26CC Homelite dual suspension whipper

[cannonball2]

Electronic theory is not a real strong point with me. Wiring and so forth is something I am pretty good at. I have a charge coil from a B&S electric start lawnmower. It is designed to use the flywheel magnet. It charged the battery. I bet the Ryobi si similar in operation to the Briggs, probably doesnt have a regulator, but is limited to a constant output that wont harm the battery. The Briggs coil is very small and could probably be mounted to the Ryobi, just need a simple bracket, mounts like the ignition. The guys flying industrial R/C helicopters use a brushless motor driven by the engine, or one of the driven shafts in the heli. They do have some form of regulation. You could build something similar to be run off the flywheel(friction drive of course)

 

[deacon]

my electronics is bases solely on my ebike that I built but I do know that when an electric motor is turned by an engine it acts as a generator maybe that is how this works./

 

[bishop letov]

Cannonball2 and Deacon.. then you should take a look at this as its one of many.. Specially for You C2, this could make things a little easy on the bank... Couple of old relay coils and an easy to set up circuit could make the WW engines on boats and planes a bit better. I imagine that people will start using the Roybi Touchstart 30cc engine more for as many applications as possible.

 

[bishop letov]

I know I havent been here much but I thought I should post a 250 mile report.

I have been riding this thing as my daily driver and I keep getting stopped by people at the stores and lights to ask about it. Though in the begining the attention was welcomed and I enjoyed showing people and telling them about it, Its really adding to my commute by almost t5wo hours a day. Plus the people yelling out of their car windows at me about how cool it is has gotten one person stopped by L.E.O. and citation issued to the driver for not paying attention on the road properly.

I love the fact that it gets me where i want to go at a steady and safe speed of around 24 mph and given the 5 oz tank thats still on the motor, It allows me to get from where I live to towns 6-9 miles away on a full tank, even with the hills that are around here.

I will have to tear down the clutch housing and check on the wear of the clutch soon because of the hills around me but it puffs along and hills that I couldnt even zig zag up before have made it so that I can get up them WITHOUT even zig zagging and engaged in the big sprocket up front with the little in back which before was totally low gears.

there is some tire wear but that can be contributed to a few things. I bent a rim when I was downhilling at a local off road bike path with tons of roots and rocks. It was a short cut over a mountain and I duely paid for taking the short way around.

The roller that I am using is doing fairly well though I couldnt tell you the exact composition of it. It seems to be a harder rubber\ plastic that I had leftover from my days of working on elevators. The original O.D. of it is 1.545 inches measured with a dial caliper and at the 250 mile mark it has worn to 1.532 inches O.D. which I would expect given the bent rim and it skipping for the limp home the 19 miles after the days ride.

The tire has worn a bit to the point that it is noticable. there use to be dimple marks on it the entire side wall of the tire from the moulding process from when it was new but they have been disappearing over the miles. Now with the tire being totally smooth on the sidewall I expect it to heat up a little bit more and excellerate the wear though hardening and debris from the road.

I had to reconfigure the moutning points a little to get the proper alignment of the friction drive roller to run parallel with the sidewall of the tire to minize wear.

The dumspter homelite 26vt -26cc- two cycle that I have been usiing to power it has proven mostly reliable except for when it sits for a few days. When it sits I have a hard start and then it wont idle properly for about 5 miles. Ill have to tweak the carb a little more and see about getting a pipe made for it.

I havent had the time to work on a new fuel tank as of yet but I have been gather some materials in oder to get some Ideas.. Remember , Im trying to do this out of materials that I find or that I have been given.

I scored another freebie MTB and its a huffy. Ill be using this in order to make myself a trailer that I would like to be able to use also as a sleeper for one person. I met someone through the bike, who just stopped to inquire about it and I have been helping him to engineer and build horse training trailers. So he said I could drop by and use his welder anytime I want. I also do his welding because Im better at it then he is.

Outside of that... Motor and drive system have performed within expectations and at times have even exceded them. Especially when I raced a model T and won to a standing ovation to a crowd at a local car show last weekend.

Ill get some pics posted of the currnt condition and wear patterns in a day or two.

 

[cannonball2]

Wondered where you were, thats quite a report. Glad it is working so well for you. Pretty cool using something you made yourself, especially by scrounging. Kinda feel like you are getting away with something lol.

 

[deacon]

what I love about it is the simplicity of the design. I tear holy heck out of a WW and this guy just siicks it on a bike and rides. I have to admire him.

The other thing I like is his discription of the hill climbing. I find that my wasp bike is like that, it will climb the hills but does much better on the big ones if i kick in a little leg power as well. What it does is make the worst of the hills doable with little more effort than pedaling a bike on flat ground. These little motors are great as a helper. Some one described them as a tandem bike where the other guy always pedals. I think that is a good description.

 

[bishop letov]

As I promised here are some pics.

The roller wear and tire wear though not really noticable on the tire and definitely noticable on the roller.

Other side of tire with no wear...

Odometer reading 210 miles minus the 40 from when I reset it to figure out gas milage to compare to modifications and adjustments

The mods I had to do in order to adjust the roller to meet the run of the tire parrallel to lower friction and wear...

Notice the ubolt and the conduit clamp.

Other then that the only other things that I have done is sew on a pouch to hold my spare gas can for now till I get my new one done up and some lighting up front.

 

[bishop letov]

After that whole "Its doing great" rant catastrophy struck today. The bearing in the end of the weed wacker shaft decided to sieze up on me nearly causing me to go over the handlebars.. Or Bearing so as I thought. I took the roller off and Ugghh Peddled my way back home 9 miles away.

