Hey MotorBicycling

[AwkwardMatt]

Hey all, new to this sorta schtuff, putting a 66cc motor on a bike looks like alot of fun :O
Anyways, I am considering doing this to a Wal Mart mountain bike (still need to go buy one), and I was wanting to see if its possible to do for about 300$. What engine do I need to look at? I am a bigger guy, so I know I am not gonna be hitting 40mph lol, but if I could hit 25 it would be awesome. The main thing is reliability, sorta wanna stay away from a china motor becouse I doubt they are worth a crap.

Thanks!

 

[bairdco]

for 300 bucks, you can forget about reliability.

and there's no sense trying to find a non-china motor if you're just gonna put it on a cheap china bike.

i try to discourage everyone from buying a crappy bike, but it never works. i can show you hundreds of threads about the problems with those bikes, but people buy them anyway. then i get to read all the posts about their back wheels, brakes, fenders, tires, cranks, frames, etc, breaking.

if walmart sold pre-made motorized bicycles, there'd be a massive recall, lawsuits, some pretty good accidents and even a few deaths.

my advice is find an older, american made bike and a new china 2 stroke, and learn how both of them work, and read this forum. not only will it help solve your problems, but you can figure out how not to have so many.

 

[AwkwardMatt]

Thanks for the reply

Well, to be honest (unless I find a good used one on C-list), I just plain out don't have the funds to use something other than a 150$ mountain bike. Im 19 and work full time on min wage to pay my bills.

And as far as reliability, I don't really mean a DD, I guess I really mean once or twice a week I'll wanna dick around on it, and have it start for the most part.
Also, would this motor fit my needs? Motorized Bicycles Gas Bike Engines Gas Powered Bikes Motorized Bicycle Parts

 

[bairdco]

if you're just going for a bike to mess around with hobby-wise, a cheap bike is ok. that way if you get bored of it you're not in too deep, and if you get hooked, you can make all your mistakes on that, then build up something cool.

but if you needed it to get to work or school everyday, better buy a bus pass with the money you save on the bike.

also, when done right, the china engines can be pretty reliable. depends a lot on your knowledge of how things work, and your MacGyver skills. on my main rider, i've got about 9 months on it, and at least 5000 miles, and it's still going strong. i'm not saying nothing ever went wrong on it, but nothing i couldn't fix. and if it failed today, i think i got my money's worth.

 

[AwkwardMatt]

I see, I'm what you might call a car guy so I can probably get it running, and if not I have friends that can (i hope!)
would the Grubee Standard 80/66cc Black Sky Hawk Bicycle Motor Kit for 149.99$ be good for me? I way about 240 lbs

 

[AwkwardMatt]

Just looked uip the RAW. Looks nice, How many hours does it take to put one of these engine kits on? I have no knowledge of small engines and practicly no experience with bikes (I fooled with bikes a good bit back when I was 12, nothing more than any other kid though)

 

[AwkwardMatt]

Sweet! Well, I guess ill be getting after this project here soon

 

[bairdco]

my first bike took me about 6 hours non-stop. had to modify a few things like motor mounts to get it to fit an old cruiser.

after 5 or 6 builds, i can build a basic bike in less than 3 hours.

 

[AwkwardMatt]

local store will put on a 80cc china motor for 280$ (half for parts half for labor) i am thining of going that route!

 

[BarelyAWake]

my first bike took me about 6 hours non-stop. had to modify a few things like motor mounts to get it to fit an old cruiser.

after 5 or 6 builds, i can build a basic bike in less than 3 hours.

...and yet it takes me pretty much an entire winter to build just one


Guess I'm a lil slow after all lol

 

[silverbear]

...and yet it takes me pretty much an entire winter to build just one


Guess I'm a lil slow after all lol

Yeah, but look t the one you built!
SB

 

[Elixys]

i bought a $79.00 generomart beach cruiser from the local sporting goods store and the 160 dollar silver flying horse kit from bikeberry (advertiser at the top of the page)...came with all the mounting hardware that I needed......did upgrade some of the mounting nuts to teflon nuts for less slip offability and had to buy some gas tank liner which was a little pricy but all told the basic stuff came out to under 300 dollars. have had a few problems with it as newbies are prone to do, but for the most part its pretty affordable specially since i dont have to pay that pesky insurance on the thing.

 

[bairdco]

BA and SB, i said a basic bike. i built up an old schwinn cruiser for a buddy with all the stock kit parts. took me no time at all.

my next bike's taken me all summer, just because it was so nice to pedal to the beach. now that it's cold and rainy here, i can get to work on it for reals. probably take me a few weeks of non-stop modifying.

 

[silverbear]

BA and SB, i said a basic bike. i built up an old schwinn cruiser for a buddy with all the stock kit parts. took me no time at all.

my next bike's taken me all summer, just because it was so nice to pedal to the beach. now that it's cold and rainy here, i can get to work on it for reals. probably take me a few weeks of non-stop modifying.

That's your Colson with the front coaster brake, isn't it? I'm still thinking about that coaster brake on the front wheel. There must be a way to increase the mechanical advantage and make that thing work better. It would be such a cool thing. We'll call it "Bairdco's brake" and you'll be famous. Around here anyway. Look forward to your build.
SB

 

[BarelyAWake]

No worries, I was jus' makin' a cheeky reference to the ol' Rustoration thread heh, where it seemed you were out and riding around before I even had my bike stripped down

I'm confident that I could build a basic one pretty quick ofc - but for me, 1/2 the fun (mebbe even more) is simply the project itself & my R&D, scrounging for bits and cobbin' stuff together that was perhaps never meant to be joined in such an unholy union... it's prolly true that I like the fabrication part so much I "milk" the build stage a bit too

In the midst of alla that, the boss's kid bought a kit and got his bike together & runnin' in three days by himself... given he's 12yo, I did hafta take a mo' to reevaluate my projects & technique lol