Greetings from Calgary

[CalgarysFool]

Hey Maddy,
Thanks for the follow up. Good point about the bikepath. I'll have to give some thought to the Crowchild to Shaganappi part of my journey for 3:30 to 4:30 every afternoon -- not late enough to stay out of trouble on the bikepath. Better consult a good map, or do some scouting.

I'm glad to hear you've had no hassles over the bike. I've only seen one of these things in Calgary, and when I did I was so amused I wanted to stop the guy and ask him about it, but thought it must be illegal, and he surely wouldn't appreciate being so conspicuous.

What a delight it is, with gas getting so outrageous, to learn these bikes are legal .
Brenton

 

[Proboscis]

Cool! more Calgary members. Welcome aboard to the forums.

 

[Born2BWild]

Hi, I'm in Calgs and I just finished (today!) my Pacific Coast Chopper with the 2 stroke Ebay motor. Runs great in our +10 C weather on Jan 30th..!!

Here's the info on 'motorized bicycles' in Alberta - no lic, no ins, BUT you need a DOT motorcycle helmet. The clutch is a sticky point as it does have one, and also might be overweight (it's a heavy bike), not sure about the 35 kph yet (too icy and gravelly):

http://www.transportation.alberta.ca/Content/docType45/Production/motorcyclehdbapril08.pdf

A power bicycle is defined as follows in the:
Use of Highway and Rules of the Road Regulation.
1(o): "power bicycle" means a vehicle that
(i) may be propelled
(A) by human muscular power,
(B) by mechanical power, or
(C) partly by human muscular power and partly by mechanical power,
(ii) is fitted with pedals that are continually operable to propel it,
(iii) has a motor that produces not more than 750 watts and that is driven
by electricity or has an engine with a displacement of not more than
50 cubic centimetres,
(iv) does not have a hand-operated or foot-operated clutch or gearbox
driven by the motor that transfers power to the driven wheel,
(v) does not have sufficient power to enable it to attain a speed greater
than 35 kilometres per hour on level ground within a distance of 2 kms from a standing start, and
(vi) weighs not more than 35 kilograms .

Note: Some vehicles may appear to be power bicycles. However, if they exceed the weight of 35 kg or the speed of 35 km/h, then they do not fall into the power bike classification and are, instead, considered mopeds.

 

[CalgarysFool]

Greetings, 'Wild,

Do you have a pic of your chopper?

I just don't know what to think about that clutch stipulation. That would seem to make us illegal. Then again, BC law is similar, I understand, and a casual conversation I had with a prosecutor there revealed that they see these things as bicycles -- he even thought we might be able to get away with ridding a Whizzer (what are they, 138cc engines?).

I'm not sure about the speed limit thing. My bike will do about 48kph right now, but ... what's meant by a standing start? Motor only? I can't get it up to 35km if I don't peddle it to get it going. I dunno. Maybe I'm trying to quibble too much there.

Perhaps it's a good reason to not have a speedo on the thing, and always remember the magic number, 35, if questioned about it. (I doubt a cop would jump on and ride it to see how fast it goes.

 

[CalgarysFool]

Geez, now I'm thinking I might take my bike out for a spin. Haven't ridden it since the snow first flew.

I could do a breakfast run down to my favorite Hillhurst diner.

 

[Born2BWild]

Here's a pic of the bike, with the fresh snow my winter riding has been curtailed, but I did take it out 5-6 times in Feb 09.

I raised the handlebars with a homemade iron cross about 8". It is steel and very strong - made from 2 pieces of 3/16" x 4" x 8" welded together at a slight angle, with a top and bottom square with 4 holes for the handlebar hardware to bolt on.

The seat has a removable extension too, raises it about 8" so I can pedal more comfortably.

 

[CalgarysFool]

Nice work, there, 'Wild!

I was gonna take mine out for a spin one day, then decided it was just too cold!

Soon enough, though.

 

[POPS]

You guys in Cal can get around the RULES about the clutch thing by going to Zoombicycles.com and buying their centrafugal clutch kit and a pull start. Now it's an automatic. As far as the BC thing goes your toast if they catch you on a gas powered bicycle! You can go threw 2 years of jumping threw hoops(I know a guy that did it)and a couple of K later and they might let you put it on the road BUT only as a MOPED=Lic,Ins...Etc. 8 Bikes got confiscated last year in Victoria and they all got fines of 5K+...POPS

 

[CalgarysFool]

OUch, Pops,

That's nasty. I thought they just left our bikes alone in BC. Pretty harsh penalties you're observing there.

 

[Born2BWild]

You guys in Cal can get around the RULES about the clutch thing by going to Zoombicycles.com and buying their centrafugal clutch kit and a pull start. Now it's an automatic.

That is cool, add-ons already - this must be a problem.
Plus a tilted spark plug head (JET HEAD) for more power, baby..!!

I don't think the pull start will fit on my bike, there's only about 1/4" clearance for the pedals now. And for what it takes to start this motor, I'd never get it going by hand. It's cold and a new engine - hopefully it will get better (or die completely?) I wonder how long that centri-clutch will last, or how well it would work.

I'm going to put some lettering on the lever - S T A R T - and claim that's the just the start lever and the kill switch is the stop button.

8 Bikes got confiscated last year in Victoria and they all got fines of 5K+

I hope they got warnings first - before that drastic action. People don't mind laws - as long as the laws are enforced fairly - and feel that they were aware of the rules. The law can't just swoop in and not expect some kind of a backlash. It's a lot of work, but 8 people can do a lot of damage to a government who thinks they can just act with impunity. You can't fight city hall but you CAN get 'em all fired.