KC's 68cc 4-stroke 4-speed soft tail

GoldenMotor.com

KCvale

Well-Known Member
Feb 28, 2010
3,966
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48
Phoenix,AZ
Well, I dropped the hammer on buying this Motoped frame today.



Should come out looking something like this.



This is the Chinese knock off engine.



Here it is compared to a 49cc HS 142.



The engine was just under $300 delivered.
That frame with the peg option (which itself is more than most 2-stroke compete engine kits cost) totaled out at $2,521.80 delivered.

I don't care if I ever find a buyer for it either as it just looks too fun to ride and with the pedals shouldn't even be an issue with our local police, especially with a 48cc sticker on it ;-}

Sometimes life throws you Cherries, sometimes it's a monkey throwing poop.
I'm not bad at dodging **** and really like cherries ;-}
 

Davezilla

New Member
Mar 15, 2014
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San Antonio Texas
Very Nice... I've been wanting to build one of those myself...
Yeah, they'll never know it's a biger engine since all those engines look pretty much alike with maybe just a slightly bigger jug... but unless they know these engines they'll never know the difference..

I bet you end up keeping that one after ya ride it for the first time...
 

KCvale

Well-Known Member
Feb 28, 2010
3,966
57
48
Phoenix,AZ
Very Nice... I've been wanting to build one of those myself...
Yeah, they'll never know it's a biger engine since all those engines look pretty much alike with maybe just a slightly bigger jug... but unless they know these engines they'll never know the difference..
Got the motor here...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/200569392177?item=200569392177&viewitem=&vxp=mtr
But they jacked the price up a bunch since I scored mine for under $300 deleivered.

Greg at Moto Fusion (for the frame) seems like a nice enough guy and not far away from Phoenix being located in North Hollywood CA, but though I can see $258 for shipping about right, I am scratching my head at some $204 'Import Tax', just don't make sense to move an item 400 miles one state over costing me extra on top.

I bet you end up keeping that one after ya ride it for the first time...
That will be a tough call...
I'm likely to ride that thing a couple miles away to the desert and hurt myself, again.

I have been on a self financed bike building spending spree of late.
That's not like me. I don't have a storefront shop and usually built to order but sometimes opportunities present themselves...

Got a stretched Electra in the bike bay getting just 49cc HS 49cc with 4G now, but have this 66cc Pantera direct drive that is great to ride on hand to sell...



AND I got the shift kit and performance parts from SickBikeParts today to motorize this Fat Tire bike...



That as a 66cc 2-stroke 7-speed shifter may be what I keep but I am fickle when it comes to that, I always have something that needs test riding when it comes down to it and don't really need to own one.
It is nice however to at least own one that's yours and not for sale.




And just
 

greaser_monkey_87

New Member
Mar 30, 2014
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USA
I see the motoped kit as the most ambitious of motorbike builds (in a good way), because although it is a kit, it is in a nutshell, a motorcycle. Yes there are other builds which are definitely more motorcycle than bicycle, but there is something about the motoped that puts it at the top for me. Perhaps it's the challenge of taking something you have to put together and making it look factory designed and built when it's finished. Other builds usually involve custom fabrication, and while they always look good, you can tell how it was done for the most part, with the exception being the few builders who machine their own parts rather than crudely cut, glop and grind (which I do, so I'm not excluding myself from that crowd). Even on bikes that have some machined parts, you can still tell that they are not factory built, the dead giveaway always being that it's still a bicycle frame. And I'm not downing those builds, they are all fantastic as well. The only reason my bike is a little harder to tell is because the eye is drawn more to what makes it look like a motorcycle than what makes it look like a bicycle. When a motoped is properly finished, the ONLY thing I have ever noticed that makes it even SLIGHTLY resemble a bicycle is the pedals. If they had kits to make them look like cruiser type motorcycles rather than crotch rockets, I would most likely save my money and build one.
 

GearNut

Active Member
Aug 19, 2009
5,104
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38
San Diego, Kaliforgnia
If there was a full auto version of that engine I would be very inclined to build a motoped. Cali does not allow shifters on MB's and trying to get away with a shifting motoped as an MB would be a hard drink to swallow.
 

