Shift kit drama

S

SpAsTicJaX

New Member
well after a long and strenuous fitting of my repaired 66cc i have installed it with my shift kit onto bike ( was running 49cc shift kit) , many many problems of clearance and still having clearance problems, but when i had finally gotten it all setup i took it for a test run (my god had i forgotten how much vibration these ones put out.. )and all seemed alright besides the vibrations, but when i was nearing home i down shifted, and my chain went straight past 1st gear, locked up in the spokes and bent the derailleur. i had to walk the way home (lol! )

so after inspecting, all seemed alright, i only had 2 spokes that were loose, but they had been loose for a while so i decided to take it back out for a ride, when i got about 5 k's from home and it happened again, locked up rear wheel and sent me skidding. luckily i didnt do any harm to myself or the bike besides breaking about 6 spokes.

so i had to putt home doing about 15kms an hour, and when i got home i inspected it, and found that i had actually broken the derailleur and the two points which attach the spring to the main arm were broken (confusing i know, i will show photos tomorrow :) ) so this bike has sat in my shed for 2 weeks and i have been using my dads bike to commute to my course and back every day and i decided to fix the derailleur issue by installing an old school one, which is all metal and plastic wheels :) hopefully that will have stopped my issue, as it the issue of jumping past 1st gear and into the spokes happened even with the 49cc engine.

will be taking out tomorrow in a break from the rain and fingers crossed i have fixed the issue! updates to come...
thanks for reading!! auflgauflg
 
Pictures will help. What brands are the shift kit and derailleur? Are you throttling down and pedalling into the gear? I personally use a SRAM 890 chain. I'm sure with our help we can get you back on the road.
 
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shift kit is a standard shift kit from the good guys at sickbike parts :) im planning on getting a heavy duty freewheel when i can afford it (going for my learners next week so i am a little bit short on change )

not sure, its an older one, mostly aluminium and steel i think, maybe 10 or so years old. but seems to operate alright when i was pedalling :) fingers crossed i get a break in the rain to trial this tomorrow~!

i have had so much wonderful help from all the guys and gals on this forum :) i have learnt so much the past 2 years. thanks :)
 
The rear derailleur has a travel limiter adjustment screw for both hi and low gears (Inner and outer travel). It sounds like it just traveled too far and went past 1st gear.
 
UPDATE~~~

well this morning i went for a test ride with my father, (his is standard 49cc with speed carb and 41tooth sprocket) and all went well :) just need a few further adjustments to get 6th gear. apart from that my motor is running fine :)

what the actual problem was, the derailleur was broken and bent.
here are the best photos i could take, sorry for the links but it wont allow me to upload normal pics..

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u2obuusdkerbjvk/2014-05-10 12.29.04.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yl1xo0fkjazkq6t/2014-05-10 12.28.57.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kxm8pa05udtunu9/2014-05-10 12.28.31.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8mshk7ol8qxiaw4/2014-05-10 12.28.25.jpg

cheers :)
 
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Falcon anything isn't very good. Most bicycle shops want carry anything made by them. You may have to check with your local bicycle shop to see if there's a higher quality derailleur that can be put on it. That one doesn't even have b indexing screw
 
all good now! bike now reaches 63kms an hour in 4th gear, and just adjusted the derailleur so i now get 5th and 6th gear, so i may get a little more ! :)
 
LR Jerry said:
How many chain rings can ypu run up front? Some allow you to run three to drive the rear wheel.
Click to expand...
I suggest you don't go there, one front chain ring is dandy for 98% of riders and it's another complex part with a handlebar controller to fail.
 
KC the normal shifting patteren for an 18 speed bike is 1(1,2,3); 2(2,3,4,5); 3(4,5,6). In other words the shift point for the front chain rings is between 2,3 and 4,5 in the rear. Still the twist down or up method in the rear before shifting the front chain rings can be confusing. I've come up with a simple method. You put the right 6 speed shifter to the outside of the left 3 speed shifter on the left handle bar. To where both shifters are on the left handlebar. This way both shifters will twist down to go higher and up to go lower. Here is the shift patteren: entering up hill at a low speed, long up grades or pulling a heavy load. 1(1,2); level ground 2(2,3,4,5); down steep hills or long down grades. 3(5,6). This way the only time you shift the front chain rings is when you're in 2 or 5 in the rear. Before stopping on going up a hill be in 1(1) then use that as a starting gear. All other stops be in 2(2) before stopping then use that as a starting gear. This method means you have a total of 8 gears which only requires a single movement of the just one twister and the chain to go the next higher or lower gear.
 
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LR Jerry said:
KC the normal shifting patteren for an 18 speed bike... This method means you have a total of 8 gears which only requires a single movement of the just one twister and the chain to go the next higher or lower gear.
Click to expand...
My point exactly.
All kinds of things to do and control just to give your engine a gear range advantage of minimal effect.

Heck, just a 3-speed with a simple 3 position twist shift on the left vastly improves the power/speed range of any engine, but there is such a thing as too many gears!

Bicycle gearing is designed for <1/10th HP so many ranges that matter, these motors put out 2HP minimum, 200x more power to the pedal sprocket than a human, and spin faster than any human ever could pedal.

I really wish you could have spent some riding time on one of my Cadillac 66cc NuVinci shifters.
That hub has a single rotary shifter but no set gears, you can move it to whatever non-fixed gear ratio you want to the faction of a ratio.

In real life operation over a month of 'personal ride' operation I found the thing a pain in the left wrist trying to find the right ratio in big chunks, much like I do for a 7-speed rear which I never ride gear to available gear, usually just the even numbers which in essence makes it a 3-speed.
 
KC it was you who inspired me to build the 5 speed freewheel I have now. (34,28,24,20,16). I tried a 4 speed (34,28,22,16) and yes I know the range between those four gears would have been 666.lol. The problem was with the auto shifter it would jump over the 22 gear. That's why I switched to the 5 speed. When I was using the 7 speed freewheel the chain would bounce across the sprockets because the range between the gears was too close together. This meant I had to accelerate slowly to keep the chain bouncing from happening. So I had to widen the range between them but still be close enough to where the chain wouldn't jump over the sprocket.
 
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LR Jerry said:
KC it was you who inspired me to build the 5 speed freewheel I have now. (34,28,24,20,16).
Click to expand...
Glad I could help and now you know first hand you don't need a bunch of close gear ratios, the lowest and highest for your needs, and then something in-between for 'normal' riding is all you need or want in my book anyway ;-}
 
I set up a 24 speed shift kit bike before and told the person to shift like this 1(1,2,3) granny gears steep hills or towing. 2(3,4,5,6) most riding conditions. This is where you want to be most of the time. 3(6,7,8) over drive. This is for gaining high speeds going down steep hills or long down grades. The only time you change the front chain rings is when you're in 3 or 6 in the rear.
 
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