Summer Project NOPEC

UncleKudzu

UncleKudzu

New Member
i'm calling my summer project (and my first) NOPEC. so far, it consists of a 15 year-old mountain bike with dry-rotted flats all around, a front derailleur rusted beyond repair, chain rusted to death and rusted away cables.

i should probably just buy another bike, but i plan to collect parts as oppurtunity presents itself (went ahead and got a new chain). this bike has a sturdy double-butted chro-moly steel frame and some good brakes, aluminum stem and handlebars. i have a big springy Brooks B67 saddle that i picked a coupla years ago that will replace the narrow perineum crusher that's on it now.

as i mentioned in another thread, i plan on using my Economic Stimulus Check to buy a 70cc 2-stroke to power it, and maybe a hanging tank like the one Egor told me about to go on that long upper tube. not sure about which sprocket to get (44t or 56t?) for the hills. for pedaling, it'll probably be a six-speed, what with the hopelessly rusted front derailleur.

thanks for your help with my questions thus far!
 
Sounds like a good junkyard project. I'm sure building it will be a blast. I bought a four dollars girls bike today for parts. I had a brand new rear wheel for my project but the brakes didn't work boy was i upset. So I bought a junker and it works perfectly.
 
well, Project NOPEC may be morphing. i found a Schwinn Jaguar for $25USD at Goodwill today. the bike is in good shape, except for a broken rear derailiuer. very good-looking 26" tires, which is something i would have had to purchase for my old MB anyway.

so, now i'm faced with the decision of using tires, chain, brake cables to replace parts on the MB, or do i rob parts from the MB and build on the cruiser-style Jaguar? a good supply of parts for $25 bucks any way you look at!
 
Go with the cruiser if you motorize it what do you need gears for. unless its sentimental
 
deacon said:
Go with the cruiser if you motorize it what do you need gears for. unless its sentimental
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i'm leaning cruiser at the moment. maybe it's shallow, but the cruisers just look so darned cool as motor bikes. so yeah, i'll probably be robbing goodies from the MB now :-)

i guess i've got the disease now - everywhere i go i'm looking for thrift stores and yard sales.
 
Junk building is by far the most fun I ever had. I learned a lot as I went along and now it pays dividends. I can look at a bike and tell you what the parts will save me. I bought a 20" Girls pink bike for four bucks that probably had fifty dollars worth of parts on it.
 
Junk building is by far the most fun I ever had. I learned a lot as I went along and now it pays dividends. I can look at a bike and tell you what the parts will save me. I bought a 20" Girls pink bike for four bucks that probably had fifty dollars worth of parts on it.
 
ok, my Summer Junk Project bike is now the Goodwill Jaguar. i've been getting parts off the ancient MB for the Jag instead of other way around.

the big Brooks B67 saddle looks good on the cruiser frame - the seat that came on the Jaguar was springy and padded, but an awful piece of junk. i've got to figure out where y'all are getting those set back seatposts (making them out of handlebars or someting, i suspect). the aluminum nearly straight handlebars from the MB migrated to the cruiser along with their much more rugged brake levers. i may reverse the stem and angle (what little bit of angle there is) the bars down. a brake lever from the cruiser handlebars will probably become a clutch lever when the time comes. and i'm hoping i can use the heavier duty front brakes from the MB.

if i had a replacement (maybe i do?) rear deraillieur, the bike would be perfectly rideable while i wait for the engine. the redneck in me is telling me to paint the frame with red oxide primer, but that can wait :-) anyway, maybe a photo soon.

and as always, thanks for the input!
 
Junk! Thats not junk, its the other mans treasure. Oh how I miss the big trash days we used to have. I know, the biggest problem I have is where do I keep it all. Have you seen these new shaft drive bikes?
OOOOH I have a feeling. Have fun, Dave
 
UncleKudzu eh, sounds southern I was born in a little town in north Georgia call AT lanta. I'm doing a chopper for my first build, but since I don't drive I can't hit sales and scout around like you're doing. So I' getting every thing new and online. Got a 20" Chopper from XYZ bikes($155.00 bike + $104.00 FedEx). Leaning toward zoombicycles.com 80cc kit for $200.00+. Soooo all thats left is MISC. stuff $???. I'll take photos and doucument so of the expected trials and tribulations. "If they made it easy, boys could do it." according to my old grandaddy! Hmmm. Walter F.
 
