what did you do to your motorized bicycle today?

[redneck82]

ok, brought the bike in when i got home, redid the brake switch cause the existing one was flaky...
also, pulled the hand guards off and re-figured their mounting... i figure this will work out a little bit better...

i put a couple holes in the bottles, just below the threads, so zip ties lay nicely... put them against the cables and tied around the bends in the handlebars to keep them in place... i'll let you guys know in the next day or so if they actually hold up like that... again, they are just temps until i actually get some cash together to get some real mounts...

as they say, necessity is the mother of invention!

 

[Davezilla]

Loving the handguards... looks like something redneck engineering that I'd do on a cold morning... lol... but if it keeps the cold air off your hands, that's all that counts... And they don't look all that bad either. That's always been my weak spot when riding a motorcycle in the cold, everything else's just fine but I can't stand frozen knuckles...

 

[xseler]

Looks like they'd make good 'brush guards' also!

 

[Davezilla]

Didn't get to ride mine again today... still hadn't had time to see why my clutch started slipping badly, but I got a spare clutch assembly if it's really messed up, just gotta get time to open it up and see what went wrong... I did kinda aquire another bike today when the guy who takes care of my lawn at the shop came in for an oil change on his truck, he brought his son with him to show him my bike, his son really liked it a lot and started asking me if the V brakes worked for slowing the bike down from 40mph. I told him they do work, but wear out really fast so I have to slow down some before trying to stop, no problem in the area I ride since it's a straight shot from my shop to the resturaunt I buy breakfast from and there's no side streets to worry about people pulling out in front of me so I can hit top speed then let off and coast down to under 30 then start braking to get more life out of the pads. The bike will stop from 40mph with the v brakes quickly and safely but the brakes need readjusted after a stop like that so I know it's eating the pads pretty fast.
He then told me he has a bike with disc brakes but he doesn't like it and wanted to get rid of it. I asked him how much he wanted for the bike and he told me to make him an offer so I ended up giving them a free oil change in trade for the bike and then he's gonna drop off the bike on Tuesday... I'll most likely throw some cash into the deal if the bike is nice. So far all I know about the bike is that it has disc brakes and a good seat on it, he said the rest of the bike is nice but he just don't like it because he says it's too hard for him to work on and I could have it for parts. If it's got a good enough frame I might just put my other engine in it, but right now my plan is to strip off all the good stuff and put on mine, then I'll have spare parts, and a frame to modify to put my other engine into... Who knows, I may even cut out the lower tube and make a new one so I can fit that old Morini engine into it, but I really want to save that engine for a Stingray frame or do a trike build with it.

 

[redneck82]

good score dave!

 

[lucajo16]

The other day I repacked my coaster brake wheel. I put my new sprocket on it and am now (( the next day)) I'm going to get a pump so I can pump up my wheel. Waiting for spoke wrenches to come in and tighten them up.

 

[GoreWound]

did a little test pedal up and down my street to see how the brakes are coping with the extra weight, I'm impressed so far.

also found out that the motor with no gas is awesome as brakes...

 

[culvercityclassic]

Chop... Drop.... And some new clothes to come. Shortened the wheel-base, lowered the rear and added new drop-outs. Working on brakes and choice of frame color are next.

 

[scotto-]

Chop... Drop.... And some new clothes to come. Shortened the wheel-base, lowered the rear and added new drop-outs. Working on brakes and choice of frame color are next.

But brakes will slow you down.........think Speedway!

On a serious note, that's a real fine looking board tracker there Jeff and I hope to see you racing it in the midclass. That would be a real contender, especially with the CVT and all.

Nice work man......leave it raw.

 

[Gbrebes]

Hey Everyone,

I was riding my bike the other a month or so ago and it all of a sudden started loosing power and finally shut down. Took out the engine and removed head cover to discover my exhaust rocker had cracked. I replaced it with a spare I had, but that cracked as well after a couple of weeks. Puzzling to me, I do run the engine without a governor and I ride it fairly hard, but I can't figure out what is putting so much stress on the rocker arm. Anyway, I brazed the last one back together and will be testing it out when the rain stops here.

Also working on an alternator system. Got a tip from member Bigoilbob on a small brushless alternator that seems built quite well. I did have trouble with using a solar power control box as a regulator, just couldn't get it to work, so I have now switched to using a small motorcycle voltage regulator. Haven't got to run it for too long, but nothing has caught on fire yet, so that's good.

Pics of cracked rocker arm and alternator brackets, as well as alternator installed.

Gilbert

 

[mapbike]

Valve spring tension?

Valve binding in guide?

Valve tapping piston at high rpm?

Maybe none of these things apply at all, just rolling this around in my head thinking of potential possibilities

 

[GoreWound]

Gbrebes, by the look of that part I would guess that it shattered which only really happens to hardened metal, you may want to look into heat treating a replacement for part to make it less brittle. It's possible that the vibrations are shattering the part.
That said softening the metal can very quickly become the opposite problem whereby the part bends...
Good luck, and by the way, your bike looks awesome!

 

[Gbrebes]

Hey guys, thanks for the ideas on the rocker arm failure.

