what did you do to your motorized bicycle today?
- Thread starter Skarrd
- Start date
Yup... that's when the fun starts... after it's fully broken in and time to decide whether to ride it as is or start tuning on it to get it set up just the way you want whether that means screamin fast or nice quiet and comfortable...
I had a guy actually come by my shop today while I was doing an alignment for another customer so I came up out of the pit to see what the guy needed and he just asked me if he could take a closer look at my bike because he saw me riding it earlier in the morning and saw me pull into the shop etc... Come to find out the guy also has one but it's not working so he was asking me if I could fix his. I told him to just bring it by whenever and I can look at it and that I probably got enough spare parts in my stock room to fix just about any issues his bike may have. he also informed me that he has a lot of spare parts at his house like tanks and a few other parts so I think I'm gonna try and talk a deal for some of his spare parts in trade to get his bike up and running for him. From what he was telling me it sounds like he toasted his mag coil and I got a few spares at the shop already, but he was also saying something about he may have overheated it so I may have to give up my last stock piston to get his going, but I do need to order more goodies anyway.
I had a guy actually come by my shop today while I was doing an alignment for another customer so I came up out of the pit to see what the guy needed and he just asked me if he could take a closer look at my bike because he saw me riding it earlier in the morning and saw me pull into the shop etc... Come to find out the guy also has one but it's not working so he was asking me if I could fix his. I told him to just bring it by whenever and I can look at it and that I probably got enough spare parts in my stock room to fix just about any issues his bike may have. he also informed me that he has a lot of spare parts at his house like tanks and a few other parts so I think I'm gonna try and talk a deal for some of his spare parts in trade to get his bike up and running for him. From what he was telling me it sounds like he toasted his mag coil and I got a few spares at the shop already, but he was also saying something about he may have overheated it so I may have to give up my last stock piston to get his going, but I do need to order more goodies anyway.
laughing so hard I almost pee'd myself. A theif would take one look and just keep walking. Some things just aint worth it.This might help but then agian.....?
This can easily happen even when all available options have been used
fatdaddy.
something about the gas bikes that really get peoples attention, its similar to EC cars and trucks.
I have three intro powered vehicles that people go nuts over when I pull them out and go blasting off and up to about 50-60 mph blue smoke from the burning Castor oil jetting from the exhaust.
Pull out even a nice quality battery power EC vehicle and they see it as more of a toy rather than something awesome like the loud smoking screaming Intro powered vehicle.
Actually the higher end electric rc vehicles will out perform the Intro poweredin speed and quickness, but the whizzing sound of the battery power trucks doesnt do it for people like the intro powered ones do.
Yep you need you a well built good running 2 smoker build.....
Well, since I'm so used to riding past gas stations, I ran it out of gas!
Pedaled on back and spent a whopping $1.40 to go another 100+ miles.
Pedaled on back and spent a whopping $1.40 to go another 100+ miles.
Didn't do anyting to mine today, but showing it off at the shop has got me a new customer... not to fix his cars, but to fix his bike 
The guy who visited the shop the other day came back today and dropped off his bike for me to get running. I hadn't tried to start it yet, but he was telling me it has no fire. I got a spare mag coil over here but his CDI is also cracked, and it looks like somebody took a sledge hammer to his exhaust pipe. The engine is a 49cc of unknown origin and it's totally stock from what I saw. It does look like it's been stored outside and could have been rained on so I'm going to have to educate him a little on keeping certain areas dry, but I'll also seal up the new mag coil really well too... Now let's just hope the cylinder and piston are still in good shape...
The guy who visited the shop the other day came back today and dropped off his bike for me to get running. I hadn't tried to start it yet, but he was telling me it has no fire. I got a spare mag coil over here but his CDI is also cracked, and it looks like somebody took a sledge hammer to his exhaust pipe. The engine is a 49cc of unknown origin and it's totally stock from what I saw. It does look like it's been stored outside and could have been rained on so I'm going to have to educate him a little on keeping certain areas dry, but I'll also seal up the new mag coil really well too... Now let's just hope the cylinder and piston are still in good shape...(for the record this happened yesterday)
I went out for a ride and had my first run in with the law!
he gave me the ol' whoop whoop so I pulled over.
