Shift Kit + Nuvinci = (Grin)

[Clotho]

how did you get the nuvinci hub to fit in the rear? its the hub 135mm and the frame is only 110mm?

The bike is in storage for the winter so I can't measure the bike or the hub but whatever the size is it is standard. No modification was necessary. The hub I purchased and had laced into a wheel bolted right up.

As for the gear/selector/adjustor. Yes it is mounted on the left handle bar instead of the right so it's function is the reverse of normal.

Thank you for the compliment Diceman. It is a blast to ride.

 

[doofedek]

clotho - I am building a felt slater model with the nuvinci hub. i don't have the bike yet so I am not sure how the hub will fit. question: did you have to widen the frame at all to get the nuvinci hub in?

Also, I love the way the motor looks on your Flet Kingpin (specifically it looks like you ground the fins down a bit). Do you have any tips on how to polish the outside of the motor?...did you start with a standard "silver" painted motor?? Thanks, BTW, your Felt Kingpin is the inspiration for my Felt Slater build. Looks amazing!

 

[BOREDTrackRacer]

What did you paint the engine with?

 

[Clotho]

clotho - I am building a felt slater model with the nuvinci hub. i don't have the bike yet so I am not sure how the hub will fit. question: did you have to widen the frame at all to get the nuvinci hub in?

Also, I love the way the motor looks on your Flet Kingpin (specifically it looks like you ground the fins down a bit). Do you have any tips on how to polish the outside of the motor?...did you start with a standard "silver" painted motor?? Thanks, BTW, your Felt Kingpin is the inspiration for my Felt Slater build. Looks amazing!

Thank you for the compliment! I answered your first question in the post above your own.

I am glad you like the look of my motor. I polished it. My motor didn't have any paint when I got it. You can start by polishing the clutch, magneto and sprocket covers to see if you are up to the task. I sanded mine first with fine wet/dry sandpaper finishing at about 800 grit. I then used a buffing pad on an electric drill and some buffing compound made for alluminum. A vice firmly mounted to a bench is helpful. Please be careful. It is easy to catch a finger.

If after polishing the flat covers you still want to do the rest then you will have to do some disassembly so you can get at everything. Be sure to block off the inside of the crankcase and piston. I taped mine up before sanding the motor itself. It is best to have the covers on for this part to protect the magneto etc. Polishing is a very dirty job and you will want to wear eye protection and coveralls.

The fins on the jug can be sanded a bit to even them out but you want to take off as little as possible since the fins are a bit small to begin with. With care they can be polished too.

Good luck with your bike!

 

[Clotho]

What did you paint the engine with?

Hi BOREDTrackRacer, The engine isn't painted. It is polished (see the post above). The jug was painted with flat black high heat exhaust paint prior to polishing but that is the extent of it. I did try painting the motor to match the frame early on but found that it was a magnet for dirt and oil and that it was difficult to keep clean. Some pictures can be found with the motor painted and the covers polished here: Project Pictures

 

[doofedek]

Clotho - thanks very much for the info on polishing the engine. I'll post some pics once I get this project off the ground.

 

[doofedek]

Clotho - finally getting close to completion on my Felt Slater project. I had no idea what a hassle it would be to get the Nuvinci laced into a 24" wheel with the 12g spokes. I finally located a source for the spokes and a bike shop that was willing to do it. None the less that part is done. I had the whole bike together and ran about 50 miles on it before I decided to disassemble it to get the SBP jack shaft kit and front wheel spokes powder coated black. (adding a front dynohub drum brake) Here are a couple of pics...thanks again for your words of wisdom. This thing is absolutely a blast to ride!!

I put some pics on this thread ...

http://motorbicycling.com/f38/venice-motorized-felt-revolver-23836.html

 

[DasKapitan]

Fantastic!! Another motorized NuVinci. Beautiful machine.

 

[chad223]

That's one of the nicest bikes I've seen on here! Does the long exhaust not cut down on power?

 

[Clotho]

Clotho - finally getting close to completion on my Felt Slater project. I had no idea what a hassle it would be to get the Nuvinci laced into a 24" wheel with the 12g spokes. I finally located a source for the spokes and a bike shop that was willing to do it. None the less that part is done. I had the whole bike together and ran about 50 miles on it before I decided to disassemble it to get the SBP jack shaft kit and front wheel spokes powder coated black. (adding a front dynohub drum brake) Here are a couple of pics...thanks again for your words of wisdom. This thing is absolutely a blast to ride!!

I put some pics on this thread ...

http://motorbicycling.com/f38/venice-motorized-felt-revolver-23836.html

Nice bike!

You should start your own thread. I had to dig a bit through Venice's thread to find yours. His bike is nice too! Although, I have to admit the upside down handle bar thing drives me a bit nuts.

It looks like you have one of the nice aluminum frames. I don't think you will have any problem but keep an eye open for flex in your bottom bracket. It will feel like the pedals are shifting. My first motor mounts had this problem and it would have eventually led to frame failure. Your mounts look like they have more surface area however so you may not have this problem.

Congrats again on the nice build!

 

[Clotho]

That's one of the nicest bikes I've seen on here! Does the long exhaust not cut down on power?

Thank you for the compliment!

The original exhaust seemed to be about the same as the factory one. The length of the pipe shouldn't affect performance since it wasn't an expansion chamber.

If you go through the thread to some of the last pictures you will see that I have added an expansion chamber to it which increased performance substantially.

Here is a pic from a ride I took last summer. It seems I didn't take any pictures this year At the time this picture was taken the bike has a fair number of kilometers on it so it has a few nicks and scratches. It still runs like a dream.