I forgot to mention its a Honda GC190 with overhead valves. I am not a very knowledgable mechanic, so I wouldn't even know how to check if the valve spring is binding. I had another engine where the valve stem was sticking in the guide, but that just left the valve hanging open and the motor not getting enough compression to start.

So hopefully my brazing it back together will hold. I added a little extra brass to the area to make it thicker and hopefully stronger.

Thanks,

Gilbert

 

[Davezilla]

Well today I went to the shop while my wife went to a visitation for a friend of hers that recently passed away so she dropped me off at the shop.... I decided this would be a good time to see what's wrong with my clutch. Took it apart and noticed the clutch bell felt a little sloppy, but it was intact so I pulled it and saw that the bevel gear part of the centrifugal clutch was just pressed into place and it became loose enough to spin freely. So for now I took off the centrifugal until I can take it apart and braze the gear to the bell again. It was working really well for me one day then the next day I was going to run down to the store down the street for some change and it just reved without going anywhere... no warning at all, and it worked fine the day before....
Anyway, if I want to keep using the centrifugal clutch on my setup I'll need to take it all the way apart, de grease everything, then braze or tig weld the gear back in place.... for now I just put the regular bevel gear back in and got it rideable until I can the part back together. If I do decide to braze in because it might be safer to braze, I'll use nickel/silver brazing rod because of it's strength.

 

[Davezilla]

Took the bike for a test ride this morning to my favorite little Mexican resturaunt for some tacos, everything works just fine again... I just have to pull in the clutch as I slow down now and release it when I wanna go instead of just twisting the throttle, but I'll fix the centrifugal tomorrow since I left my nickel/silver brazing rods at home in the garage instead of bringing them with me this morning...
I also set up the GPS to see if it effected my top speed but it was reading 41mph so the gain without it or loss with it installed is pretty much negligable, the bike is feeling and going a tiny bit faster erach ride as I'm just a bit passed halfway thru the second tank on this engine so that could also be why I picked up an extra mph.

 

[mapbike]

Took the bike for a test ride this morning to my favorite little Mexican resturaunt for some tacos, everything works just fine again... I just have to pull in the clutch as I slow down now and release it when I wanna go instead of just twisting the throttle, but I'll fix the centrifugal tomorrow since I left my nickel/silver brazing rods at home in the garage instead of bringing them with me this morning...
I also set up the GPS to see if it effected my top speed but it was reading 41mph so the gain without it or loss with it installed is pretty much negligable, the bike is feeling and going a tiny bit faster erach ride as I'm just a bit passed halfway thru the second tank on this engine so that could also be why I picked up an extra mph.

Dang-it Dave, its 36 F here drizzling rain, heavy fog this morning and just plain nasty out.

According to Bing.com/maps I'm 194.8 miles North and just a tad west of you, sure wish the weather here wasn't this way, I was itching to ride a bike today, but i ain't gonna do it in the drizzle and mud.

 

[Semaj]

You should come visit me in austin Im a heck of a lot closer!
Although Probably not nearly as interesting a visit I suspect being a Hermit has done nothing to aid me in being an interesting host.

 

[Davezilla]

Luckily it was a nice warm 48 degrees and dry this morning at about 7:30am, and my trip to the resturaunt is only about a mile away.... I need to warm up the bike for at least 10 minutes for the one minute run there... I've. Taken off cold from the shop but the bike 4 strokes a Lot if its not warmed up most the way to operating temp.
I've also noticed my motorcycles tend to have more power when it's cold outside, with them feeling the strongest at 50 to 60 degrees outside, then that extra power tends to fade below 50 degrees, or above 70 degrees... not a whole lot but enough to be noticeable.... anyway, that's one reason for riding in the cold, and it helps with break in since it takes a bit more to get the engine too hot.

I used to ride the Intruder and the Sportster all the way down into the low 20's or even high teens to work every day for years, I think I finally broke down and started using a cage a few years back when l messed up my ankle and couldn't ride at all, but for several winters my bike was the only one on the highway or in the parking lot when it was freezing cold or pouring down rain.... I even rode thrum sleet before... but that was a bit painful at 70mph...

 

[Davezilla]

Oops.... forgot to mention the lawn guy dropped off that other bike today and it's a nice dual suspension MTB with front disc brake and V brake in back. I was so busy today I didn't even have time to take a pic... it has a larger frame than mine but its aluminum and Mindanao funky shaped tube section.... not round or square tubing... almost a diamond shape so custom billet mounts will be needed if I use the frame. I may just strip off the good stuff like the front wheel, the swing arm and shock linkage, the rear wheel is nice enough to use too, and same for the cranks, pretty much everything is nice but the actual frame for motorizing. I could relocate the rear shock and add an engine to have another cool looking mountainbike but I would really prefer a steel frame just because they weld so much easier, the aluminum can be welded too but would need to be re heat treated to avoid weak spots.

 

[Davezilla]

You should come visit me in austin Im a heck of a lot closer!
Although Probably not nearly as interesting a visit I suspect being a Hermit has done nothing to aid me in being an interesting host.

Looks like Austin is about the halfway point between Shan and myself... maybe we could all meet in Austin and go for a ride sometime... or just hang out on 6th street for some music and beer....