What is it about dyi bikes

[Dan]

Heh, that's because here beats the heart of the whole MB thing....like kids again start with just an old bicycle, planinng the next idea, just a'conjuring and a'tinkering and thinking about how the wind is gonna feel on your face.

Happyvalley,Thats it, fo'sho. When asked "Why?" I answer; Remeber the first time you put a baseball card in the spokes? ..and they just get it.

(That and I plan on getting filthy rich off the "ultra light transportation industry.)

So the kid in me likes the fun, novelty and tinkering. But the grown up in me is a heathen capitalist pig dog. snork

 

[deacon]

Well dan take a look at the grocery trailer I built it to is ultra light and cheap lol...

 

[Dan]

Well dan take a look at the grocery trailer I built it to is ultra light and cheap lol...

A beauty it is too Deacon. I wanted to ask you, is the tow arm on the right side, if so why 4? Or am I remembering the wrong pic?

 

[deacon]

There is no particular reason for that.

Is there some conventional wisdom that says it should be on the left. If you wanted a reason I guess i would say that it interferes less with the rear wheel in a sharp turn, but that really isn't the reason I don't have a reason.

 

[TheDeke]

Please forgive my nievete WRT motorbicycles, but what's a DIY or DYI bike?

 

[deacon]

DiY are do it yourself. None traditional motors mounted onto bicycles. Weed whacker chain saws ect.

Most of the people here install a kit that has all the parts... Do it yourself means you come up with your own mounts and drive systems.

I just read your post about your tandem sounds like the tandem with the sears engine was a do it yourself project.

 

[Dan]

There is no particular reason for that.

Is there some conventional wisdom that says it should be on the left. If you wanted a reason I guess i would say that it interferes less with the rear wheel in a sharp turn, but that really isn't the reason I don't have a reason.

Deacon, I was in a rush and in and out. only read the first line of your answer 2 my question. I was out all afternoon doing my gig. I have a lil courier biz and have lots of time to think. It dawned on me how cleaver it is to have the tow bar to the right. Tight turns are to the right, long turns are mostly to the left on a street. Again sir, I tip my hat. "conventional wisdom that says it should be on the left" is, that it is just easier, one nut and no derailleur. Again, you are what Howard Hughes was to insainley large aircraft, to insainley underpowered motor bicycles.

(But you still dress funny)

 

[comfortableshoes]

DIY stands for the best bikes EVER!!!!

LOL

Deacon hit the nail on the head

I just got back from a 6.75 mile ride on my DIY Madwagon WeedWacker build and let me tell you it's the most fun I've had on a bike in years.

There's nothing like getting on a bike and riding it to your hearts content and realizing that YOU BUILT THE WHOLE DAMN THING! WITH YOUR OWN 2 HANDS AND THAT'S AWESOME!

Seriously though it's awesome.

Okay I mean, I bought the bike and weedwacker on Clist but the framework and everything else I built with instruction from here. I think these things are a showcase of human ingenuity and they rock.Also pretty much dirt cheap to build.

 

[deacon]

And to rebuild after you screw them up...


As to the bike parts my bikes are all stripped down since I don't pedal I don't need gears.

 

[Spikedfox]

hmmm maybee i should just bribe deacon with some kimchi and see what he builds me... heheh

nah im kidding, I love my kimchi to much

Diy is deffinatly the way to go, not just for the self satisfaction as much as it is for the , ohh crap my drive broke whats in my junk box that will replace it.

I havent built one yet but ive built 6 in my head lol

 

[Dan]

A kit bike gives one the confidence to build. The DIY gives you the confidence to create. Confidence is a great, warm fuzzy in the belly that carrys over in to so many aspects of ones life. Thomas Alva Edison was once asked if he felt bad about 700 failures at creating the lite bulb. He said "no, now I know 700 ways how not to make one"
The Wright brothers greatest invention was not the airplane, it was the wind tunnel. Eventually some one would have stumbled on heaver then air flight, but they knew their design would work b4 the expense of life, limb or $ b4 they took to the beach.
Build some thing cool!!! Time is near when folks are gonna need an inexpensive ride.

 

[comfortableshoes]

.
Build some thing cool!!! Time is near when folks are gonna need an inexpensive ride.

the time is here.

I think the next big thing with these bikes is to have them run on alternative fuels- like waste veggie oil. you need a diesel engine for that and they don't come this small, I'd be in line to buy one that did though.

I wonder if the glo kits for model airplanes that convert these 2 strokes for alcohol would work for diesel... THen you'd be able to run one of these things on leftover oils from the kitchen or from your local Asian restaurant.

Then you'd really have something. I had a Ford Escort in high school with a diesel engine- it was my first car- I got 50 miles to the gallon imagine how many you'd get in one of these tiny little engine. Back then Diesel was cheap about $1 per gallon... That was a LOOOONNNNNGGGG time ago.

I suspect though that they wouldn't get enough compression to do the deed....

 

[Spikedfox]

to do that comfert we would need batteries and a magnetto powerful enough to charge them

 

[Dan]

Comfy shoes, you are right. Project 6 on my list;A and C Propane Natural Gas Conversion Kits Renweible but only functionable with 4 bangers.

Side note, great nic!!

 

[deacon]

I almost said and it when you build one it won't look like any of the ones you built in your head, but the truth is it won't look like what you started building it morphs into a thing of its own.

 

[deacon]

to be honest alternate fuels is something I have taken an interest in but haven't really started to experiment with them. The only thing I know about alcohol is I used to like to drink it. And it screws up these plastic gas lines and the diaphragm in the carbs.

The carb you might go get away with an old style lawn mower carb. Or one like on a china bike. You could probably find a gas line at the auto parts store.

I would have to find out how to lubricate the alcohol and how to ignite it. That really is all there is to it. Isn't it..

 

[Dan]

One of the best lines I have ever heard; "Oh God, they built it the way we told 'em to" But was OK, we fixed what the engineers told us to do.

 

[deacon]

When I was in asia many years ago our military was trying to prop up the local economy so they tried to order from the local businesses. They took a cracked housing to a local machine shop. Told the man to build one just like it for them. He said you mean just like this. Yes the soldier said impatiently just like that don't you understand. He whispered something to his partner then they left.

When they returned the man had two parts exactly alike.... crack and all...

 

[Dan]

When I was in asia many years ago our military was trying to prop up the local economy so they tried to order from the local businesses. They took a cracked housing to a local machine shop. Told the man to build one just like it for them. He said you mean just like this. Yes the soldier said impatiently just like that don't you understand. He whispered something to his partner then they left.

When they returned the man had two parts exactly alike.... crack and all...

snork, LOL

 

[Spikedfox]

A few freinds of mine and myself built a handful of hho kits (browns gas) i dont know how a scooter engine would take straight hydrogen but im willing to bet it and a 2stroke cant mix, no oil in the air released from the water and all.

but in a four stroke it might just work, ive seen a push motor idle on it but it took 3 cells of some size to do it, but they wernt as efficient as mine