what did you do to your motorized bicycle today?
- Thread starter Skarrd
- Start date
mapbike
Well-Known Member
Well yesterday was a full day of riding or tinkering with a bike or two, road the Kulana Moon Dawg bike for a nice little 19 mile road trip which just happen to turn in my best top speed on that bike so far, seems it is getting a little better when I thought it was as broke in as it would get already, it hit 45.4 MPH on a slight declining area of the road and will maintain 44.3 MPH on the flat now with no serious head wind in the mix, thats a 1 MPH increase in the last 80-90 miles, engine has a tad under 400 miles on it now so I guess things are getting a bit better as everything mates in good.
Got back home and decided to piddle with some parts that will be going on my next build which is the Schwinn Fleet Cruiser I picked up for $40 last week, I'm putting 12ga spoked Chrome Steel Wheel Master wheels on it, rear will have Shimano coaster which I really like, it's getting mountain bike suspension forks and some tall ape hanger bars for a comfortable ride and a kewl look, this bike will be the most colorful of my bikes for sure, got the forks cleaned up nice and painted yesterday, also got a set of cranks cleaned and painted high gloss black for it, frame will get sanded and painted before long when time permits.
also cleaned up and painted a 2 liter fuel tank to replace the leaking 3liter tank on the 63 Western Flyer bike, the 3 liter tank needs a new weld on one of the mounting studs which sprang a serious leak on my last ride to town on it, I'll do the tank swap today to get that bike back on the road again and probably put the new 36T chain ring on the cranks I painted yesterday.
Probably gonna swap out the HD Lightening CDI for the Rocket CDI I got in th mail last week also, doing a comparison between the two so I can report back here on which is the best bang for the buck and if either actually does better than the other performance wise on my bike.
Enjoying my two days off from work and time tinkering with my bikes...
Map
Got back home and decided to piddle with some parts that will be going on my next build which is the Schwinn Fleet Cruiser I picked up for $40 last week, I'm putting 12ga spoked Chrome Steel Wheel Master wheels on it, rear will have Shimano coaster which I really like, it's getting mountain bike suspension forks and some tall ape hanger bars for a comfortable ride and a kewl look, this bike will be the most colorful of my bikes for sure, got the forks cleaned up nice and painted yesterday, also got a set of cranks cleaned and painted high gloss black for it, frame will get sanded and painted before long when time permits.
also cleaned up and painted a 2 liter fuel tank to replace the leaking 3liter tank on the 63 Western Flyer bike, the 3 liter tank needs a new weld on one of the mounting studs which sprang a serious leak on my last ride to town on it, I'll do the tank swap today to get that bike back on the road again and probably put the new 36T chain ring on the cranks I painted yesterday.
Probably gonna swap out the HD Lightening CDI for the Rocket CDI I got in th mail last week also, doing a comparison between the two so I can report back here on which is the best bang for the buck and if either actually does better than the other performance wise on my bike.
Enjoying my two days off from work and time tinkering with my bikes...
Map
mapbike
Well-Known Member
Got the newly painted 2 liter tank installed on the old Western Flyer bike today and took it for a 12 mile ride, this thing gets any faster and its gonna get scary, I'm hitting some crazy speeds on this bike under good conditions on the flat or going down a slight declining area on the road, I need to run my GPS and see if my speedo is off a little, the bike has GPS 'd right at 46 mph when it had less than 25 miles on the new engine, I registered 51.5 MPH going down the slight hill today and got 46-48 MPH on the flat without any head wind, the speed got to the point that my front wheel was bouncing so it is obviously not balanced good for speeds like that, I plan to run my GPS next time out on this bike to see if I'm really getting those top speeds out of it or if the speedo is a tad off, I know for a fact it will hit mid 40's (45,46 mph ) but I'm not that sure about the 51.5 MPH reading I got today, all I know is that it was screaming and I was moving right along and if it is off I dont think it's off by much judging by how the bike was feeling.
Nice ride but with the modified kit pipe it just doesn't have the lugging power like my Kulana bike does with the Cat eye expansion pipe, the WF bike pulls OK but it shines on the top end and lacks on the bottom end.
Map
Nice ride but with the modified kit pipe it just doesn't have the lugging power like my Kulana bike does with the Cat eye expansion pipe, the WF bike pulls OK but it shines on the top end and lacks on the bottom end.
Map
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mapbike
Well-Known Member
Lol....
Once I get everything the way I want it on this bike, if my gps shows that it is nearing the 50+ mark like the speedo showed today, im gonna put a larger sprocket on it, To improve torque and lower top speed a little, Im happy with a top speed in the mid 40's but 50+ mph on that little bike is just plain to fast....
When the front wheel started bouncing pretty hard and I realized the screaming rpms I was turning and looked down and seen the speedometer go past 50mph all the way to 51.5 mph when I let off the gas, I was thinking this is just to dang fast on a bicycle....!!!!
Map
Davezilla
New Member
That IS really fast for a bicycle... what kind of bike is it? I've heard of some of the more powerful e bikes hitting those kind of speeds but those builds are usually on downhill frames or frames and forks that are beefed up to withstand higher speeds.
You could probably run balance beads in your tubes to balance the tires which would also help with stability at those speeds. One of my friends has a bike shop and swears by the balance beads compared to conventional weights on the spokes or rims.
Also, the tires need to be in perfect condition and built to go fast, most the better namebrand tires will handlde it just fine.
Of course slowing the bike down to the mid/high 40's is always the safest bet...
