what did you do to your motorized bicycle today?

Finally had the time to break out the bike I bought before the summer. Bought it from a guy that couldn't keep the chain on it, but said it ran. The downside, it hasn't run in a couple of years. I took off the head and checked for corrosion, none. Checked the gastank, none. Got a new chain that doesn't really fit the drive sprocket. After some searching of the boards, turns out I need to force the chain on and make it play well with the sprocket. The bike is extremely hard to pedal and the chain and sprocket make the worst noise I've ever heard. I'm not so sure that it is ready to gas and go. This bike is like Frankenstein's monster, barely held together with nuts and bolts and made from about 2 or 3 different bikes. This is going to be the scariest ride ever... wish me luck!
 
Went for a ride to Meineke and had them tack a fender washer to the end of my pipe after the original endcap and broke off when i hit a bump in the road. Then I got about 1200 feet away from the garage and lost spark. So I pedaled home and am stuck with a useless bike until I get the darned spark loss figured out. It's not the sparkplug or the cable, I just replaced the magneto not too long ago, and fear it may be the cdi. Will run some tests later when I have some time, but I am grounded for now.

*edit*
Good luck with the franken bike.
 
Ordered a new cylinder! Yippe!
I also contacted Duanne @ Thatadax.com...
Awaiting his shipment to arrive, so I can order a 69cc kit from him!
 
I removed the head on my first gas (cheap Eb*y) bicycle engine kit only to find some aluminum "shavings" sitting on top of the piston (this aluminum was probably shaved off of the cylinder stud holes by the threads on the (cyl) studs when it was installed in the factory. Oh well, this is why you should always do a partial or, better yet, a complete tear-down on these engines before you run them. I'm going to replace the studs (and practically every other fastener on the engine) anyway so out they go.

I'm sure am glad that I spent time reading various threads here in the Motorbicycling forum before I began this project (otherwise, I probably would've just started her up right out of the box).

Btw Rambler, did the shop arc or gas weld the fender washer onto your bike? The reason I ask is that arc welding may have knocked out your CDI.
 
Bent my rear axle the other day and Im pretty sure the ride home the bearings gouged the races so I decided to swap my coaster brake wheel back on. As I messed with it I remembered why I didn't like the wheel in the first place, it spins pretty bad. Never having messed with a coaster brake I took it apart and sure enough bearings were pretty dry. So far Ive wiped off all the old grease on the axle and tomorrow I'll regrease everything with red bearing grease and see if it helps a little.

While I have your attention.......

I need some HELP picking out a new rear wheel for my new build.

Its a 70's Huffy frame and I have to spread the frame just a little to get my newer coaster brake wheel to fit so I was wondering can I get a 26 inch freewheel with just one sprocket without all the added width? Something like a bmx rear wheel but 26 inch. Heck even something wide enough for three sprockets may fir.

If you chuckle at my question please remember Im a newb! lol.

Thanks,
Dan.
 
Danschutz said:
Bent my rear axle the other day and Im pretty sure the ride home the bearings gouged the races so I decided to swap my coaster brake wheel back on. As I messed with it I remembered why I didn't like the wheel in the first place, it spins pretty bad. Never having messed with a coaster brake I took it apart and sure enough bearings were pretty dry. So far Ive wiped off all the old grease on the axle and tomorrow I'll regrease everything with red bearing grease and see if it helps a little.

While I have your attention.......

I need some HELP picking out a new rear wheel for my new build.

Its a 70's Huffy frame and I have to spread the frame just a little to get my newer coaster brake wheel to fit so I was wondering can I get a 26 inch freewheel with just one sprocket without all the added width? Something like a bmx rear wheel but 26 inch. Heck even something wide enough for three sprockets may fir.

If you chuckle at my question please remember Im a newb! lol.

Thanks,
Dan.
Click to expand...


Dan, if Im following you correctly........ you're wanting a coaster brake rear wheel on the bike.

As far as I know all single speed coaster brake hubs are relatively the same width, if you want a good heavy spoked 26" coaster wheel you can get a good one at a good price at http://huskybicycles.com

I hope Im following what you said correctly....... sorry if I missed something.

Map
.wee.
 
I like the Worksman bike rear wheel. It is about $66 and has 0.10" spokes, 4" sprocket. Coaster brake. Actually, I got fed up with the brake and went to foot-operated bike rim caliper. With a motorcycle front wheel with disk brake/ go kart caliper I can shut down safely from ~55 now.
 
After not doing ANYTHING to mine for over a month due to moving into a new house, I broke it out again yesterday. Ran OK like always, but I decided to mess with the air screw after removing the brass cap. I found that it was screwed in tight. After some tweaking of it and the idle screw, I settled on 1.75 turns out for now. It runs so much better. I still need to use up my break-in gallon, pick up some different jets and get some different oil.
 
fixed rear fender for the 4th time : (

painted an old barrel black to replace the one on there that had wrong transfer port height from factory

finished first premium build in just over a year as I'm beginning to get a bit of health back - bought 2 more clairmonts while they're on sale to see if I can build 2 more : )
 
mapbike said:
Dan, if Im following you correctly........ you're wanting a coaster brake rear wheel on the bike.

