Motorized Bicycle Project

[cracker39]

For those who want to see my project, here is the link to my build journal. It's not complete, but another day or two should have it ready to make a test ride.

http://www.thesquidget.com/Bike.html

[48Rob]

Nice write up Dale!

Rob

[stumphugger]

I've thought about the electric assist model. I guess they are popular in Europe. You pedal until tired, then hit the switch and the electric motor kicks in. They have to be recharged by plugging in.

This way one still get badly needed exercise and they would be quiet. Some folks like to camp in areas without chainsaw or lawnmower type engines buzzing around.
That makes another question pop up. How quiet is your motorized bike?

[cracker39]

That makes another question pop up. How quiet is your motorized bike?

As I haven't gotten mine started yet, I can't say first hand. From the videos I 've watched, they could be a little louder than my 4-cycle lawn mower engine, but no louder, if as loud, as my .40 to .46 RC nitro airplane engines. This engine has a displacement of about 3 cubic inches and a fairly large muffler for the engine size, but I don't know how effective the muffler is.

I thought I was about ready to gas up and test the engine's starting, but I find that I'm all out of 2-cycle oil. I surfed online for some info and found one answer that Mobile 1 synthetic oil can be used as a substitute for 2-cycle oil. I wonder how true that is. I have a gallon of the stuff for oil changes in my truck.

While I wait to decide if using the synthetic oil is a good idea, or get out and find some 2-cycle oil, my rear view mirrors arrived and I can put them on. I should have the part 2 to my build journal finished by this evening.

[asianflava]

This is the bike I built a few years ago. I put a springer front end on it, but it was a bad idea. When I get up to speed, it feels kinda wobbly and not very confidence inspiring. The other problem I had was the idler pulley. Mounted the way the instructions have you do it, It kept moving on me. I changed it up and fabbed one up to mount to both the chainstays AND seatstays.

[cracker39]

I finally got it finished. It was so hot today that I waited until evening to try to ride it. I got it started right away, but it runs rough so I didn't leave the block I live on. Tomorrow I'll try to see if I can get it to smooth out so I can take a longer ride. I have a keychain spy camera that takes fair video, but can't find my 8 GB micro SD card so I ordered two more of them. I plan to put the tiny camera on top of my helmet and get some video from the bike.

The rest of the build journal is in a separate page. The first page has a link at the bottom to go to Part 2. If you've already seen Part 1, the link to both parts are below.

Bike build journal part 1 - http://www.thesquidget.com/Bike.html

Bike build journal part 2 - http://www.thesquidget.com/Bike2.html

[48Rob]

Dale,

It looks really good!

Rob

[48Rob]

Rocky,

Good fix!

I had a similar problem, and trouble with the cheap plastic guide wheel.
I solved that by using a rubber roller skate wheel, which has very good bearings.
I cut a groove in the center of the wheel to keep the chain centered.
Worked great!

Rob

[Richard A.]

There is a paved bike/walking path (more like a narrow street) that goes at least half way down the 50 mph section, about 100 feet off the highway. That still leaves more driving on the shoulder in the fast section that I'd like.

Don't know about other states, but here in Massachusetts a "motorized bicycle" is a mo-ped ... if 49cc or below it does not matter if commercially produced or home converted. It does not matter if it has pedals or not. You need a moped registration sticker (good for two calendar years) and ..

You are allowed to ride a moped anywhere a bicycle can ride with the exception of bike paths. Bike lanes (on the street) are fine, but a bike/walking path is a no-no. Check your local laws if you intend to do such riding.

Oh, and no sidewalks of course (bicycles are technically required to obey traffic laws ... but few police would stop a 'normal' bicyclist on the sidewalk)

[cracker39]

There is a paved bike/walking path (more like a narrow street) that goes at least half way down the 50 mph section, about 100 feet off the highway. That still leaves more driving on the shoulder in the fast section that I'd like.

Don't know about other states, but here in Massachusetts a "motorized bicycle" is a mo-ped ... if 49cc or below it does not matter if commercially produced or home converted. It does not matter if it has pedals or not. You need a moped registration sticker (good for two calendar years) and ..

You are allowed to ride a moped anywhere a bicycle can ride with the exception of bike paths. Bike lanes (on the street) are fine, but a bike/walking path is a no-no. Check your local laws if you intend to do such riding.

Oh, and no sidewalks of course (bicycles are technically required to obey traffic laws ... but few police would stop a 'normal' bicyclist on the sidewalk)

There seems to be some confusion about the laws in here in Florida regarding motorized bicycles which are defined as electric motor assisted and mopeds which include any two or three wheeled vehicle propelled by an internal combustion engine of 50 cc or less, 2 hp or less and not capable of going faster than 30 mph. It also states that some mopeds will go faster than 30 mph. As for me, I won’t be going that fast. Another part of the law states that a bicycle after having an engine kit installed remains a bicycle, even though it has already been defined as a moped. It also states that riders of mopeds (e.g. motorized bicycles) not be required to have a motorcycle only license, insurance or to wear a helmet (at 30 mph or less--I will be wearing one) except those under 16 who must wear one, but that they must have a valid driver’s license where a bicycle operator does not.

Regarding riding on sidewalks, the law states “No person shall drive any vehicle other than by human power upon a bicycle path, sidewalk, or sidewalk area, except upon a permanent or duly authorized temporary driveway.”. So, I’ll stay off bike paths except for one nearby that I mentioned above that looks like a long, single lane paved “street” about 100 feet from and parallel to a local road. That one I may decide to ride on as I never see anyone on it when I drive down the road.

Given all of that information, I’m pretty sure that every police officer I might encounter will have a different interpretation of the laws regarding these home-built “mopeds”. I haven’t talked to any of the other motorized bike riders I’ve seen locally.

