what did you do to your motorized bicycle today?

I swapped out the spring on my tensioner to a smaller lighter one- quicker response, and less dragg on the chain- the test ride was really nice- Any excuse to get out and ride is a good one!
-Richard
 
Ol' Tempus came in rather handy tonight. It was starting to get dark, and two of my older daughters had come home on time. Liesl, the procrastinator, had not. At first I went out on foot but, although I knew she hadn't left the mobile home park, this place was big and I was tired, and there were five or six different friend's houses she could be in. Sounded like an excuse to get out the bike.
I was making short work of every street down here. I rounded a curve that took me past one of Liesl's friend's house - when I saw her dart out the back door as I rode past the front. I must have tipped her off: there is no other vehicle for miles which sounds even remotely like mine.
She was running between houses where I could barely see her. But Tempus goes quick when I need her to. I met Liesl at the driveway as she ran up, so she couldn't say she'd been there the whole time - and she knew it. I don't spank my kids. But she missed out on dessert and the first part of a Harry Potter movie her sisters began watching. (For her, that seemed worse than any kind of spanking.) She knew when to be home. She also knows that, if I have to get out the bike to go looking for her, it's already too late and she needs to cut her losses and head straight home.
 
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Mungface78 said:
I finished up my bike (yesterday) took it for the the first ride!! My first bike!!!! What a blast, I'm hooked!
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Congrats! All the irritation and frustration of the build disappears the first time that the motor catches and you feel even a hint of acceleration. The clouds part, the sun shines, the angels sing, and the neighbours rush to the windows shouting "What the %&^# was that??"

It's a great thing. (^)
 
Congratulations, Mungface78!
I love the rush one gets when everything works out like it is supposed to and you can ride your work down the road.
Ride safe!
 
Another congrats mongface78, I've told many people how addicting thses motorized bikea are but until one experiences it they just dont understand, justice keep close tabbs on all the mechanics as you get things settled in, especially motor mou ting hardware and the carb and exhaust fasteners, after a few miles it is a good idea to check the head nuts to make sure they haven't loosened up on ya, as the head gasket compresses a bit more due to heat and vibration it will cause the nuts to loosen a bit sometimes and that can lead to a leaky gasket which is a bad thing on a 2 stroke... have a ball and ride safe..... dang all this talk makes me want to fire up a bike and hit the road.....lol but I have to work tonight so.... bettter just rest up for the all nighter for now....

Enjoy your new found passion mungface78

Map
.wee.
 
Andrew turned 12 Saturday- he's my stepson. Today I plopped him on one Huffenstein Cranbrick while I saddled up another and followed along while giving him instruction. The boy's a natural... cornered like an ice skater, braked with confidence and basically had a ball!!! Shame that the death races are no more.... he would have been something on that track...
 
Sgt. Howard said:
Andrew turned 12 Saturday- he's my stepson. Today I plopped him on one Huffenstein Cranbrick while I saddled up another and followed along while giving him instruction. The boy's a natural... cornered like an ice skater, braked with confidence and basically had a ball!!! Shame that the death races are no more.... he would have been something on that track...
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Always good to hear of a kid that cares about something other than video games and cell phones, I actually overhauled my first engine when I was. 12 it was an old Tecuhmseh 5 HP HS50 gokart engine I slung a rod through the block on, walking through that rebuild with my Pap ( Grandpaw) and I was hooked.....!

Really hard to get kids interested in getting greasy and learning something about engines and such these day but I think the motorized bicycles are a great way to introduce a kid to having fun and learning to do something with their hands besides pushing buttons.

Map
.wee.
 
There are a huge number of blokes in their 50's - 70's that have been brought up pre-electronically, then been around during all the changes to technology we've seen in the last 50 years. This group are a vast expanse of knowledge, and when they go I believe we'll all be missing them as a cohort. I'm 38 this year, and glad I grew up on the recieving end of that hand-down of knowledge from dad. My boy will have every opportunity to learn how to use hand tools.
 
Took it for a short trip to the shop. Finally worked out a little issue with throttle varying while I'm just cruising. Tank cap seals far too well. No breathing. If I open it while riding along, my fuel line fills instantly. I'll put my old one on it and get on with the serious business of happy riding.
 
This was yesterday but oh well......

