yahoo!!! over 1000 miles on swichblade

gotta be more than that. 1 tank about 1/2 gallon .....6 tanks is 3 gallons......~100 mpg maybe.....probably 250-300 miles. Miles go by when you're havin fun. :D


i'm doubting the 100 mpg claim that they make about these motors. really, when i ride my bike, i usually just go around the neighborhood...maybe 2 miles at a time. I might venture out onto one of the main roads on occasion.
I live in the country and there is very little traffic where i live.
it just seems like i only ride short distances every time i take it out, but it seems like it goes through gas really fast. It's not running too rich, but it sure drinks the gas. I've had it together since august and it doesn't seem like i've ridden it that far (300 miles)
 
Look for a entry level cycle computer from Cateye. Very nice screen and simple operation, $20-30, will last forever.
You need to mount the sensor where the magnet will pass about a dime's width to two dimes width away. You should hear a faint clicking sound when the wheel is spun by hand as the magnet passes the sensor.
Cateye is a japanese brand that is very durable, and the magnet mount is strong. If you use a cheap plastic one, it could fly off and shoot you (ow!)

Ps. Www.nashbar.com has lots of cheap prices on 26" tires and cycle computers.

Well done for sure. I think Ca must be more speedo friendly than Ak. I can't get more than 500 miles on one and it quits. Oh well, new one is 12 bucks.
 
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well, i did buy an electronic speedo off e-bay. the brand is sunding (el-cheapo....i think i paid $7.00 for it which included shipping from hong kong).
it worked good until i started the engine. As soon as my engine is running, the screen freaks out, and it just keeps trying to re-set itself. I tried isolating the speedo and the sensor from touching anything metal on my bike by using strips of rubber but that didn't help. I put on a shielded spark plug wire thinking that it might help. All of my electrical connections are soldered together and sealed with heat shrink. something on my bike is causing interferance with the speedo. I took the speedo and sensor completely off my bike and held it in my hands. with the motor off, it stays set at 0 mph and does not freak out. as soon as i start the motor, it will freak out and keep trying to re-set itself...and it isn't in contact with the bike.
I never figured it out, so i gave up on trying to get it to work.
if i had a bike without a motor on it, it would work fine.
 
I can't even get a speedo to work on my bike (electronic or manual).

Hi motorpsycho, I went through the same dramas with speedos, (and lights too, but that's another story. Below)

I tried a couple of cheap Chinese speedos, from eBay, but they kept crashing/resetting as soon as the motor was running.
As a last ditch attempt, I forked out the extra $, (about $40AU) and bought a Cateye Velo5 (Model VL510, for anyone interested) and carefully followed instructions by following the front brake cable from the sensor to the speedo. (This keeps the cable well away from the electrics.)
It's worked perfectly since I put it on, about 150 km ago.
(If you measure the wheel circumference by sitting on the bike with your full weight distributed as for riding and rolling forward one turn, then measuring the distance covered and entering that value, you'll get pretty good accuracy, too.)

The other story - cheap digital lights kept turning themselves off through motor vibration. I was getting about 3-5 seconds of light, then nothing.
Instead, after the success with the speedo, I bought a Cateye halogen headlight. No fancy electronics to fail, just a battery, a switch and a bulb.
It, too, works great and very bright compared to the LED ones. I get 4 hours light from a pair of 'C' Ni-MH batts. Heaps.

(Do you reckon Cateye should send me a free something for the great advertising?)

... Steve
 
re: C batteries. Have you tried cattle prod batteries? They have some serious power and capacity, and are rechargeable a loooooot of times.
 
well, i did buy an electronic speedo off e-bay. the brand is sunding (el-cheapo....i think i paid $7.00 for it which included shipping from hong kong).

Whaddaya know - my crappy ones are Sunding $8.00AU delivered from Hong Kong.
Ring any bells?
Nope, they'll never work on these bikes as far as I could tell.
I tried shielded 2-core cable from sensor to computer, with the shield connected to engine ground, moving the wiring away from the frame and shielding the computer unit, also connected to engine ground. - nogo.
The Cateye immediately worked beautifully with no messing around.

happycheapskate - no, I haven't tried cattle prod batteries. What capacity, construction and voltage, out of interest? ie mAh, Ni-MH/Ni-Cd,Lead-Acid etc, volts.
The 'C's are fine and give 4 hours light. I also have a backup pair. That's 8 hours.
Ni-MH batts also recharge a loooot of times and have no memory effect. Short of Lithium Polymer or LiFePo4, they're hard to beat.
I'm OK in that department. After all, the tank only holds 2 litres - 3 when my new tank arrives from dax next week.
... Steve
 
Look for a entry level cycle computer from Cateye. Very nice screen and simple operation, $20-30, will last forever.
You need to mount the sensor where the magnet will pass about a dime's width to two dimes width away. You should hear a faint clicking sound when the wheel is spun by hand as the magnet passes the sensor.
Cateye is a japanese brand that is very durable, and the magnet mount is strong. If you use a cheap plastic one, it could fly off and shoot you (ow!)

Ps. Www.nashbar.com has lots of cheap prices on 26" tires and cycle computers.

hello again happycheapskate,
for a little whie my internet connection went crazy, dropping out and running at 4800 while I was trying to keep track of the thread. The posts got crossed a bit.
You and I are on the same wavelength regarding the speedo.
The flaw with the Cateye unit, however, is that when you replace the battery, you can't preset the odometer to the previous value. A log of some sort is required to keep track.
The el-cheapo Sundings were good in this respect. A shame they don't work on motorised bikes.
(I still have one on my electric bike.)
The faint clicking is the reed switch opening and closing.

Incidentally, on the Sunding, I also tried disconnecting the sensor, in case the field around the CDI was pulling the reed switch open and closed rapidly, causing the microcontroller to crash. No change, it still reset continuously when the engine was running.

I'm sharing this info about the Sundings to stop others having to go through all the same c r a p.

... Steve
 
Thanks for the information about Sunding bike computers. I haven't tried any on a motor bicycle yet (still building it), but I like cycle computers and like to give them for small gift items.

I like the $10 ones at Walmart (schwinn) and the $15-30 ones at Nashbar (cateye, planet bike, sigma if you are lucky).

I think Sigma (german brand) has some that allow you to input miles after reset.

Has anybody found engine hour-meters that run on weedeater engines and 2st bikes? I mean the device that tells how many hours the engine has ever run, such as for a tractor or airplane.
 
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