Beware all who thread here

ferball

ferball

New Member
Okay I bought a china doll kit about a year ago looking. Honestly I was looking for a cheap moped/motorcycle type transport and I hated the fact that my mountain bike was doing nothing but collecting dust in the shed for the last five years.

So my obsession began. The engine was to easy to put on and fly around the block one. I would then stay up late at night reading this forum and scouring the inter net looking for the next upgrade/experiment I could try with my new toy.

It gets worse. I now have a shed full of old bikes and small engines, all I got for free or next to nothing because my wife lets me have my hobby if it does not get to expensive. I am now in the midst of trying my hand at fabrication to take my obsession to new heights.

A year ago I was looking for easy bolt on fun, now I am trying to reinvent the wheel. Almost literally as I plan to make wheels if my frame comes out all right. In the last year I have learned two-stroke basics intake/exhaust. I have honed my basic electronic circuit skills messing around with lighting for my bike. I built a a custom PVC gas tank. I learned all about welders and transformers in my building of a welder for the purpose of frame construction. This hobby makes me feel like a 14 year old kid messing around in the garage and learning a little bit in the process. There should have been a disclaimer on the box.....Maybe there was but my Chinese is a little rusty.
 
You must have missed this warnig label.
Tom
 

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Thank God I have a good wife to keep my hobby in check!

However when she she gets on my case to much, I start looking a Harley and goldwing ads. This usually brings her around. After all these are just bicycles!

scotto- said:
That really should be the header for this forum....in large, bold letters...honestly!laff
Click to expand...
 
.santa

I know-

the motorized bike thing has fed both my Obsessive/compulsive behavior, and regressive tendencies.

I've spent too much money and wasted too much time- at 56 years of age, I'd put much of the cycling behind me, particularly the mechanical aspect.

Now the bike (bikes!) sit there in front of me in the kitchen of my small apartment, demanding my focus and attentiuon, and I've obsessed over finding just the right combination of frame and wheels and components for my needs- all based on previous racing obsessions about weight and roll and economy of effort.

They are also somehow art sculptures and I fret over colors and appearance, instead of fretting my guitar or writing to make the world a better place, And I come here to spend my lonely hours seeing what others are doing and to share my lifetime of cycling and mechanical experience.

but the bikes are now close to being "dialed in" I expect not to be tinkering so (Arthritis and hypertention, insomnia- I CAN'T!) and so I will probably be less involved with them-

Survival issues mandate that I spend less, but the bikes are after all gas and money savers, and a hedge against possible transportation trouble in the future, especially here in Florida where I can ride most of the year.

Cold now tho- record lows expected the next few nights.
 
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nha, nha nah, nha nha...(sung to then tune shame, shame shame , shame shame...)

We (Denver @ 6000 ft.) were warmer than Miami one day this week. Now that's 'Global Warming' for ya..:)
Gotta love it!
Tom
 
6 above 0 this morning when I went to work. We had a little icy rain and a few flakes and the city was out spreading salt and chemicals and the college kids were riding their bikes bundled up like Eskimos with all that crap on the streets it'll be a wonder if they have any bikes left come spring. That stuff will eat your rims and spokes up where all you have is junk. Sometimes I just can't get started on a project. I just don't have the tinkeritis like I used to have. I've got that Grant stilletto been staring at me for about 2 -3 months so I blew my whole winter budget on a Stanton kit and it came in today. I thought about doing the pit bike or dirt bike motor thing but I just don't have it in me any more. So we'll put it together and see what I come up with when I get done.
Tom I sure like your bike stand I've got a rear pedal trainer with a magnetic resistance that I use. I also have an old Sun engine analyzer with oscilloscope, vacuum gauge, tachometer, and an engine exhaust analyzer. I can run the bike on the stand and load the motor check the chain alignment and vibration. With the analyzer I can also check ignition spark, vacuum, and engine speed. The oscilloscope comes in real handy for this. One nice feature it has I can check exhaust emitions and see how rich or lean the engine runs under different loads. So far I'm learning a lot how these 4stroke engines really operate. This is about as far as my experimenting goes any more. My days of fabricating are about over.
buzzard
 
Buzzard,
I love the idea of using the analyzer to look at things. Here's something interesting.
Take a look at this > Carburetor Tuning the Scientific Way
The guy deals primarily with Holley 4 barrel carburetors for automotive application but near the bottm of his page he offers some advice on using an O2 sensor rigged into the exhaust as a way to monitor the rich/lean conditions of an engine. I've been tempted to try this on a motorbike and see if I could find a way to tune a carb for the best fuel to air mix. Might be a winter project. I was thinking of a complete exhaust pipe/muffler with the sensor in it that could be installed temporarily for testing.
(sorry for derailing your thread, ferball)
Tom
 
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I don't have a problem. Really I don't have a problem. Guys really, I really don't have a problem. Alright maybe a little itty bitty teeny weeine problem, but really it's not a problem.

I can quit anytime I want. I'm just now ready yet.
 
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