"what've you got goin' on here?" he asks.
"A moped sir" I say.
after walking halfway around the bike looking it over "hm, a moped, so it is"
then after looking at the front end for a seconds he adds "is this a, er, an, umm... it's a chopper then?"
"oh ho, yeah" I reply.
overall I think he just wanted to double check what drove past him, he had a few more questions about it which I was happy to answer (China, Schwinn, around 2 maybe 3 HP)
he seemed oddly satisfied with my answer of "I do not know" when he asked how fast it was (told him about how the rear sprocket can affect that, showed him my 48 tooth and said that some people get them doing 40 with a thirty tooth)
he took a good look at my entrenching tool, I told him it's the coolest looking counterweight I could find. (I think he mostly just wanted to check if it was safely stowed/ was not meant for self-defense)
he told me it needs lights if I wanna take it on the main roads, and to wear my helmet (I have one but it won't fit over my hat so while it's so damn cold I've been going without [I know, I'm stupid])
I let him know that I plan to try and get my exhaust quieter, he said that was a good idea. I let him know I live near where he pulled me over (gave the vague general direction)
as he let me go he said to be careful driving it with snow on the ground, he seemed slightly incredulous about needing to say it. and told me to keep the pedals on it so it stays legal, I thanked him and let him know the bike wouldn't work without the pedals.
all-in-all I am really happy the local PD are not mad at me.
in conclusion: politeness goes a long way with the police.
I went out for a ride and had my first run in with the law!
he gave me the ol' whoop whoop so I pulled over.
"what've you got goin' on here?" he asks.
"A moped sir" I say.
after walking halfway around the bike looking it over "hm, a moped, so it is"
then after looking at the front end for a seconds he adds "is this a, er, an, umm... it's a chopper then?"
"oh ho, yeah" I reply.
overall I think he just wanted to double check what drove past him, he had a few more questions about it which I was happy to answer (China, Schwinn, around 2 maybe 3 HP)
he seemed oddly satisfied with my answer of "I do not know" when he asked how fast it was (told him about how the rear sprocket can affect that, showed him my 48 tooth and said that some people get them doing 40 with a thirty tooth)
he took a good look at my entrenching tool, I told him it's the coolest looking counterweight I could find. (I think he mostly just wanted to check if it was safely stowed/ was not meant for self-defense)
he told me it needs lights if I wanna take it on the main roads, and to wear my helmet (I have one but it won't fit over my hat so while it's so damn cold I've been going without [I know, I'm stupid])
I let him know that I plan to try and get my exhaust quieter, he said that was a good idea. I let him know I live near where he pulled me over (gave the vague general direction)
as he let me go he said to be careful driving it with snow on the ground, he seemed slightly incredulous about needing to say it. and told me to keep the pedals on it so it stays legal, I thanked him and let him know the bike wouldn't work without the pedals.
all-in-all I am really happy the local PD are not mad at me.
in conclusion: politeness goes a long way with the police.
yep always best to be nice and helpful, never come across as rude aand acting like a jerk, make them feel good about it and point out the things you've done to improve safety.
Best to never act defensive as if your doing something wrong, just be nice and act like you're being very responsible for your own safety and also for all the others who are on the road.
Tell the officer about this forum and tell him if he wanted to build himself one that you'd be more than happy to lethim know where you got you engine and parts to help him out, talk primarily about how it gets good fuel economy and not much about how fast it will go, main thing is I think its a good idea to avt as if it so enjoyable to ride that you wish the offi er had one also.
Good job GoreWound, sounds like you handled that very good and glad he was nice to you about it.
Best to never act defensive as if your doing something wrong, just be nice and act like you're being very responsible for your own safety and also for all the others who are on the road.
Tell the officer about this forum and tell him if he wanted to build himself one that you'd be more than happy to lethim know where you got you engine and parts to help him out, talk primarily about how it gets good fuel economy and not much about how fast it will go, main thing is I think its a good idea to avt as if it so enjoyable to ride that you wish the offi er had one also.
