Reasons for riding Motorized Bicycle
- Thread starter graydog8josh
- Start date
Mike B
New Member
I have lots of vehicles. A car, 3 motorcycles and 5 motorized bicycles. Oh, and 1 stand up gas powered scooter.
The hands down best app for the motorbike is festivals, street fairs and farmers market. The streets are shut down with barricades and fences. There is a big draw so parking is a long way off. With a motor bike I just kill the engine, pedal right past the barricades and into the middle of the festival. Then lock the bike to a sign post and do my business and leave.
Easy. Perfect. The absolute best possible vehicle for the application -
The hands down best app for the motorbike is festivals, street fairs and farmers market. The streets are shut down with barricades and fences. There is a big draw so parking is a long way off. With a motor bike I just kill the engine, pedal right past the barricades and into the middle of the festival. Then lock the bike to a sign post and do my business and leave.
Easy. Perfect. The absolute best possible vehicle for the application -
Citi-sporter
Active Member
Well, I have to admit when I was 13 I had a '66 Honda P50A moped. I could have done worse, it was a fun bike.
I live in California where the China girl isn't legal. I still ride mine through the neighorborhood streets and once in in while to run an errand. My biggist joy comes from building them and trying out new parts like carbs, rechambered heads, pistons, exhausts, brakes etc. It's a great hobby. Hours go by and it seems like just a few minutes. I like the challenge of making a 66cc motror go as fast and as smooth as possible. I used to be into auto engine modifications but this is way more fun and a whole lot cheaper.
ckangaroo70
Active Member
Growing up poor....a lot of my bikes were scavenged from the local junk ditch. We would piece together Frankenstein bikes that were built from many different throw away bikes and ride them with great pride. We had turned something from the junk pile into a cool cruiser or perhaps an even cooler chopper.
The only thing that could have been even cooler then a chopper bike or cruiser built from junk....would be a chopper bike or cruiser with an engine mounted on it. I would have been the coolest kid in ten counties to have a ride like that. A legend in my own mind at the very least.
However the sad fact was that it was more of a fantasy at that age, and something that just was not going to get built from parts in the junk ditch or from the money I earned cashing in pop bottles or raking leaves all day for fifty cents for the nice old lady down the road.
If I was going to have a cool motorized bike...it was going to have to wait until I was a bit older and made my millions being an astronaut or test pilot for top secret government experimental aircraft programs. Or just maybe the worlds Greatest fisherman winning every tournament I would enter.
Well..a lot of those fanciful dreams were not realized several decades later and I became content to just be a moderately paid humble bricklayer instead of the next Hugh Hefner, but I did find that I made just enough money to pay "most" of my bills and have just a tad left to help support a few hobbies that I could only dream about as a kid.
One dream I embarked upon was to build that motorized bicycle that I could not as a kid. The first ride through town took me back 35 years and I could imagine in my mind all my 9 year old buddies running outside to cheer me on as I sped by there homes. They would be yelling "that is the awesomest bike ever!!!!" as I motor on by to the next buddies house.
Suprisingly, what started out as a project to make a dream realized...actually is now something quite different and I enjoy my motorized bike for reasons now that would have not been thought of or appreciated as a kid.
I have found that as the world moves faster and faster...I tend to want to go slower and slower. As things get more and more technical and high tech....I tend to want things that are more simplistic. There are also so many of gods little wonders that we never notice speeding by in our cars at 60mph. However...cruising down a blacktop road at 20mph you really are able to appreciate all the beauty around you while enjoying the beautiful little simplistic machine under you putt putting along.
People that do not own or have not experienced these crude and simplistic little motorized bicycles will often ask" what would you get out of that motorized bike that you wouldn't get out of a rocketing motorcycle?" I guess the best answer is "If you have to ask the question, then you probably would never understand the answer." An old kid on his cool simple motorized bike enjoying life and this worlds wonders at a blistering 20mph!
The only thing that could have been even cooler then a chopper bike or cruiser built from junk....would be a chopper bike or cruiser with an engine mounted on it. I would have been the coolest kid in ten counties to have a ride like that. A legend in my own mind at the very least.
However the sad fact was that it was more of a fantasy at that age, and something that just was not going to get built from parts in the junk ditch or from the money I earned cashing in pop bottles or raking leaves all day for fifty cents for the nice old lady down the road.
If I was going to have a cool motorized bike...it was going to have to wait until I was a bit older and made my millions being an astronaut or test pilot for top secret government experimental aircraft programs. Or just maybe the worlds Greatest fisherman winning every tournament I would enter.