MotorBicycleRacing

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2010
5,844
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SoCal Baby!!!
www.facebook.com
If there was a full auto version of that engine I would be very inclined to build a motoped. Cali does not allow shifters on MB's and trying to get away with a shifting motoped as an MB would be a hard drink to swallow.
Fully auto 50cc Motoped being ridden by yours truly on April 12th
at the Willow Springs go kart track.
Yep, no shifter as in twist and go.
Left side lever for the rear disc brake and of course the right side
lever for the front disc.

A very nice ride, but a little gutless so there is a 88cc big bore kit.

Gearnut, you really should make one of these events to represent
San Diego along with scotto. :D

 

scotto-

Custom 4-Stroke Bike Builder
Jun 3, 2010
6,505
24
38
Ridin' inSane Diego, CA.
The latest Motopeds are very well built and are a real bargain at that price......made in China. Seems to me that China is becoming the new Japan.

Nothing wrong with that. Affordable quality that can't be beat.
 

KCvale

Well-Known Member
Feb 28, 2010
3,966
57
48
Phoenix,AZ
I see the motoped kit as the most ambitious of motorbike builds (in a good way), because although it is a kit, it is in a nutshell, a motorcycle.

Yes there are other builds which are definitely more motorcycle than bicycle, but there is something about the motoped that puts it at the top for me.

Perhaps it's the challenge of taking something you have to put together and making it look factory designed and built when it's finished.
I strive for that even on the simplest of builds, it's all the little stuff that adds up to make them look like a complete factory made unit.

I don't even have a conformation of shipment on the motopoed frame but that's OK, we are gonna power slam this big Electra with a 49cc 142F out of the bay this morning so we start on the Fat Tire sun 7-speed 2-stroke shifter, that seems the funnest challenge yet.

Aspire for fantastic greatness in everything and then be happy with really damn good if you don't succeed works for me ;-}
 

Desert Rat

New Member
Jul 30, 2012
565
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Apache Junctoin Az
I strive for that even on the simplest of builds, it's all the little stuff that adds up to make them look like a complete factory made unit.

I don't even have a conformation of shipment on the motopoed frame but that's OK, we are gonna power slam this big Electra with a 49cc 142F out of the bay this morning so we start on the Fat Tire sun 7-speed 2-stroke shifter, that seems the funnest challenge yet.

Aspire for fantastic greatness in everything and then be happy with really damn good if you don't succeed works for me ;-}
You know KC I recommended you to my son, he spent $700 on one of your bikes
and the first moment he had problems, you left the u washer out of the carb
you told him tough luck. I AM NOT IMPRESSED and he is the last biz I will
send your way.
seriously he spent seven hundred dollars and you can't and won't go 10 miles
to fix YOUR screw up?
I was there to fix your problems and I'm thinking about a campaign on CL!
and after the fact there is no saving you!!! and nothing you can say will
change that!!! oh and why should I inform you I know what I'm doing?
is this the way you treat uninformed customers?
 
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Citi-sporter

Active Member
Jun 16, 2014
206
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North Bend, Or,
Back in 2008 I re-engined a 1968 Yamaha YG-5 with a Lifan 100cc four speed manual clutch horizontal single. It now has over 10,000 miles on the engine and runs great, and it gets over 95 mpg.

 

mapbike

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2010
5,502
109
63
Central Area of Texas
Back in 2008 I re-engined a 1968 Yamaha YG-5 with a Lifan 100cc four speed manual clutch horizontal single. It now has over 10,000 miles on the engine and runs great, and it gets over 95 mpg.

That is awesome.... I love those old Yamaha bikes, I grew up seeing a lot of those as a kid, Had an uncle that owned a YAMAHA dealership from mid 60's to mid 80's, I just love the look of those old bikes and you did a great job of making that Honda clone engine look like it came factory of that old Yamaha bike, I'd build one of those in a heart beat if I ever came across one of those Yamaha frames.
Love that little bike Citi-sport excellent job.....dance1
 

mapbike

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2010
5,502
109
63
Central Area of Texas
You know KC I recommended you to my son, he spent $700 on one of your bikes
and the first moment he had problems, you left the u washer out of the carb
you told him tough luck. I AM NOT IMPRESSED and he is the last biz I will
send your way.
seriously he spent seven hundred dollars and you can't and won't go 10 miles
to fix YOUR screw up?
I was there to fix your problems and I'm thinking about a campaign on CL!
and after the fact there is no saving you!!! and nothing you can say will
change that!!! oh and why should I inform you I know what I'm doing?
is this the way you treat uninformed customers?
Ouch.....! bad business

Not Good.....!