So, I plan to stay off sidewalks and most bike paths (unless just pedaling). I also plan to stay off streets and roadways with speed limits greater than 45 mph. Even then, on streets with speed limits over 25 mph I think I'll get a yellow and orange safety vest to wear.

[cracker39]

Eureka, it works. But, I had lots of problems getting there. You might even say it was a comedy of errors and me the butt of the jokes.

First, I had locked the bike in my shed last evening. When I locked the door it didn’t want to push shut. Rather than lube the lock so it worked and closed easily while locked, I just slammed the door. This morning, the key wouldn’t turn the lock, so I must have jammed something. I removed all of the screws holding the door flanges to the shed wall and it wouldn’t budge when I tried to remove the door. I had put some screws on the inside into the jamb so it couldn’t be opened by thieves by removing the flange screws. Unfortunately, it couldn’t be removed by me either.

Next, I worked on the door knob, finally totally destroying it and bending some of the aluminum sheeting on the door around the knob base, but I finally got the door open. Now I have to get a new door knob and put all the flange screws back in. I just hope the door knob will stay in place with the damage to the door facing.

OK, about the bike. Since it ran so rough yesterday, I pulled the spark plug. It is a three electrode plug. The gaps looked a little small on one or two of the electrodes so I widened them a smidgin, wiped the plug, which looked clean anyway and put it back.

I took the bike out front and rode round and round the circular driveway. It just wouldn’t start and finally, the chain jumped off the engine sprocket. In the carport, I put the chain back on which entailed loosening and re-tightening the chain idler. That’s when I realized I hadn’t opened the fuel petcock. (DUHHH?)

I opened the petcock and started all over. It started, ran very rough and finally just shut off and wouldn’t start no matter how much I pedaled. It was when I loosened the clamp to remove the fuel line from the carb to check fuel flow that I saw the carb wobble. It was loose as I must not have finished tightening down the clamp holding it on to the intake tube. I tightened that up and checked the fuel supply. It ran out the line when I opened the petcock so I put the fuel line back on the carb. (DUHHH AGAIN?)

Next try, it started and ran, not perfect, but enough that I drove it up to the corner and back, all of 150 feet or so, a few times then ran down a block and back. It tends to spit a little now and then, but it is running. And, it’s still using the old gas from my outboard motor tanks that I added more oil to get the proper break-in ratio. That gas has been sitting in the tank for over a year, but is has both Stabil and Startron (combats the negative effects of ethanol) in it. I’ll get some new oil and mix a half gallon of newer gas later today and see if it runs any better.

I went looking online about the spark plug that comes with the kit and found this on a motorized bike forum:

“The established favorite here is the NGK B6HS. Heat ranges up one and down one, 5 & 7 have been used successfully too....I've also had very good luck with a Champion plug, number 811 (L82C). The kit supplied plugs (LD Z4JC) have been notorious for early failure which can cause hard starting, poor performance and they've even been known to fail completely.”

Based on that info, I’ll look for the NGK plug when I go out for more 2-cycle oil. Now, I think I’ll put on my speedometer go try a longer ride to see if the engine smoothes out any more and to see how fast I'm going.

[cracker39]

I just went out for a longer ride, about 3/4 of a mile. It still wants to pop and spit some and still doesn’t run as smoothly as it should. Maybe with more time on the engine it will smooth out more. I won’t try it again until I have fresh gas and one of the recommended spark plugs. On a level to slight uphill grade, it got up to 23 mph. On a bicycle, that really feels fast to me. It's almost at the 25 mph speed limit of our residential streets.

[bigblockbarry]

Glad I ran across this. I've been staring at this for a couple weeks now. http://www.sportsmanflyer.com . I want to build one but where will I ride it?

[Wolffarmer]

Glad I ran across this. I've been staring at this for a couple weeks now. http://www.sportsmanflyer.com . I want to build one but where will I ride it?

OH my my my. Two places come to mind. Either on the salt or in a big wooden barrel.

[cracker39]

Since my last post, I had a bit of bad luck. On another attempt to get the engine running more smoothly, the engine popped and surged again. The chain came off the engine sprocket again, but this time, apparently caught between the engine sprocket and sprocket cover housing. The chain ended up in two pieces, wrapped tightly around the rear hub and chain sprocket. It was also in two pieces with a few more links damaged. I got it unwrapped and pedaled the one block back to the house.

After getting the engine sprocket cover off, I discovered two pieces of the cast metal broken out of the front edge of the cover and out of the partition between the sprocket housing and the magneto compartment. I ordered a new chain and replaced the broken pieces with some J B Weld steel reinforced epoxy. The repairs look pretty solid and the new chain is on.

Before I try to start the engine again, I want to add one more accessory. I saw the boost bottle in a video, where the bike owner said that the boost bottle helped the engine run smoother and warm up faster. I checked into it and from what I read I decided I want one. With the cost of $35 plus about $14 for shipping, I looked into making one. I found sever videos about making a boost bottle, but one video had very detailed info on making my own boost bottle. That video owner said he’d made several of them and they all worked well. Mine, like the one in the video is made from PVC, two 1/4” hose barbs with 1/8” NPT fittings and a short length of 1/4” tubing.

If you want to know more about how a boost bottle works, this is a very good explanation. Operation of a 2-cycle engine with and without a boost bottle explained:

http://wikiscootia.wikidot.com/boost-bottle

This is the video where I got the info to make my boost bottle:

http://www.49ccscoot.com/boost.html

Cost? PVC pipe, 1/4" tubing and two hose clamps I had laying around the shop, two PVC end caps less than a buck, two 1/4” hose barbs $4.50 on EBay (the box stores didn't have this size). Total cost less than $6. Will it work? I think so, but trials in a couple of days will tell for sure.