what did you do to your motorized bicycle today?

[Tony01]

Weekly maintenance- checked everything, inspected disc brake pads, changed oil, trued rear wheel, got replacement gas cap and sanded/cleaned/painted gas tank flat black. Checked air pressure, cleaned chain, adjusted brake lever.

Boring stuff

 

[Legwon]

not today, but yesterday...
opened up a new engine for first time in almost 5 yrs... lol
ported it, followed Maniac57s posts. and a few others.
piston mods, following mapbike and rogergendron1 mods.
installed it on bike, as my last one bit the bucket, and i ride daily to from work.
so far.. so good
pulling like CrAzY! and power to spare... cant wait till its fully broken in, jetted, and get expansion chamber and head on it.



PS. only quick reply seems to be working ATM.

 

[woogie_man]

For my bike finally finished, took it out for a quick ride. Everything holding up great, but would like a quiet exhaust as well.

 

[Davezilla]

Got a few more parts in the mail today but most of it won't be needed on this build so I saving it for my next build. Got my chain set up and everything fits without the need for a tensioner now I'm just waiting for some goodies from crmachine.com so I can get my kx pipe installed easier. I was making my own setup but buying one pre made will save me a lot of time I don't have a lot of right now. If this setup he makes is as good as it looks online I may buy a few more for my other builds I'm working at a much slower pace.

 

[DRBS]

well i got this today and tomorrow im going to be fabricating it to fit my baby the chrome bike with red tank and side covers

 

[Davezilla]

Nice... I got 2 of them a few months back off eBay for like $40 for both pipes, one was immaculate and the other has a few dents that need to be fixed before it can be used, but for the price I couldn't pass it up.
I'm also planning on getting a few cr80 pipes since they work really well on these engines too. I'm sticking with the kx pipes for now since they should work best with the way my engines are currently tuned. I also keep my eyes out for used fmf fatty pipes that aren't too beat up and aren't too pricy. Last time I saw one of those at a good price tho just happened to be up for sale when I was too broke to buy it...

 

[Davezilla]

Are you going to run it open or did you get a silencer for it as well? I'm still looking for a good silencer that'll fit the pipe so this one won't be as loud as my other bike with the open KTM pipe... that one isn't too bad from a short distance but I re routed it so the stinger points to the ground, all that sound bounces off the road tho, and right back up to me so the ride it's self is pretty loud. I'm going to run my new pipe straight back so a silencer may help keep it from drawing the wrong kind of attention...

 

[mapbike]

Nothing today, but a few days ago I took me an approx. 12 mile round trip ride to a nearby small town, on the way back I notice the bike felt a bit odd at 35+mph so I slowed a bit and looked back at rear wheel to find it had a fairly severe wobble, I slowed down and limped back home hoping the wheel would hold up for a few miles at low 20mph speeds.

It made it back just fine, but I wanted to say that I have come to the conclusion that a wheel with 14ga spokes, using a rag joint type sprocket coupler just doesn't hold up on my bikes on these rough dirt roads I ride on at typical cruise speeds of 35-40+ MPH

I've always been a bit concerned at how the kit coupler really stresses the 14ga spokes when its tightened down since it really pulls them outward like it does, but now after having three different 14ga spoke rear wheels on this bike and all of them having issues I have decided I will not be using a "rag Joint" on a wheel with 14ga spokes again.

My oldest bike has the rag joint on 14ga spokes and has more miles on it than all my other bikes and has had no issues so far, but it also has a much weaker engine and only cruises at 25-28 mph so that may be one of the differences compared to a bike that will cruise down these rough dirt roads at 40+ mph.

Yep the most recent wheel on the Kulana bike looks to have broke 4 spokes on the drive sprocket side under the coupler so what I will be doing to this bike next will be putting a rear wheel on it that has at least 12ga spokes and since I'm a huge fan of a good coaster wheel it may be getting that so I can just eliminate the rag joint coupler all together and use one of my hub adapters for a much stronger and more reliable setup.

 

[Scott.D.Lang]

Lynn at http://custommotoredbicycles.com has some nice 11g spoke wheels for a good price I have a rear wheel coming to me for $90 shipping and all the wheel was $53.

 

[Blakenstein]

Nothing today, but a few days ago I took me an approx. 12 mile round trip ride to a nearby small town, on the way back I notice the bike felt a bit odd at 35+mph so I slowed a bit and looked back at rear wheel to find it had a fairly severe wobble, I slowed down and limped back home hoping the wheel would hold up for a few miles at low 20mph speeds.

It made it back just fine, but I wanted to say that I have come to the conclusion that a wheel with 14ga spokes, using a rag joint type sprocket coupler just doesn't hold up on my bikes on these rough dirt roads I ride on at typical cruise speeds of 35-40+ MPH

I've always been a bit concerned at how the kit coupler really stresses the 14ga spokes when its tightened down since it really pulls them outward like it does, but now after having three different 14ga spoke rear wheels on this bike and all of them having issues I have decided I will not be using a "rag Joint" on a wheel with 14ga spokes again.

