, bar none. Stumbling across Pat's website a few years back was the catalyst that drew me to want to have a crack at building a motorized Board Track replica in the first place. If anyone would care to look back at the second paragraph of my very first posting on this forum, you'll notice I praised Sportsman Flyer's products but then went on to explain that being in the UK, there was no way I could justify the initial cost, associated import duties and taxes to ship parts for a Sportsman Flyer build over here. Searching online, I discovered CNOL Motorsport on eBay - from who.I purchased the repop frame, tank and springer forks for my debut build. Correspondence with CNOL revealed they are not the manufacturers of these products, merely sellers. My frame/tank/forks were shipped direct to the UK from China for a nominal 30 UK pounds - and the shipment was under-declared, saving me a fortune on duties and taxes. Same story when I later bought a pair of CNOL's sprung girder forks used on my build number three.
Reading this thread's latest topic kicked-off by Pat and expressing his valid concerns regarding 'reverse engineering' of some of his products in China can't help but make me feel bad, but let me say this; CNOL are not the only source of these parts in question. For example, let's look at the stainless gas tanks and board tracker handlebars listed by CNOL on their website right now. Be aware there are a few other China sellers on eBay selling those same items - at a substantially reduced price compared to CNOL's. I'm currently 'watching' on eBay the stainless tank listed for 71 UK pounds, with free worldwide shipping, by someone in China calling themselves Supermotosport. That compares to the same tank listed by CNOL at 147 UK pounds (the price I paid for mine). Similarly, those handlebars are also being sold much cheaper elsewhere. Evidence, to me at least, that CNOL are not the makers of these items.
More concerning though, the Board Tracker rolling chassis mentioned in Steve's post above that's just appeared amongst CNOL's current eBay listings is not yet sold with the faux V-twin motor shown in some of the ad's accompanying pictures. However, it would seem logical to assume it's a prototype and therefore only a matter of time before the motor option too - strikingly similar to Pat's - may be offered for sale. I guess it's down to us folks on this forum to at least provide this information and let people decide how best to spend their money and support creative design.

I appreciate people weighing in on this issue. Bikes and parts have similar designs and mine are no exception. My sprocket adapter is just another sprocket adapter, sure, but the three piece design is my idea and the shape, three matching pieces for ease of manufacture is also my idea. I also use my own bolt pattern and heavier fasteners. Anyway, if someone wants to make adapters or any other parts then they are welcome. Copying my part exactly, and even selling it as a Sportsman Flyer product which CNOL was doing, just goes too far. Saying he is just reselling it does not remove him from the theft chain in my book. He is the thief and the problem.
I will always encourage a builder to use all ideas they see in their builds. Rich has made reduction units and I think thats pretty cool. People make tanks like mine all the time. Again, that's fine. Like Fasteddy said above "So many companies let some one do the heavy lifting and then wait until they can steal the load", and then go on to profit on this and even undercut the "heavy lifter" and go so far as to even use a trade marked name is beyond excuse. CNOL and others like him probably don't care one bit about our American history or integrity. Again, sorry guys, but this issue is close to home for me.

Lynnette Rietzke, CustomMotoredBicycles/MBRebel

Tried to get me to bootleg Pat's work. Pat, for good reason got kind of cagey when I first started ordering components for my Sportsman Flyer.

Lynn lives 30 minutes away, so when I was looking for improvement parts to my Huffy Davidson Lynne was a logical choice. Instead of making rather costly purchases on faith I could and did on several Saturdays do transactions her at her Mom and Dads house. When Lynn on her website offered a Worksman frame and it had a Sportsman Flyer badge on the neck. I had to and did purchase the Holy Grail of factory built drop loop bicycle frames. On the same Saturday Lynn also sold me a bootleg wide pedal crank expecting me to adapt it to a different transmission whose name I will not name as no one has seen fit the bootleg them.

Senior members of this forum are aware that the large majority of builders of engine powered bicycles don’t care what the part source is and that is what made me build a Huffy Davidson.

Lynnette is just trying to make a living the best way she knows how and her justification was if she could get there first with a knock-off rather than a Asian, well America first

Pat, You have every right to be indignant, if the shoe were on my foot I’d be mad as Hades.

Tom from Rubicon

Rick,
Your comments re girder fork rebound consequences had me a little worried for a while. But the differences between where you and I plan to ride our cycles makes me confident I won't ever bottom-out the forks on the paved roads I exclusively ride on. Your up-coming group ride-out on the modded Grubee sounds like a blast. Looking forward to reading a review and seeing pics of the stretched bike. I'm betting there'll be more mods to come further down the line. Is a build ever finished...?

PeteMcP said:

Rick,
Your comments re girder fork rebound consequences had me a little worried for a while. But the differences between where you and I plan to ride our cycles makes me confident I won't ever bottom-out the forks on the paved roads I exclusively ride on. Your up-coming group ride-out on the modded Grubee sounds like a blast. Looking forward to reading a review and seeing pics of the stretched bike. I'm betting there'll be more mods to come further down the line. Is a build ever finished...?

Click to expand...

Pete! So true, also setting back and watching, Love what you are doing Rick, be best of both worlds.......Curt

I don't know about paved roads in the UK Pete, but in the States the folks driving Cadillac's monitor road conditions. The rest of us are subject to their decisions.
Tom from Rubicon

Roads here are suffering from governmental cutbacks, except, from what little I've seen of £££ neighbourhoods, where they mysteriously improve and then deteriorate when you leave them.

Funnily enough, every time a general election is threatened, there is a postitive frenzy of road repairing. It happens too often to be a coincidence, but I'm damned if I know the logic behind it.