I'm brand new

[Benumb]

I've seen the kits and I'm super interested. I know nothing when it comes down to it.

I do know I want to be able to use the gears on my bike and from what I gather I'll need to buy a jackshaft in order to do that.

I'm looking for suggestions as to where I can get a good quality kit that I can also use a jackshaft with. I plan on using this bike daily to commute.

I appreciate any help I can get.

 

[crassius]

you might first want to read about jackshafts - one can use the gears for pedaling without without it and when running the motor, there isn't much need for gears

 

[xseler]

Howdy & welcome to the clubhouse!! Lots of good info here.

 

[Tyler6357]

Hello: Welcome!!
How good you can make it depends largely on how much money you intend to spend.

 

[Benumb]

you might first want to read about jackshafts - one can use the gears for pedaling without without it and when running the motor, there isn't much need for gears

From what I've read you get better bottom and top end by being able to use the gears. I believe the motors I'm looking at top out around 50km/h and I also believe my bike can probably go a bit faster than that if I were able to pedal it that hard.

When you say I don't need the jackshaft to use the bike gears, do you have a link or something that explains how to achieve that? From what I can gather googling, I seem to need that.

Again, I'm completely new to this and definitely not educated in this domain.

 

[Benumb]

Hello: Welcome!!
How good you can make it depends largely on how much money you intend to spend.

On eBay both the engine kit and jackshaft kit go for about $200 each, so that's basically the price range I'm gunning for, somewhere around $400 CDN

 

[Tyler6357]

On eBay both the engine kit and jackshaft kit go for about $200 each, so that's basically the price range I'm gunning for, somewhere around $400 CDN

I assume you have a bicycle already? What bike do you have? You will need both front and back breaks!! Also, not all 2 stroke kits are created equal and these little china girl engines are not all the same!! If you want something reliable don't just get the cheapest kit you can find on ebay. In fact, since you are planning to go with a jack shaft shift kit, I wouldn't even buy a regular kit because you will get parts in the kit that you won't even need. I would get the parts you need separately. This might cost slightly more, but it will be worth it in the frustration level, haha. Also, this is a hobby and you can't expect to just put it together and be done with it. Be prepared to spend a lot of time tightening screws and more time doing maintenance than you might expect at least until you have a lot of miles and have worked the kinks out, and there will be kinks!

 

[Benumb]

I assume you have a bicycle already? What bike do you have? You will need both front and back breaks!! Also, not all 2 stroke kits are created equal and these little china girl engines are not all the same!! If you want something reliable don't just get the cheapest kit you can find on ebay. In fact, since you are planning to go with a jack shaft shift kit, I wouldn't even buy a regular kit because you will get parts in the kit that you won't even need. I would get the parts you need separately. This might cost slightly more, but it will be worth it in the frustration level, haha. Also, this is a hobby and you can't expect to just put it together and be done with it. Be prepared to spend a lot of time tightening screws and more time doing maintenance than you might expect at least until you have a lot of miles and have worked the kinks out, and there will be kinks!

NORCO BUSHPILOT, 20 inch frame, 26 inch tires hard tail.

I'm open to the idea of a strong motor in lieu of shifting gears. I don't know if I'm allowed to post links in here, but I did see a motor that claims to be the bees knees.

I'll take any direction at this point.

 

[Chaz]

Good advice from Tyler. You can post links. You can get good performance without a jackshaft. I think they're only good if you need to climb steep hills. For your first build I would keep it simple. Search the mountain bike forum here for bushpilot and you may find an example.

I think most vendors claim to have awesome engines.

Best thing is to read lots before you buy anything.

 

[Benumb]

Good advice from Tyler. You can post links. You can get good performance without a jackshaft. I think they're only good if you need to climb steep hills. For your first build I would keep it simple. Search the mountain bike forum here for bushpilot and you may find an example.

I think most vendors claim to have awesome engines.

Best thing is to read lots before you buy anything.

Thank you.

Now that I know I can post links here, this is the motor I was looking at. Anyone have any insight on wether or not this would be a good buy? Seems to have good reviews but for all I know they're fake lol.

http://www.bikeberry.com/gas-engine...-angle-fire-bicycle-engine-kits-2-stroke.html

 

[crassius]

From what I've read you get better bottom and top end by being able to use the gears. I believe the motors I'm looking at top out around 50km/h and I also believe my bike can probably go a bit faster than that if I were able to pedal it that hard.

When you say I don't need the jackshaft to use the bike gears, do you have a link or something that explains how to achieve that? From what I can gather googling, I seem to need that.

Again, I'm completely new to this and definitely not educated in this domain.