I made up a 28T sprocket to go on the Kulana bike, I also made up a new exhaust flange and even though the rond part makes it look like it doesn't it actually is well port matched to the exhaust port on the jug, it is tapered on top and bottom of the hole as it goes into the round tubing and the same width as the port, the sprocket center was cut out with my torch, it isnt a super clean and perfect cut but it looks fine after I mounted it on wheel, my less than perfect edge of the cut isnt very noticeable and plenty good enough for me...LOL

I dont have pixs took yet, but I also did several other things to the Kulana bike, I installed the new 1/4-20 studs on back of engine, I painted engine flat black with high heat wood stove paint, added a couple stickers to side covers, put the set of springer forks on the front of bike that I bought last year that are set up for V brakes, added ape hanger bars on the bike which are much more comfortable than the drag bars I had on it, put different tires on the bike, theye are a Kenda Cross type tire that I have had verty good service out of on the Huffy karaoke "Huffy Davidson" bike, easy rolling tires with great side grip on dirty and grass, I added a 7 speed thumb shifter instead on the twist shifter that was on the bike... I love that for sure, I rejetted an NT Speed carb and put on the Dax GenIV, put on a new clutch cable and made up new brake cables from good USA made cable cases that have a slick teflon lining so that work real smooth, I put a set of Vintage Wienman Gold Dot brake levers on the bike also, I really like the way they look but I'll have to replace them with V brake levers because the leverage just isnt right and my brakes aren't nearly good enough when using those levers, they work great on caliper type brakes but not on the V brakes i found out, I did a few other odds and ends like cut my chain down to work with the 28T sprocket so the bike has no idler tensioner, I took the bike for it maiden run at around 10:00PM last night to see how the 28T sprocket feels on the 26" wheel pulling me down the road, good cruise speed at low RPMs for sure, didnt air it out since living in the country we have deer everywhere out here at night, I'm not sure if this size will be what I want on the 26" wheel though, time and a few more rides will tell, it may end up on my bike with 24" wheels and the 30T on it my be what I end up with on the Kulana... I'll know before long what I will need to do, but I can tell that the Kulana seems like it gonna have a very nice top cruising speed with the 28T not sure how it will do in a head wind or on a couple of the hills I ride every once in a while.

Anyway I know this was lengthy but that is some of what I done of the Kulana yesterday.

Map
.wee.
 

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  • 28T sprocket and new custom exhaust flange.jpg
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well until I do some more testing I wont know for sure but it seems that after making a 3 1/2 mile ride this afternoon that the 28T sprocket may be just a bit much for the china girl to pull me on, 215lbs currently and the clutch is slipping something terrible which I knew would be an issue being the pucks are just burned up in that engine.

But it will top out at 41.2 GPS'd MPH and it isn't turning very high RPMs doing it but even going down a hill it wouldn't rev up like it normally would before so I'm thinking the sprocket may not be all the problem, I changed the exhaust and put on an NT speed carb in place of the RT I had on it before, with the RT and a 36T sprocket it would do 42 MPH and hold it solid unless I hit a hill and then I could stay in the 30's all the way to the top if I had a good head of steam when I first started up the hill, I'm gonna be doing some exhaust work on it next and may end up with the RT carb back on it just to get things back to how they were so I can actually tell if the 28T sprocket is the rotten apple here or I made another change that hurt me.

I may need to be going with a 32T or maybe back to the 34T sprocket I had on it at one time, the 34T did great and the 36T did great, was just looking to get the rpms down a bit more even if I don't gain much or any top speed, I'm thinking the 28T will probably do better on the 24" wheel, oh well, I'll know when I do some more testing.

Map
dnut
 
Hi map,
On my 24" wheel with the 32T sprocket, I'm finding it just needs a bit of clutch work on take-off, but it's a nice 4200rpm at 35kmh.
My perfect setup I reckon would be a 34T. The only reason I haven't done that is my crank seems out of balance, which starts to matter at speeds over 38kmh, or 4300revs.
It's the speed I want out of the bike so it's ok for now. Maybe later when I have time I'll play with it.
 
Cruise said:
Hi map,
On my 24" wheel with the 32T sprocket, I'm finding it just needs a bit of clutch work on take-off, but it's a nice 4200rpm at 35kmh.
My perfect setup I reckon would be a 34T. The only reason I haven't done that is my crank seems out of balance, which starts to matter at speeds over 38kmh, or 4300revs.
It's the speed I want out of the bike so it's ok for now. Maybe later when I have time I'll play with it.
Click to expand...

On my bike that has 24" wheels Im running a 30T has plenty of power and will cruise good at 30-32mph wnd tops at 36mph on the flat and has seen 40.2 gps' d mph on a slight declining road, I would like to get it to wn extra 3-4mph cruise speed and Im thinking the 28T may get me there on it but I wont know unless I try.

I hwve another dax better balanced lower in the works for that bike so if it turns out as good as my current one, vibs at high rpm are not bad at all.

Map
 
Reworked the pipe on The Pig. Got rid of the clunky loud stock muffler and added a real silencer.
 
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