Hello everyone. This is my first message from the inner coast of North Carolina where you can ride year round. I built my first MB when I was 9, a washing machine engine with kick start on an old cruiser. Basically, there were two speeds, slow and stop!!! From there I graduated to a 50cc Ducati, a Honda 90 and dozens of 2 wheeled speedsters since. I never lost my facination for simplicity, so now I'm back to building instead of buying. I started out with a 2 cycle Chinagirl on a mountain bike which I swapped out for a Grubee 4 cycle with stage II gearbox. I swapped that out for a Homlite chainsaw engine which has the same displacement but twice the HP. I hope to have the bike finished next month. In the meantime I've had a 99 WC-1 Whizzer on life support. At 115 miles, nearly everything has been repaired, replaced or upgraded. I'm hoping to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!! My next project will be a Schwinn Spoiler still in the box, with a NuVinci hub and a Honda engine. I've gotten many good pointers from this forum and escape here when I'm frustrated or stumped. Will post photos shortly.
Greetings from Scootmeister Skunkworks
- Thread starter Scootmeister
- Start date
I built my first MB when I was 9, a washing machine engine with kick start on an old cruiser.
Great story. Was the washer motor a Briggs or Maytag? I have some of both and enjoy collecting all kinds of old engines. Welcome to this great forum.
Great story. Was the washer motor a Briggs or Maytag? I have some of both and enjoy collecting all kinds of old engines. Welcome to this great forum.
Hi MSRFAN. I think it was a Maytag. What I remember most is it was bulletproof and it made a funky sound when it was running.
That sounds like a Maytag. The singles are "hit and miss" and only fire when they need to. Put a load on it and it fires more. I have 6 or 7 singles and 3 twins. I made a stand up scooter with a Maytag single from plans in a 1934 Popular Mechanics magazine. I also have a model "Y" kickstart Briggs from a 1946 Montgomery Wards washing machine. They're all a little down on horsepower for a bicycle, but still fun to collect.