What is it about dyi bikes

[deacon]

If I'm going for a ride around the hood, I would rather ride one of my home brew bikes. I am very close to being confident enough with the mtb25 to ride it for my errands. I need a few more days of no problems to be ready for that.

The chainsaw has yet to prove itself but I have hopes for it.

So where does that leave the kit bike. To be honest I am not all that thrilled with it. It has a lot of me in it and it is dead dependable as far as I am concerned.

My only rule with cars was "You can leave me stranded on the road once, but the second time, you will be towed to someone else's yard not mine."

All my bikes have left me pedaling home on occasion. Sometimes it is being out of gas, sometimes with the chain or drive wheel in my hand. My neighbors says I ride them out and push them home. There is some truth to that as well.

The china bike is pretty much setup now and doesn't do that any more, but it is also boring me now. I guess there is a mystery about getting home or not that appeals to me on some level. I mean if it was just about transportation, I would ride the china bike and spend my money of fast women and slow horses instead of motors and trash bikes.

 

[deacon]

Okay which is lower on the totem...

electric bikers or diy bikers??? Should we run a poll.

Electric bikes are so simple that the skill level makes them "different"

By their nature DIY guys buy less fancy parts and kinda "Make it Work" so many fewer bells and whistles that can be sold to us.

Wonder how I could word a poll so it wouldn't sound defensive lol....

Going to dye my hair so I can be the redheaded step child of motor biking.

In case you missed it this is all in fun not a complaint. I'm like John McCain I like being on the bottom. Making do with less of everything.

 

[5-7HEAVEN]

Like you, deacon, I love the challenge. I've also walked home with chain in hand and flat tires(twice each). Although mines aren't DIY, it might as well be, because no repair shops will touch my engines. When I DO take my bikes in to the bike shop, I have to remove the motors.

If I had the space, I'd love to DIY my bikes.

 

[deacon]

I am working on one now just to illustrate how to build a cheap bike. I had no idea how much the hardware to mount it was costing me. I bought most all of it at one time yesterday so that I would know what to estimate. It would be just over fifty dollars to make the mount from easy to use and find hardware store Items. I was shocked to see how much I was spending.

Nonetheless it is an easy, cheap way to go for a motorized bike. If you buy a good working week whacker off craig's list, you might have half the price of a china bike kit, in your diy kit.. It sure isn't any harder to build or to maintain than the china engine, if you use my design.

 

[comfortableshoes]

Weed wackers are very low maintenance, made for the everyday joe with little engine understanding to use. The newer models are even more low maint.

All I've read about the chengines is that they aren't low maint, except for a few people who have great luck with them.

So a weedwacker should make a great low maintenance ride.

 

[deacon]

that is my thinking.
1. they either work or not...
2. if you don't want to do the small maintenance but want to keep your engine ...lawn mower shop..
3. Craig's list if you really don't want to fool with it.
4. I have blown mine up,,,, hopeless for repair... or they are still running. It's the hardware and controls that need constant attention. After I finish my how to booklet, I am turning my attention to those. Actually I am thinging I really don't need hinges on both sides one side would keep the engine from walking. I need to make a quick adjustment on my mtb to try it out.

The throttle and gravity clutch rigs are next on my agenda. Of course I work on them as I go along. One major improvement was the lock up engine feature I added. I can tie my engine up with a simple cable run through the handle bars and hooked over an S hook held in place by a hose clamp. It allows me to start it, putter with it, and then ride it without the engine at all if I really want.

With my design I can rope start it or drag start it. The rope start option is good if I need to start it on a hill, it is also good for starting it to warm up in the morning, then if I am out riding and choke it off, the drag start works just fine.

 

[deacon]

I find it interesting that since I began building these really simple DIY bikes my china bike gets ridden less and less. I haven't really needed to run many errands on it. I have used the weed eater just for my fun rides. I think I am going to ride it somewhere with a destination today. Just to check out the reliability of it.

If my new gas tanks (plastic canteens) arrive today I will work on the chainsaw bike as well.

 

[deacon]

Did anybody notice how quickly this little section of the forum has grown.

 

[Dan]

When some one asks why I spend so much time and $ on what looks like a toy to them, I reply; Remember the first time you put a baseball card in your spokes and rode like the wind? It's that feeling all over.

Yesterday I was POed at my china girl. went out to measure some thing and literally thought how much I loved her. Now home brew!!! That does that and it is yours. truly all yours. From conception, construction and completion!! Not some kit like a child's complex model. You have created a one of a kind work of functional art.

