Nishiki Colorado - Look Dad, no tensioner!

KCvale

KCvale

Well-Known Member
I don't care to ride super light mountain bikes, I like big heavy beach cruisers, but as far as motorizing goes this Nishiki is a pretty easy bike to build on.

The customer dropped off the used bike and a new (2009) no-name 48cc motor kit for me to put on it.

2_ColoradoLeft.jpg


This is one of those rare bikes with a derailleur that is mounted to the frame only and not the quick-release axle, AND it has horizontal drop-outs.

There is no reason in the world for anyone to add a drive chain tensioner on a bike like this.
Also, the motor drops right in without a special front mount with the carb level and it has Dual V brakes.
The rear V is a bottom mount though, so a bit of a pain, but with their new pads they works great.

Like with all 10+speed bikes you have to strip the handlebars, remove the front derailleur, drop a dual-pull brake lever on the right side (I like the SBP one) and locate the rear derailleur shift lever elsewhere, it still goes together pretty quick, easy and solid.

2_ColoradoRight.jpg


One thing that almost got me was the shift levers, they were part of the brake levers.
That was OK as all of that was going except for the rear derailleur shift lever so I had to get creative to re-mount it, but it did work well attached to the dual-pull brake lever.

That placement would not be practical if it were a jackshafted shifter, it would need a new lever on the left, but it's a direct drive on a light bike so he won't be shifting much if it all.

Anyway, I just wanted to post this up for those people looking at what kind of bike to build on and like the mountain style, look for a fixed derailleur with horizontal dropouts.
No tensioner needed and you can tighten the drive chain in less than a minute with no tools ;-}
 
Nice clean build. Thanks for sharing. No muss, no fuss, just reliable/fun transportation.

It's too bad that everyone doesn't start with a similar bike as their first build. They adapt to motorizing well and without a lot of custom fabrication, or none at all. It would eliminate a lot of frustration and the first time builder would enjoy riding instead of trying to come up with mounting ideas and struggling with tensioner problems.
Tom
 
KCvale, I run no tensioner as well. If you are building this for someone else then you should keep in mind that the chain will become very loose in the first few 10's of miles. Your customer may not be very happy if the chain falls off because of it.
 
The derailleur being mounted to the frame isn't rare, it's standard for non-generic multispeed bicycles.

My '84 Diamondback Ascent, '96 Schwinn Cruiser Six, '98 Giant Boulder, '05 Schwinn Alloy Seven, and '07 GreenLine TX were/are all like that.

Anyway, looks like a fun bike! MTBs make great MaBs as I'm sure ya know, and Nishikis are built pretty well!
 
Rocky_Motor said:
KCvale, I run no tensioner as well. If you are building this for someone else then you should keep in mind that the chain will become very loose in the first few 10's of miles. Your customer may not be very happy if the chain falls off because of it.
Click to expand...
What KC is saying is that keeping the chain tight is easy because of the horizontal drop outs. Maintaining chain tension is the owner/rider's responsibility.

Tom
 
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