From London Ontario

[Rockenstein]

Hi all, great information place you have happening here! Stumbled into this site while surfing for E Bike conversion info which led me to discover the fuel powered conversions and all I can say is WOW! I gotta have one! I've been into motorized everything since I was a kid, think dad built my first gas powered go kart when I was 4?? Anyway last year I bought a new KHS XC-004 so my old Norco mountain bike is just sitting collecting dust so I was thinking of getting an electric kit for it but gee wiz when I price out an E conversion that get's me decent range and speed I'm saying WTF is with that nonsense!! So one of the sellers I was scoping out for E conversion parts just happens to also sell the fuel powered kits and as the story goes after watching some videos, checking the kit prices and reading some info here I'm pretty much sold. Couple questions I have before placing my order though are, and this is mainly for the Canadian residents, have you had many encounters with your local law enforcement and if so what was the outcome?


Cheers...

PS: Should add the kit I'm thinking about getting is the Zoom Jet Stealth Limited Edition kit

[Dave31]

Welcome to the forum, glad you joined us.

The E-bike conversion kits are expensive, there are a few members that build there own E- Bikes and save a ton of money.

[Rockenstein]

Yes I was thinking of bit's of this 'n' that from here 'n' there to save on the cost, I also have a full machine shop here at home to make or modify whatever, but still just the cost of a good motor controller and decent lithium batteries alone is well beyond what any gas conversion kit costs. I'm not planning to use an electric bike or a fuel bike for regular commuting, for me riding a bicycle is something I do just to get away on a Sunday afternoon. Sometimes I ride the city bike trails with my kids and sometimes I pack a lunch and head out to the country on my own with my cameras and it's the country rides where some power assist would be nice I suppose because I've seen those rides turn into 80 kilometer round trips with many hills.

[Saddletramp1200]

Welcome to The Forum,

[Rockenstein]

Thanks Saddletramp, this place is great...lots of stuff to read on a cold Canadian Sunday

[Chitty]

Welcome, I live in Manitoba and there is no hassle with the law. I phoned the government insurance and was told that no licence or insurance was needed. I am recovering from shoulder surgery so just poking around on the net. The kit you are looking at should be good, I have the 49cc, and am on my second bike, the first one was shakey at best, but it gave me a taste. I used it last summer to go to work, but this next summer it will get a lot more use. I have a 500cc Honda, but the little bicycle is still a lot of fun.

[VikingByNature]

Originally Posted by Rockenstein

Stumbled into this site while surfing for E Bike conversion info which led me to discover the fuel powered conversions and all I can say is WOW! I gotta have one!

Good afternoon, Rockenstein!

I too am from John Graves Simcoe's great forest city! I am looking into turning my Giant Rincon mountain bike into a fully licensed and insured moped. Looking forward to cruising the northern and southern counties--especially the Port Stanley, Port Bruce and Port Burwell areas. Last year I made a 75km trip from downtown all the way to Port Burwell (manually)! Unfortunately, when I came back, both the light bulbs blew on my dynamo-powered head and tail lights about halfway through the trip! Stupid me never even thought of switching to LED's until then and I had to take a taxi from just north of St. Thomas all the way back to London. Cost me $40!

Anyways, I gotta get to work as I start work only 30-min from now. I look forward to more chatting with you!

-=VbN=-

[Rockenstein]

Sorry I didn't reply sooner VBN...have not browsed this part of the forum in a few days.