As far as I know all single speed coaster brake hubs are relatively the same width, if you want a good heavy spoked 26" coaster wheel you can get a good one at a good price at http://huskybicycles.com

I hope Im following what you said correctly....... sorry if I missed something.

Map
.wee.
Click to expand...

I probably bumbled my point lol. I have a coaster wheel but I want a freewheel that has either the same width or maybe a little bigger because my other freewheel wheels are so much wider I just don't want the stress on the frame. My current bike I had to spread the frame to get a freewheel with 5 sprockets in there, but like I said this older Huffy is much narrower.

I found a Point Beach Schwinn on Facebook that I might be able to buy for 80 bucks if the seller would get a hold of me, I think that rear wheel would solve my issues. Actually I might keep the Schwinn as is and paint the frame flat black or a flat darkish blue color. My only issue with the Schwinn is I'll probably be stuck again with sub par wheels. Geez it's confusing staying on task when I can't visualize the end product due to my lack of knowledge lol. But with you guys helping it sure makes things easier!

Dan.

trackfodder said:
I like the Worksman bike rear wheel. It is about $66 and has 0.10" spokes, 4" sprocket. Coaster brake. Actually, I got fed up with the brake and went to foot-operated bike rim caliper. With a motorcycle front wheel with disk brake/ go kart caliper I can shut down safely from ~55 now.
Click to expand...

I've heard great reviews on that wheel and your set up sounds great but its all Greek to me!
Dan.
 
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WELL, after a week of self imprisonment In the "Bike Kave" I rose to discover that the world was just as I had left it . Damit anyway. 6 CDI's 2 rolls of solder later its goods to get some second hand smoke . Today I ran the mail man down on my bike because he left without delivering me my three packages . I knew you had them because the tracking numbers in I for delivery yet the box was empty . So being the complete maniac that I am , I jumped on my bike with just my shorts and t-shirt and Fire mother up. After , hijacking what was rightfully mine I return back to the "bike Kave". dnut
 
Well, I found out that my bike absolutely hates 9000ft elevation. Didn't think it was gonna start --- ran like poop when it did. Never did get the carb adjusted to where it was acceptable. Decided the bike won't go to the mountains anymore.

With this in mind, I think that a question we should ask a 'newbie' is "what elevation do you live?" when they post that 'won't start' thread.
 
broke in the new chain, took a bad bump with the old one :\

sig.jpg
 
I put new pedals on it. I tried to bend back the Dax Friction Drive tension strap by standing on it, but it's stout! I will have to use a hammer or bench vise! (it got bent by falling into the wheel weeks ago when some trash in the wheel knocked it loose.)
 
If it's the "china doll" engine, you could customize a carb for that elevation, and bring a spare for everything lower. Since it's so easy to swap carbs on the china kit engines, that is probably the best solution.

xseler said:
Well, I found out that my bike absolutely hates 9000ft elevation. Didn't think it was gonna start --- ran like poop when it did. Never did get the carb adjusted to where it was acceptable. Decided the bike won't go to the mountains anymore.

With this in mind, I think that a question we should ask a 'newbie' is "what elevation do you live?" when they post that 'won't start' thread.
Click to expand...
 
xseler said:
Well, I found out that my bike absolutely hates 9000ft elevation. Didn't think it was gonna start --- ran like poop when it did. Never did get the carb adjusted to where it was acceptable. Decided the bike won't go to the mountains anymore.

With this in mind, I think that a question we should ask a 'newbie' is "what elevation do you live?" when they post that 'won't start' thread.
Click to expand...


There's information about air density and altitude available at this site: Engineering Toolbox. More specifically, this page covers air density and altitude.

I haven't explored the altitude factor much, I found it when I was looking at air temperature and it's effects on volume (thread regarding that is here).

Hope the links help a bit.
 
xseler said:
Well, I found out that my bike absolutely hates 9000ft elevation. Didn't think it was gonna start --- ran like poop when it did. Never did get the carb adjusted to where it was acceptable. Decided the bike won't go to the mountains anymore.

With this in mind, I think that a question we should ask a 'newbie' is "what elevation do you live?" when they post that 'won't start' thread.
Click to expand...

My 1976 Yamaha RD400C had a a small section/portion of the intake airbox that you could remove for high altitude riding. Removing this part returned the performance back to reasonable levels at ~ 8 thousand feet and above (it was a real dog at these altitudes unless you removed this part). Maybe you could try running a less restrictive air filter or airfilter cover at high altitudes...

Anyway, I recently ordered a couple of stock connecting rod small end bushings and received needle type bearings by mistake. Today I checked one of these needle bearings out only to find that there is no way I can run them. There's way way too much end-play or "side to side" clearance between the needle bearing/rod end and the piston pin bosses. Oh well, I've got another upgraded bushing on hand that I should be able to press in and ream as needed (I wanted to try a "practice" run on the bushing replacement procedure with a cheap stock bushing first).
 
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