Trek 800 Antelope Build

[JustAnotherBozoOnABike]

high CS, sorry i haven't responded yet to your last pm but i haven't gotten the new wheels and tires on yet so i haven't any new pics to show off, ...look for my reply tomorrow or the next day, ...i'm just having a bit of a pain removing the sprocket and adapter so i can install it on my new wheel.

...anyway, here is a thread from paul on a cheap bike stand that i think you will want, ...and when i say cheap i mean under twenty bucks.

inexpensive motorized bicycle work stand

...look for the link in the first post in the thread, i'm not much of a fan of Walmart but sometimes i relent if it's something i really need, lol.

...actually, i'm glad i went looking because i've been wanting something like this myself.

, bozo

 

[comfortableshoes]

So "Eagle Butt" just won't start.

The following things are different from this build to the last build that could have an effect on it starting:
New tank (new as in different)
New petcock (new as in different)
new gas line
New throttle and kill switch

I made the following changes and then tested it to see if the engine would start after each change.

First I shortened the gas line to make it all one downward shot, no peaks and valleys.

i checked to see if the tank was able to suck in air by blowing into the vent hole. No problems there but I'm pretty sure I'm a little lightheaded. lol. jk

The petcock is clearly allowing gas to flow into the line, I can see it flowing and if I remove the gas line from the carb, gas flows out easy with a nice steady even flow. conclusion: petcock works.

I switched the wires from the throttle to the CDI. with the idea that MAYBE the wires I have in my throttle are not the same as stock.
No change

I disconnected the kill wire. NO change.

So all of these changes make me think that the issue is elsewhere. Spark plug or in the carb. I've had the carb bowl apart and cleaned the gunk out of it.

Over all I pedaled Eagle Butt around the hood, my neighbor, who happens to be my ward's city Councillor stopped me to talk to me about it. He rides a Chinese Scooter about 50% of the time. The rest of the time he drives a pick up. Nice guy but a politician through and through.

When I'm testing the bike I pedal across the street to the Public Works parking lot and up their steep parking lot to the top of the hill then pedal like **** to get up to speed before I run out of space and pop the clutch, that is usually enough to get it to turn over. And used to be enough to get her to start. There were a few trucks parks in the lot, usually at this time of night no one is in them, but there was one dude in his truck, his head snapped towards me when he heard the engine turn over. This is the general reaction I get when I'm riding this thing around.


It turns over, clearly has compression, and is turning over but will not continue running once I pull in the clutch again, even if I pedal down the street. it's as if I'm holding down the kill switch. but even with the kill disconnected no joy. Any ideas?

I'm thinking I should get a new spark plug and wire and maybe tear down the carb or buy a new one.

At this point I think I'm going to make a vinyl decal for the side of the engine that says "Tease."

 

[comfortableshoes]

Just totally disconnected the kill switch and rode it around, no joy. tomorrow I'm going to clean out the carb. I'm pretty sure the problem is there. Considering it was gunked up and the float was sticking and I cleaned that but nothing else. (I know I know) I'm also going to drain the gas out of the tank and see if it's full of crap. I did clean the tank previous to mounting but things seem to float to the surface once it's full and has been allowed to sit.

 

[comfortableshoes]

Well, the good thing about pedaling the "tease" around is that I'm losing weight. I've lost 6lbs since starting this build.

 

[JustAnotherBozoOnABike]

Well, the good thing about pedaling the "tease" around is that I'm losing weight. I've lost 6lbs since starting this build.

...lol, you just gave me a nice chuckle as i pictured you struggling to get your machine running again, not nearly as glamorous a way to lose weight as a health spa.

i really feel for you too, i recently had an issue i was too new to resolve and i spent several days of near killing myself pedaling my bike and popping the clutch to no avail, thankfully i was fortunate a fellow member made a housecall and recognized my problem within minutes as a maladjusted clutch, so in my case all i needed to do was tighten the flower nut and i was off and running again.

...anyway, you should go back to my last post and check out paul's thread on rear bike stands so you can figure a way to pedal your bike up to speed standing in your driveway, ...in the first post paul links to one available at Walmart for under $20.00 and if you continue reading the thread you'll see several other options including some you can DIY without any specialized tools.

hope this helps, bozo

 

[comfortableshoes]

@Bozo Honestly, as much as I ***** about it I kinda like riding the bike.

I will be getting one of those stands here in the near future. They look like a great idea, especially with the cable mods.

I found a couple of guys selling their MABs near me dirt cheap. I just made an offer on one with a 4stroke. We'll see if I get it or not. It's on a bike that is 12 ft too tall for me, but man, it would be nice to get a 4 stroke and put it on the chopper, along with some gears. We'll see. The price is ridiculous, so we'll see.

There is a local guy building them and selling them for $800+ on bargain basement bikes and bottom of the barrel motors.