The japanese have a phrase. "Shin-dow-goo" (sp fontanel) that literally means "demented machine" but means a contraption designed to make life easier, but creates it's own host of problems. Just like a child, you love them more then you thought you could yet they make you nutz some times. There is just an ever present warm fuzzy feeling or rip your hair out screaming feeling with the DIY. I love my china girl, but it is though I am more an uncle. The real DIYs, I am dad

 

[comfortableshoes]

Did anybody notice how quickly this little section of the forum has grown.

Yeah I had. When you google friction drive a lot of the post on here come up. I htink a lot more people are interested in them as time goes on.

Gas prices etc..

Not to mention how fun it is to build something you have built start to finish- that's an awesome feeling. And it's not too hard.

 

[deacon]

Well I have to admit you ride yours to more places than I do mine but that might change now that I have the 33cc fully tested and working really well. The 42cc on the suspension bike is what I have the most hope for. If not, I'll just switch the 33 over. It is definitely a rear mount kinda bike.

By the way I was re reading the thread about site suggestions the one that started this section for diy and it seems at least one person thought it was going to be a waste of space lol.

 

[comfortableshoes]

Well I have to admit you ride yours to more places than I do mine but that might change now that I have the 33cc fully tested and working really well. The 42cc on the suspension bike is what I have the most hope for. If not, I'll just switch the 33 over. It is definitely a rear mount kinda bike.

By the way I was re reading the thread about site suggestions the one that started this section for diy and it seems at least one person thought it was going to be a waste of space lol.

Well, I decided that if I were going to ride these things that I needed to have some sort of goals. My first goal is to use it to lose weight, and to see my city. I've lived here for 2 years since we bought our house and other than walking to the park on the ocean I haven't seen much more than my street and the road to work. So I want to learn more about it. My neighbors are always talking about this street, that place and the other thing and I don't know any of it. So I'm getting to know my city, most of these places its the first time I've been there. So It's kind of cool to ride around meet a few people and see the sights. I'm taking one day a week to see the sights and the other days I'm getting more fit. I need to or I'll be like my father- diagnosed with diabetes at 50 and then in and out of the hospital before it hits me to get more exercise and to eat right.

A month into this ride of mine and I'm already fitting into my "slightly less fat pants" and feeling a lot better, sleeping better, more energy and according to my significant other looking a little better.

I would say that this is the most active part of the forum now! I think that withteh plethora of weed wackers ending up in the trash bin that there will only be more activity on this forum as more and more people want to take those items and turn them into something more useful. My bike is way more fun than that little Ryobi ever dreamed it would be.

 

[deacon]

I lost 60+ pounds last summer... some walking.... some eating the vietnam diet and some getting my mind onto other things than my own mortality. I keep it off by working on bikes and forgetting to eat.

Remind me one day and I'll explain the vietnam diet. It really isn't all that mysterious or exciting just the easiest diet to figure what to eat on.

I think the weed whackers are going to prove to be the bike engine of that lasts not the china kit. Most likely bikes are going to have helper engines not really the full fledged ride it anywhere engine.

Dan has been talking about an urban bike kit and he has the right idea. The china bike is more at home for the twenty mile commute but the motor assisted bike is better suited for the mixed transport commute. Bike to the bus, put the bike on the rack, bike to your office from the bus stop. We have a new bus service here that goes from one town to another but only pics up a couple of places. These bikes would be ideal for that.

And you need to build one for the significant other so you can ride together.

 

[happyvalley]

Did anybody notice how quickly this little section of the forum has grown.

Heh, that's because here beats the heart of the whole MB thing....like kids again start with just an old bicycle, planinng the next idea, just a'conjuring and a'tinkering and thinking about how the wind is gonna feel on your face.

Deacon, you're my role model.

 

[deacon]

there may be some counseling needed for the role model thing lol...


Truth is this is the most fun I have had in years. I used to tinker with cars but I'm a little past that phase of my life. Now these bikes pass my excess time just fine. I can stretch a half hour job into an all day thing by doing it over and over lol. Sometimes in the end I even get it right.

 

[Spikedfox]

im tempted to goto high point myself and see the mecca of diy. bing a mear 70 miles from there, if i had my bike done i might even attempt that ride.. hehe not an inagural ride mind you more like aftwer a few smaller rides show me im not gonna need to call a freind with a big trunk and a wrnech to get home.

 

[deacon]

Norman my motorbike guru says the cell phone is the most important tool in the china bike's tool kit lol

 

[comfortableshoes]

heck in any bikes tool kit!

 

[deacon]

What I should have added was bring the car I have plenty of bikes to ride.

 

[Spikedfox]

and at random i must ask, do you have any pics of that captain america tank i can see.