Good job GoreWound, sounds like you handled that very good and glad he was nice to you about it.
Thanks, I too am glad he was nice.
I was a little worried before now about being pulled over by a cop who hated fun. I like finding out I was worried about nothing.
The police around here drive new-ish Impalas, and this one was an unmarked car.
It's a good thing I hand signal all the time, I didn't even realize it was a cop car until the Whoop.
He made a slightly impressed sound of acknowledgement when I told him that I am just riding around near my house to break in the motor as I finish up the build with lights and a speedometer and stuff.
also he seemed to have a good grasp of how to deal with mopeds in general once he saw it was one. as of now I can assume that the local PD has had at least one meeting on what to do with mopeds and that would appear to be make sure it has pedals, if not it needs a plate. also general safety checklist.
shouldn't be too long before I start posting the fulfillment of that checklist...
I was a little worried before now about being pulled over by a cop who hated fun. I like finding out I was worried about nothing.
The police around here drive new-ish Impalas, and this one was an unmarked car.
It's a good thing I hand signal all the time, I didn't even realize it was a cop car until the Whoop.
He made a slightly impressed sound of acknowledgement when I told him that I am just riding around near my house to break in the motor as I finish up the build with lights and a speedometer and stuff.
also he seemed to have a good grasp of how to deal with mopeds in general once he saw it was one. as of now I can assume that the local PD has had at least one meeting on what to do with mopeds and that would appear to be make sure it has pedals, if not it needs a plate. also general safety checklist.
shouldn't be too long before I start posting the fulfillment of that checklist...
As per CVC 5030, Motorized bicycles do require a "SPECIAL PLATE"In california. DMV does not consider this a regular registration, SO, there is a code that says registration is not required for motorized bicycles, And a regular registration is not required, BUT a "SPECIAL PLATE" IS required. Yeah, it can get confusing. But, heres the law in California.
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/vctop/vc/d3/c1/a8.1/5030
Of course I'm assuming MB laws are pretty close to the same all over. Most places that are OK with MB's kinda tend to make the same laws. I suggest you go to YOUR DMV website and do a search on Motorized Bicycle. I bet yer gonna find a lot of stuff the Cops dont even know about
Yer also required to have a M-1 or M-2 license here. Good thing the cops dont really know the laws, because I've NEVER had a bike license of any kind.
Most times I was pulled over the cop just wanted to check out the cool bike. Once in a while ya get a idiot cop that wants to just find a reason to give you a ticket. Headlight, tail light AND brake light, mirrors AND dont get caught doing over 30mph and you'll be fine. I made a cop turn purple one day trying to give me a ticket. He finally gave up and walked off muttering to himself. I wished him a pleasant day, which seemed to make him even madder for some reason.LOL Sometimes ya gotta be the teacher, Even with cops, Just do it with a smile and be polite.
fatdaddy.
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/vctop/vc/d3/c1/a8.1/5030
Of course I'm assuming MB laws are pretty close to the same all over. Most places that are OK with MB's kinda tend to make the same laws. I suggest you go to YOUR DMV website and do a search on Motorized Bicycle. I bet yer gonna find a lot of stuff the Cops dont even know about
Yer also required to have a M-1 or M-2 license here. Good thing the cops dont really know the laws, because I've NEVER had a bike license of any kind.
Most times I was pulled over the cop just wanted to check out the cool bike. Once in a while ya get a idiot cop that wants to just find a reason to give you a ticket. Headlight, tail light AND brake light, mirrors AND dont get caught doing over 30mph and you'll be fine. I made a cop turn purple one day trying to give me a ticket. He finally gave up and walked off muttering to himself. I wished him a pleasant day, which seemed to make him even madder for some reason.LOL Sometimes ya gotta be the teacher, Even with cops, Just do it with a smile and be polite.
fatdaddy.
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Gore, like Map said, it sounds like you handled it well. Gotta do it. Like fatdaddy said, you need to be informed on the law. Gotta do it.