For me, I hadn't had any time to do much with mine the past few days, but I did score me a really cool Girvin Vector fork for it earler
And all my parts for the new carb are all finally here, mainly new jets and such to tune it in just right. So far I hadn't took mine past about 30 or so mph, but I'd like to get it as fast as yours once it breaks in all the way. I'm hoping with that new fork, better wheel bearings, and better tires it should be stable enough to safely go over 40, I'd like to gusset all the stress points on the frame too. It's plenty stable at the 30+ speed range so I don't see any problems pushing it another 10 mph faster.
You could probably run balance beads in your tubes to balance the tires which would also help with stability at those speeds. One of my friends has a bike shop and swears by the balance beads compared to conventional weights on the spokes or rims.
Also, the tires need to be in perfect condition and built to go fast, most the better namebrand tires will handlde it just fine.
Of course slowing the bike down to the mid/high 40's is always the safest bet...
For me, I hadn't had any time to do much with mine the past few days, but I did score me a really cool Girvin Vector fork for it earler
And all my parts for the new carb are all finally here, mainly new jets and such to tune it in just right. So far I hadn't took mine past about 30 or so mph, but I'd like to get it as fast as yours once it breaks in all the way. I'm hoping with that new fork, better wheel bearings, and better tires it should be stable enough to safely go over 40, I'd like to gusset all the stress points on the frame too. It's plenty stable at the 30+ speed range so I don't see any problems pushing it another 10 mph faster.
CTripps
Active Member
Yesterday I gutted the Mag out of the newest build for a motor that needed it. Today I think I'm going to remove the mag-less motor from that frame at rip it to bits or just chuck it. It's been a problem all the way along.. broken spoke in the back wheel, missing brake parts, some other 'bicycle' problems.. the motor doesn't sit well in it (had to use the large tube adapter front mount).. The clutch won't stay adjusted (I tweak until the backl wheel doesn't turn when the lever is in and 'locked', take it for a 200' test and when you lock the lever in again the back wheel spins) the clutch lever casting snapped in two places as I was tightening it to the handlebars (leaving me a lever and a U-shaped piece of white metal junk).. it chewed and destroyed a masterlink on a test.. Overall, bad juju. So either I de-motorise it and get rid of it, or I strip it right down to components. If I do the latter, it might infect other builds though. Maybe I can get someone to give me a few bucks for it as just a bike and be rid of it.
Allen_Wrench
Resident Mad Scientist
A bit of "live & learn" here, and is more along the lines of "What I did to my bike *yesterday*" but I digress:
I was trying to fire ol' Tempus up, peddling her up to speed, and right before I popped the clutch I went through a patch of very fine gravel (between "pea" and "sand"). I popped the clutch and, instead of firing up, the pedal chain popped right off and started dragging on the ground. Now, I knew it wasn't too slack before. Goodness knows I'm always tinkering and otherwise lavishing attention on my bike.
So I walk her over to the side and start trying to thread the pedal chain back on. And guess what I found lodged INSIDE an aperture of the pedal chain! A stone! Somehow, the front wheel had kicked a tiny stone straight back into the pedal chain and it must've landed just right and a sprocket tooth came along and tried to squeeze it in - couldn't - and it popped the chain right off! That must be, like, I dunno, a one-in-a-million thing maybe. Or maybe not; come to think of it, I have had times on pedal bikes growing up when I didn't know why the chain came off.
Anyway, I got the chain back on, and looked long and hard at its tension. All was good. So I climbed back on and started my bike and rode about with the local kids some, then I cruised down a nice, twisting, tree-lined street on a sunny afternoon, thoroughly enjoying the fact that I had nowhere to go and nothing better to do (already mowed the lawn, this was my reward to myself).
I was trying to fire ol' Tempus up, peddling her up to speed, and right before I popped the clutch I went through a patch of very fine gravel (between "pea" and "sand"). I popped the clutch and, instead of firing up, the pedal chain popped right off and started dragging on the ground. Now, I knew it wasn't too slack before. Goodness knows I'm always tinkering and otherwise lavishing attention on my bike.
So I walk her over to the side and start trying to thread the pedal chain back on. And guess what I found lodged INSIDE an aperture of the pedal chain! A stone! Somehow, the front wheel had kicked a tiny stone straight back into the pedal chain and it must've landed just right and a sprocket tooth came along and tried to squeeze it in - couldn't - and it popped the chain right off! That must be, like, I dunno, a one-in-a-million thing maybe. Or maybe not; come to think of it, I have had times on pedal bikes growing up when I didn't know why the chain came off.
Anyway, I got the chain back on, and looked long and hard at its tension. All was good. So I climbed back on and started my bike and rode about with the local kids some, then I cruised down a nice, twisting, tree-lined street on a sunny afternoon, thoroughly enjoying the fact that I had nowhere to go and nothing better to do (already mowed the lawn, this was my reward to myself).
Cruise
New Member
Few nice little tweaks to make riding more of a joy.
Rattly clutch lever? Adjust cable and replace retainer pin with bolt. No worries.
Chains loose? Easy - move rear wheel back a bit. Done.
Clunk in front disc brake? Just do up the bolts holding the caliper to the forks. Sorted.
Walked out of the shed with a grin. If I had a hat on I would've thrown it on a rack just for good measure.
Rattly clutch lever? Adjust cable and replace retainer pin with bolt. No worries.
Chains loose? Easy - move rear wheel back a bit. Done.
Clunk in front disc brake? Just do up the bolts holding the caliper to the forks. Sorted.
Walked out of the shed with a grin. If I had a hat on I would've thrown it on a rack just for good measure.
SchwinnStingray
New Member
