Motorized Bicycle Take a Tip...Leave a Tip

I let ladyfriend ride "her" bike today that I built specifically for her. The ride was in a large school parking lot; no traffic. Not one mile into her first ride she gets the hand controls confused and locks the front wheel. She goes flying, of course right at a concrete curb. She broke her helmet, scratched her bare legs up pretty good and slightly skinned her hands. Threw the fuel tank and seat out of alignment, otherwise everyone is okay. After 15 minutes, she got back on and rode the bike some more. We're getting a new helmet this afternoon. I rode the bike an additional 25 miles later on.

My rules when riding with me: Good helmet, long jeans, gloves, eye protection, rear-view mirrors, cell phone. I hope other adopt this practice as well. She does not make fun of my motorcycle helmet any more.

Stay safe out there,
MikeJ
 
yea, the "wear a helmet tip" was well illustrated, I sold! I'm going to have to wear my of m/c helmet until I can get something more bicyclely.

I would rather brake my helmet then my head any day. Hey Mike J, cool chick to dust it off and get back in it! Bet she's glad she tooke your advise and had a helmet on?

Thanks for the safety tips,
Pat Jr.
 
I found the Ex pipe had a large bur inside. Grind it smooth. I replaced all the Screws with Allen head screws, also lube all threads on new bolts and screws. A bolt with lubed threads will stay tight longer then a dry threaded bolt. Loctite the ones your not removing very often. Note: 6-1 compression is really low. The head with center mount spark plug is easer to set up in a lathe when raising the compression. Dont run the synthic oils to rich. Use the oil manufacturs sugested raito. Reg Oil burns up. Synthetic oil does not. Your motor will build up more heat when ideling then at 1/2 throttle. Avoid wide open unless you have taken spark plug readings and know the mixture is corect or better yet run it just a little rich on top end. Lean runs hot and can size the piston, rich runs pourly and foules plugs. I would reather foul a spark plug the replace a piston and cylinder any day.
 

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The stock sparkplug cap went flying off while I was riding. Leaving me 10 miles from home without spark.
I looked into my bag of tricks, I had an old plug wire from my subaru, some speaker wire, and some tools.
Cut up the old subaru plug wire, twisted it into the magneto. Cut it to the right length, stripped the other end so about 1cm of plug wire was coming out of the casing. Then I stripped about 10cm of speaker wire. And I used the speaker wire tightly twisted around the threads on the plug to hold the plug wire on. I'll admit, it is still like that about 100 miles later, and still holding up fine. I need to get a real cap so I can easily take it off, but heck, it worked and saved me a long pedal.
 
I have seen pictures of early auto engines with just a bare clip from magneto wire holding onto the center electrode of the spark plug. There was nothing OSHA-compliant about them at all. But they worked.

By the way.... How does a spark plug cap simply go flying off? Maybe I need to use a nylon tie-wrap to keep mine in place? (I hope not!)

Mike J
 
I found the Ex pipe had a large burr inside. Grind it smooth. (or use a 1/4-inch round file found at most hardware stores.) I replaced all the Screws with Allen head screws (Good idea. The heads are the same diameter and are just better quality. Find at local hardware store. Ace Hardware has a good line.) , also lube all threads on new bolts and screws. A bolt with lubed threads will stay tight longer then a dry threaded bolt. (This is a standard practice when rebuilding any cast iron engine.)
 
Re: take a tip...leave a tip/Schrader Valve

Schrader Valve Tool

Many of us have these schrader valve tool thats also a tire valve cap. I have many of them plus other types of schrader valve tools.

I also save my old used inner tubes and use them for many different things. When I cut them I am always left with a tire valve. I always pull the schrader valves out and save them.

Another thing is I save the tire valve, I screw the schrader valve cap nice and tight and now I have a schrader valve tool that can be easily used between the spokes of the wheel. The tire valve gives plenty of grip plus easy to turn in tight spots.
 

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I always start my bike with me OFF the bike now. Just leave the clutch out and stand to one side and give it a good hard kick in a low gear. I never did this with my first motor and I think I PAID THE PRICE FOR NEVER LETING IT WARM UP PRIOR TO RIDING.
 
This is what happend. I would say it was more to do with poor workmanship though.
 

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Originally I got a bike trailer so that my dog could go for rides with me. She's a good little friend and dogs like to ride. It occurred to me later that a bonus was in how much more visible I was to drivers. Coming up from behind me they give me wider berth, in part because I look bigger and stand out more, but also I think they may figure a darling little kiddie could be in there and although they may not give a damn about grandpa on the bicycle, the precious little grandchild (in this case, Aaniimoosh The Wonder Dog) is tucked inside. Another little thing I did was remove the cheesy orange plastic flag that came with the trailer and added an American flag. Can't hurt, you know. It would be unpatriotic to run that old Indian off the road into the ditch. Along with running lights, head light and brake light, I try to be visible. I also use a truck mirror attached to the bicycle mirror arm so that I have a good view of what's coming up behind me. A trailer like mine weighs very little and doesn't make much difference in how fast I can go. I go faster than I probably should anyway. It is rated to hold a hundred pounds, so is good for gear or groceries. I gave so many rides to Ojibwe Indian kids I had to replace the trailer lately with a new one, the sun plus "wild Indians" took it's toll on the fabric. The dog will go sit by "her" trailer and bark for a ride. Lots of good things about a trailer for me, but the main one I think is the safety factor... lots more visible. I've had a couple different kinds of trailers and this instep "lightning" model is my favorite. The dog won't ride in the hard molded plastic kind. Dogs know best. The bike in the pictures is one of my American Flyers, modified 1963 Schwinn American Deluxe models with heavy duty wheels and balloon tires. Nice ride. The fender light is from a Kawasaki Vulcan motorcycle and the eyes light up when the engine is running. Ha! I'm ordering a fender light for the other one just as cool... a reproduction of an Indian motorcycle running light from the fifties. These bikes are a lot of fun and more fun yet when we can ride safely knowing the wheels are good, tires are good, all nuts and bolts are secure, front and rear brake are in good working order and we are visible to others on the road. Stay safe and have fun...
Silverbear
 

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silverbear,
that's the same trailer I am using for my granddaughters :)
 

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This looks like to much heat. Air Leak, or jetted to lean. When the piston gets to hot the aluminum wipes across the rings, sticking them in and not doing there job. It's easy to say bad product but more likely out of tune. How were you riding when you lost power. Vic
 
azbill said:
silverbear,
that's the same trailer I am using for my granddaughters :)
Click to expand...

AZBill,
That sure is a nice bike you've got there. I bet your granddaughters love going for rides behind Grandpa's motorbicycle. That flag... what country is that anyway?
Silverbear
 
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