It's been too wet and rainy with a flood watch so no working on the bike, sadly.

I have 2 very nice Sigma bike computers, the 1200 and the 800. I paid a lot of money for them back in the day. One of them I left connected to the chopper in the garage over the last 3 years and the other I brought in and it rolled around a desk for the 3 years. Well they both needed new batteries, so I got some, and they both work just fine. But the one that was stored on the bike in the garage the grippy rubber on the buttons got soft and slightly sticky, so I had to spend some time scraping a layer of gooey rubber off the bottom of the button with a knife and piece of soda can. It took a decent amount of time to get the goo off the button and now it works just fine. Lesson learned, at the end of the season bring the bike computers in.

 

[comfortableshoes]

The killer deal on the 4-stroke is a go. As of this time next week I'll be the owner of a running 4-stroke with some issues. It sounds like the guy spilled oil on parts he shouldn't have and maybe overfilled it. I'll need to put it on a bike that fits me, maybe the madwagon, and I'll have a sweet 4-stroke bike. that will be a whole other build thread.

On the Trek, the bike itself rides sweet, handles like a champ. Pedals well. I really like it as "just" a bike. Once I get the engine running on it I'll have a killer motor assisted bicycle. Tonight I hope to tackle the carb situation and drain out the gas.

 

[comfortableshoes]

DUDE! I got the "Tease" running. I took her for a quick ride around the block and man, wasn't that a treat! She's idling a little rough but she's running. There is a big storage facility down the street with a massive parking lot. Nice and level with a steep drop off. 25mph on the flat no problem, with more room I'm sure she'd get more speed. Not as much oomph as the Chopper, but that's the difference between a 26 inch and a 20 inch wheel.

I'm going to need a better seat, this one though cushioned is made for control in dirt and is rather hard on the behind.

I've got a grin from ear to ear.

Also I figured out what was wrong, not the tank, nor the carb, or the kill switch or the engine. I connected the black wire to the blue wire and the blue to the black. Doh! It was so stupid a mistake I discounted it until today when it was the absolute last thing that could be wrong. And it was. Dumb. I extended the wires to go under the engine and used the same color wire for both sides when I did it.

There is a lot of vibration, I'll check all the connections and make sure they are tight so I can rest easy.

Riding this is a lot different than riding the chopper. First the engine is hot down there. I never noticed that with the chopper. The difference in how you sit in the 2 means your legs are way closer to the engine on the mountain bike frame than the chopper frame. I'll be forced to wear pants with this thing, which I know I should anyway but today I went in my cut off jeans and I touched the engine with my knee a few times.

i'm so much higher on this than the chopper that I can see traffic coming more easily.

I'm so happy. Now I need to get to the RMV and get my sticker.

 

[comfortableshoes]

An additional thing I found out, my round tank from eBay holds a half gallon of gas. I didn't think it was going to be that big. I'm pretty happy with that, as 1/2 gallon is a decent ride and a half.

 

[comfortableshoes]

Got my sticker at the RMV. My ride is now legal. Stoked! Used the "serial number." I will update the thread "Massachusetts Registration Woes" with the tale.

My Dad always taught me that if I'm going into a place that is going to give me a service that they can legitimately deny me for whatever reason to treat the activity as if I'm going before a judge. So I dressed better than usual, clean shirt, closed toe shoes, and clean unstained jeans. I made sure all my paperwork was filled out properly before I stepped foot into the RMV. I must've checked it 3 or 4 times.

While in the mall I strolled through AC Moore and saw a display of paracord, 550 and 330. They had bright baby blue and black, the 2 colors I've been wanting for my bike to cover my cords and cables. Pretty cool. Each bundle was $2 and 16 feet. I think the surplus shop sells 50ft bundls for a bit more $$$. But then I'd have to drive over there. They don't carry the bright baby blue that matches my bike either. Anyway, exciting stuff.
It was a long wait but in the end I got my sticker. Because I'm a cornball I ordered these off ebay. I'm thinking I'll spray the "beantown" off of it and just stick the sticker into the middle of the plate. They had one form 1980 that I almost bought but it was the wrong color. It was red and white instead of the old Mass green and white or the new red, white and blue. So I went with the newer plate, which works well with the age of the bike.

I also ordered an alarm off eBay. It'll probably take a month to get here.

And that is the LAST of my scratch for a few weeks.

 

[comfortableshoes]

It's been on and off raining here all day. Too wet to ride with the bike not performing up to par, so I'll wait until I have a dry day.

I cleaned the bike tonight, gave it a once over with spray cleaner and a rag. The plastic bits got some armor all. Then I removed every ziptie and covered it with paracord case. Looks kinda nice. I could have gone stealth and used the black paracord instead I used the baby blue. I used 2 white wires to connect the engine to the CDI, I covered those with paracord case, black. That looks really nice.