Atlanta? i've heard of that fabled city. they tell me it's a couple of hours east of here :-)

i don't do a great deal of personal driving, but i drive quite a bit at work, so i'm now on the lookout for possible parts everywhere i go since i got this crazy notion of building a motored bicycle. i suppose a body could have worse habits...

Walter F. said:
I'll take photos and doucument so of the expected trials and tribulations. "If they made it easy, boys could do it." according to my old grandaddy! Hmmm. Walter F.
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yeah, i've also gotta make a photographic record of my attempt. i want to believe that this is not beyond my capabilities...

good luck with your build!
 
Walter F. said:
UncleKudzu eh, sounds southern I was born in a little town in north Georgia call AT lanta. I'm doing a chopper for my first build, but since I don't drive I can't hit sales and scout around like you're doing. So I' getting every thing new and online. Got a 20" Chopper from XYZ bikes($155.00 bike + $104.00 FedEx). Leaning toward zoombicycles.com 80cc kit for $200.00+. Soooo all thats left is MISC. stuff $???. I'll take photos and doucument so of the expected trials and tribulations. "If they made it easy, boys could do it." according to my old grandaddy! Hmmm. Walter F.
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Walter - just remember there are no 80cc engines. It still bugs me when I see them advertised that way. The pictures up on there site look good keep us posted if you decide to use them, I am partial to the Dax engines he seems to be on top of the latest kits. Have fun, Dave
 
Yeah so I gather, what is the formula again to figure displacement- bore x stroke? Here's another question 48cc seems "standard" in that every seller has a 45cc kit, what are the normal cc sizes above 48? I've seen 50,60,70 & 80. My mind is like a steel trap, it can only hold one thing at a time, soooo you guys help me out-heres the deal--first build, 68 years old, chopper frame 20", I weigh 195 lbs,5'-11", it seems every kit comes w/44 tooth sprocket, plan to start with that- slow but should climb OK on 20" frame. All that being said WHAT SIZE ENGINE SHOULD I BUY & WHO IS A RELIABLE SELLER OF A KIT THIS SIZE???? Walter F.
 
UncleKudzu said:
Atlanta? i've heard of that fabled city. they tell me it's a couple of hours east of here :-)

i don't do a great deal of personal driving, but i drive quite a bit at work, so i'm now on the lookout for possible parts everywhere i go since i got this crazy notion of building a motored bicycle. i suppose a body could have worse habits...



yeah, i've also gotta make a photographic record of my attempt. i want to believe that this is not beyond my capabilities...

good luck with your build!
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Come on Unc, a couple hours west of Atlanta is Birmingham, Ala. I don't think it's a crazy notion, I think it's going thru my second childhood and this time I got enough money to do I the way I want to. I'm also going back to my hippie "daze" and hippie ways.(c)Walter F.
 
Walter F. said:
Come on Unc, a couple hours west of Atlanta is Birmingham, Ala.(c)Walter F.
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good cow, Sherlock, you've compromised my anonymity! what's next, satellite photos of me tinkering with the Goodwill Jaguar in my backyard? thank goodness for that pecan tree canopy back there!
 
Uncle Kudzu, I can spot a BSer from a blimp in a blizzard & I got my eye on you!!! What are you going to use for a gas tank? I wondered about using a Harley oil tank mounted under the seat like on the big bike, the tanks that come with all the kits is "butt ugly". Any of you guys doing any creative tanks?(c)Walter F.
 
how's about a fuzzy sub-megapixel photo of the Goodwill Jaguar? maybe you can make out that springy leather saddle and the nearly straight handlebars from my old mountain bike. since this photo was taken, i've added front brakes and a rear derailler from my recently acquired $9.99USD parts bike. total investment so far is $25 for the slightly crippled Jaguar and $9.99 for parts.

i looked at some supposedly Kevlar-tough Bontrager Hardcase tires which are about $30 a pop, and i've yet to get an engine. it's still early summer, though, so i've still got some time for the contest, but i don't want Granpaw Walter to get his training wheels ready for show before me.
 
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