Driveline drag while pedaling?

[Trey]

Was recently obliged to pedal the $50 Cruiser a few miles. That was unpleasant! My newly rebuilt rear wheel started coming apart and the engine chain was turning and the gearbox was begging and it was cold but I was sweating... you know those days.

I've got a 49cc 4stroke Huasheng, stage 3 gearbox, permanently engaged, and one pedal speed, and in my case that is fat-boy miles an hour

Wondering if anyone else has had issues with driveline drag while pedaling, and what you did about it?

 

[WightBoy]

I don't know anything about these stage 3 gearboxes but by permanently engaged do you mean it has no centrifugal clutch?

 

[Trey]

Negative. It is a simple engine shaft/ centrifugal clutch/ gears/ engager/ drive gear system. By permanent engagement, I mean that I have removed the handle bar mounted clutch cable lever, and used a little spring inside the engager lever housing (on top of gearbox) to keep the drive gear engaged to the gears (and therefore the clutch), so that anytime I give enough throttle for the clutch to engage, the drive gear turns the chain. Works great.

 

[WightBoy]

Ah, I got ya. It sounds like it is operating normally then. With it permanently engaged you will definitely have parasitic drag because of turning the gears. I would recommend a freewheel hub on the rear wheel unless you already have one.

 

[Trey]

I believe it to be, under normal conditions I believe that when I re-built it I didn't clean the threaded surfaces well enough before applying blue thread lock. The pic by my name is that wheel. Should have been paying attention instead of showing off what a terrific wrench I am!lol Even at first though, it did drag noticeably.

 

[WightBoy]

sounds like you may have a defective freewheel. In theory if they are working properly, you should have little to no parasitic drag from the drivetrain.

 

[Trey]

This thing was parked next to a barn for a year or two. I think it's likely maintenance and crud. I'll be paying closer attention when I get it together again, an I'll let ya know.