Murray Beach Crusier with X80bk

[CheebaChamp]

Hey guys. Been having about every issue you could have with this motor kit, but she's purring now.

She's got about 100 miles on her now, and I had to get a new gas tank (tightened the first one down too much, got a small crack, tried brazing it, and I guess I didn't add enough material), but I have a piece of tire tube between it and the frame, and that really seems to help with the vibration and it helps the tank stay put without being tightened down so much.

Got a new exhaust because the end cap on my stock exhaust fell off and got run over. Now I will say that with the open exhaust, the bike ran pretty sloppy at low speeds, but when I open that throttle, she would GO. I weigh about 145, and I clocked 37 mph on a 44 tooth sprocket, with acceleration being very quick. Anyway, put the new exhaust on, and while it takes a minute to get up to speed, and it's a little slower than running open exhaust, but the motor is loving the lower speeds now. Which is good, because there aren't a whole lot of places around here that I'm riding WOP.

Also got my chain tensioner set up right. Used a 10" arched piece of steel, and attached it with U bolts. I took the white wheel off of the stock tensioner, and put a good skateboard bearing (I'm going to try and make a skateboard wheel into the tensioner wheel like I've seen, I would think that would work awesome) in it, and got a longer bolt, with some extra nuts and washers. Gotta say that I love this style tensioner, I feel very confident in the fact I'll almost never have to mess with it.

Anyway, next on the list is getting a good disc brake set up on my front wheel. Any suggestions? Also, going to take everything apart at some point soon and powder coat everything. I had a really good rattle can paint job on this thing, but it got all torn to **** with the carb issues I had leaked fuel all over everything.

Any feedback is appreciated.

 

[bluegoatwoods]

A nice looking bike.

And, yep, that chain tensioner is a good one. I'd have confidence in that, too.

 

[Danschutz]

I like everything about this bike, looks great. Where did you source the steel for the tensioner?

Dan.

 

[2door]

Cheeba, nice looking bike. Congratulations and you did good with that tensioner. If you don't mind can I suggest tightening the chain just a little? 1/2" to 3/4" slack is good.

As for a skate board wheel watch what you buy. Some of the chearper ones are two layers. They have a hard plastic inner core with a softer outer layer. If you try to groove them for the chain the outer layer will come apart like a truck retread tire. Look for a wheel that is one piece, urethane. They'll last forever.

Thanks for sharing. Good work.

Tom

 

[mapbike]

Nice job on that bike, I use skateboard wheels for my tensioner rollers, I built a simple way to grove the wheels on a small table top drill press, they hold up well and bearings are cheap and easy to change if and when they get worn.

Map

 

[mapbike]

Nice bike, like your tensioner set up, looks to be pretty dang bullet proof.

Map

 

[CheebaChamp]

Thanks guys! I got the steel for the tensioner from custommotoredbicycles.com for something like $23 shipped, and the hardware from ace for like $5. When I was changing the bolt in the roller wheel, I noticed that they're the same bearings as in my skateboard (I've been skating for about 13 years). I figured that the 2 bearings in the skateboard wheel, plus the toughness of them would make a sensible replacement for that cheap chinese wheel. Thanks to mapbike for reaching out on that one.

So I was riding back to the house from the store today, and I had another masterlink break or come off on me. This has happened a few times before as well. Why is this happening? Also, I've come to the conclusion that with these cheap china girls, the motor is OK, but everything else should be upgraded. At least if you're riding as much as I am. This being said, and having the little chain issue, I got to looking around, and found that Tractor Supply sells chain that comes in a 10ft lengths for $20. I think I want to go to a #41 chain due to the higher strength. I also want to use the #41 for the crank side chain to make it a little more aesthetically pleasing. Is changing my pedal chain to something heavier like that going to change how it feels while pedaling at all? Thats probably a dumb question, but I figure I'd throw it out there anyway. Also why has my masterlink been popping off like this? Does it need to be facing one way or the other in relation to the direction the chain is going in? And thanks for the input on slack Tom, I was wondering what a healthy amount should be, I figured taught tight isn't good either.

 

[runnermike]

Nice build cheeba! Bike looks good! I located just around the corner from ya...I'm in Sanford.

 

[crassius]

the opening in the master clip should be toward the rear of the bike when it is on the top run of chain - an alternative is to wrap each pin twice with safety wire (in the groove) & twist it tight instead of using the clip

 

[CheebaChamp]

Nice build cheeba! Bike looks good! I located just around the corner from ya...I'm in Sanford.

I'm actually in Deltona, so you're right up the road from me.

 

[maniac57]

The skateboard wheel is a great upgrade but most will require a 5/16 shoulder bolt to work. The bearings bind on a regular bolt and the kit part does not fit.
The master link may be getting popped off by the kit idler wheel. I've seen a couple that were catching the clip on the sides of the wheel and would make a thump every time the master link passed over it. I lost a couple too before I found the problem.
Careful shaping of the plastic idler fixed the issue.
I don't use master links on my personal bike just for durability.

