finished my first bike build!!

[jroyse]

finally finished the bike I was building for my neighbor. He stored my car in his garage for the winter. So I built him the bike instead of paying rent.

Couple of questions - how can I slow it down for him and is there such a thing as an automatic clutch? It would have to have a lock-up for starting or a pull start would have to be added to the engine. Pull start would be nice anyway. So far the neighbor can't pedal start it. He's 76.
What do ya think?

 

[dougsr.874]

I'll be 66 in a few days so I'm not far behind you...2 stroke engines by their nature have no lugging ability, so except for riding the clutch I know of no way to slow it down....also, I have seen somewhere on here where you can buy a cent. clutch for these 2 strokes...However, I made the mistake of buying an engine with a recoil starter and it is worthless...broke on the 3rd pull....

 

[Porkchop]

I'll be 66 in a few days so I'm not far behind you...2 stroke engines by their nature have no lugging ability, so except for riding the clutch I know of no way to slow it down....also, I have seen somewhere on here where you can buy a cent. clutch for these 2 strokes...However, I made the mistake of buying an engine with a recoil starter and it is worthless...broke on the 3rd pull....

What part of the re-coil starter broke ?

 

[dougsr.874]

It had a metal cord on it....the cord came off the spindle and the spring flew out.

 

[sparky]

It had a metal cord on it....the cord came off the spindle and the spring flew out.

Recoil the spring with your fingers as tight as possible. This will be difficult if you don't wipe the grease off your hands that is all over the spring. Took me hours the first day, because it kept slipping. Next day (with dry hands) I got it on my first try.

Replace the rope with 7/64" Amsteel Blue rope. That stuff is amazing. It will never break.

 

[Wooddogg]

If you hit the killswitch, itll slow waaaaay down.

 

[motorpsycho]

put a bigger gear on the rear sprocket. A bigger gear will give it more torque on take off, but it will cut the top speed way down (especially if you go with a 56 tooth or bigger rear gear.)
a bigger gear will also make it easier to start the engine.
by the way, there is no need to pedal start these.
if you have a slight hill you can just coast down the hill and pop the clutch. I never pedal any of my bikes, I just coast down my driveway and pop the clutch.
it doesn't take much of a hill of incline, just enough for the bike to coast up to 3-5 mph (if that) to get the engine started.

 

[jroyse]

I'm definitly thinking of going to a bigger rear sprocket. That should solve 2 problems - starting and speed. I noticed there are centrifugal clutches made for these. Thats cool but how do start the engine?

 

[motorpsycho]

yes they make centrifugal clutches for these, but i'm not sure how they work when it comes to getting the engine to start.
I would assume that you would have to get the bike up to a certain speed for the clutch to grab to get it started....I have no idea.

 

[jroyse]

I like woodogg's idea... hit the kill switch!!! I'm beginning to think I should never have started this build for the neighbor. I'm constantly trying to tweak the bike to make it easier for hom to ride. I'm never gonna get there!!! My best hope is that he sells me the bike.