I would love to hear a review of a OCC stingray, I am in the process of motorizing one for a customer.
Bicycle review
- Thread starter Dan
- Start date
My first build was a Schwinn Legacy coaster. The bike was bought from Target for $128.00 out the door. I put a Grubee Gen II 50cc. in it . The bike is solid and seams to be built good for a low end bike. The only thing was it seamed to be cramped for my 6 ft. frame. The bike rode good and would run 28+ mph. with a 44T sprocket and my 195lbs.
My second build is a Electra coaster alum. frame it weighed 31 lbs. I bought this bike in Jacksonville, Fl. at a Electra dealer and was $375.00 out the door. It is a streach frame, 3inches from crank to seat tube. The best part is a added 6 inches longer from the head to the seat tube. This makes it feel more like a bike built for a person 6ft or more. I put a F80 Dax engine in it and it is still being broken in with a 40T sprocket.
My second build is a Electra coaster alum. frame it weighed 31 lbs. I bought this bike in Jacksonville, Fl. at a Electra dealer and was $375.00 out the door. It is a streach frame, 3inches from crank to seat tube. The best part is a added 6 inches longer from the head to the seat tube. This makes it feel more like a bike built for a person 6ft or more. I put a F80 Dax engine in it and it is still being broken in with a 40T sprocket.
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Specialized Rochopper Comp A1
Purchased from a auction for $40, 23" Aluminum frame. Missing was the seat, seat tube and wheels.
Pro's
The front Rock Shox are great! Really takes the bite out of the road and make it very comfortable. The aluminum frame makes it very light and comes with nice components as far as crank,shifters,handlebars,brakes, pedals ect. This one comes with the v-brakes that work excellent but the bike has the option to upgrade to disc brakes if you have the disc wheels. With the 23" frame it gives you plenty of room to mount just about anything in the frame.
Con's
Not really any cons, the frame is 23" which is real big for me but they do come in smaller frames. The down tube starts off square and then goes round and it's really big. You will have to make a front mount for it. It does use a odd size seat tube which I just had to make one but if you get a complete bike unlike I did it is no problem. I would like a higher rise in the handle bars for a more upright riding position but thats just my personal preference. And the top tube is to big for the regular brackets that come with china girl engine kit tank. But it is not too difficult to make something that will fit. And to fit the stock muffler I had to bend it a little
Purchased from a auction for $40, 23" Aluminum frame. Missing was the seat, seat tube and wheels.
Pro's
The front Rock Shox are great! Really takes the bite out of the road and make it very comfortable. The aluminum frame makes it very light and comes with nice components as far as crank,shifters,handlebars,brakes, pedals ect. This one comes with the v-brakes that work excellent but the bike has the option to upgrade to disc brakes if you have the disc wheels. With the 23" frame it gives you plenty of room to mount just about anything in the frame.
Con's
Not really any cons, the frame is 23" which is real big for me but they do come in smaller frames. The down tube starts off square and then goes round and it's really big. You will have to make a front mount for it. It does use a odd size seat tube which I just had to make one but if you get a complete bike unlike I did it is no problem. I would like a higher rise in the handle bars for a more upright riding position but thats just my personal preference. And the top tube is to big for the regular brackets that come with china girl engine kit tank. But it is not too difficult to make something that will fit. And to fit the stock muffler I had to bend it a little
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1920's child's racer made by the Fay Mfg. Co. in Elyria, Ohio.
pros:
no one else would have one, and it's a perfect project if you're a masochist, you like wasting money, and you're 4 feet tall.
stripping and painting it is easy because it's so small, it only takes about a half a can.
if you have a young son or a little brother, they can ride around with you, and when they fall down and get hurt, the bike's small enough to fit in the ambulance.
cons
frame is too small for a motor, but with some modification, like a slant head and cut down motor mounts, it would fit. you might have to take the motor off to change the spark plug, but that's no big deal.
the rims aren't clinchers, so you'll need to find some 1920's tubular tires (discontinued) or some BMX sew-ups (also discontinued) and glue some new one's on.
or you could get new rims and tires.
the chain is an inch-pitch block chain (discontinued, super rare on ebay) so when you get new rims, you might as well get a new front chainwheel and a modern chain. while your at it, get some new one piece cranks, because the old ones are 2 piece cottered cranks (you guessed it, discontinued.)
the handlebars are really cool, and would make awesome upside down boardtracker bars, but they're 1/2" diameter, so you'd need a 1/2" throttle tube (never made, so technically not discontinued,) custom made levers, and some tricycle grips.
the head tube is 3 1/2" long, so a fork upgrade is possible if you have a welder and thread dies.
