Idiot problems

crassius said:
sounds like less work to swap out rear wheel for one with 36 spokes
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You might be right. I'll talk to the guy I bought my bike from, see if he's got any good deals on wheels. I need to see him about getting my brake lines hooked to one lever anyway. And show off my creation. That's also important.
 
I'd swap the wheel. I have one with 24 spokes, and a really thin hub. I've been looking for a hub sprocket adapter for it, but not so much luck. I will most likely replace the wheel. Sad, because that wheel is ultra light and the bike is fast even unmotorized.

You will need to anyway. That bent spoke is bad news. Your wheel will get wobbly soon (if not already) and getting it true again will be impossible.

Check out gasbike.net. They have sprocket adapters for cheap ($40-$55) and there are options for which size hub you have. That is, of course, if you want to go for the adapter after changing out that bent wheel.
 
Agreen said:
I'd swap the wheel. I have one with 24 spokes, and a really thin hub. I've been looking for a hub sprocket adapter for it, but not so much luck. I will most likely replace the wheel. Sad, because that wheel is ultra light and the bike is fast even unmotorized.
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I found these, which go down to 1". I can't imagine it being too much smaller than that, but even if it is I'm sure you could make your own shims by taking any simple tubing and cutting it in half. Incidentally, that's basically what I'm thinking of doing with mine. Get a slightly oversized hub adapter and make a shim out of PVC. We're not curing cancer here; we can fudge a bit. Again, the issue's probably not so much the hub attachment as spoke arrangement. But with the three bolt sprocket attachment I feel it has a fairly good chance of making it somewhere in the spokes. In my case I was fine until the last 2 bolts of the rag adapter. 9 bolts is a lot to try and work around. If I actually pull the trigger on this, I'll tell you how it works out.
 
Thank you for posting that link---I looked for a long time for small ones and the one I posed eariler is the only one I could find. I think you need the 1.18" one for your rim, since it only has 3 bolts you should be able to fit it to your 32 spoke wheel.
 
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Here you go Agreen. My mounting job. The back brackets are bent vertically and slightly offcenter, but really I could live with them if they were the only problem. The front brackets however...are really just wow. Not sure how well you can see, but the studs are actually horrifically bent on account of my front post being large diameter/elliptical. I have the HD universal mount on there (universal my left teat), so it's a bit confusing. The engine studs are the shinier threads on top. My "remedy" for the bending was to put a second mounting bracket between the engine itself and the post so that the engine wasn't being split apart by the force. I've since sprung for a set of these along with some new studs which should rectify the problem. It's really kind of a shame, though. The way it's ham-fisted in there is almost endearing. It's a crappy little China Girl engine, after all. The manufacturers would probably be proud of the bailing-wire-and-hallelujah type jerry-rigging I've got going on there.

And if you look, you can see the HD mount's stud pushing against the muffler. It does actually put a fair amount of pressure against the tube. I imagine that really can't be good for the muffler's mounting bolts.
 
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Despite all good judgement, I did some gravel paths and offroading today. It went pretty well, although that warning you guys gave me about my wheel coming untrue? That has happened. To a somewhat hilarious extent I must say. The cartoonish level of wobbling is, again, almost endearing. Too bad it also makes the bike vibrate like a washing machine with a brick in it at higher speeds.

Also I learned how not to mount a curb today. All in all, a very good day.
 
Well I am glad that you nor the bike didn't hurt during the rear wheel's demise.
Congratulations on getting it to run reliably too!
Now that you need to replace the rear wheel, I highly recommend getting rid of all the adapters, clamshells, and pineapple stuff floating around in the land of possibilities and using a rear hub that accepts a brake disc. You can get sprockets that will bolt up to the disc mounting holes in the hub thus eliminating any wobble or hop in the sprocket mounting.
 
I've got the guy I bought my bike from getting a list of prices for new rear wheels right now. He's supposed to give me a call back some time today. I'll keep that option in mind, GearNut. Certainly seems like it could take a whole lot of guess work in this whole sprocket situation. Do you have a bike you've done this too? Can you show pictures?

The new chain tensioner came in and man it is slick. I found I couldn't really reduce the chain down to the right amount of links to get proper tension. If I could remove half a link, sure. But as it is, it was stuck with either way, way too much tension or practically none at all. Maybe I'm just doing some wrong, and that'll probably change with the new motor mount coming in, but I figure this thing can't hurt.

Unfortunately I probably won't be able to ride her for a few days, though. Just had my wisdom teeth extracted. I really don't want to chance a ride. If I fall (again) I could rip these stitches right apart. The silver lining is it'll give me a chance to remount the engine before I rip it right off the frame with the way I've been abusing this thing.
 
The large mount shouldnt have studs and nuts. You should have installed the plate with bolts, then a u bolt goes around the frame and through the plate, nuts on the back of the plate. No stud bending that way.

And does the phrase "i told you so" come to mind?
 
That's taking it easy on you!

We submariners have a nasty habit of doing that. Think "pack of dogs on a 3-legged cat" and you'll understand how friendly I normally am outside this G-rated forum.

I'm looking for a good picture of that mount. I firmly believe you can make it right without replacing any parts. I think if you take those studs out and get the right size bolts in there you'll be set. The wheel is most likely FUBAR.
 
Don't worry, that was sarcasm. I worked in an oil change shop for a while. We dragged each other the mud real bad.

I've got new mounts coming already. They'll definitely be better, especially since I'll probably have to realign the motor every once and while. I load it onto a bike rack to take it to and from school, and part of the rack pushes the motor outwards.
 
its a learning thing and you are not an idoit, my first kit i mounted and took countless hours because i wanted it perfect. and it was perfect, the frame was protected, nice and centered it was a thing of beauty till i stepped back to take a look at my fine craftsmanship. I mounted the motor on backwards. all i could do is laugh at myself and start over, like you when it finally started on my first run i had a smile as big as my face
 
paul said:
its a learning thing and you are not an idoit, my first kit i mounted and took countless hours because i wanted it perfect. and it was perfect, the frame was protected, nice and centered it was a thing of beauty till i stepped back to take a look at my fine craftsmanship. I mounted the motor on backwards. all i could do is laugh at myself and start over, like you when it finally started on my first run i had a smile as big as my face
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I hate to admit this but my first time, I put the carb on upside down.
 
paul said:
its a learning thing and you are not an idoit, my first kit i mounted and took countless hours because i wanted it perfect. and it was perfect, the frame was protected, nice and centered it was a thing of beauty till i stepped back to take a look at my fine craftsmanship. I mounted the motor on backwards. all i could do is laugh at myself and start over, like you when it finally started on my first run i had a smile as big as my face
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Tyler6357 said:
I hate to admit this but my first time, I put the carb on upside down.
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Well I guess I don't have to feel so bad about installing the clutch lever backwards at first now. Tell you what though, I learned first hand why you never, ever bend spokes. Took my rear wheel to my bicycle shop and found out one of the spokes I'd bent had snapped right in half. Instead of getting a whole new wheel, though, the store owner offered to re-spoke and re-true the wheel with all new heavy-duty spokes. That seemed like the better option. Now I just have to figure out if I could get a sprocket like GearNut was talking about to work on it.

On a side note, thanks to 2door for this thread here. Before taking my bike to the shop, I tried running this quick little fix. Chain is MUCH quieter now even with the improper alignment.
 
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