Hi Michael,
The picture that you have of the Jaguar is my build. I was very satisfied with the Jaguar I mounted the motor on. I liked the 7 speed and no coaster brake to get in the way of the motor sprocket. If I had to do it again though I would have bought the motor mount extension like the one you found at Livefast Motors and used it on the front of the motor. I really thought that the motor would bolt directly to the Jaguar from the research I had done but it ended up being about an inch short from mating on the front and rear tubes at the same time.
I was just really wanting to ride the bike that weekend and didn't want to order the mount and wait for it to ship so I fabbed those homemade extensions for the rear of the motor. They have worked fine and the motor has been rock solid. The front and rear tubes are not oversized and the clamps that came with my kit fit just right on both tubes.
The reason I would use the front motor mount extension is that the front of the motor was to close to the front tube and I had to bend the muffler to get it to bolt up. The muffler I got was tough and not easy to bend, should have bought a torch but I was going to buy another muffler eventually and do it right. Also the motor will set a little more level and clear the bike chain guard better.
The tube where the chain tensioner bolts up is to small. I used some junk to shim it up so I could tighten it down and it worked ok but not before I stripped the bolts. Replace all the bolts that come with the kit - especially the motor mount bolts with US made bolts. The Chinese stuff is all crap.
Another problem was the chain. If the motor is to far forward you will not have enough chain and the chain guard will be short.
Also the master link on the chain came off on me and ruined my back wheel. Had to replace the wheel. I fastened the chain without a master link and never had another problem. I would not use the master link. In my experience the chain guards would not stay on the bike. Just to much vibration and the thin metal breaks.
I also did not like the gas tank on the front as you have no place to hop off the seat to straddle the bar when you stop and the Jaguar is pretty tall so I moved the tank to the back of the bike.
I bought a dual brake handle so I only had to have one on one side. I cut the end off the 7 speed shifter twist knob and moved it in on the handlebars to sit beside the throttle. That worked fine.
I didn't really have any major problems other than the chain thing. The bike started right up and I had a lot of fun riding it. I put about 700 miles on it and rode it to work maybe a dozen times, a round trip of about 16 miles.
Here are the things I did not like. Vibration. A lot of vibration. Not a real problem but enough to be uncomfortable. The main problem was flats. Flats were a major pain in the butt. Seems like they were always on the back tire. I tried slime tubes and that did not help and finally shelled out $40 for a bulletproof Kevlar rear tire coupled with a slime tube. The first week on the Kevlar tire on the way to work it went flat and when I pulled off the pavement the rear tire caught the edge of the pavement and tacoed and locked up the bike sending me to the pavement hard. Ended up with a sprained knee, couldn't walk, and missed 4 days of work.
The bike is sitting on the patio with the destroyed back wheel and I am not sure what I am going to do with it. There is a guy that will build wheels with up to 10 guage spokes for about $100 but I am not sure what I will do. I probably will just fix it one more time and sell it. I do have to admit that I weigh 340 pounds and I suspect that has a lot to do with the back wheel getting destroyed but it would not have happened if the tire would not have gone flat and the flats were always caused by picking up something in the tire. But reading through the forums it seems there is a direct link to flats and big riders.
I really think that I would not build the bike if I had to do it again and would have taken the $500 I sank in to the bike and bought a scooter. The bike was just not reliable enough to depend on as a means of transportation. Was stranded on the side of the road quite a few times.
Bikes are not really made for having motors mounted on them and bike riding can be dangerous. I live in Boulder Colorado which is a very bike friendly town but there were bike rider fatalities this summer where they were hit by cars. The bad thing about motorized bikes is they are not allowed on the bike trails so you have to ride in the street. But obviously in this forum there are people that have ridden the motorized bikes for years and love it so to each his own but I have my sights set on a motorcycle next spring. Probably just as dangerous but I think it will be more dependable and I want to ride it in the mountains.
I am attaching a picture of the bike in it's finished condition right before the wreck. If you serch the forum for my posts you will find a lot of pictures I took of the bike during and after the build. Good luck and be careful.
