I finally broke something (sort of)

azbill

azbill

Active Member
some members here know that I am running a prototype (pre-production) Q-Matic made by EZ Motorbike on my stretch
http://motorbicycling.com/f40/azbills-ezm-stretch-project-14760.html

I also pull a very well made, but heavy (200+lbs), trailer with my granddaughters (110+lbs), and live in a town with a lot of sizable hills (20sq m, but 1600ft elevation change),,,

after 13,800 miles, I was feeling some vibration on launch (mostly while trailering) and discovered that my clutch "drum" was showing wear at the point it is attached to the drive sprocket,,,
I attribute the wear to the above stated facts as well as I never pedal on take-off and do not 'baby' my bike at all ,,,yup, I always ride it like I stole it ;)

I ordered a drum on Monday, received and installed it yesterday (Thurs) and 'rode the heck-out-of-it' today :)

there are advantages to using American made, readily available, parts that are not coming on 'the slow boat from china' !!! (^)


BTW, the old drum was still usable, I just didn't like the vibes while taking off with the trailer, that is the 'sort of' in the title
 
It sounds to me like you did not break anything at all. You stress tested it to it's point of failure. If you were not happy with how the component was performing, how could you expect a paying customer to be happy with it?

I hope you enjoyed your 13,800 miles of hard earned work! I know it can be very difficult at times to enjoy "destroying" a test mule. ;)
 
Ah, Bill. It was just 'maturing' like us :) It didn't break, it was just showing signs of a good life, well lived. Sort of like wrinkles around the eyes.
Keep ridin' and having fun.
Tom
 
azbill said:
some members here know that I am running a prototype (pre-production) Q-Matic made by EZ Motorbike on my stretch

after 13,800 miles,
Click to expand...
That's very impressive. Only guy I know of with more miles on a
50cc 4 stroke is ocscully with 16,000? or more and i think he has the Honda.

How many miles did you have on your EZ Silent Drive before you changed
to the Q Matic?
 
scotto, my speedo says avg is 21.4mph ( never over 20 <the legal limit>with the trailer, hardly ever under while solo ;))
...13,800 / 21.4 = 644.85 hrs !!! (holy crap, I didn't think it was that high (^))

neil (mbr), I can't remember :(, I think it was around 2500 or so
 
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hey azbill, i've been dreaming of a stretch for a long time! i have the same set up but with a normal qmatic on a 62 tooth sprocket. and i get max 25 mph!
what size is YOUR sprocket again?! and i hear you got some hills out there, a trailer load of grandaughters, and yourself?! .crt.
amazing mileage and speed!
check out my album sometime to see my bike.
 
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