 

[runnermike]

Pretty sweet Cheeba! We should hook up sometime and do a ride...

 

[knightscape]

I also want to use the #41 for the crank side chain to make it a little more aesthetically pleasing. Is changing my pedal chain to something heavier like that going to change how it feels while pedaling at all?

Depending on what thickness chainring and cogs you have on the cranks now, the 41 may be quite floppy side to side. If you have typical single speed chain, thats 1/8" on the rollers. You can use 1/8th on a 3/32 crank with no problems. You've probably got 1/8" on your cruiser. 41 chain is 1/4" wide on the rollers, double the width, that could invite problems but I've never done it. If you really want to use 41, you might consider putting a custom chainring and cog on the crank side, if you control the flop with a fatter set of gears, then you shouldn't notice any difference pedaling, as long as it's properly lubed. That would look pretty cool, IMO. You're giving me bad ideas. LOL

 

[Groove]

Yeah, good build. Taking some slack out of the chain like Tom mentioned may resolve your master link issue. That tensioner upgrade you made is the best upgrade possible for these kits IMO. One upgrade that gets overlooked is a dual pronged kick stand. It lets you service and adjust the rear wheel setup with ease because the back is lifted off the ground.

You had asked about brakes.. some of us have had great luck with a drum brake (Husky makes 26" front wheels with 11 gauge spokes and sturmey archer drum brakes already built-in). I've heard that disk brakes are also very good.

 

[mapbike]

Only thing that needs to be done is to double nut so that the bearings are not in a bind, also it is sometimes required that the stock bracket be turned around so that the part the skate wheel mounts to is on the outside instead of having it to the inside like it comes in the kit to be installed.

a shouldered bolt is not required, it would be nice to find one that was just the right length but can be worked around easily.

Here is how I did mine on my Huffy Karaoke bike in pic, I have been running this set up now for over three years and I just had a bearing go bad this last month while returning from a 30 mile ride and I had junky bearings in it compared to what I use now, a small piece of aluminum flat strap is what I used for both of the pieces that secure the wheel to bracket and to bike frame, stays put and works great, a little mechanical looking but it does the job.

Map

 

[mapbike]

Made up a skateboard wheel tensioner Roller today, made it with a .630" groove so that this one will work with #41 chain, the ones I've made in the past were for 410 and 415 chain width but this one would work with any of those.

I used the spacer tube that goes in the wheel between the bearings, this eliminates the chance for putting to much tension on bearings because it connects the bearings together in the roller, no more issue with over tightening the nuts on the axle bolt.

I removed the seals from the bearings and packed them with high quality grease and sprayed the roller with multiple coats of Valspar Clear Acrylic to gloss it back up nice after the lathe work which dulls the finish where it gets cut down.

Since we're on the subject here I thought I would show the pix of what I end up with when my rollers are done.

Peace, Map

 

[CheebaChamp]

Made up a skateboard wheel tensioner Roller today, made it with a .630" groove so that this one will work with #41 chain, the ones I've made in the past were for 410 and 415 chain width but this one would work with any of those.

I used the spacer tube that goes in the wheel between the bearings, this eliminates the chance for putting to much tension on bearings because it connects the bearings together in the roller, no more issue with over tightening the nuts on the axle bolt.

I removed the seals from the bearings and packed them with high quality grease and sprayed the roller with multiple coats of Valspar Clear Acrylic to gloss it back up nice after the lathe work which dulls the finish where it gets cut down.

Since we're on the subject here I thought I would show the pix of what I end up with when my rollers are done.

Peace, Map

You're the man Map.

 

[CheebaChamp]

Depending on what thickness chainring and cogs you have on the cranks now, the 41 may be quite floppy side to side. If you have typical single speed chain, thats 1/8" on the rollers. You can use 1/8th on a 3/32 crank with no problems. You've probably got 1/8" on your cruiser. 41 chain is 1/4" wide on the rollers, double the width, that could invite problems but I've never done it. If you really want to use 41, you might consider putting a custom chainring and cog on the crank side, if you control the flop with a fatter set of gears, then you shouldn't notice any difference pedaling, as long as it's properly lubed. That would look pretty cool, IMO. You're giving me bad ideas. LOL

Good info, Thanks. I'm thinking I'm going to have to get fatter gears, because the more I look at it, the cooler I'm thinking it would be just because of the size symmetry. I'm kinda nutty like that, but I think that typically is a good thing.

 

[CheebaChamp]

Put on the new tensioner roller wheel mapbike made for me (big thanks, you should contact mapbike and buy one!), and rode for a while. Thing looks great and works better. I'd say that the tensioner is one more thing I can definitively cross off the list.

 

[CheebaChamp]

Pretty sweet Cheeba! We should hook up sometime and do a ride...

Where at? I've been trying to think of a good scenic ride around here without crazy traffic.