4 stroke Panther build

M

MotorizedEtc.

Member
Hello everyone, I am going to start a panther build soon. It will be a Schwinn Panther frame, not sure of the year maybe Norm can chime in on that since I'm getting it from him. I am getting an upgraded Monark fork, better front dropouts and three piece sprocket adapter with 56 tooth sprocket all from SportsCarPat. When he is done with the forks they will be sent to Norm at Venice Motorbikes for powder coating with the frame. I have a EZ Q matic/Hs kit coming in the mail from Quenton. I am planning on getting Worksman or husky wheels along with the fattest tires i can fit on this bike. When I can afford it I will also get an in frame tank from Pat too. I'm probably gonna go with a extra wide single piece crank to clear the engine. Not sure if this build should go here as I am calling it a Trackcruiser combining different things to create a comfortable, dependable and stylish ride.

Pics to come when the build begins.

Justin
 
Justin,
I did a build last summer using a 50 Panther frame, HS engine and Qmatic transmission. I also used Pat's first in frame tank for it. I used a one piece extra wide crank for it and still had to bend the crank arms more and also use a kiddie sized sprocket in order to get the engine low enough for that frame.
The other day I was looking at Tinsmith's three piece extra wide pedal crank for his worksman build, purchased from the same place (only place) the one piece is available. I was surprised to see that it is wider than the one piece by several inches and would have saved me the hassle of bending mine to get the needed width. If I'd know then what I know now... The other advantage is that if you need to use a smaller pedal sprocket (I'm sure you will) one to fit the three piece crank should be easy. Not so with the one piece crank which uses a hexagonal keyed sprocket not to be found in kiddie size. I had to file out the round hole in a small sprocket to the same hexagonal shape to fit... more hassle. Both the one piece and three piece are the same price, by the way.
Bicycle Engines, Motorized Bicycles, Bicycle Motors, Motored Bikes: 2-Stroke & 4-Stroke Kits! You're going to love that bike when you're done.
SB
 
I messed around with these three wide three piece cranks and found what Silverbear found with the sprockets. You can't easily mount up smaller diameter sprockets because of the non-standard center holes used. With my new sprocket connections I could draw up a 28t in CAD and have my sprocket guys cut it with any center hole diameter I want. Well, at least I think I can. I find 28t on the front opens things up nicely for engine placement.
Pat
 
Thanks for the advice SilverBear, I did look at your build and read about the filing of the sprocket. If the 3 piece is wider I will have to try that one, less hassles.

Pat, If I cant find a front sprocket that works I may have to talk to you about your custom ones.
 
So It looks like it will cost me $70(one piece to 3 piece adapter and wide 3 piece cranks) plus what ever it costs to get a special smaller sprocket for it. Does any one have a link to a smaller sprocket that works with the wide 3 piece crank set? the wide single piece cranks would be cheaper although I would need to bend them and still figure out the sprocket issue. I didn't think this was going to be this much of an issue. I'd better figure it out in advance before buying parts and end up with wrong ones.
 
Call Quention to see if a one piece Whizzer crank will work (available on ebay). If it works then run a Worksman 28t front sprocket. I have that set-up here and it is the widest one piece crank I have found and has the standard type pedal sprocket.
 
You can go with a SBP(Sick Bike Parts) front freewheel/adapter for a three piece crank, if you don't have a coaster brake. Simply buy a three piece wide crank kit then get a freewheel adapter, freewheel and a small chainring, SBP has down to 24T. SBP also has the super wide bottom bracket 206mm(8.67 inch) and the three piece bracket adapters. The only thing he doesn't have is the bent crank arms that come with a wide crank kit, try bicycle-engines.com for the kit.
 
sportscarpat said:
I messed around with these three wide three piece cranks and found what Silverbear found with the sprockets. You can't easily mount up smaller diameter sprockets because of the non-standard center holes used. With my new sprocket connections I could draw up a 28t in CAD and have my sprocket guys cut it with any center hole diameter I want. Well, at least I think I can. I find 28t on the front opens things up nicely for engine placement.
Pat
Click to expand...

I know what you're saying, Pat. With my old JC Higgins, if I'd wanted to use the vintage front sprocket, pretty though it is, my engine would be mounted sky high. I had a BMX front sprocket that is either 32T or 36T, and a different vintage chaingard.

I found the spread on my vintage crank was quite wide enough to accomodate the engine, but it had a mounting peg sticking out of the back of the crank arm that the BMX sprocket didn't have a hole for. Well, that was no problem, I drilled a hole and used my Dremel until the sprocket mounted tightly with no play.

And now my engine sits snug in just the right spot.
 
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Thanks for the suggestions guys. Tad, your suggestion would cost me over $100 and I cant even find all the parts on SBP that would be required for the freewheel setup(besides the crank arms), although I'm sure it would be high quality parts. Plus I'm pretty sure I will end up having a coaster brake. Sounds like I should ask Quenton if whizzer cranks fit on a panther frame.
 
Whizzer cranks fit a Panther frame just fine, you'll need to know if the Whizzer crank clears the engines width. I went through all these crank issues with my Morini powered Racer builds. I finally just started bending stock 1-piece cranks out to some pretty crazy widths. They are a pain to make, though, and once you get it all figured out then the pedals will need to be aligned after the first bending process. Takes lots of heat and patients.
 
One piece wide crank? Bicyclemotors.com. Thirty bucks. Worked great on my first build.
 

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Cant wait to see this build. Im looking for wide cranks too, but Im going to wait for the motor to be mounted to get them when Im sure how wide I need. The Panther is a beautiful frame and the Forks superb!!
Cheers
 
I talked to Quenton, he said the Whizzer cranks would work, but most people use the shorter cranks off 24" bicycles. Guess I'll try looking for whizzer cranks and a worksman sprocket.

caduceus, those cranks would work but the chainring is too big for my project.
 
How much would that cost? Because that would be less trouble probably.

My EZM kit arrived today, good thing Quenton packed it good cuz it looked like the delivery company played soccer with it.

Heres a pic of my build so far.
 

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Made a custom exhaust the other day, worked pretty good for a while. Welding Emt even after grinding the galvanizing off still doesn''t weld very good with a cheap wire feed welder with no gas. I figured some gasket goop could seal up my mistakes, and it did for about 3 miles, till it flaked off from heat. Gonna go exchange the conduit bender for some liquid tight conduit as it seems to be working great for people. I had a noticeable power increase just by removing the exhaust cap.
 

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