My oldest bike has the rag joint on 14ga spokes and has more miles on it than all my other bikes and has had no issues so far, but it also has a much weaker engine and only cruises at 25-28 mph so that may be one of the differences compared to a bike that will cruise down these rough dirt roads at 40+ mph.

Yep the most recent wheel on the Kulana bike looks to have broke 4 spokes on the drive sprocket side under the coupler so what I will be doing to this bike next will be putting a rear wheel on it that has at least 12ga spokes and since I'm a huge fan of a good coaster wheel it may be getting that so I can just eliminate the rag joint coupler all together and use one of my hub adapters for a much stronger and more reliable setup.

It seems to me that hub adapters are the best thing that s happened to those type systems. Also Staton Inc. has all kinds of goodies including hubs and left hand free wheels, adapters etc. for just about everything. They also sell heavy gauge spokes. I could easily spend all day just browsing their site. if you click on these links, you will see pics of my system where the adapter threads on to my hub.
http://motorbicycling.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=78527&d=1434381644

 

[DRBS]

thats why i only use the hub adapters

 

[fatdaddy]

Yup, Steel rim with 12 guage spokes, I've said it time after time. If ya ride REAL light, ya might get by with an aluminum rim and 14 guage spokes. But a rag joint putting extra stress on what are already a light guage spoke usually works out just like what ya got now. a wobbly wheel. most bike shops will sell you a steel rim with 12 guage for about $50. Then, of course I'm in favor of adapters too. a rag joint will work if set up on a proper wheel. I just don't think a aluminum rim with 14 guage spokes is good enough for that. I have a customer in now that FINALLY,(after 3 bent wheels) went down to Bicycle Express and spent his $50 for a proper wheel. He should be OK now. You might get the aluminum rim with the 14 a little cheaper, but in the long run yer gonna spend more replacing bent wheels.
fatdaddy.

 

[crassius]

I don't weigh enough to have problems with 14ga, but I can throw a set of 12s into a wheel in about an hour (which could have been 1/2 hour back when I was much younger) - seems a shame to spend for a whole new wheel.

 

[xseler]

Did some tinkering with the jetting on NT Speed carb. Seems to like the #60 the best --- no 4 stroking on acceleration and ocassional 4 stroke on mid-throttle cruising. Got the needle on the 2nd groove from the top. It's really surprised me at how far I've had to jet down.

By the way, I've got a Huffy 26" rear coaster wheel with 12ga spokes (minus the roasted internals) that I'd be glad to pass along. It's red in color with stainless spokes.

 

[allen standley]

Changed a rear tire flat yesterday. It never ceases to amaze me how a 3" deck screw lying flat on the ground can see me coming then jump up vertical just in time to sink itself into my tire. Crazy...

 

[mapbike]

I don't weigh enough to have problems with 14ga, but I can throw a set of 12s into a wheel in about an hour (which could have been 1/2 hour back when I was much younger) - seems a shame to spend for a whole new wheel.

The issue for me is Im a tad over 200lbs and I literally ride miles and miles of very rough dirt roads.

If 8 was riding pavement only, most likely I wouldnt have had the issues on this bike, but when I at a 40+mph clip and I hit those chug holes and deep rub board areas in the road it puts a razy amount of stress on the entire bike, I have springer front forks that absorb a good bit of the punishment up front, but the rear wheel really take a pounding.

My Huffy Karaoke bike has never had an issue since 2010 with the stock steel wheel and 12ga spokes qnd it has at least twice the miles on it as the Kulana bike that will be on its 4th rear wheel when 8 get the current one replaced.

Ive though5 seriously about just getting a set of spokes and lacing one of these wheels up myself, but Ive never laced a bicycle wheel and actually only laced one dirt bike wheel wa6 back when I was about 15 or 16 when my brother broke some spokes on his old 1980 Suzuki DS100 when we were kids, we completely relaced that wheel got it just a tad less than perfectly true.

My main issue is time, I just dont have time to lace wheels right now since it would probably take me a good long while to get it done.

 

[crassius]

not really hard to lace - back in the day, I laced harley rims onto triumph hubs a lot

once I laced an MG sports car rim, but that was a lot harder

many bikes need a bit of truing every so often with the strain put on by the speeds these reach - much like "a stitch in time", a bit of truing will prevent a rim from going wobbly enough to cause real problems

 

[WECSOG]

For what a hub adapter costs, you could get a moped hub. That's a huge step up from even a hub adapter, and then to sweeten the deal you get a drum brake that was actually designed for even heavier use than we give them.

 

[fatdaddy]

I don't weigh enough to have problems with 14ga, but I can throw a set of 12s into a wheel in about an hour (which could have been 1/2 hour back when I was much younger) - seems a shame to spend for a whole new wheel.

That would help bro, But better if laced into a steel rim.
fatdaddy.

 

[Tony01]

Dang it I hate it when you guys are right; it always costs me money. Hit a pothole or somethin today, chain came off and destroyed five spokes on the drive-side rag joint today. First time in 200 miles I get a car ride home. Spokes are 13g. I do not have replacements.

Not knowing what to do! Want to do the SA drum brake rear, re-lace to 48 spoke and drill holes sprocket in the hub. Good or bad? Need a rear brake have no welder.