what did you do to your motorized bicycle today?

[CTripps]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

I've been riding to work as often as I can. On the way home monday, the back wheel had that weird 'not right' feeling you get on a soft tire or loose spokes. Took a look down at a stop light to see a spoke flopping out to the side. Not good. I secured the broken end and babied it home the last few blocks. Today I'll drop the wheel and see about replacing the spoke. It'll depend on the bike shop's time and rates as to whether I just buy the spoke(s) I need and have at it or whether I'll let them do it.

If I can get that done today I'm back on the bike tomorrow. If it goes well, I might even get to a second coat of blue on my cruiser's tank.

 

[bigbutterbean]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Today was a LONG but very productive day of motorized bicycle repair. Last week I took a little spill and one of my forks was leaking oil. Today I took both forks apart, drained the oil, took the forks apart, cleaned the seals and the area around them, and reassembled. The forks don't seem to be leaking, but I'll have to take a ride to be sure. I also redid my headset bearings. Was having trouble with my steerer tube wiggling around, so I tightened the top cone really tight and it solved the problem, but I didn't like that solution. I got the idea from another thread to put loose bearings in the top bearing cup, so I did that today and it worked like a charm. No more wiggling and the fork turns freely, which is how it should be. I also put a beefier bolt and nylock nut where my front brake arm attaches to the bracket that holds it in place. Had to make the hole on the brake arm bigger to take the beefier bolt. The drill battery was dead, so I turned the drill bit by hand with a wrench. Worked like a charm. The only bad thing about today is that the forks were such a pita that it took me a total of about 6 hours to get everything done. But I'm this much closer to having a totally tip-top bike. All I need now is a new back wheel, which I'll be ordering with my next paycheck.

 

[Nunyadam]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

I rode mine home from work. no time to ride to work.
I also got in an argument over the carburetor tuning of my new engine with MR Know-it All insisting that running it on the second step of the needle is to lean (stock NT carb), and using a 50:1 mix with a synthetic Universal mix oil is going to blow up my engine.
For the record the plug center is dry and a touch dark, with just a bit of oil on the outer ring. in my eye I would call it either a touch lean, or cold.

His bike drips oil everywhere, but i must say it does fly.

 

[CTripps]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Well, things worked out. I took the old wheel up to the bike shop. I was going to hop the bus, then decided to take the car instead. Scored almost an hour and a half someone else paid for on a parking meter three doors down from the store. That let me check a few other bike shops in the area while I waited for them to swap my cassette to the new wheel.

I ended up buying a new wheel, even managed to get a 36 spoke instead of the 32 I had. The old one's on the rack in the garage, I can always strip it for spokes if/when I need them. The rag joint went together smoothly, the wheel barely argued going back into the dropouts. I was using an axle mount kickstand, but I left it off this time and am trying a center stand. If it doesn't hold up I'll switch back.

Took it for a quick test, and it's good. Nice to have a solid wheel under me again.

 

[Rex3x16]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Today I just rode and rode, just enjoyed the weather. Went through about 3/4ths of a tank, some cops were pointing and laughing at me as I flew by them lol but I kept my 25mph cruise speed going. Tomorrow, it will be a more productive, tweak the bike day.

 

[happycheapskate]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Let them laugh. They probably wish they were on a motor assisted bicycle instead of watching cars. 25 is fast when it's free! I love my motor assisted bicycle. It's almost free to drive it compared to my car, which eats money just to go to town and back.

 

[Rex3x16]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Yeah tell me about it. Gotta love the laws in Michigan about these bikes.

 

[CTripps]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Sanded and ran the second coat of blue for the cruiser's tank. Should be ready for clearcoating soon.
After that I hooked the trailer up to Harley's bike and we went down to the recycling depot. Ten bucks worth of bottles and cans, that'll keep the MABs fed for a little while. The new back wheel feels good, still not sure about the center kickstand though.

 

[Harley59]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Yea it was good to get out today. My right knee has decided that it is too old for this cr*p and has been giving me a hard time.
Getting old sucks

 

[bigbutterbean]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Drove it back and forth to work today, checked my forks when I got to work and when I got home and can confirm they no longer leak. Pretty happy about that. Then after I got home I took the mapp/pro torch and heated and bent my pedal arms a bit, because both my pedals were cockeyed. Got them pretty much straight now. It was a good day today.

 

[Huffydavidson]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Rode to a Freinds house and had him do a little welding for me on muffler. Cruise around town a bit.

 

[happycheapskate]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Well, I pulled the engine from the DFD today, to swap rollers back to 1". I'm looking at it now. It still has good clutch shoes. That is quite a lot of time, and a lot of running time at low RPMs and clutching in and out a lot. I'm happy they are good shoes. Bladez brand scooter clutches can work also. i think they are 20-25$ a pair. http://www.monsterscooterparts.com/clutch-shoe-bladez-tanaka.html

$18/pair here http://www.ereplacementparts.com/tanaka-pf3000-utility-scooter-engine-parts-c-34785_34912_34915.html

Well, I have no idea how long TAnaka 3300 clutch shoes are expected to last, and I imagine they are expensive, so when they are thin and I have new ones in the box, I'll grease the old ones and see what happens.

 

[KenX]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Replaced the 6T (titanium) spark plug with the 7T. Modified frame to exhaust bracing. First got a piece of 1" silicone tube split it and put around bike frame, secured the frame to the expansion pipe with the silicone pressure tape then put a clamp around both on to further secure the exhaust to frame. Overall vibration is less, seem to have got a little kick in power from plug and starts on first pedal stroke instead of second. First time it ever started on first stroke. Was told the 7T plug would assist with starting and vibration. The silicone tape/1" tubing/clamp frame to exhaust bracing initially seems very worthwhile. The tape withstands the heat very well and looks fine.

 

[Dan]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Yea it was good to get out today. My right knee has decided that it is too old for this cr*p and has been giving me a hard time.
Getting old sucks

Hang in there Harley. Body parts susceding from the union is the price we pay for wisdom.
(lol, that is what I keep telling my self but have a sneeking notion they are just giving up and want out)

 

[Skarrd]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Got this pretty baby in the mail http://www.ebay.com/itm/140434075335?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

hoping to do another 4 stroke build with another cruiser bike. Planning on doing the engine chain in a bit of a different fashion than i had before.

 

[maniac57]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Finished Pig II today,


Notched the intake side of the piston during prep.

Too tired to ride it today.
Tomorrow

 

[Huffydavidson]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Hauled two big duffle bags full of laundry to the laundromat in the trailer today .

 

[xseler]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Hauled two big duffle bags full of laundry to the laundromat in the trailer today .

I don't remember seeing a pict of your completed trailer......did you post it in another thread?

Inquiring minds and all that........

 

[bigbutterbean]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

Just drove it back and forth to work today, but I do have some plans in the works, including a replacement mirror for one I broke when I took a spill last week, a new back rim, and making the switch from Royal Purple to Shell Rotella T. I got a gallon of Rotella, ordered the mirror, and have the money on my card to order the new back rim. The customer service department I need to order the rim from is closed till Monday, so have to wait on that deal.

 

[Huffydavidson]

Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?

That right. There is no thread. But if I wanted to see what someone built what would I do???