:-||
 

KCvale

Well-Known Member
Feb 28, 2010
3,966
57
48
Phoenix,AZ
ETA on the Motoped frame is a month, errrghhh.
That's OK, got plenty of other really fun stuff to build in the mean time.
 

Citi-sporter

Active Member
Jun 16, 2014
206
43
28
North Bend, Or,
That is awesome.... I love those old Yamaha bikes, I grew up seeing a lot of those as a kid, Had an uncle that owned a YAMAHA dealership from mid 60's to mid 80's, I just love the look of those old bikes and you did a great job of making that Honda clone engine look like it came factory of that old Yamaha bike, I'd build one of those in a heart beat if I ever came across one of those Yamaha frames.
Love that little bike Citi-sport excellent job.....dance1
Thanks Mapbike, funny that I did that same silly dance of the smilie when I finally got it running.

I'd been riding it with a really bad internal rumble coming from the original 80 cc engine, and it looked like buying an engine case and crankshaft was going to be much more expensive than the cost of Lifan 100. Of course the installation was pretty involved, but I can fabricate and weld, so it came together.

Funny how many people had 'uncles who owned one'. I wonder if they were confusing it with a Honda Trail 90. Years back I owned the little 1968 YL-1 TwinJet 100 cc twin. That was a fun bike, two cans with BB's rattling in them exhaust note.
 

mapbike

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2010
5,502
109
63
Central Area of Texas
Thanks Mapbike, funny that I did that same silly dance of the smilie when I finally got it running.

I'd been riding it with a really bad internal rumble coming from the original 80 cc engine, and it looked like buying an engine case and crankshaft was going to be much more expensive than the cost of Lifan 100. Of course the installation was pretty involved, but I can fabricate and weld, so it came together.

Funny how many people had 'uncles who owned one'. I wonder if they were confusing it with a Honda Trail 90. Years back I owned the little 1968 YL-1 TwinJet 100 cc twin. That was a fun bike, two cans with BB's rattling in them exhaust note.
On the Uncle that owned one topic, I dont know if my uncle Donnie ever owned one for himself but i'm sure he sold several of them back in the day, he was one heck of a rider and racer, up where he lived there was a contest that some people had put together and it was an event challenge that they bet X amount of money, a Trophy and of course the bragging rights that no one on any motorcycle of the day could out run a hopped up Quarter Horse for 100 yds on a grassy dirt field, guys came from all over trying to outrun that quarter horse on about every kind of bike there was back then and could not get it done, my uncle Donnie was a small man at about 5' 7' and maybe 130lbs sopping water, he watch those guys several times try to beat that horse and no one ever did, he told my Dad that he could beat that horse and was gonna do it but didn't want people to know who he was, so he set it up so that after he had raced the horse that someone else would collect the money and trophy, he built a crazy fast Yamaha RD 350 from the ground up, dirt tires on it, little tiny drag bars and removed every piece of anything on the bike that wasn't needed, they lined them up and fired the starter pistol, the horse jumped out ahead instantly, my Dad said Uncle Donnie got that RD 350 on the rear wheel was leaned up to the poit that his chest was on the bars and run through the gears for 100 yds on the back wheel and beat the horse just before the horse crossed the line, I was just a very young boy then so I didn't get to see it but I got the see the bike and the trophy he kept in his shop for when he got-ur-done... my dad had the 125 Twin 2 strokes bikes and the RD350's, the old XS650's and one of the 3 cyl 750's, my uncle also raced the 125 twins and built them for a few other fellas back then, he said that he built one that would tach 24,000 rpm and I talked to another old racer years later that had bought one of his bikes and he confirmed that story and said he actually had that particular bike for a while and had put a hidden shot of Nitros on it and had got Disqualified on it at Green Valley Raceway after he was beating people left and right and they inspected the bike and found his little Nitros "cheater" set up....LOL!