It's nice to meet another MB fan from London on here, I do think we are a rare breed as I've not seen or heard any mention of motorized bicycles in our wonderful forest city. That was quite the ride you pulled off last year, it's a bugger it didn't end as expected though. You'll have to go for it again this season and pack some spare LED's this time around Be interesting to see how you make out with converting your Giant, also be interesting to see how you fare too with regards to registering it as a MAB with the MTO. I've looked into this somewhat because in Ontario we can build and then register custom vehicles with the MTO but the one big kicker going against it ever being considered a MAB (moped) by the MTO is the manual clutch our conversion engines use. The manual clutch alone puts our converted bikes into the realm of "custom motorcycle" and then of course that opens up other registration catch 22's such as tail, brake and signal lights, license plate light, hi and low beam head light, keyed ignition, horn, mirrors, wheelbase, seat height, GVW and much much more when it comes time to have an MTO safety standards certificate issued. Personally I think it's lame that we have so many rules working against us with regards to our flavor of power assisted bicycle...I mean if one builds a gas engine power assisted bike that's geared to go no faster than an electric powered power assisted bicycle and rode in a responsible manner whats the big deal? If we gear our creation to stay within the 32k speed limit imposed on E bikes the only real difference between us and them is range, weight and the grades we can climb without assistance. IMHO a bike converted with any of the available gas engine kits is a superior, cheaper and safer alternative to any E bike...factory built or home brew! I've tested a few electric bikes that were priced from 500 to well over 1000 and with each one I tested I was not impressed! The weight of an E bike was the thing that bothered me most when I tried to pedal one at a reasonable pace without power. I felt very insecure in traffic on a heavy and inherently slow E bike that had no power! The range is the second issue I had, for me 40-50k per charge is just not enough and lugging around a second set of batteries compounds the weight and cost issue. Best we can hope for I guess is that maybe our governments will come around one day and see things as clearly as we do.


Anyway cheers and I hope to meet up with you sometime for a ride this summer...maybe we can check out some scenic country side on our MB's

[Whizzer Nut]

Welcome & hello from Pa. Dan

[VikingByNature]

Originally Posted by Rockenstein

Sorry I didn't reply sooner VBN...have not browsed this part of the forum in a few days.

Hi RS. Great to hear back from you!

So you're interested in knowing what is happening with me so far? Well, I'll be glad to update you.

So far I have pretty well everything under way!

Last Tuesday I placed an order through dubyadubyadubya_dot_bicycle-engines_dot_com for the GruBee SkyHawk Stage-III rear-mount engine kit (minus the HuaSheng engine) with a 48-tooth wheel sprocket and a 10-tooth engine sprocket. Normally this kit includes a 56-tooth wheel sprocket and 11-tooth engine sprocket but none were in stock at the time. However, they mentioned that the 48/10 configuration would give me a higher top speed, which is what I prefer. Also, the normal price for the kit is $419.99 but I only had to pay $249.99 as I asked them to knock off the engine. The kit was shipped today so I may be receiving it later this week.

Then, this past weekend I placed an order for the Honda GXH50 engine from Mid City Honda (tel # 519-659-6533) and will be picking it up Tuesday or sometime later this week whenever the engine is in. I have asked for the engine in an unprepped state (still in the crate, no oil and no spark plug) so that it gives me something more to do. (You can ask for it prepped though, if you wish, to make things easier.) The engine price is about $550. Note I also decided to knock off the HuaSheng engine from the previous order as I understand it is a clone of this Honda engine and would prefer the real thing.

And the final order I placed for now was also this past weekend for a set of Blackburn "Flea" head and tail LED lights, a rear-view mirror and a CatEye Strada cycling computer with odometer, speedometer and many other functions. All these were ordered from CyclePath and were based on suggestions made from the good folks at the To Wheels bicycle store where I originally bought my bike. I managed to really hit it off with them two weeks ago and was telling them about what I plan to do. They seem very interested in my plan. In fact I may have to take my bike there once I have the kit mounted as the mounting of the wheel sprocket may require additional attention and/or inspection.

I also paid a visit last week to my local MTO Driver's License office and picked up the new MTO Official Motorcycle Handbook, which I am now halfway through. This book contains the latest definitions not only for motorcycles but also for limited-speed motorcycles and moped's as well. I hope to make it soon to the Exeter Rd MTO office to write my M1 motorcycle test and obtain more info on registering, licensing and insuring my bike. And later, sometime in April, I plan to attend a Motorcycle Safety Course at Fanshawe College that would help to speed up the licensing process. This course is recommended in the book.

Well, I gotta getta moveon. Not much else going on right now but I'll keep you up-to-date on my progress once I start building. TTYL.

-=VbN=-