The paracord covering definitely change the look of the crummy zipties. I have a billion white zipties, I found a package of something like 3000 at a salvage place for $5. I'm finally making a dent in them.

I do need to buy some bigger zipties as well as some more gas line. I need to move my gas tank back on the rack so my new seat will fit better.

I also took a couple of pics of the tensioner mounted and painted on the bike. This thing is the most rigid tensioner I've seen. granted I've only ever "seen" the stock flimsy tensioner and the heavy duty sort stock tensioner. This thing performs flawlessly. It's stiff and tough. If I were able to weld it onto the bike it would meld with it. Good stuff. custommotoredbicycles.com $10 for 9.5 inch arc tensioner. No affiliation just a happy customer.

Anyway, I hope to put a few miles on it this weekend, that is if the rain will hold off. With my luck it will rain all weekend.

 

[comfortableshoes]

Got the idle tuned in and she's idling right. In a brief break in the rain I took her for a short spin up and down the block. A guy on a crotchrocket gave me a look. Heh. I also rode past a teenager who looked like he was stuck at his father's workplace at the little industrial park place I often test ride by, his face lit up. Kinda the same way mine did the first time I saw one of these things.

This seat is significantly better cushioning. The springs are quite nice. It however does not let me manuver the bike as well as the smaller less cusioning seat I had on it. The seat post from the other bike is a mm too big to fit onto this bike. Weird. I might see if the MadWagon seat will fit, so I can have the choice of seat cruiser or control.

I put on my side bag. It holds my chains and locks, a tool kit, a length of rope, plenty of zipties, a bungee cord or two, my hat for when I take off my helmet, and it will hold other odds and ends. For such a small bag it's remarkably roomy. I have another bag, but it doesn't match. I need to troll the surplus stores to see if I can find one that matches this one or the other.

The rear brake now stops the bike on a dime, to the point of stalling the engine.

This build is pretty much done except for a few tweaks.


I can either move the tank back a few inches or slide the seat forward. I prefer the seat in it's current position but an inch forward wouldn't be bad either.

The exhaust pipe is transferring a lot of vibration to the bike, it just barely touches the bike. I'll need to fix that. I also want an upgraded exhaust for the bike, I like the expansion with silencer. So that is on my wishlist.

I would like to switch out the nuts and bolts holding the engine to the frame.

The position of the clutch is bothering my wrist and hand. I need to move it to a better position.

I would like to switch to a combined brake lever.

The tensioner needs a longer bolt so the wheel moves more freely, it rotates now, but a longer bolt would be better.

I am also going to install lighting and directionals. This is a must. Cager traffic down here makes me nervous.

 

[comfortableshoes]

I headed to Ocean State Job lot, a local surplus and salvage chain. Dirt cheap prices on dirt cheap crap. I picked up five 9 LED mini flashlights for $3 each. Looking online I could have gotten the 5 on amazon cheaper and possibly better quality. oh well.

I also picked up a few stick on reflectors.

I took apart one of the lights and traced the front "lens" onto the reflector 3 times. I then cut the new red lenses out of the reflector. I replaced the clear lens with the new red lens, bumpy side out and flat side toward the LED.

I then took a flat piece of aluminum bar and cut a piece out slightly wider than my rear rack. I drilled 4 holes for zipties to go through and hold the flashlights in place. I can maneuver the lights so the outer 2 flare to the outside and make me more visible.

These are highly visible even in daylight, I suspect in the evening and night they will be more visible.

As for the headlights. I took 2 of the flashlights and mounted them, again with zipties to one of the metal backing pieces for an old rag joint. I used the center hole to mount it to an old handlebar clamp. I can direct the beams of these 2 flashlights pretty much anywhere. I will test their visibility out on a paved trail later tonight. In addition to the flashlights I have a blackburn flasher headlight that is just about useless for anything than to let people know you are a bike. It is junk. I have not yet mounted my bullet headlight yet.

eventually what I would like to do is wire up ALL of the flashlights to a single on and off switch and battery pack. I'll probably worry about that this winter since these flashlights seem to last forever on a set of batteries.

I did order a cheasy cheapo tail light and indicator from Amazon as well as a cup holder.

Of course no build thread is complete without a pic of the actual bike.

I think she's looking a little less ratty than she did when she was covered in dust. I do think a black engine would be more becoming on her than the silver engine. Eventually, she'll get a quieter pipe too.

 

[comfortableshoes]

Well, the guy I was going to buy the 4-stroke from turned it into an expensive brick over the weekend. It's probably repairable but not a job I want to take on. I'm pretty bummed but with my limited funding I can't take on a "good" deal if it's going to end up costing me more than a new engine.

