This is more for the new builders.
Buying a motorized bike engine is a gamble, even buying one from a "reputable" dealer such as bikebury and cdh power. (The phantom is the ONLY bike motor distributor I know of who actually disassembles the engine and tunes it from top to bottom. I asked bikebury SPECIFICALLY about this and the person that I talked to said they do not open those engines and do anything to them all they do is add parts.
So with that said... When you get your engine brand new I suggest removing the head ( inspect for metal shavings and debris) the cylinder ( inspect for casting imperfections around the ports) and check the "C" clips that hold the wrist pin in place... As these are notorious for being installed wrong and causing catastrophic failure.
See... The parts and things you buy for these builds will run fresh out the box, yes. But they are roughly hewn and often need just a bit of sanding, grinding, welding ECT... It's like they sell you a blank canvas, yes you can hang a blank canvas on your wall and call it a white cow in a snowy field, but it's up to you to make it a masterpiece.
Stay away from knock off and cheap inferior parts as they are not tuned to run with these motors and are just hacked out and sold to the public and can often do more harm than good.
The more attention you pay to details the more you will get out of your bike in performance and longevity.
Example: most exhaust pipes come ready to use, but if you look at the mounting flange that is haphazardly welded onto the pipe you will notice often that it is slightly warped or not flush or perfectly flat. And the pipe welded to the flange isn't exactly as wide or open as the exhaust port on the cylinder. I use a chainsaw file to hog out the exhaust pipe opening to more evenly match the hole on my cylinder, same with my fuel manifold between the carb and cylinder. Same thing with the front and back drive sprockets, they are pressed out and have some pretty rough edges that will take months if not years off of your chain and often cause your chain to climb off the gear, so i take mine and go over it with a chainsaw file and smooth all of the edges so it's smooth like it has been on the bike and been running for 6 months.
Very few mods or upgrades will make a huge difference like a good exhaust pipe or hp billet head, but all of the small details all added up make a big difference in the long run.
So before you just slap anything on your bike, give it a good going over and inspect the item you are going to add... I bet you find something that the manufacturer has overlooked or just let slide in quality control.
If you do this it could mean the difference between your bike running for a year or until long after you are gone.
If I have mistated anything or overlooked anything I would appreciate it if the OG's on here would chime in.
I hope this helps someone to build a better bike.
Right on, write on, ride on!
Buying a motorized bike engine is a gamble, even buying one from a "reputable" dealer such as bikebury and cdh power. (The phantom is the ONLY bike motor distributor I know of who actually disassembles the engine and tunes it from top to bottom. I asked bikebury SPECIFICALLY about this and the person that I talked to said they do not open those engines and do anything to them all they do is add parts.
So with that said... When you get your engine brand new I suggest removing the head ( inspect for metal shavings and debris) the cylinder ( inspect for casting imperfections around the ports) and check the "C" clips that hold the wrist pin in place... As these are notorious for being installed wrong and causing catastrophic failure.
See... The parts and things you buy for these builds will run fresh out the box, yes. But they are roughly hewn and often need just a bit of sanding, grinding, welding ECT... It's like they sell you a blank canvas, yes you can hang a blank canvas on your wall and call it a white cow in a snowy field, but it's up to you to make it a masterpiece.
Stay away from knock off and cheap inferior parts as they are not tuned to run with these motors and are just hacked out and sold to the public and can often do more harm than good.
The more attention you pay to details the more you will get out of your bike in performance and longevity.
Example: most exhaust pipes come ready to use, but if you look at the mounting flange that is haphazardly welded onto the pipe you will notice often that it is slightly warped or not flush or perfectly flat. And the pipe welded to the flange isn't exactly as wide or open as the exhaust port on the cylinder. I use a chainsaw file to hog out the exhaust pipe opening to more evenly match the hole on my cylinder, same with my fuel manifold between the carb and cylinder. Same thing with the front and back drive sprockets, they are pressed out and have some pretty rough edges that will take months if not years off of your chain and often cause your chain to climb off the gear, so i take mine and go over it with a chainsaw file and smooth all of the edges so it's smooth like it has been on the bike and been running for 6 months.
Very few mods or upgrades will make a huge difference like a good exhaust pipe or hp billet head, but all of the small details all added up make a big difference in the long run.
So before you just slap anything on your bike, give it a good going over and inspect the item you are going to add... I bet you find something that the manufacturer has overlooked or just let slide in quality control.
If you do this it could mean the difference between your bike running for a year or until long after you are gone.
If I have mistated anything or overlooked anything I would appreciate it if the OG's on here would chime in.
I hope this helps someone to build a better bike.
Right on, write on, ride on!
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