Sorry for the long story here, just really took me back to when I was a kid and being around my Uncle Donnie and his motorcycle shop and seeing all those kewl old bikes.... gotta love the oldies, so much class and character without all the plastic and computers like all the new stuff.







The pix I listed above are of Jet Tharp, he was a heck of a guy and my Uncle built some bikes for him back in the day, when Jet Died he was playing with his grand kids at a family get together, he was goofing around on the kids mini bike lost control and hit a tree, he wasn't wearing a helmet and he died from it... crazy how I fella like him could race all those years and do what he did and then dies on a mini bike in the front yard...

Map
 
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KCvale

Well-Known Member
Feb 28, 2010
3,966
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Phoenix,AZ
...Funny how many people had 'uncles who owned one'. I wonder if they were confusing it with a Honda Trail 90...
I had a red Honda Trail 90 for a short time when I was like 13 or 14.
Mindlessly easy to operate, pretty gutless, ugly, and not worth a crap for desert riding and I lived at the deserts edge.

Moved up to real dirt bikes in short order and as I think back about my early dirt bike riding days I can't help but think about how fun my desert playground was.

This must have been Freshman year in high school...
We had just moved so I didn't really know anybody yet so I spent a great deal of time on my dirt bike in the desert, which I learn very soon the locals called the 'Gully Tracks'.

This pretty big chunk of undeveloped land on the Northern edge of the ever growing Phoenix area was an awesome almost endless playground on a dirt bike until the Hippocrates in law enforcement started harassing us because the tree huggers wanted to 'preserve the desert'.

We had fun with them for awhile in ways I won't post but the crux of the story is there is now a 6 lane Parkway and endless Condos and Apartments where the gully tracks where now as Phoenix has grown about 20 miles North of there.
 

mapbike

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2010
5,502
109
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Central Area of Texas
Tree huggers have messed up more than they have ever helped, look at how bad the wild fires get in Cal. Not allowing the trees to be thinned and the underbrush to be removed has just added more fuel for those fires and has cost lives and many people to loose everything they have.

The most reliable bikes I ever had were Suzuki and Yamaha, I had a Kawasaki 100 that had the high range and low range gear box, it required that I work on it in some way almost every single time I went out to ride.... that thing was the biggest pain in the backside of all motorcycles I ever owned..!

Sorry about the highjacking here KC,

Map
 
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Jumpa

New Member
Aug 12, 2011
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Cape Cod
The tree huggers up here in Mass. messed up big time. On Nantucket they would wear these bright orange shirts that said "Deer Huggers" on therm and go out during hunting season with pots and pans banging them together scaring the deer so we couldnt bag any .
Well we just gave up hunting that area then about ten years went by there was an article in the paper asking what happened to all the big 10 -12- point 200 +LB beautiful deer on Nantucket.

Well since no one hunted it any more they got a dangerous over population of deer and being an island they all competed for the same food so instead of a few beautiful deer they had thousands of runts diseased tick infested deer they did more harm to the deer population than hunter could .Lymes disease reports were through the roof in folks

So when they said "free permits to all deer hunters" all the hunters declined & we mailed the permits to the organization that created the mess to begin with.
The State ended up calling upon the state police and any other joker with a gun or a bow who went out there & in one weekend an had to cull like over 1000 deer. In 3 weeks I think the total cull was over 4 thousand... Fair to say they no longer go out messing up the hunts any longer
 
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mapbike

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2010
5,502
109
63
Central Area of Texas
The tree huggers up here in Mass. messed up big time. On Nantucket they would wear these bright orange shirts that said "Deer Huggers" on therm and go out during hunting season with pots and pans banging them together scaring the deer so we couldnt bag any .
Well we just gave up hunting that area then about ten years went by there was an article in the paper asking what happened to all the big 10 -12- point 200 +LB beautiful deer on Nantucket.