Well..a lot of those fanciful dreams were not realized several decades later and I became content to just be a moderately paid humble bricklayer instead of the next Hugh Hefner, but I did find that I made just enough money to pay "most" of my bills and have just a tad left to help support a few hobbies that I could only dream about as a kid.
One dream I embarked upon was to build that motorized bicycle that I could not as a kid. The first ride through town took me back 35 years and I could imagine in my mind all my 9 year old buddies running outside to cheer me on as I sped by there homes. They would be yelling "that is the awesomest bike ever!!!!" as I motor on by to the next buddies house.
Suprisingly, what started out as a project to make a dream realized...actually is now something quite different and I enjoy my motorized bike for reasons now that would have not been thought of or appreciated as a kid.
I have found that as the world moves faster and faster...I tend to want to go slower and slower. As things get more and more technical and high tech....I tend to want things that are more simplistic. There are also so many of gods little wonders that we never notice speeding by in our cars at 60mph. However...cruising down a blacktop road at 20mph you really are able to appreciate all the beauty around you while enjoying the beautiful little simplistic machine under you putt putting along.
People that do not own or have not experienced these crude and simplistic little motorized bicycles will often ask" what would you get out of that motorized bike that you wouldn't get out of a rocketing motorcycle?" I guess the best answer is "If you have to ask the question, then you probably would never understand the answer." An old kid on his cool simple motorized bike enjoying life and this worlds wonders at a blistering 20mph!
Dan
Staff
Purty awesome Roo and well said. Ya really can't see wild flowers over 20 MPH. Or much else.
At 8 yrs old, I can remember taking a break on my heavier then me 1950s Schwinn. Came up with a detailed way to run an engine thew the chain drive and then promptly forgot it for 30 or 40 years. Now I got tools fer dat.
Never to late to enjoy the childhood, again.
At 8 yrs old, I can remember taking a break on my heavier then me 1950s Schwinn. Came up with a detailed way to run an engine thew the chain drive and then promptly forgot it for 30 or 40 years. Now I got tools fer dat.
Never to late to enjoy the childhood, again.
ckangaroo70
Active Member
I'm living on the edge man!!!lol
Come on now, I'm just trying to get a crude little motor to run as smooth as possible.The one in question will do about 48mph. Thanks to Arrow Motor Bikes ported cylinder. rechambered head and expansion chamber. The Delorta SHA 15/15 didn't add any speed but it does run a lot smoother at top end. It's the bottom end that was giving me trouble. I went up a few teeth on the rear sproket, increased the idle rpm and it doesn't buck until I get below 15mph and that's all I wanted.
ckangaroo70
Active Member
Well gosh...now I feel like I am living on the edge of a very tiny hill.
I don't know what the small cliff line meant but, as far as your comments go about growing up and wanting a moped go I really know what you mean. As a kid I always wanted one. We were the average family in Western Pa. in the 50's. We got along ok but no extra money. The poorest family in the neighbor hood was headed up by a long haul truck driver. He worked on his own truck a lot. and had every tool you could think of. His three sons, each a year apart we all pretty good with tools and engines. One took a 6.5 horse power tracktor motor and made an awsome motorized bike. Another took the motor out of a wrecked Sears mo ped and made his own chopper and the third had an old wizzer that he had rebuilt. When the three of them came down the street together, they sounded like a mechanized army unit coming. Man I wanted one. When I was 64 I noticed the Grubee kit on line. Of course I ordered one right away and I built the first one on a Huffy beach cruiser. I was hooked. That was several 2 stroke builds ago. My next project is a four stroke. Do you know of one larger than 50 cc that I can adapt?
ckangaroo70
Active Member
Big G
As far a 4 strokes go....the Harbor Freight Predator 99cc and 212cc are fairly popular builds. For $99 for a 212cc Predator...you can't hardly beat that price for an experimental engine. I have even mounted them on my racing gokart after the governor has been removed, rejetted , hi-flow filter and hedder and spin them up on the track all day long at 5800 rpm just for fun. For a $99 cheap china engine....they are tough as nails. Might even get lucky and find a new "hemi" 212cc Predator. Drop in a 1:3 ratio rocker on the intake, remove governor, install 22 lb valve springs and a Mod 2 cam as well as a K&N type filter and Super Snake hedder and you will have one spooky fast ride. Way too much for a bike, but a great conversation piece if nothing else.LOL
Being the practical guy I am..I would probably take a look at the 99cc Harbor Freight Predator. Would be fairly easy to adapt I would think and I am sure there are many threads to be found where that particular engine is used. I havn't really researched the 4 strokes for bike use. My heart lies with the heart breaking, crude little 2 stroke china girls. Why this is....I don't know.
