Noob from Leavenworth Wa.

Hi Ted, the powder coat off of what? The wheel? No.
By all means have two brakes.
And Welcome to Motorbicycling!

Welcome to the site.

Welcome Ted, glad you joined us.

The best thing to do is use a vendor with great customer service, I have used different vendors and many different motors and it does not seem to matter...it's all a roll of the dice whether you get a motor that will out last another and give you few problems.

Hello again Ted.
Fairracing is right. you just kind of look around and read.
By the time you do all that there will be something new and better. It crazy.
One of the vendors has a engine comming out soon (I hope) that sounds really good.
Might look at this I think it may be worth the wait
Pirate Cycles Performance Motors Coming Soon
Some vendors have low prices but they won't back the products. 2 months ago Gas Bike sent me the 4 stroke kit missing parts. They sell the part on their site but told me it was on order,would send it out ASAP and would give me a $30.00 cu pon, its near 3 month no wide pedals and no cu pon.
These are a couple examples.Everyone has a story,good and not good.
Read through the post and check how many miles folks are getting. Some are very impressive some are really sad.
The site has it all we just have to do some searching.
Front brake are needed. Might think about adding one to the rear also. Coaster brakes fail.
As far as taking the powder coat off, if it for grounding purpose no. Only one wire needs to be grounded. It is for the kill switch.Ground it to a engine mount.
These engines with the 40t or 44t sprockets will haul your 230 pounds around with no problem. You would still be able to carry your tools,lunch and a trailer. Not fast grant you but in the 20+mph range.
The sooner you get it done the sooner you will know what your going to need for your next build.