New to building / motorized bikes

[Necrôsis]

I'm new to building motorized bicycles in general and I gained a lot of knowledge through the forums but also have some questions of my own.

I am looking at building my own bike, after not being able to find a schwinn occ stingray like I wanted to locally.

I would like to build a frame similar to the stringray or chopper, but have no idea where to start for measurements, what type of material to make the frame out of (i.e. aluminum, 4130 Tube), Would round stock or sq. tube work better?

As for the motor kits, are the china kits worth it or am I better off making my own?

Is there any good sites for buying the parts that I cannot fabricate, such as tires, rims (one wide for the back tire), chain, tail light, head light ect..

As for lighting, should I use a motorcycle battery and allow the engine to charge it? That way I won't have any issue about not having lights when I run out of batteries / don't have any spare.

I have no issues welding, but what is a good cheap tig welder? The only ones I have used are the larger transformer or small inverter miller machines and they can be expensive if cannot be found used, even used can be expensive.

What material should I use for a custom exhaust? One that wouldn't lose it's chrome or other properties when heated.

I'm only a college kid and a bike would be great to get around town / campus on. It would be a lot cheaper than my truck for the small investment.

Necrôsis

 

[bluegoatwoods]

Welcome aboard.

Sorry to be a downer. But I think you're being over-ambitious. Unless I'm misunderstanding your questions, I don't think you've got the knowledge to actually build a bicycle of your own. You need to keep your safety in mind. And designing a bike requires a lot of knowledge of stress points, etc. Plus the fact that it'll be expensive and take up an awful lot of your time.

Here's my advice. Get a Huffy beach cruiser from a big box store. (I'm recommending Huffy because they're stronger than people think. But there's other brands.) Plus get a $180 2 cycle engine/direct chain drive kit. Put the two together and start riding. (It's not really quite as simple as that. There's small mods and adjustments needed. You can learn about them here.)

It's quick and it's cheap.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Cruise]

Yeah mate, keep looking around for a frame you like. I've built only a beach cruiser and a stretch chopper. The cruiser was oh so much easier , with the chopper needing a lot of mods and mucking around.
I'd say do a nice cruiser style, or short chopper of some sort if you have to, but yeah, buy it all and put it together. You'll learn a lot and save buckets. Go big on the second bike if you feel the need. Go the china. So much info and spares around I'm finding.

 

[curtisfox]

Wow I have.e seen the stingrays at car swap meets every summer,check some out...........Curt

 

[Lightning Boy]

I see them regularly at pawn shops and thrift stores. Might try those, as well.