Well since no one hunted it any more they got a dangerous over population of deer and being an island they all competed for the same food so instead of a few beautiful deer they had thousands of runts diseased tick infested deer they did more harm to the deer population than hunter could .Lymes disease reports were through the roof in folks

So when they said "free permits to all deer hunters" all the hunters declined & we mailed the permits to the organization that created the mess to begin with.
The State ended up calling upon the state police and any other joker with a gun or a bow who went out there & in one weekend an had to cull like over 1000 deer. In 3 weeks I think the total cull was over 4 thousand... Fair to say they no longer go out messing up the hunts any longer

Yep what some dont understand is that hunters are the best conservationist in the country.





Map
 

Citi-sporter

Active Member
Jun 16, 2014
206
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28
North Bend, Or,
I hate to take this thread, (which is really about this really nice bike of KC's..) further down the rabbit hole.

But, as someone who has been involved in city politics, 9 times out of 10 when you live of the edge of a rapidly expanding city like KC does in Phoenix, the loss of riding areas has little to nothing to do with 'tree huggers'. (cactus huggers?)

More likely it evolved like this, you have your 200 acres of heaven, and have a big, fast and quite possibly really loud 2 stroke desert bikes that you ride with friends. It's a riding area that you really don't know the ownership status of because, it's either not clearly marked, or it's not largely enforced because there are more pressing Popo issues.

Could be Fed, State, or City of Phoenix land, doesn't matter. While you and your friends were tearing around on this place, behind the doors at City Hall, a developer with lots of cash approaches the city, state and or feds and wants to buy the land you are riding on, to develop into more suburbs, condos, planned living areas, freeways.. And 9 times out of ten there are no 'tree huggers' even remotely involved.

Nothing happens in a vacuum, and I've been a kid riding on areas that legally I shouldn't have been on. But, because of the hassle and time to the Popo and others involved, it never becomes an issue. At least until that unused land starts to become important because of money and profit. Then it happens that land gets locked down because the new owner comes out and notices a bunch of kids tearing around on land he owns now, either the tire tracks or the presence of the bikes and riders themselves. There's liability to the owner if one of you wrecks your bike and injures/kills self, and soon up go the 'No Trespassing' signs. Soon afterwards the area gets surveyors tapes and stakes up and the bulldozers arrive.

Did the 'tree huggers' hire the surveyors and the construction crews?

Most 'tree huggers' I'm aware of have enough day to day life that they're too involved with, let alone having enough money to fight against well oiled and moneyed legal battles in court about land use.

This is not a black and white issue, and largely we can thank ourselves for making our use of the land what got us kicked off it in the first place. I'm 58 years old and have been riding trails and bikes here in Oregon since I was 14, I've seen it time and again.

This is not an issue easily summed up by some radio talkshow host's cute prejorative.
 

KCvale

Well-Known Member
Feb 28, 2010
3,966
57
48
Phoenix,AZ
I hate to take this thread, (which is really about this really nice bike of KC's..) further down the rabbit hole.

But, as someone who has been involved in city politics, 9 times out of 10 when you live of the edge of a rapidly expanding city like KC does in Phoenix, the loss of riding areas has little to nothing to do with 'tree huggers'. (cactus huggers?)

This is not an issue easily summed up by some radio talkshow host's cute prejorative.
That is entirely true.
There were no trees or even cactus to speak of in the Gully Tracks, just a usually dry river bed and a lot of desert eroded from monsoon storms to make it very un-even, hence Gully's, and an absolute blast to dirt bike on.

Hurt myself many I time as well but didn't ever seek compensation from the land owner for my foolish behavior.

I got my drivers license and a jeep in my Sophomore year (mid '70's) I think and we would go 'desert romping' in the wash and Gully Tracks as well, that went over way worse.

You really can't do much damage to anything on a dirt bike, but you sure can in a 4x4.

That flat chunk of desert playground as mentioned is covered up now but the scares I left on of the mountains with the 4x4 remain.

I have mixed feelings about that...

Ya, the mountains have some unattractive scars, but I was the one that managed to climb it when there was nothing there, the proof remains 30+ years later, and few things compared to sitting on top a mountain you drove up that nobody else ever had.