Engine-Frame Problems

I got in this nice 2-stroke, single-cyclinder motor from Bob at BlueCollarBikes. The first problem I noticed was that the diameter of the front tube was too large ... so the bolts wouldn't slip around it and there would be problems bolting the engine to the front tube.

The seat tube was okay to bolt the rear of the engine to ... but it doesn't look like I will be able to attach the carburetor to the engine (see that little tube touching the top bar? That's where the carb attaches.) ... just not enough room inside the frame.

There is this old Peugeot sitting around ... and the frame tubes are the right diameters ... and the engine will fit inside the frame (complete with carburetor) ... but for some reason the pedals don't have enough spread between them (which means they will hit the case ...) and not go all the way around. I've got emails out (to motor bike aficionados) looking for solutions to these problems. Maybe I'll have to go to the flea-market and buy an old single-speed bike ...

Parts Bike

At WalMart yesterday (big box store) ... I found this bicycle on sale. It's a Mongoose Paver ... aluminum frame, 3-piece crank, 7-speed rear, 700cc wheels ... It is so much cheaper to buy these complete bicycles than to buy separate parts to build one. So, the questions is, am I going to tear this one into pieces for other projects ... or keep it in one piece and add a motor to it???

This reminds me of those big black bicycles they have in Denmark.

Wife's New Trike

Custom made by Jack at S&B Recumbents

My wife's bikes or trikes have to be blue!
And she wanted something that sat higher off the ground
than a DeltaWolf trike ... so she got the
Venice Beach Trike.

Front end view
"Sun Bicycles" seat

close-up of the king-pin ...
showing the grease fitting.
It has 14 mm axles on the front wheels ...
which carry the most weight.

Steering connector from the handlebars.

Mexican Cargo Trikes

In SoCal, they are very inventive ... they get used or cheap Mtn Bikes and modify them for use as cargo bikes. The frame is welded up from 1/2" square tubing ... with two 26" front tires. The cargo box is welded to the front fork in 2 places and welded to the handlebars as well. They don't usually carry more than 50 - 100 lbs. (max 50 Kg).
The box sits up high for easy vending.  They vend fruits, peanuts, cotton candy and various other items throughout the Spanish neighborhoods.
I had hoped to get a foto of one of these ... and two of them showed up this morning at Jack's bikeshop. By means of a little English (one of them), a little Spanish (me), and some sign language ... I helped Jack figure out what they wanted. Basically one trike needed the rear brake pads replaced and the brake cable fixed. Maybe I should get together with my neighbors and find out what the Spanish words are for the various parts and conditions of the bicycle. That might help Jack and I in the future.

Bicycle Seats

A good reason why I like Recumbent bicycle seats ...

Trike Caliper Brakes

Jack Baker showed me this on a tadpole trike he made ...

It's an inexpensive alternative to disk brakes.  And yet is quite effective in stopping the trike.  You'll notice that he has 2 brake lines hooked up to the same brake handle.

Since you have to make some kind of guard to keep your elbows out of the wheels ...

you could simply add the caliper brakes out there as well ...

or triangulate the two for even greater rigidity.

This may also provide a means of attaching fenders ...

I'll have to try this on one of my DW trikes.

150 Miles Per Gallon

I met this young man today ... he was pedaling his bicycle through this parking lot.  However, you can see that it has a small single-cylinder engine attached to it.  He says that you start pedaling and build up a little speed ... then pop the clutch and the engine starts running.  He says he can get up to 35-45 mph with a gas mileage of 120-150 mpg (miles per gallon).  He referred me to the Kings Motorbike website.  He mounted the engine on a "beach cruiser" bike that he bought at a "big box" store.  This bike happens to be single-speed ... but I've noticed these engines also mounted on multi-speed bicycles.

This is for those who don't want to do as much pedaling ... but really need something that gets better gasoline mileage than they are currently getting with their car ...