Getting there

A good friend and I have been working on and off for the last 5 months on a legal motor assist bike and are just about there finally with the help of a few key folks. Wanted to post a shot that I took tonight after I put some stickers on board to show them off and also the fine paint job. More to come as it develops here over the next week or so.

 

[DetonatorTuning]

Thanks boys. Sorry to be a tease as Gaucho pointed out

When you undergo a project like this in a half bottomed manner like we have to this point with nothing more than an idea and a sense of purpose and about 2000 miles between minds the little milestones like paint and decals are worth documenting I feel. Plenty of build in progress photos on here eh? So here are a few more.
View attachment 15371

View attachment 15370

We are still having to make a few parts for the drive system and will post about that when it comes together. Just not worth showing until it is right and believe me, this will be right.

mabman, just got back online at a good monitor and realized that what i thought was a frame mod is in reality a tandem frame ?

who makes that, and is it available ?

thanks,
steve

 

[mabman]

Starting to come together. We have a show to go to today so the bike is in mock up state somewhat and still not rideable, but will be next week.

 

[DetonatorTuning]

absolutely speachless

 

[Happy Valley]

Then I guess this is the bicycle version of the flatbed?
View attachment 15405

Is that the bike nwguy made?

 

[mabman]

Is that the bike nwguy made?

Yes, Jim G made the blue bike as I have mentioned on here before. It is a pretty cool bike for a garage build and there is more to come from Jim for sure. It has made a good pacifier while developing the MAB and riding a similar design concept was very valuable. There is very little the same between the two at this point other than they both are nice machines and fun to ride.

I did just do a mod to that bike, I all it the Bumvee (bicycle utility motorized vehicle), that I haven't fully gotten tested yet. The bike originally came with a six speed freewheel and you ran out of pedalable gearing at around 25 mph. That meant you could still be efficient on the hills but everywhere else you were relegated to pablum pedaling. Our goal with motor assist over motorized is to be able to pedal with resistance over the entire power band of the motor.

I purchased a NOS take off set of Sachs components that has a 3 spd internal and 7spd cassette hub with a shifter. The wheel was a 700c so I downsized it to 20" and fit it on the other day. It really seems to work well so far but not enough open road duty to say for sure. For sure it has the ability for higher gearing.

We took the MAB to a meeting of the MMBA today in Lansing, MI. It was funny to see the reaction on peoples faces when they realized it had a motor on it. Most thought it was electric right off the bat and a lion's share of the others thought it was a 2 stroke. Just about nobody could agree on what they could use it for, everything from long distance travel to short hauling gravel for trail work. I took a shot of the bike this a.m. before loading it in to my van.