I've never been pulled over, but I live in a relatively small place. I do on occasion walk up to any law enforcement agent I see, introduce myself, ask their opinion on MABs, and give them a card for this website. (Hello if you're here!)
I've never been pulled over, but I live in a relatively small place. I do on occasion walk up to any law enforcement agent I see, introduce myself, ask their opinion on MABs, and give them a card for this website. (Hello if you're here!)
No excitement here ---- just replaced a front brake cable that had slightly frayed where it clamped to the caliper. I didn't know until the other day that you could just buy the inner cable......the mechanic at the best bike shop in town clued me in. I was actually there to look at a Felt 1909 to see if it would be a suitable platform for my 'new' old Briggs motor. Opening looked a little too small for this particular motor. I did spy a Schwinn that would probably work.
Sounds like you handled your encounter with the law the right way and told him the right answers etc... I dunno what the laws are like where you're at, but over here we can ride them without too many restrictions... The few times I've seen a cop when I was riding they either just smiled and waved or gave me a thumbs up, which was really cool.
I've only talked face to face to 2 others who have these and they both said they get about the same response, usually they just wave or act like you're just another bicycle.
For me, again, way too busy to do anything with my bike today and the guy who dropped his off for me to fix came by the shop to give me the rest of his parts stash to see if it'll help get his back on the road. The other engine he has is another 49cc but the jug is severely scratched up inside and so is the side of the piston like something broke off and got trapped between the jug and piston so I won't be using anything off that engine, but it might have a better mag coil and the exhaust pipe is in a LOT better shape so I'll modify it by opening it up and drilling more holes thru the end cap, or I might just cut out a bigger hole and weld in a fresh outlet that's twice as big as stock, just to keep it stock looking.
I'm probably gonna need to put a new CDI on it but I'll test his first, and I got one of those Rocket cdi's stashed away somewhere too, I may just put it in something better looking than an old pill bottle and use it on his.
I mainly want his to run really good when I give it back to him but I may buy another KTM pipe and make him one similar to mine since he keeps telling me how much he likes mine... either way, it'll be nice when I give it back for sure.
I've only talked face to face to 2 others who have these and they both said they get about the same response, usually they just wave or act like you're just another bicycle.
For me, again, way too busy to do anything with my bike today and the guy who dropped his off for me to fix came by the shop to give me the rest of his parts stash to see if it'll help get his back on the road. The other engine he has is another 49cc but the jug is severely scratched up inside and so is the side of the piston like something broke off and got trapped between the jug and piston so I won't be using anything off that engine, but it might have a better mag coil and the exhaust pipe is in a LOT better shape so I'll modify it by opening it up and drilling more holes thru the end cap, or I might just cut out a bigger hole and weld in a fresh outlet that's twice as big as stock, just to keep it stock looking.
I'm probably gonna need to put a new CDI on it but I'll test his first, and I got one of those Rocket cdi's stashed away somewhere too, I may just put it in something better looking than an old pill bottle and use it on his.
I mainly want his to run really good when I give it back to him but I may buy another KTM pipe and make him one similar to mine since he keeps telling me how much he likes mine... either way, it'll be nice when I give it back for sure.
did some changing on the newest green used to be a fixie bike, drive sprocket needed to be flipped over so offset would give more clearance between chain and tire, the 700c fixie frame is narrower than other frames Im accustom to dealing with and chain started making contact with frame now and then when chain was going through it initial stretching stage, that problem is solved now.
while I had rear wheel off, I decided to remove the single speed 24T freewheel because the one I used was one of the "Great Wall" branded ones and after only about 20 miles of use it was show signs of trouble, the Dicta Brand thats made in Taiwan is a good brand but stay away from the china made Great Wall brand, they're junk as I quickly found out, by the way "Sunlite" bicycle parts brand uses the better Dicta freewheel sprockets.
I replaced the single freewheel with a 5 gear multi speed freewheel, the chain aligned perfectly with second to largest sprocket and time it was all buckled up I didn't need to use the pedal side tensioner I had made for it either so that was nice, bothchains tighten equally now with no indler/tensioner on either chain.