What I found when I got home, and Cannonball2 you can start saying I told you so repeatedly if you want, Is that there was just a seal at the bottom of the shaft and under that.. A bronze bushing. Hangs head.

So after mulling it over a bit and scrounging though everything I could find to help me fix this thing... I came accross and old Echo head from a srm-200. I took it apart and then looked up the parts diagrams online for it.. It had 4 bearings in it.

No I didnt just replace the head, I wouldve had to switch everything to the other side of the bike because this was a straight shaft echo geared head. They had so many circlips on this thing I had a **** of a time getting it apart... Just for two bearings that I wasnt sure were even going to be good or work.. Finally out comes the hack saw and I pillaged the bearings after doing some magicians cut um in half hacking job on it.

Looked at the bearings and reached for my trusty digital cheapo lowes caliper to take measurements. When back in the house and took measurements of the rotating shaft and the tube.. Ugghhh... bearing was a 609zz with dimensions of 12x24x9mm and I needed it to fit 3/8x7/8...

After some chin tapping and pulling out of my hair I decided to got back to my primal years before I had a lathe or a mill and reached for the sand paper and the drill..

4 hours later after "drum" sanding the I.D. of the bearing and drill rolling the rotating shaft I hit pay dirt. got both bearings to sit in their respective places on the shaft and then attended to getting them into the shaft tube.

Took that out to the shed.. thought about just cutting the race for the bronze bushings off because they were crimped in place. Out of the corner of my eye and from deep inside my head I seen and heard my Mapp gass torch calling to me... Charlie... Charlie....\

so I grabbed it, Heated the tubing up slowly and very cautiously... wammo... Got the race out with a little bit of fuss but left the tube intact... But Umm I still had to figure out how to get the Inner diameter of the tube to allow the O.D. of the bearings to fit... It was .050" off.. Hmmm

Said a prayer and asked for forgiveness as I matched up the Bearing to a deep well socket .... Tear came to my eye as I grabbed the trusty socket that I have had for about 15 years... And proceeded to grind saw teeth into the end of the socket..
took a file and sharped it and beveled the non cutting edges...

Took a hammer and rammed it into the aluminum tubing slightly and away I went.. Asking the Socket for forgiveness still and I turned it deeper and deeper into the tubing.just needed an inch and a half deep to get the bearings into place where they belonged..

Viola.. 6 hours later... I now have a WW curved shaft that has roller bearings incorporated into it at distance so that the rotating shaft will now spin free and never have to worry about wobble or being stranded again because of it..

Put the flag at half mast... played taps and put the socket to rest in the bottom of my tool box... though its prolly still usable.. sighs.. It wont be the same.

 

[cannonball2]

Just to let you know for future reference, the curved shaft Echo trimmer has a ball bearing head, should have been a bolt on, sounds like you had "fun" though.

 

[bishop letov]

didnt have access to a echo curved shaft and I gave away the other curved shaft that I had to someone looking to do the same thing as I did to my bike.

Thanks for the info Cb.. Ill keep that in mind if I ever come accross one in the scrap yard or the sidewalk free for all..

the only thing that kept me from going over the handlebars at 45 mph down hill was the load of crap I just expelled when I felt the bike all of a sudden start skidding to a halt.

 

[deacon]

This most likely has no application at all for you but my bike shop hired mechanic who is no longer there told me hey you do know you can just pour the bearing into the chase and coat them with grease. I found that to be extremely interesting since I had no idea you could fake a bearing repair.

 

[bishop letov]

Yeah I had to do that to my Old star lathe when it needed bearings and then take it to a shop that had a lather in order to ream them straight to the head. Intresting though and Might have worked for a little bit but with the speeds that I get on a downhill it would surely have melted and left me in the same spot not to mention the slight pressure that I have on it to keep firction with the sidewall of the tire..

But thanks Deacon for that Idea.

 

[bishop letov]

Just got back from the test ride with the new bearings in place...

Heres a Vid of it:

‪Weed Wacker Bike... Must see not like the rest...‬‏ - YouTube

comments are welcomed..

 

[cannonball2]

Real interesting vid! Looks like the little Homelite is doing pretty well. I just replaced my ancient 30cc Homey blower with a new one with the a 26cc engine like yours, runs very well. Leaves me with a 30cc long shaft. Hmm...

 

[bishop letov]

Just finished last night getting the traili hookup and the pannier supports totally finished... Thank god for friends with welders.

I just used the rear fork from a huffy bike that had been picked clean. cut them off and welded them to my rack so that if I have to change the rack onto another bike for any reason then everything will just switch over..

Pics to follow soon.

 

[bishop letov]

Just an update...

Was able to get my hands on a bigger motor and 5:1 reduction gearbox and now the bike has been reworked and repowered.

Also am helping my roommate build up his schwinn sting ray chopper up by adding disc brakes front and rear, Added a chain drive for a 49cc china motor and gearbox off a scooter.

Ill be posting the new builds under a new post.

 

[deacon]

busy busy busy

 

[bishop letov]

I know it been a while but life got in the way..

New motor i installed and I have been using it for the daily commute to and from work for a month now. Getting lesser mpg but more mph.

on a side note... just got "pulled over " for the first time on my mb and was told it i illegal to ride any power assisted bike in the state of Pa without a Moped tag. Talked to the LEO for about 15 minute about it and he let me go.

Trying to find more then I have to support my claim but its a circular thing of this ay this but another thing says the opposite...

Oh New vid of my commute up on Youtube here: Daily commute 1 with my 49cc mongoose bike - YouTube and here: bishop819's Channel - YouTube

will get a new build thread going shortly..