I've had my bike now for almost 7 years. I ride a Swedish Kronan bike with a Grubee 50cc engine. To date I have put almost 3500 miles on the bike and engine with almost no problems. I've replaced the front hub with an Atom drum break and the rear hub with a Bendix 2spd that is internally geared. The generic peanut tank has also been replaced with a larger capacity under-slung box tank that increases my range by about 40 miles. For all the riding that I do, I find I only fill the tank about once a month, sometimes twice if I'm up in the hills. The bike is not the fastest thing on two wheels, with my average riding speed being around 25mph. The fastest speed I have had the bike up to has been around 40mph with a slight road decline.
As a child, a neighbor had an old Indian motorcycle. I used to watch him ride that bike up and down the dirt road in front of our house. I was in love with that little Indian. Upon coming of riding age, I purchased a small 50cc Yamaha street bike and drove that all over the countryside where my family used to spend it's summers at a small fishing camp in Montana. I graduated up to a larger 600cc trials bike that served me well until an accident. A few friends owned Vespas at the time, so I guess one could say I downgraded to the little scooters. Vespas became a large part of my life over the next decade. I belonged to several local clubs and help organize a few small rally's. As time went by, and costs increased as my salary decreased, I finally sold all my scoots back in the late 90's. Sometime in 2003 a friend of mine, who had just returned from a job assignment Sweden, gave me his Kronan bicycle he had bought over there. It was taking up space in his garage, and offered it to me as my license had been suspended for a year, and knew what a difficult time I was having getting around the area. So thus the chapter dedicated to motorizing bicycles began.
The Kronan is a tank. With 51lbs dry weight as just a bicycle it was a real pain to pedal up hills and (as one soon found,) just about anywhere that was not completely flat. I was initially looking at buying a Whizzer, and in my search for that on eBay, found a small company that was retailing these Grubee engine kits for bicycles. At the time, the selection was limited in cc rating, so I bought what I could afford, and built up my bike. It's been a continuous affair with the bike. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. I have made many improvements over the original design and to date am almost at a place where I feel my creation is complete. The entire bike project has been funded by selling items I have previously owned on eBay, so to date (with the exception of machine shop costs) my build has been completely free!
As a child, a neighbor had an old Indian motorcycle. I used to watch him ride that bike up and down the dirt road in front of our house. I was in love with that little Indian. Upon coming of riding age, I purchased a small 50cc Yamaha street bike and drove that all over the countryside where my family used to spend it's summers at a small fishing camp in Montana. I graduated up to a larger 600cc trials bike that served me well until an accident. A few friends owned Vespas at the time, so I guess one could say I downgraded to the little scooters. Vespas became a large part of my life over the next decade. I belonged to several local clubs and help organize a few small rally's. As time went by, and costs increased as my salary decreased, I finally sold all my scoots back in the late 90's. Sometime in 2003 a friend of mine, who had just returned from a job assignment Sweden, gave me his Kronan bicycle he had bought over there. It was taking up space in his garage, and offered it to me as my license had been suspended for a year, and knew what a difficult time I was having getting around the area. So thus the chapter dedicated to motorizing bicycles began.
The Kronan is a tank. With 51lbs dry weight as just a bicycle it was a real pain to pedal up hills and (as one soon found,) just about anywhere that was not completely flat. I was initially looking at buying a Whizzer, and in my search for that on eBay, found a small company that was retailing these Grubee engine kits for bicycles. At the time, the selection was limited in cc rating, so I bought what I could afford, and built up my bike. It's been a continuous affair with the bike. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. I have made many improvements over the original design and to date am almost at a place where I feel my creation is complete. The entire bike project has been funded by selling items I have previously owned on eBay, so to date (with the exception of machine shop costs) my build has been completely free!
