what did you do to your motorized bicycle today?

[Intrepid Wheelwoman]

Those '28 Fords can be so selfish

That's a really nice trailer hitch you've put together; - let us know how it works out on the road.

 

[boxcar]

Will do....

 

[mattwestmesa]

My first motorized build. Just finished putting it together

 

[Rudz]

What bike is that?

 

[mapbike]

My first motorized build. Just finished putting it together View attachment 76572

nice looking bike, I would like to critique two things I think I see that will likely cause you trouble.

Please understand Im not hating on your project, I simply making a suggestion based on what we that have built several bikes have found to to be good things to do and what we have found to be things can will likely cause problems.

First thing I think I see in the pic is that the rear mounting saddle isn't straight with the seat post down tube, it does look like you have the front straight with the front down tube but in my experience its much more important to get it right on the rear mount since it take more stress from engine torque, get the rear mount saddle flat on the frame and tight then snug up the front even if it doesn't saddle up perfectly flush between angle of mount and angle of front down tube.


Second thing I think I see that will most likely cause you to break mounting hardware is it looks like you may have put some pieces of rubber or something between engine and frame, if the is so, that needs to be removed before you start running engine, that will make felt vibes worse and it will allow engine vibe to transfer a if percentage of the energy directly into those little 6mm studs and they will either vibrate out or they will break, and many time they break flush with the case and that can require drilling them out, installing helium coils for repair.

once again, not be negative toward your bike, it looks nice, but I think I see a couple things that ate gonna potentially cause you trouble that can be prevented very easily before you start running it.

many of us here made those same simple mistakes on our first builds so we been there done that and try to help others on those things when we see what is gonna likely cause them trouble.

nice bike and best wishes, you're on the best forum on the web for this great hobby.

 

[Rudz]

Might want to tighten up that chain too

 

[mattwestmesa]

First off thank you for giving my bike a quick critique.
Yes I put a piece of rubber bike tube between the frame and the mounts. I watched a video online that said to do so. So I should take those out? ok will do.
And then flush up the rear mount and let the front mount be a little off? I just figured the front one would be more important because its bigger and has the weight of the motor pushing down on it.

The bike is a Torker Alpental 26 with a Manitou Downhill fork.

 

[mapbike]

First off thank you for giving my bike a quick critique.
Yes I put a piece of rubber bike tube between the frame and the mounts. I watched a video online that said to do so. So I should take those out? ok will do.
And then flush up the rear mount and let the front mount be a little off? I just figured the front one would be more important because its bigger and has the weight of the motor pushing down on it.

The bike is a Torker Alpental 26 with a Manitou Downhill fork.

yes removing the rubber is a good idea, use a dab of loctite to secure mounting hardware and whatever you do be careful not to over tighten the nuts, they need to be tight but 6mm hardware is a bit fragile.

on the rear studs I double nut them, I just get the first nut good and snug then just a little more tweak and then I put a dot of blue loctite on in front of the first nut and then with a 10mm wrench on each nut I tighten the outer nut down real good against the other one, never had single issue since I started doing mine this way.

the rear mounting area takes the biggest beating from bump starting and torque of the engine pulling on it since you'll notice the drive sprocket is just in front of it and when the engine pulls on the chain the engine wants to rotate over to the left, nearly Everytime I've seen a rear stud break its been on the right side since the engine pulls hard on that one, this is why you do want to overtighten then, if they're tightened to the point of overstressing them the engine vibration will cause them to shear off fairly quickly and having rubber between engine and the frame actually intensifies those vibrations into the studs.

no rubber

good and tight but nut to tight

double nut with a dab of blue thread locker

and that should make it much less likely that you'll have an issue with the mounting hardware.

thanks for understanding Im just trying to be helpful and not critical.

map

 

[Davezilla]

Very Nice looking bike... I saw the same things Map saw so no need to repeat...

 

[mattwestmesa]

Thanks for taking a look!

 

[Davezilla]

Took the bike on the usual trip down to the taco shop and back, but on the way back to the shop I pulled in the clutch to slow down, then let the clutch back out to get into the parking lot and Nothing... It was working perfect so I'll have to see what broke on it this time. I'm thinking most likely a woodruff key since it was working just fine and then nothing... Too busy at the shop to look at it now so hopefully I'll have all the cars done by closing time so I can open it up and take a look.

 

[mattwestmesa]

I still haven't fired it up yet, its been snowing here in Lubbock. Hopefully this weekend.

 

[curtisfox]

Snowing like crazy here today,about 17 degrees and the roads are not even plowed except the main roads and seen a guy on a bike going by"..............Curt

 

[Davezilla]

Not snowing down here in San Antonio, but the weather has been wet and nasty the last few days.... I usually don't ride mine unless the roads are dry but I took it for a ride yesterday morning before it got to nasty out... and now I need to make time to see what happened to my clutch... Good thing I got lots of spare parts here at the shop, but finding time to look at it can be challenging... not even 10:00 yet and got 4 cars to work today so far, had 9 cars before 10 yesterday and it just keeps getting busier over here...