also, the fork doesn't have slots for your wheel to slide out, it just has holes, so the cones and bearings of your new wheels have to be assembled inside the fork. this is an awesome experience that no one should pass up.
the length of the top tube is 14", and the stock half gallon tank is like 11 and a half inches, so there's plenty of no room to not rub your legs on when you pedal. an under-frame tank would be awesome, but it would be 3 inches long. a modified beer can tank would look sweet.
all in all, i highly recommend you not going anywhere near a project like this.
pros:
no one else would have one, and it's a perfect project if you're a masochist, you like wasting money, and you're 4 feet tall.
stripping and painting it is easy because it's so small, it only takes about a half a can.
if you have a young son or a little brother, they can ride around with you, and when they fall down and get hurt, the bike's small enough to fit in the ambulance.
cons
frame is too small for a motor, but with some modification, like a slant head and cut down motor mounts, it would fit. you might have to take the motor off to change the spark plug, but that's no big deal.
the rims aren't clinchers, so you'll need to find some 1920's tubular tires (discontinued) or some BMX sew-ups (also discontinued) and glue some new one's on.
or you could get new rims and tires.
the chain is an inch-pitch block chain (discontinued, super rare on ebay) so when you get new rims, you might as well get a new front chainwheel and a modern chain. while your at it, get some new one piece cranks, because the old ones are 2 piece cottered cranks (you guessed it, discontinued.)
the handlebars are really cool, and would make awesome upside down boardtracker bars, but they're 1/2" diameter, so you'd need a 1/2" throttle tube (never made, so technically not discontinued,) custom made levers, and some tricycle grips.
the head tube is 3 1/2" long, so a fork upgrade is possible if you have a welder and thread dies.
also, the fork doesn't have slots for your wheel to slide out, it just has holes, so the cones and bearings of your new wheels have to be assembled inside the fork. this is an awesome experience that no one should pass up.
the length of the top tube is 14", and the stock half gallon tank is like 11 and a half inches, so there's plenty of no room to not rub your legs on when you pedal. an under-frame tank would be awesome, but it would be 3 inches long. a modified beer can tank would look sweet.
all in all, i highly recommend you not going anywhere near a project like this.
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Greenline Cruiser
This bike I got off Ebay from the same guy that sells the Greenline stretch cruisers and was only $149 delivered!
It's a single speed cruiser with an "80cc" china kit with a few fixes.
Pros: It has stainless steel spokes and Hi-stop hubs.
It also has a good sturdy frame with good looking fenders.
It was very affordable and easy to assemble.
Cons:Because of the vibration, the fenders broke and needed to be
beefed up with L-brackets.
I really like this bike and have about 800 miles on it so far, the farthest trip being about 110 miles. I installed those Family Dollar beer coolers on the back for panniers and are large enough to put a grocery bag in.
When the rear fender broke, I cut about 10" off it and remounted it and never has another problem with it. The front fender has broken my mounts twice now and although I fixed it a third time with rubber inserts, now the fender appears to be developing a crack.
This bike handles great as long as I'm not too far off road on rocky roads, but that's to be expected since there's no shocks on it.
This bike I got off Ebay from the same guy that sells the Greenline stretch cruisers and was only $149 delivered!
It's a single speed cruiser with an "80cc" china kit with a few fixes.
Pros: It has stainless steel spokes and Hi-stop hubs.
It also has a good sturdy frame with good looking fenders.
It was very affordable and easy to assemble.
Cons:Because of the vibration, the fenders broke and needed to be
beefed up with L-brackets.
I really like this bike and have about 800 miles on it so far, the farthest trip being about 110 miles. I installed those Family Dollar beer coolers on the back for panniers and are large enough to put a grocery bag in.
When the rear fender broke, I cut about 10" off it and remounted it and never has another problem with it. The front fender has broken my mounts twice now and although I fixed it a third time with rubber inserts, now the fender appears to be developing a crack.
This bike handles great as long as I'm not too far off road on rocky roads, but that's to be expected since there's no shocks on it.
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I've been riding a Micargi "General" (http://www.2wheelbikes.com/files/GENERAL.jpg) since last April or so. I kept the WWII theme of the bike, and I'm currently in the process of installing a SBP shifter kit and Nuvinci rear hub (which is taking forever because I don't have any free time!)
PROS:
1. Nice simple cruiser shape of this frame.
2. The olive drab color scheme really appealed to me too (although this exact same frame comes in a bunch of other colors too).
3. Lots of space in the frame triangle for the engine kit. Installation of the kit was straightforward, no real mounting issues (other than the slightly oversized downtube).
