My New Stanton Friction Drive

[ut1205]

Just finished my new Schwinn Landmark Cruiser with a Stanton 1" friction drive motor. I only have about 10 miles on it. It does great on flat ground and gently rolling hills. The problem is that in E. Tennessee we have very few of those. Just to get to where I live I have two hills that are probably 6% to 7% grade. They are not long (maybe 50 to 75 yards) but this setup has absolutly no torque on steep hills. Climbing them today required standing up on the pedals with the engine at full throttle. I actually believe the engine being engaged made it harder.

I also have a Currie E-Zip and I can tell you from riding both of them up the same two hills that the electric motor probably has 5 times the "low end torque" than that of the R/S 35. I climb the same hills in low gear sitting down and never break a sweat but it severly limits my range. I don't think a 7/8" roller would really help that much. I just think the engine does not have the power for these hills. It's not just these two hills. This limits me to where I can ride.

Guess I should'nt expect a bicycle to do a motorcycle's job. This is my first attempt at posting pictures. See how it goes.

[ut1205]

That didn't work. File size too large. Will try again later

[ut1205]

Resized the pictures. See if it works now. Power seems to be a little better today. Maybe the engine is getting "broken in". The tread on these tires is pretty aggressive for a road tire and roughed up the tread pretty good pulling the steepest hill. Trying to find the correct pressure. I have a "semi" slick tire ordered from Amazon. That should give it more of a contact area than it is getting now.

Anyhow, try the pics again.

Mods include:
Tripod Kick Stand
Mirrycle Rear View Mirror
Schwinn Speedometer
Wald Quick Release Basket

[Dave31]

Nice ut1205. I like it, clean and simple nice work.

[toker_ace]

Just be patient with this new set-up.I've got one and I,ve had it for a couple of years.It just might turn out to be your favorite set-up in time.The motor will break in and it will be alot more powerfull.Staton-inc. build a great set-up. Make sure you have good air pressure and don't push the roller down to far.You want it just enough that you don't get slip.

[ut1205]

Thanks for the reply. The tires that came on this bike have a max pressure of 40 psi. For best mileage and power I run my Currie electric bike at it's max pressure of 65 psi. If I replace my 40 psi tires with 65 psi tires other than a ride that is more firm how will that affect the performance? Is roller contact better at 40 or 65?

[toker_ace]

I wouldn't over do it.I just make sure my tire is hard.Also, it seems that these set-ups are best if you gouge the throttle. Its funny, i'm always dogging it!These set-ups are bullet proof!

[ut1205]

I have two new semi slick tires ordered that are 60 psi max. May not run them that high but my 40 psi cruiser tire is definitely soft. I am learning as I ride (have about 25 miles now). Seems like the Robin engine puts out the best torque at about 3/4 throttle. If I go above that torque seems to fall off. Haven't seen the chart on the R/S but the Honda chart shows this. HP goes up but torque peaks and then starts down. Also discovered that when it starts to "bog down" on a hill if I pedal enought to get the rpm's back into the mid range it will hold the rpm's at about that point. Throttle alone will not accelerate on a hill.

[ut1205]

This is just an update for this thread I posted about my "New Build" 2-1/2 months ago. At that time I was pretty disappointed with the whole thing. The friction drive and R/S engine have been flawless. Have not had one problem out of either one of them.

The biggest problem I was having was the hills around here. In the instructions that came with the Stanton kit it said power would increase after a few tanks of gas and it may be my imagination but the power has increased allot. I just started on my 2nd gallon of gas and have about 135 miles now. It handles the gentle rolling hills without a struggle and it did not do that when new.

I made two changes that I think helped more than anything. First, I got rid of the 40 psi tires that came new on the bike and replaced them with two 65 psi semi-slicks. Made it so much easier to pedal. They are cheap tires from Niagra Cycle Works and I was concerned about how fast they were wearing but it seems that once they wore off the "soft" layer the wear now appears minimal. I still had a hill to climb to get home (or just ride within 2 blocks of my house). It is not a long grade, maybe 50 yards, but it is around 10%. I changed the 28 tooth low gear freewheel that came on the bike to a Shimano Mega-Range freewheel with a 34 tooth low gear. It's still not easy but in low gear with motor assist I can ride up it (at about 3 mph) while sitting on the seat.

I am pretty much now a happy camper. I only have two issues now and they have nothing to do with the bike or motor. I usually just ride on the weekends and if it rains (I don't ride in the rain) due to the friction drive I have to wait until the streets dry also. Allot of the streets I ride on are covered by trees and it takes a day or so to dry after it stops raining. Secondly, and this affects most of us, if I have to make an unexpected stop and I am in a higher gear it is impossible to shift down from a dead stop. This makes for some interesting "cold starts" especially if I am going uphill.

I hope this post helps someone not to have to learn by "trial and error" like I did.

[bandito]

UT nice bike and build, if its dry you cant beat a friction drive because their so simple but every kit has its quirks.