I meant that when pedaling the bike, your gears will still work. If you read past posts here about jackshafts, you'll find that oftentimes the top speed of the bike goes down a bit with the jackshaft, but the lower speed torque increases. Much of the actual result will be due to exactly what gearing ratios you will have on the bike.

 

[Benumb]

I meant that when pedaling the bike, your gears will still work. If you read past posts here about jackshafts, you'll find that oftentimes the top speed of the bike goes down a bit with the jackshaft, but the lower speed torque increases. Much of the actual result will be due to exactly what gearing ratios you will have on the bike.

Understood. Here's my question there. If I plan on doing a decent distance where max speed would be held for a while, would it be better to have the jackshaft at that point to make the engine rev lower or is it built to be able to handle full throttle for a decent amount of time?

 

[Benumb]

Anyone care to link a decent engine that's fairly quick?

 

[crassius]

2-strokes are peaky in power - lugging the motor can be as hard on it as over-reving it

buy a cheap one and get used to it before making plans for something custom

 

[Chaz]

You can get a smaller rear sprocket to bring down the rpm at cruising speed. What cruising speed are you hoping for, by the way? What terrain is in your area, I mean fairly flat or lots of hills?
Where in the great nation of Canada are you located?

 

[Benumb]

You can get a smaller rear sprocket to bring down the rpm at cruising speed. What cruising speed are you hoping for, by the way? What terrain is in your area, I mean fairly flat or lots of hills?
Where in the great nation of Canada are you located?

In London. Mostly flat. Thinking at least 15kms a day 5 days a week. Would like to cruise along at 55kmh

 

[Chaz]

Okay, then you could go with a smaller rear sprocket. The stock kit sprocket is 44 tooth. You can get a 40 or 36 tooth. They are cheap, under 15 dollars. I suggest you read up on porting and port matching. You can do it with a dremel if you are mechanically inclined. With a smaller sprocket it will take a little more time to reach cruising speed but there are a few simple mods you can do to help make up the difference.
Here's a dealer out your way in case you didn't know. http://www.motorizedbicycle.ca/
You can scan the forum for info on the Grubee engines to see what folks think of them. There is one dealer in my area and the engines are pretty good. http://www.zoombicycles.com/

There is Dax who is a sponsor of the forum and has a great reputation. He tests every motor that gets shipped.

I would say that in your case a jackshaft is not needed and will only cost you more money and effort.

 

[Tyler6357]

Anyone care to link a decent engine that's fairly quick?

To give you an idea of the differences between these motors, I recommend that you watch these videos.

I personally like the PK80s better than the GTs but I'm certain not everyone would agree with me. Dax sells a pretty good PK80--called the F80
http://thatsdax.com/ENGINE_KIT_PARTS_PAGE_1.html

 

[mrbnlb]

I assume you have a bicycle already? What bike do you have? You will need both front and back breaks!! Also, not all 2 stroke kits are created equal and these little china girl engines are not all the same!! If you want something reliable don't just get the cheapest kit you can find on ebay. In fact, since you are planning to go with a jack shaft shift kit, I wouldn't even buy a regular kit because you will get parts in the kit that you won't even need. I would get the parts you need separately. This might cost slightly more, but it will be worth it in the frustration level, haha. Also, this is a hobby and you can't expect to just put it together and be done with it. Be prepared to spend a lot of time tightening screws and more time doing maintenance than you might expect at least until you have a lot of miles and have worked the kinks out, and there will be kinks!

Hey I was wondering if anyone knows of a vendor selling 2 stroke 80cc motors with good bearings

 

[Tyler6357]

Hey I was wondering if anyone knows of a vendor selling 2 stroke 80cc motors with good bearings

You can find vendors who sell 2 stroke engines that have had the bearings replaced, however, the bearings are not what usually fail on these little China girl engines. Believe it or not, the Chinese bearings are usually good enough. China girls with bearings replaced usually have had much more done to them than just that and will cost $250 +. I'm not 100% sure but I bet that most high end china girl 2 strokes that are listed as "racing engines" are still using Chinese bearings.

There is much disagreement on which stock china girls are the best. Some people prefer the Zeda engines with pistons that have the higher wrist pin location and others like the PK80s that have the lower wrist pin location on the pistons. Myself, I like the PK80s, they can be really good engines if they were not made too much off of spec at the factory but I have never owned a Zeda so I'm not a real good judge to compare them. No matter what engine you get I recommend taking off the head and cylinder and checking to make sure there is not shredded metal or imperfections that could cause the cylinder to get hung up or other irregularities. I also recommend port matching the intake and exhaust ports with a Dremel tool.