Doofdek- if you look at the motor mounts you can see how I extended them to two plates that meet at the bottom of the frame above the bottom bracket. This solved my flame flex problem.

Cheers!

Clotho

 

[doofedek]

Clotho- thanks for the info on the frame flex issue. I will keep an eye out for that. Question...when I try to start the engine the cranks seem to slip and the engine is really hard to turn over. (due to the fact that the cranks slip). This is especially bad when the engine is cold and seems to be getting worse. I'm pretty sure the nuvinci hub is ok because it runs fine under peddal power and has plenty of torque once the engine starts. Also, at higher speeds it feels almost as if the clutch is slipping. I'm wondering if I blew out the front free-wheel on the shift kit. Have you ever experienced this with your nuvinci set-up?

Thanks for the compliment on the bike. Pretty stoked about it. This thing is amazing compared to a standard set-up. Once I get all the kinks worked out I'll post a new thread with some pics. I took some detailed shots of the tank sealing process that might help others who want to build one of these.

-doofedek

 

[Clotho]

Clotho- thanks for the info on the frame flex issue. I will keep an eye out for that. Question...when I try to start the engine the cranks seem to slip and the engine is really hard to turn over. (due to the fact that the cranks slip). This is especially bad when the engine is cold and seems to be getting worse. I'm pretty sure the nuvinci hub is ok because it runs fine under peddal power and has plenty of torque once the engine starts. Also, at higher speeds it feels almost as if the clutch is slipping. I'm wondering if I blew out the front free-wheel on the shift kit. Have you ever experienced this with your nuvinci set-up?

Thanks for the compliment on the bike. Pretty stoked about it. This thing is amazing compared to a standard set-up. Once I get all the kinks worked out I'll post a new thread with some pics. I took some detailed shots of the tank sealing process that might help others who want to build one of these.

-doofedek

Do you have the heavy duty freewheel? If you do then I doubt you broke it. If you don't then you will know very quickly if it has been compromised. I always start mine in the lowest gear possible and it starts up real easy. Even after sitting all winter. I have never experienced the slippage you are describing.

If you don't have the heavy duty front freewheel I highly recommend it.

 

[g1manalo]

I'm Planning to get a nuvinci hub.I have a Staton Kit. How many miles do you have on you r Nu Vinci now. Are you still happy with it? Thank you

 

[flybytaco]

I share the same grin! lol

this setup is new too and i also feel some slippage it's the hub i think its just really cold and brand new i think it will go away its nothing serious

 

[KCvale]

I share the same grin! lol

this setup is new too and i also feel some slippage it's the hub i think its just really cold and brand new i think it will go away its nothing serious

Wow Taco, that is wild bud! ;-}

Shift Kit (check) + NuVinci Hub (check) + Expansion Chamber (check) = AWESOME (Triple Check!)

(Almost done)

Gears change everything.
Automatic Transmission (NuVinci CVT Dev Kit) gears makes the jaw drop.

 

[buzbikebklyn1]

Clotho...Thats a very clean well put together ride... very nice.
Good luck with it.
BBB

 

[bikerpeter]

Gears change everything.
Automatic Transmission (NuVinci CVT Dev Kit) gears makes the jaw drop.[/QUOTE]

Where did you get that air filter? Ive looked all over, and haven't found any.

 

[superbob]

I share the same grin! lol

this setup is new too and i also feel some slippage it's the hub i think its just really cold and brand new i think it will go away its nothing serious

I've been looking at the Nu Vinci hub and just yesterday I ran across the Cadillac/Nu Vinci bike. Immediate lust, but then on the Nu Vinci forum, under the thread "why is the Cadillac bike so cheap?" someone said the answer is that GM, who apparently makes these bikes for numerous auto companies, went the cheap route. On the bike, that is, although this person questioned the hub as well.

Nu Vinci claims that there is only one grade of hub for everyone, no cheap and expensive models, and they even offer a kit for motorized bikes that includes an electronic shifter and speedometer - same hub. And at eleven pounds of metal, their hub should do alright with our gear.

You should check out the forum. Not that it isn't awesome to have a Cadillac AND the hub at the price you probably paid, but there is a very thorough review of the combo and some tweaks you might want to consider. Good luck. I'm thinking about the GT1 frame/no Nu Vinci hub/no jackshaft setup, even if I do have to pedal on the low end. Does all that aftermarket stuff last?

 

[KCvale]

I've been looking at the Nu Vinci hub and just yesterday I ran across the Cadillac/Nu Vinci bike. Immediate lust, but then on the Nu Vinci forum, under the thread "why is the Cadillac bike so cheap?" someone said the answer is that GM, who apparently makes these bikes for numerous auto companies, went the cheap route. On the bike, that is, although this person questioned the hub as well.

Actually Fleetwood builds the bikes and they just licensed the Caddy name for the front Caddy name plate.

I have had the boxes here for a couple of days and now that DR is over I opened the boxes and got a start today.

It sure isn't much to look at out of the box.

She is getting a black springer for a front shock, and just for reference you need a threaded 1 1/8th" dia 6" long fork to fit it.

I had the SBP Ver 2 JS and front mount a week ago and have them painted up in advance so I can mount it to the motor tomorrow but I did get the handlebars mostly done today.

I am liking the disc brake, that is an 'extra added bonus' as I like to call things like that too.

Dual pull teeter-totter brake and throttle on the right, shifter and clutch on the left, and of course BMX foam grips.

I am thinking this build is simply going to need an extra day for road testing ;-}