 

[curtisfox]

Yep about 5" of snow and don't seem to faze them it seems no mater how cold there is a couple guys that pedal there bikes.............Curt

 

[mapbike]

Not snowing down here in San Antonio, but the weather has been wet and nasty the last few days.... I usually don't ride mine unless the roads are dry but I took it for a ride yesterday morning before it got to nasty out... and now I need to make time to see what happened to my clutch... Good thing I got lots of spare parts here at the shop, but finding time to look at it can be challenging... not even 10:00 yet and got 4 cars to work today so far, had 9 cars before 10 yesterday and it just keeps getting busier over here...

dang it Dave, hate to hear they grey ghost is giving the clutch troubles,hope its a simple and quick fix.

Being so busy at the shop is great tfor the pocket book for sure, but it isnice to have a little tinker time as well.

Hope yo7 make piles of $$$'s and hope you can get the bike lined out soon for those high speed taco shop runs in the morning.

map

 

[Mike B]

Rode the Bonneville out to my fav taqueria for my fav crispy shredded chicken tacos and then worked out my kickstand solution for the Motoped.

Oh and I walked the dog for a mile and then ran her butt off at the dog park.

Life is good!

 

[Blakenstein]

Ha!! I just finished workin on the bike, I come in and on the comp. my e-mail says what did i do to my bike??? Ha!! Well, first of all, last week, my chain drive Bridgestone started givin me trouble so thats it!! I took it to car wash , spraywanded it - removed spark plug, set the piston bottom dead center and just blasted it!!!
Then I got it home, removed the motor took it in the house, ( cold cold winter), got into the centrifugal clutch!! -added a small spring to it, did not want to shorten the big spring, cause i figured that If i messed up, then im screwed. This way , I can see how it acts, and if bad idea, i can just remove the extra spring.
Took carb apart, cleaned it, new gaskets, ( had to cut from gasket paper) and claeaned out the magneto- was so dirty, was wondering how electrical could flow. back together on bike, then had to shorten chain( steached chain) not so easy cause it is #25 chain. majior brake modification, new brake and shifter levers, new shifter cable and new brake shoes. Also when I went to start it, the starter recoil spring came out of its ancor seat and the rope just hung out and did not wind back!! At this point I did not know weather to scream, laugh, swear or cry, so i just threw my bike lock at it!!
got it done but i was tired . 15 minute repair.
Anyway when I rode bike, wow!! it idled just a bit higher without idleling on the clutch (centrifugal) and it rode nice and slow , but alot more power and high rpms I dont know the physics and dont know that if i strenghen clutch spring like i did, will it engauge fully?? or will i be burning it all the way down the road?? Well, now, my motor chain is smashing up, so i cannot test at high speed.
TODAY i checked the motor chain, and its so badly streached, it did not fit on the sprockets!! I went to my stash, and got a brand new chain,( have two new spare ones) that i have been saving for 7 years!! sure came in handy,..put new chain on, and tracks great!! I hightened my frame, locked out my high bicycle cog, worn bad and skips , set my low range derailer, brake shoe adjustment, and installed new idler bearing. Too tired to go and fire it up, its cold outside still, until tommrrow when the weather gets warmer.

 

[Davezilla]

Got to the shop early enough today and got the doors shut before people thought I was open at 7:30 am so I was able to take a look at my clutch and it was an easy fix, the bevel gear screw backed out and when I let the clutch in to slow down the gear came off the shaft.
Cleaned things up, re greased the gears, and put the bevel gear back on but added some blue locktite to the threads to keep it from breaking loose and backing out again. Got the bike fixed pretty quick this morning but decided not to ride it so the locktite could have a chance to set up really good before I fired the engine up again... It's supposed to only be 27 in the morning so I'm not sure if I'll take the bike out in that cold yet or not... gotta see how I feel when I get to the shop. The bie starts right up on the first or second pull when it's that cold outside but I also need to let it warm up a bit before running it WOT for the mile trip to the taco shop and back... Last time I took it out when it was really cold like that I got to the taco shop just fine, but in that 10 minutes i was in there waiting on my food it was enough time for the engine to cool down considerably and it was 4 stroking all the way back to my shop.
I finally got my disc brake caliper adapter in the mail today so I may do that conversion in the morning depending on if it's just cold and I want to go for a ride, or if it's cold and wet where I'd rather keep me and the bike inside.

 

[mapbike]

Up here in the middle of the State Dave it's low 20's and we have about 1/2-3/4" of sleet on the ground, no riding for me until sometimes next week.

Glad to here fixing the bike was an easy quick one.