4 stroke recumbent question

[DearthVader]

I've really enjoyed learning about motored bikes over the last year and finally bought a 66cc two stroke kit from thatsdax in late July. I was pretty sure I would ultimately not be satisfied with a two stroker but decided to go the inexpensive route to ensure I would really enjoy this hobby. As it turned out, I like this hobby more and more everyday. The simplicity yet pure nature of bikes really intrigues me. Anyway, it's time to upgrade. I've been sold for quite a while why having a 4 stroke is so much better. (In my humble opinion)

I've wanted to build my own bike for a while so I finally broke down and bought the Meridian recumbent plans from Atomic Zombie. So far I've chopped up a few donor bikes, purchased some steel and I'm almost ready start welding. Ultimately I want to motorize this bike so I'm trying to make every consideration before building.

It would be easy enough mount the Titan or an EZ on the back of the bike but that only allows for one gear which really limits the speed range of the bike. I've been going back and forth on different ways I could mount the engine so I could take advantage of the rear derailer. Well the other day I had an epiphany!! Mount the engine on the front of the bike and use the Titan from thatsdax because it has a right side drive. Use the right side drive and go straight to a freewheel front sprocket. It would look somewhat like his in frame forward mount system thatsdax uses for the the Titan on a regular style bike.

There are a couple considerations that need to be made, though. The steering arm would be blocked by the placement of the engine. I think that I could design around that fairly easily though. The second consideration is that with the placement of the pedals, the riders feet would come pretty close to touching touching the engine. As a fix I'm considering lengthening the main part of the frame a couple of inches to create some more clearance between the crank and forward part of the bike. I know a couple inches would change the turning radius slightly but would it have any significant impact (structurally)?

I would have to fabricate a custom mount to attach the Titan to the frame but that wouldn't be a problem.

I know this all sounds confusing so I've attached some pics to help describe what I'm proposing.

Here is the Titan kit on a standard bike.



Here's the bike I'm building...


Here are the proposed changes...


Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[Dan]

That's gonna be cool Darth. Keep updating.