4. Also, it wasn't too expensive - I believe this bike was somewhere around $120 new.
CONS:
1. I've read mention on this forum (and others) about Micargi frames cracking at their welds - so I tend to look at the tube welds as part of my pre-ride inspection - so far no issues.
2. The lack of a derailleur mount means that I had to pick an internal-geared hub for use with my shifter-kit (if you're keeping it single-speed then that's not a problem).
3. No mounting tabs for rim brakes on either the front or rear forks - I put a new front fork on this bike specifically to add some front brakes.
4. No mounting tabs for a rear rack.
Here are some pictures of my set-up before I took everything apart a couple of months ago to add the shifter and some other new components (and then got side-tracked, and then got discouraged by the cold weather...)
Bottom line - I've really enjoyed this bike and I think it was a good choice for motorizing.
PROS:
1. Nice simple cruiser shape of this frame.
2. The olive drab color scheme really appealed to me too (although this exact same frame comes in a bunch of other colors too).
3. Lots of space in the frame triangle for the engine kit. Installation of the kit was straightforward, no real mounting issues (other than the slightly oversized downtube).
4. Also, it wasn't too expensive - I believe this bike was somewhere around $120 new.
CONS:
1. I've read mention on this forum (and others) about Micargi frames cracking at their welds - so I tend to look at the tube welds as part of my pre-ride inspection - so far no issues.
2. The lack of a derailleur mount means that I had to pick an internal-geared hub for use with my shifter-kit (if you're keeping it single-speed then that's not a problem).
3. No mounting tabs for rim brakes on either the front or rear forks - I put a new front fork on this bike specifically to add some front brakes.
4. No mounting tabs for a rear rack.
Here are some pictures of my set-up before I took everything apart a couple of months ago to add the shifter and some other new components (and then got side-tracked, and then got discouraged by the cold weather...)
Bottom line - I've really enjoyed this bike and I think it was a good choice for motorizing.
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Hiker, Glad To Hear From You. We Thought The Bear Did Eat You!! The Bike Looks Great. I Built A Diy 4 Stroke Shifter, Very Happy With It. Your Bike Looks Great. Are You In The Snow Belt Now?? A Bad Winter Every Where. Ron
Wut Ron said, great to see ya! You been missed buddy.
(Hiker made all the cool "smiles" and is a good guy for folks just meeting him)((...and in no way shape or form, did he shoot that smuggler. Just a rumor))
Schwinn Aluminum Comp 26" Men's Mountain Bike $194.00 Walmart.com
PROS:
1. One of the higher quality bikes available for under $200
2. Very low weight results in excellent performance, approx 60lbs total, including engine kit.
3. The aluminum frame has proven to be extremely rugged with exceptional welding.
4. Quick release front wheel, tabs for a rear disk & rack, linear-pull brakes, trigger shifters.
5. Has over 3500 miles of (somewhat abusive) motorized use with no signs of trouble.
CONS:
1. Engine doesn't even come close to fitting w/o heavy modification. Too small a space & the angles of the seat post & down tube are all wrong, as well as an oversized and unusual tubing shape.
2. The above engine mount modifications results in the inability to quickly or easily swap engines, also makes the engine unusable in any other bike.
3. The single-wall alloy rims are extremely fragile and combined with the weak 'Suntour' suspension fork, it's a "mountain bike" in name only unless upgraded.
4. "Shimano" derailleurs have never worked properly despite maintenance and low use, front rusted almost immediately.
Bottom line - Although I've quite enjoyed this bike and it's served me well, it's not really worth the extra effort to motorize despite the performance gain from it's low weight. While the frame itself is incredibly tough and resilient, because of the low grade components such as wheelset and forks it can't be used to it's full potential without upgrades that exceed the value of the bike by a large margin.
PROS:
1. One of the higher quality bikes available for under $200
2. Very low weight results in excellent performance, approx 60lbs total, including engine kit.
3. The aluminum frame has proven to be extremely rugged with exceptional welding.
4. Quick release front wheel, tabs for a rear disk & rack, linear-pull brakes, trigger shifters.
5. Has over 3500 miles of (somewhat abusive) motorized use with no signs of trouble.
CONS:
1. Engine doesn't even come close to fitting w/o heavy modification. Too small a space & the angles of the seat post & down tube are all wrong, as well as an oversized and unusual tubing shape.
2. The above engine mount modifications results in the inability to quickly or easily swap engines, also makes the engine unusable in any other bike.
3. The single-wall alloy rims are extremely fragile and combined with the weak 'Suntour' suspension fork, it's a "mountain bike" in name only unless upgraded.
