Build No. 5

Bikeguy Joe

Bikeguy Joe

Godfather of Motorized Bicycles
I guess I'll "blag" this one....

The bike is a Western Auto Stores Western Flyer, but it is a "Galaxy Flyer" variant. It has a 72 as the last two serial numbers, and the hub says Bendix 76, so I am guessing it id from the 70's...sure look it. Dark burgundy with orange stripes/"graphics".
It has the abreviated fenders and old school "regular bars", burgundy grips/seat.
I have built two other Western Flyers, and this one is different in that it has a larger elongated frame compared to the other two.
Lots of space for the 47cc bicycle motor kit.

The engine is a 55cc Livefast economotor kit (around a hundred twenty bucks shipped) that checked out to be 47cc's. The funky 5 hole 48T sprocket was replaced with a rough stamped 44T/10mm hardware 9 hole from a thatsdax kit.

Other than new studs, a good clean up, and a greasing of the gears, the engine was left stock right down to the plug and wire.....using this bike as a "mule". I did "true up" the sprocket with a rubber mallet.:ride:

Photo 1 shows the custom bike stand I use.
 

Attachments

  • bike stuff 022.jpg
    bike stuff 022.jpg
    156.9 KB · Views: 380
Last edited:
that's a nice lookin' bike. Wish it wasn't so darned hard to find a classic cruiser for a decent price around here.
 
Yep, dropped right in....almost. The "V" is actually pretty flat or "open" if you will. The engine touched the chain guard until I put the lead sheets in, which raised it just enough.

Tubing size is 1" both tubes.

I got the bike for 35 dollars this past summer @ the flea market. It has a different kind of rim, not sure what they are, but they are a deep v type, not like most I've seen.
 
$35?!!?! Bah, I need to go bike shopping in ohio. The most I've been able to find at the flea markets are crappy girls mountain bikes. Craigslist is utterly useless unless I want an overpriced girls cruiser.

In the words of Napoleon Dynamite, "Lucky."
 
I got two bikes for 3 each (huffy 10 speed and a roadmaster ten speed with shorty fenders) and another for 25...it's a weirdo bike called a trialmaster comfybike or somesuch...I have to look at it to remember it exactly. Square looking pull backs, long chrome fenders and a biiiig seat, funny frame- low angle diamond type.
Bought a Puch 18 speed hybrid myb/roadbike for a dollar at a Meadville city auction.

All of those were rideable with just air and oiling.

I bought my Panasonic Olympia for 35, it has a freewheeling crank but I won't motorize that one, that's my "road bike".
 
I have a dax "65cc" roller bearing bicycle engine kit , and three more "55cc" Livefast econo's, so between all those, and my 59 shwing, I should have something to do this winter.

Not to mention the "wood bike".

Oooo, I just did.
 
Todays progress included mounting up the rear wheel, chain (shortened two links with my park bicycle chain tool) stock bearing-less tensioner (more on that later....I have a theory, remind me if I forget to expound on it), front wheel truing, rim liner, tube and tire.

I checked the mag for sparks and it has a real-live blue spark!!! Yeah, I know, crazy.

I deleted the front and rear fenders and high strength loctited the chain guard "screws".

We got a rolla baby!

Still, lots of tweaking to do, but I'm not going crazy with this one, it's a "test mule" bike, so what you see is what you get.

More in store.

No new photos today, I actually worked on the bike.
 
O.K. a quicky for the kids.....

I mounted up one of the super cheapy non-bearing tensioners last summer, and ran it for quite awhile....I only changed it out because I wanted to try a skate wheel.

I think the wheel is not hard plastic, but nylon. The "bearing" is the nylon itself (a pretty good bearing). I purposely ran it dry for the first 15 minutes. I noticed a tiny bit of the nylon, or plastic on the center, so I cleaned it and then added heavy oil. It ran fine for at least a couple hundred miles, and showed no wear to the "bearing" area, or the part where the chain runs.

I ran the chain my usual 3/4+" of free play....I SWEAR BY IT.
 
Blag update-

I installed a front caliper (sidepull) and the rest of the stuff today. Raining so no test ride.

Mounted the cdi and tank on foam weatherstrip.
Used 3/16" gas line (black).

The carb was good right out of the box, the slide even worked. No crud in the carb or tank!

I used a crappy russian clutch lever that I worked over a bit and the throttle twist grip was a mess, but it works.
 
O.K.

About half the choreboy steel mesh has to come out of the muffler. It muffles well, but right now acts as a muffler throttle, like some of the older R/C engines. Quiet though, and there are no tiny tack welds on 1/64" sheet metal from sardine cans to break apart.

Smooooth right out of the box, lead mounts anyone?

Did I mention this bicycle engine kit came with a really nice, vented gas cap not like anything I've seen before?
 

Attachments

  • bike stuff 037.jpg
    bike stuff 037.jpg
    215.8 KB · Views: 181
Bikeguy Joe said:
I guess I'll "blag" this one....

The bike is a Western Auto Stores Western Flyer, but it is a "Galaxy Flyer" variant. It has a 72 as the last two serial numbers, and the hub says Bendix 76, so I am guessing it id from the 70's...sure look it. Dark burgundy with orange stripes/"graphics".
It has the abreviated fenders and old school "regular bars", burgundy grips/seat.
I have built two other Western Flyers, and this one is different in that it has a larger elongated frame compared to the other two.
Lots of space for the 47cc bicycle motor kit.

The engine is a 55cc Livefast economotor kit (around a hundred twenty bucks shipped) that checked out to be 47cc's. The funky 5 hole 48T sprocket was replaced with a rough stamped 44T/10mm hardware 9 hole from a thatsdax kit.

Other than new studs, a good clean up, and a greasing of the gears, the engine was left stock right down to the plug and wire.....using this bike as a "mule". I did "true up" the sprocket with a rubber mallet.:ride:

Photo 1 shows the custom bike stand I use.
Click to expand...

I got a "70cc" livefast kit on my bike. I had a 5 hole sprocket on it too, but once I upgraded my rear wheel to steel with 12g spokes, that sprocket became useless. I changed it back to a 9 hole.
 
Latest installment...I pulled the packing out of the muffler and added a loooog extension, possibly too long. It snowing ice chunks so I still haven't test run it.:(

Don't look too closely at the picture....the bike is a test mule, not a show bike.;)
 

Attachments

  • bike stuff 043.jpg
    bike stuff 043.jpg
    190.1 KB · Views: 170
Final installment of the Build No. 5.

I ran the bike today with the extension pipe. A nice wicked snap to the exhaust note, but not loud.

It's going into cold storage until spring.......next is the MoonDog/65cc Dax bearing engine with 40t and other goodies.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top