As far a 4 strokes go....the Harbor Freight Predator 99cc and 212cc are fairly popular builds. For $99 for a 212cc Predator...you can't hardly beat that price for an experimental engine. I have even mounted them on my racing gokart after the governor has been removed, rejetted , hi-flow filter and hedder and spin them up on the track all day long at 5800 rpm just for fun. For a $99 cheap china engine....they are tough as nails. Might even get lucky and find a new "hemi" 212cc Predator. Drop in a 1:3 ratio rocker on the intake, remove governor, install 22 lb valve springs and a Mod 2 cam as well as a K&N type filter and Super Snake hedder and you will have one spooky fast ride. Way too much for a bike, but a great conversation piece if nothing else.LOL
Being the practical guy I am..I would probably take a look at the 99cc Harbor Freight Predator. Would be fairly easy to adapt I would think and I am sure there are many threads to be found where that particular engine is used. I havn't really researched the 4 strokes for bike use. My heart lies with the heart breaking, crude little 2 stroke china girls. Why this is....I don't know.
BarelyAWake
New Member
The Harbor Freight Predator 99cc and 212cc are "fairly popular" builds, however they are also prime examples of the fallacy behind the saying "there's no replacement for displacement" as they've remarkably poor preformance for their size & weight, the $99 price tag is also somewhat deceptive as this ofc doesn't include the aforementioned preformance mods, nor the redrive system needed.
Simple & straightforward - utility engines can be fun, practical and reliable motors... but if economical preformance is desired they're not all they seem at first. For example the HF 99cc is 2.5hp at a max 3600rpm, whereas your typical moped engine either two or four stroke make that same hp with a mere 49cc, such as this example: http://tboltusa.com/store/50cc-moped-engine-pedals-p-1301.html
Granted, that example is $200 more then the HF99 - but consider it makes the same power stock as the HF twice it's size, comes included with it's own actual, integral transmission (other models offer 3, 4 & 5sp w/auto/semiauto or manual clutches) & even has electric start & full charging system... should you modify a HF to emulate this, it will most likely cost significantly more. Best yet if hopup mods & overall preformance is your game, as it's a Honda CRF50 clone has an extremely vast selection of common, even inexpensive aftermarket parts & upgrades from innumerable suppliers - opposed to the somewhat limited selection of parts & vendors for our motorized bicycles with utility engines.
Admittedly, another problem is fitting such a horizontal in your typical bicycle frame... yet I suspect if you've the wherewithal to make a utility motor work, then this would also be achievable, if you like choppers - it may not be a problem at all: http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=18970 or, for inspiration the motoped;
The utility engines are indeed fine motors and they can be an inexpensive way to get started in custom building motorized bicycles, it's just there's many other engines to choose from as well - which one suits your overall needs best only you can decide, but as with anything it's somewhat more complicated then it seems, it's more then price & displacement alone
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Dan
Staff
Dang, BA. I too, was gonna suggest the HFs. (i own a few and really like em)
But you make some great points. Most importantly, re-purposing an engine that is meant to drive a small vehicle. Honestly, using a replacement engine for a snow-thrower to drive a MB is kinda counter productive. Carb is meant to run at a steady, governed. Huge and just not meant for a MB.
When I hit lotto, gonna have the GY6 recast so as to fit a bicycle.
But you make some great points. Most importantly, re-purposing an engine that is meant to drive a small vehicle. Honestly, using a replacement engine for a snow-thrower to drive a MB is kinda counter productive. Carb is meant to run at a steady, governed. Huge and just not meant for a MB.
When I hit lotto, gonna have the GY6 recast so as to fit a bicycle.
BarelyAWake
New Member
The utility motors are very likeable engines & I considered them myself, but they can paint ya into a corner if you'd like much more then the most basic build & I worry those that see the "good deal" price without further research, the redrive in particular as even the addition of just a TAV2 cvt will put you about $50 shy of the CRF50 clones, with S&H it's so close to the same, add in a good carb and it is... except ofc the limited modification potential, the multiple speed transmission, the charging system & etc.
Again tho - nothing wrong with the utility motors if no more then a basic custom is desired, if ya have one kickin' anyway or jus' wanna play with one - then again that can be said for jus' about any engine lol, I do like 'em all
...although I'll admit I really really despise recoil starters, but that's an almost unjustified personal bias based on 40 below temps, crappy chainsaws & me own wonky shoulders (of which are ofc my fault)
Again tho - nothing wrong with the utility motors if no more then a basic custom is desired, if ya have one kickin' anyway or jus' wanna play with one - then again that can be said for jus' about any engine lol, I do like 'em all
...although I'll admit I really really despise recoil starters, but that's an almost unjustified personal bias based on 40 below temps, crappy chainsaws & me own wonky shoulders (of which are ofc my fault)
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