 

[comfortableshoes]

Today I made the suggestion to my spouse that I should ride my bike to the 4 day orientation for grad school. Then I said it was 82 miles by car and the trip avoiding the highways and roads I'm not allowed on would be the same but would take roughly 6 hours to complete. That is, if I didn't break down. So the ixsnay was put on that idea and I'll be driving our car there with the hopes the muffler doesn't fall off on the way.

 

[dodge dude94]

Mufflers aren't needed.

 

[comfortableshoes]

Without the muffler the car and motor assisted bicycle sounds exactly the same.

 

[comfortableshoes]

There is a very dangerous intersection near my house that I usually walk my bike across. What I do is kill the motor and get on the sidewalk and pedal down it. Now in 7 years of living in this hood, and the season of previous riding, plus all the walking; I've seen a cop there once. Well it seems the frequent speeding complaints everyone on this block have been making has made a HUGE difference. I saw a cop not long after I killed the engine and was pedaling down the sidewalk. He didn't even look at me. I just looked like a fat woman out for a ride on a bike. It probably helps that I mounted my moped tag on a kid's fake Massachusetts license plate. He just rolled on past me. Even with the upped cop patrols speeding is still a major problem on the block. Honestly, I should be able to cruise up and down my street without getting passed dangerously by a cager, but I can't even go to the grocery store without getting passed dangerously close. I think they think I'm just a bike now, this happened less often on the chopper.

Anyway, no tickets issued this day.

I tooled around the office park which I often use to test out winding up on a flat and how the bike will perform when going up a steep incline. Lots of people working very late tonight, and too many cars to get a good test in. But on the flats I had her up to 26mph with lots to spare. She could cruise all day around 20 to 23, over that there is a lot of vibration. I suspect that I need to file down the mounts to make them fit better since I moved the engine.

The hill test was good, i got her up to a cruising speed of 20 and then went up the hill. First with no pedals and she did it easily without bogging at about 15 mph. Then with pedals no strain, no bog, 19mph easy. This was a sharp sudden incline. I need to test on a long stretched out incline.

In this pic you'll notice both tires match. I can't believe the other tire held up for the little bit of riding I did on it. The sidewall was so rotten it was simply fibers. Scary stuff. I'm glad I took the time to swap it out the other day when it was raining.

It's weird getting accustomed to the more leaned over yet upright riding position. It took me a week of riding all the time to get used to the Stingray and it's laid back upright raked ride. Honestly I think what I want is a cruiser style ride like the madwagon. I've been hung up on this frame. It looks like it would ride well for me but it remains to be seen if it would work or not. But it's a single speed and as I've learned I need a multi-speed bike. Given my cheapness (Or as we Yankees call it thriftiness) I'll keep an eye on craigslist. I have to be patient since I have no money.

The vibrations at WOT are bugging me a lot. I don't ride at WOT often but when I do it really bugs the heck out of my wrists. I think the leaned over position is also troublesome for my wrists. After 6 years at a desk and then the slip and fall in the icy work parking lot my hands and wrists have more problems than they did even 3 years ago when I rode the chopper. I don't remember the chopper having this many vibrations though.

I'll have to go through all the reasons for the vibrations and fix them one by one. I suspect it'll all come down to the connection to the frame and it changing since I moved the engine. It's tiiiiiiight but i think it needs some work.

Anyway, i'm very happy with how this bike has turned out so far. I have a few things to work on but as of right now, she's riding fine.

NOtes to self:
Lighting
Indicators
Engine mounts

 

[comfortableshoes]

I took a ride on the bike last night. Whe I came back I was out of breath. The wife asks me, "If you were riding the motorized bike, why are you out of breath?" At first I wanted to say, "Because I'm old, fat, and out of shape." Then I thought about it and really, it's because I'm pedaling it. I don't know if it's because of the bike itself, I'm accustomed to pedaling a mountain bike and I just do it out of conditioning/habit or what reason, I consistently pedal this bike. The Chopper I sat on like a big fluffy chair, the Madwagon I pedaled to start and for hills, but this one I tend to feel weird not pedaling, so I pedal the damn thing.

So even though I'm riding a motorized bike I'm pedaling and I've continued to lose weight which will make my doctor happy. Seriously every time I'm there she tells me to drop a few pounds and eat better. She also mentions my weight and blood pressure. Obviously pedaling the bike along with the motor helps both.

 

[comfortableshoes]

I got my bags from dailysteals.com (these are the same thing but in olive, mine are black.) They are slightly smaller than I expected but they are perfect for a short day trip. Big enough to hold tools and the stuff in my current bag in one and lunch and sundry supplies in the other. Now to make them into side bags. With a little work these will look fantastic.

Need to make a way for them to mount to the rack.
Stiffen the back and bottom, so they don't twist into the spokes.

then mount and go ride!