I also drilled two 5/16" holes in exhaust end cap to help flow a bit, I took bike out to do a top speed on the flat test run and I guessed just right on what I kinda thought it was doing, that little mildly built GT5 is pushing that bike dead on 40mph with a 41T rear sprocket, NT carb and kit exhaust pipe that's had the flange ID reshaped to limit restriction by matching the port better.
I didn't use one of my better jugs on this engine that has much nicer ports than the one I did use, it has one of the medium sized port jugs with the slanted/cat eye transfers, I did spend some time cleaning the ports up and getting all the castinghumps and bumps out of all the ports, it has a "Fred Piston" in it with shallow ramps at transfers and I shaved the jug deck to give better compression and it has .025" squish clearance with the square Pedal Chopper type head.
This engine doesn't have the grunt power that my GenIV dax engines have, but its every bit as smooth running and considering how its set up, Im really impressed with it, each time I take it out its running a little better, Im not sure what vendor this engine lower originally came from but its a good one, mg coil was stamped 2012 so its not a new model like the ones dax is selling now and I hope those lowers run as smooth as this one does, this GT5 engine is the smoothest running engine Ive had outside of the dax GenIV lowers.
I've decided Im not selling the Green bike at least for now....lol!
while I had rear wheel off, I decided to remove the single speed 24T freewheel because the one I used was one of the "Great Wall" branded ones and after only about 20 miles of use it was show signs of trouble, the Dicta Brand thats made in Taiwan is a good brand but stay away from the china made Great Wall brand, they're junk as I quickly found out, by the way "Sunlite" bicycle parts brand uses the better Dicta freewheel sprockets.
I replaced the single freewheel with a 5 gear multi speed freewheel, the chain aligned perfectly with second to largest sprocket and time it was all buckled up I didn't need to use the pedal side tensioner I had made for it either so that was nice, bothchains tighten equally now with no indler/tensioner on either chain.
I also drilled two 5/16" holes in exhaust end cap to help flow a bit, I took bike out to do a top speed on the flat test run and I guessed just right on what I kinda thought it was doing, that little mildly built GT5 is pushing that bike dead on 40mph with a 41T rear sprocket, NT carb and kit exhaust pipe that's had the flange ID reshaped to limit restriction by matching the port better.
I didn't use one of my better jugs on this engine that has much nicer ports than the one I did use, it has one of the medium sized port jugs with the slanted/cat eye transfers, I did spend some time cleaning the ports up and getting all the castinghumps and bumps out of all the ports, it has a "Fred Piston" in it with shallow ramps at transfers and I shaved the jug deck to give better compression and it has .025" squish clearance with the square Pedal Chopper type head.
This engine doesn't have the grunt power that my GenIV dax engines have, but its every bit as smooth running and considering how its set up, Im really impressed with it, each time I take it out its running a little better, Im not sure what vendor this engine lower originally came from but its a good one, mg coil was stamped 2012 so its not a new model like the ones dax is selling now and I hope those lowers run as smooth as this one does, this GT5 engine is the smoothest running engine Ive had outside of the dax GenIV lowers.
I've decided Im not selling the Green bike at least for now....lol!
After working on the Green bike, I rolled the old Huffy Karaoke bake into shop for some needed maintenance, noticed rear wheel bearing need adjusted and its sorts a mess, needs some TLC been on these rough dusty dirt roads a lot since I built it up goingon 5 years ago now, it has around 800 miles on it now and has never had a single mechanical issue with the bike itself, the engine is a big front mount engine from BGF that runs good but needs a good cleaning, Im thinking I may strip this one down and thoroughly clean it up and put it up for sale, gonna make up a strong layback seat post for it since those Huffy frames are so short coupled, who knows, it may get a new engine while Im at it since the old BGF engine is a jack hammer above 32mph and only comfortable to ride at speeds below what I like to cruise at on my multi mile road trips, tires are showing so weather cracking also, so they'll get replaced and the bike will get some new shoes.
Planning a couple other changes for the old Huffy also, time will tell what I manage to get done with the junk I have laying around.
Planning a couple other changes for the old Huffy also, time will tell what I manage to get done with the junk I have laying around.
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