DIY Friction Drive : Lowracer Style

Here you go LR, some pics. Its mounted to the bar clamp bolts with a 1/4" thick bracket(with junk hardware for now). Seems very substantial I sat an 8lb weight on top to sim the fuel load, didnt phase it. It is a good 4" drop to the carb float bowl, leaving no flow issues to the bottom of the tank. Line run will follow one of the cables and will be out of the way. Will add an inline fuel shut off and filter. I dont remember if this is a 1gal or 5qt tank. A gallon for sure. Will actually loose a bit of capacity as I was carrying 6qts between the gas can and the existing fuel tank. Would be nice not to have to add fuel on the road and a full tank is probably 160mi. It looks ok to me as this is a non-style bike anyway. The rack under the tank is free to carry whatever I can stuff under the tank, instead of just a gas can.I will remove the small existing tank. Will probably plug the tank, fill it and ride around a bit when the weather clears to see just how it does.
 

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I like that lowracer FD bracket a lot!
really straight-forward design work.
..gotta get more work done on my own..
Best
rc
 
how did you remove the pump impeller from the shaft of that engine. I was going to buy one of those but could not figure out how remove it. It looked like it was press fit on.
 
CB2,
That looks nice...
I was in the garage today working on this 'no-named' new MB & held up a small square milk crate to my handlebars & even put my 1 gallon, then 2 gallon gas can into the basket & each fits with loads of room to spare. I then started thinking once I mount the basket, I can buy some coroplast (corrugated plastic sheet) & zip tie it to the basket in a wedge like shape to create an aerodynamic fairing on the cheap, that can move with the handlebars. Could even extend it downward onto a rigid fork for leg protection...
I got some cool pics off the internet that I'll post here as food for thought.
Thanks for your pics CB2
 

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Yeah coroplast is cool. Went through a phase of building R/C aircraft with it. Made a cool cutter to cut out flutes on only one side so bending is easy, also makes a neat live hinge. Cant wait to see what you come up with!
 
CB2,
I removed Pocket bike engine #2 & installed yours today. #2 was bogging out & running poorly so instead of trying to figure it out, I swapped engines. Took it for a few runs & it also started running goofy. I finally figured out what had happened. One of the 4 head bolts unthreaded itself out about 1/2" & I must have been getting a bad head seal. Just glad I didnt blow it up. I removed the stock (short) headbolt & replaced it with one of the longer ones I ordered awhile ago. Runs good again...I ordered another expansion chamber (same like I got on 'The Beast') & will install that once it arrives.
I really like some of these fairings in the pics I uploaded. My coroplast wont look anything like these nor as nice...lol
-Lowracer-
 
Re: DIY : Lowracer Style

CB2,
Instead of mounting the 1 gallon plastic gas can to the handlebars (as I originally intended to do), I ended up getting 2 additional 20 oz MSR Fuel Bottles on eBay for $10/ea & a few handlebar mounted water bottle cages making things more portable to switch from one MB to another (I have 3 MB's now). This will allow me to carry an additional 80 oz of fuel (in addition to the engine mounted fuel tank). Doing the math of my past fuel economy, I should be able to go ~100+ miles.
-Lowracer-
 

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Pretty cool LR. I have finalized the 1gal. tank and it works well. Still have room to carry the 1gal gas can on the front rack for a total of 2gal. Should be able to go 125+ mi. with out adding fuel. Carrrying the can would only be on an extended trip if that ever happens. I havent noticed much difference with a full tank on the bars.
 
MaxPower said:
how did you remove the pump impeller from the shaft of that engine. I was going to buy one of those but could not figure out how remove it. It looked like it was press fit on.
Click to expand...

I guess this was addressed to me about the Lifans MP? I bought engines only. They were on ebay. When I bought thr first the were around $90 ended up around $120 as the supply dwindled. I bought three there and one from Home Depot. That one was $109 shipped. The one on the yellow Mongoose has 2000+miles and over 100hrs with no issues.
 
The bottles are a good idea. I might have done something like that if I didnt have the tank laying around. Here is the finished tank mod. Added a fuel shut off and filter. Used a copper tube to loop over the carb. Removed the small tank and painted the engine tin work black. I am very pleased with the mod. I like all of my bikes, but this is the one I have riden most. Its no beauty, but an excellent ride.
 
Wow! Somehow the pics didnt post. Try again.
 

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Re: DIY Friction Drive : Lowracer Style...switched to V-Belt Drive***

lowracer said:
Well,
I'm back to my old ways again, not wanting to leave well enough alone.
I like friction drive, in fact I took one of my MB's to work yesterday (around 60 miles of riding). This is the one with the Subaru Robin EH035 driving a BMP friction kit. The thing performed flawlessly & got around 135-145 mpg's. Just needs more power to drive thru the wind and to cruise at over 30 mph without being at WOT the whole time.
I didnt much like the DIY friction set-up on this bike with this engine, so I went & converted it to my tried & true v-belt drive. It gets out of its own way in a hurry now & easily cruises at 30 mph at half throttle.
Here are a few pics...enjoy
I'll probably install the expansion chamber after I do some more test drives.
-Lowracer-
Click to expand...

Hey really like the way you put this bike together!!I like the idea of having everything on the back! yea the fuel,the exhaust and the noise!!good job
 
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