Hey Everybody

[Mista Fyde]

My name is Stephen and I live in Lake Worth, Florida. I have been considering a motorized bicycle for quite some time and finally decided to go ahead and purchase the 2010 Grubee Skyhawk 66cc Angle Motor Kit. The bike of choice is a Schwinn Point Beach Cruiser. I did some custom motor mount work and installed the motor, clutch cable, rear wheel sprocket and chain and everything looks good so far. I'm not quite finished because the muffler is in the way of the pedals, so I'm going to have to take it to an exhaust place to have them rework it. I'm also having problems with disengaging the clutch. With everything double and triple-checked, adusted and tightened properly, the clutch just don't want to disengage and allow me to pedal the bike freely.


I read some of the other threads on here and I'm going to try the methods suggested by other members to see if I can resolve this problem. Your suggestions are more than welcome, especially if you had this issue while building your bike!

Thanks,

Steve

 

[Goat Herder]

Try the old 'hammer' trick before disassembling the clutch.
Remove the clutch actuator cover. There is a steel pin protruding from the center of the engine drive sprocket. Use a plastic head hammer or a block of hardwood and give that pin a few whacks with the hammer. Don't beat it to death or use metal to metal but don't baby it either.
Many times the clutch pads will 'pop' loose if you simply push the clutch actuator arm in as far as it will go. The spring is strong so you might need to wrap a rag around the arm and use your hand. Caution: Do not beat on the arm with a hammer, just the pin in the sprocket.
If the clutch still will not come free then you can try the other side but you'll need to readjust the clutch after taking it apart.
Tom

Welcome to the forum! As for the sticking clutch try this..

 

[Mista Fyde]

Thanks, glad to be part of the forum! As for that hammer trick, I will try that method today. Hope all goes well!

 

[2door]

Thanks, glad to be part of the forum! As for that hammer trick, I will try that method today. Hope all goes well!

Make sure your clutch cable is properly adjusted before going too far with other fixes.
You'll want no slack in the cable where it attaches to the clutch actuator arm on the engine. Move the arm in with one hand and pull the cable through the slot on the end with the other and tighten the cable stop. I know, it take three hands to do that but with some practice you can do it with two. Many first time builders will underestimate the amount of pressure it takes to disengage the clutch and how much actual leverage is provided by the handlebar lever/cable.
It is not uncommon to find clutch pads stuck from the factory so you might have to use the hammer method or loosen the clutch pressure plate in sever circumstances.
Tom

 

[Mista Fyde]

Thanks Tom, appreciate the suggestions. I got it to break loose, but I had to open the clutch housing, remove the pressure plate and put a screw driver between two of the pressure plate pins and push down and that did the trick.

http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=22729

I'm a pretty mechanical person so it was no problem to tackle this feat.

 

[Goat Herder]

Yes GearNut does very nice informational write ups Glad you got it going!

 

[Mista Fyde]

Can't get motor to start again

Yes GearNut does very nice informational write ups Glad you got it going!

Thanks Mr. Herder! I have a slight problem though. Forgive me as I'm just a newbie and beginner, but I took the bike out for the first time last night and it started up good, motor was running but I couldn't quite figure out the throttle and choke which is mounted on the handlebar, getting the bike to accelerate and decelerate. Maybe it's just me, but I thought that when you engage the clutch after peddling, the motor starts up and idles and the bike don't move until you twist the throttle handle. Well at least for me, it didn't work that way. As I was riding, I was having a hard time controlling the throttle and choke and to accelerate and decelerate. When I tried to disengage the clutch to slow down or stop the bike, I noticed that the motor was revving way too high, so I tried adjusting the choke and that did nothing after which I hit the kill switch to shut the motor down. Well, I thought I'd give it another go, so I tried to start it up again but to no avail. My dad said the carb might be flooded with gas, but I don't know if that's the case. I'm going to try and start the bike again today and see what happens. By-the-way, do you know what purpose those little clear tubes serves as on the new 2010 Skyhawk carburator? Can I remove them or do they need to stay on. Thanks for your help.

 

[Mista Fyde]

I finally got a chance to really ride my motorbike today!

I finally saw what my problem was with the throttle and the idle. I had took apart the carburator and didn't double-check to make sure everything was seated correctly before putting it all back together. All fixed now and everything runs good. I rode my cruiser about 10 miles today and it was great! One thing I noticed is that the motor will idle a bit when I release the throttle and then shut off when the clutch is disengaged as I'm at a traffic signal waiting to cross. I noticed some screeching and squeeling in the motor as well. Is this normal for the break in period or is this something I should be concerned about? Is there a way to remedy this? Thanks for your help.