Enough Power?

E

enjenn

New Member
I am still in the market for a motor. This summer, I will be making a 5 mile commute with an elevation gain of about 690 feet (from 6642' to 7332'). During that five miles I will be going up and down during which I will climb a total of 1190'. I weigh about 115#. Will a 4-stroke, 49cc engine make it a pleasant ride or will it just be extra weight? Does anyone have any insight? I plan on mounting it in-frame on an aluminum mountain bike.

Thanks in advance,
Jenn
 
You'd definitely have to pedal! You could do it, but at that elevation a little engine could be wheezy.

If you could pedal that ride, any small engine will help!
 
Hehe.. I don't think that I could pedal the whole way w/o motorized assistance or getting off and pushing part of it... at least not in the beginning. Maybe by the end of the summer. hehe

Do you think that I will be really disappointed by the performance? I understand that a two stroke has a good deal more power. Would it make a world of difference in that situation?

The good news is that the ride back will be almost all down hill ;)

Will special gearing help? This year I know exactly where I will be and what I will be doing but in general, I spend most winters in the desert and summers in the mountains.
 
At 115lbs. you'll be flying up the hills with a 49cc any-stroke. ;)

dnut
 
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Haha that made me lol scotto. Must be too late. But yea I can't imagine it not being able to pull you. Worst case scenario you just get a larger rear sprocket and loose a little top end. I would go for it.
 
takeitez said:
Haha that made me lol scotto. Must be too late. But yea I can't imagine it not being able to pull you. Worst case scenario you just get a larger rear sprocket and loose a little top end. I would go for it.
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Lol...... Most folks would rather lose a little bottom end, rather than top end, but not in the case of riding in hilly area's I suppose. I would strongly suggest a 49cc 4-stroke in this case.......jus sayin' ;)

dnut
 
enjenn said:
I am still in the market for a motor. This summer, I will be making a 5 mile commute with an elevation gain of about 690 feet (from 6642' to 7332'). During that five miles I will be going up and down during which I will climb a total of 1190'. I weigh about 115#. Will a 4-stroke, 49cc engine make it a pleasant ride or will it just be extra weight? Does anyone have any insight? I plan on mounting it in-frame on an aluminum mountain bike.

Thanks in advance,
Jenn
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I weigh 220# Ride a basically stock 66cc HT (mounted on a cruiser) and can climb to the top of Oak Mountain without any problem, a climb in excess of 900' WITHOUT peddling. Be careful with aluminum frames, they tend to crack. Front gate to the top is about 6 miles. Great ride, and some roads have quite a bit of a incline.
http://www.alapark.com/oakmountain/
 
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I would guess you will have enough to make that climb, especially if you run a bit larger rear sprocket. Only prob there is the downhill run over-speeding the engine.

IIRC the rule of thumb for an ICE is 10% loss of HP per 1000ft above sea level.

You would probably be best off with a 98cc motor. There's no substitute for cubic inches.

Best
rc
 
The stock engines both the 49 cc four stroke and the 66cc 2 stroke will get you up those hills especially with the stock 44 tooth sprocket. The question is....how fast do you want to get up those hills :P For torque and speed the there is no substitute for an engine that has a power stroke every time it hits TDC. I would go with a 2 stroke. If its not powerfull enough stock then port it and put an expantion chamber on it.

Warning! if you want reliability your going to have to get a rear mounted 2 stroke kit built in America or Japan. Not china
 
recon chris said:
The stock engines both the 49 cc four stroke and the 66cc 2 stroke will get you up those hills especially with the stock 44 tooth sprocket. The question is....how fast do you want to get up those hills :P For torque and speed the there is no substitute for an engine that has a power stroke every time it hits TDC. I would go with a 2 stroke. If its not powerfull enough stock then port it and put an expantion chamber on it.

Warning! if you want reliability your going to have to get a rear mounted 2 stroke kit built in America or Japan. Not china
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You may want to tell the members of this site that their made in china 4strokes are garbage then!! Being that quite a few have more then 3000 miles on them with no problems
 
I was referring to 2 strokes "Warning! if you want reliability you’re going to have to get a rear mounted 2 stroke kit built in America or Japan. Not china" I don't have experience with the Chinese 4 strokes, BUT I wouldn’t give this kid the notion that buying a bicycle engine made in china is a fire and forget deal.
 
Ya know, Enejnn, once I got my China Gurl dialed in, tuned, (whatever) I was using her to commute 9 miles to work, up some steep hills then back down. I would just shut down the engine on the downhill ride. Though I weigh around 200 pounds myself, I never had much trouble doing the everyday commute thing (until the guy in the truck hit me, don't get me started on him). Still have the same engine on a different bike. Don't know how many thousand miles offhand. Starts every time, hardly any maintenance. But it is a two stroke so you do have to know a little bit about what you're doing with it.

I think, with a performance air filter and some fine tuning, you could make a China two-stroke work for you - if it's what you want, & what you're comfortable with.
 
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