4. "Shimano" derailleurs have never worked properly despite maintenance and low use, front rusted almost immediately.
Bottom line - Although I've quite enjoyed this bike and it's served me well, it's not really worth the extra effort to motorize despite the performance gain from it's low weight. While the frame itself is incredibly tough and resilient, because of the low grade components such as wheelset and forks it can't be used to it's full potential without upgrades that exceed the value of the bike by a large margin.
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I liked that word...*masochist*....this would be for a builder that has a lot of *brass*.....but I'm sure someone could build it ....maybe RedB66 could pull it off ?
Laters,
Salty
i know i could build it, i just don't think it's worth it. BUT, i figured out how to make the motor fit. if enough parts fall into my lap for free, i might just do it.
especially if it keeps friggen raining here. i'm going stir crazy.
especially if it keeps friggen raining here. i'm going stir crazy.
I sincerely hope your home doesn't become a statistic ( i.e the mudslides )....and just think baird....you'll have the ONLY bike on this planet such as .....a one off that no one will ever be able to duplicate....
Salty
Nerve B1 Cruiser $260-$300......... Nirve.com - Design & Manufacture Stylish Customed Beach Cruiser Bikes and Components
Bike was purchased at Ajo Bikes of Tucson Az,Recumbents,Bmx,Road Bikes, Mountain,Electric and Childrens Bikes for the Whole Family.
Single speed 18" frame 26" wheels
Alloy Rims
Front Brake
Comfort saddle
Cons: I did not like the bars that came with the bike. But thats just a personal comfort preference from me. The plastic pedals are okay but I can see them not lasting long. Front brake basically did absolutely nothing. A little difficult to mount stock Chinese tank. Will require a front mount. Both front and rear wheel liner were twisted and leaving the heads of the spooks exposed to the tubes.
Pros: Pretty good built I would say it is one step above Walmart bikes or Micargi cruisers. Light weight and easy to pedal with the gearing. Light weight frame. Seat comfort is good.
Link to build........... http://motorbicycling.com/f41/nerve-b1-16880.html
Bike was purchased at Ajo Bikes of Tucson Az,Recumbents,Bmx,Road Bikes, Mountain,Electric and Childrens Bikes for the Whole Family.
Single speed 18" frame 26" wheels
Alloy Rims
Front Brake
Comfort saddle
Cons: I did not like the bars that came with the bike. But thats just a personal comfort preference from me. The plastic pedals are okay but I can see them not lasting long. Front brake basically did absolutely nothing. A little difficult to mount stock Chinese tank. Will require a front mount. Both front and rear wheel liner were twisted and leaving the heads of the spooks exposed to the tubes.
Pros: Pretty good built I would say it is one step above Walmart bikes or Micargi cruisers. Light weight and easy to pedal with the gearing. Light weight frame. Seat comfort is good.
Link to build........... http://motorbicycling.com/f41/nerve-b1-16880.html
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just make two slot in the plate slide the u claps through it will mount nicely
Finally got around to picking up a Schwinn Riverside. $169 at Kmart. There web site now reads 189 as did the sticker on the bike, but paid 169 so as always, I are confusid-ed.
Really like the bike but man are the components cheap. The chain ring is a joke. Thin lil tin thing and wally world like wheels. The handle bars are really narrow compared to my beloved Point Beech. Which by the way, both are identical except where the drop outs are welded to chain stay. Really scary and am going to make support brackets. The tubbing and welding are smaller then my little finger and a tad off center.
Any one have trouble with the rear welds?
But love the look and feel of the bike. Putting a HF 79cc on her with a 2 speed auto tranny with a firebelly mount and Venice MB springer forks with a Worksman's HD front wheel and drum brake.
Really like the bike but man are the components cheap. The chain ring is a joke. Thin lil tin thing and wally world like wheels. The handle bars are really narrow compared to my beloved Point Beech. Which by the way, both are identical except where the drop outs are welded to chain stay. Really scary and am going to make support brackets. The tubbing and welding are smaller then my little finger and a tad off center.
Any one have trouble with the rear welds?
But love the look and feel of the bike. Putting a HF 79cc on her with a 2 speed auto tranny with a firebelly mount and Venice MB springer forks with a Worksman's HD front wheel and drum brake.
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That's a good looking frame on that bike, Dan. You mentioned putting a Worksman's front wheel on it, but what about the stock rear wheel that comes with that bike? Just curious, but why not swap out both wheels for something better?
Anyhow, I like that bike and the nice thing about a cheap find like that is being able to beef it up how ever you want!
Anyhow, I like that bike and the nice thing about a cheap find like that is being able to beef it up how ever you want!