Staton eh035 observations

[tjdmobile]

I will make a last followup on this thread. I have now been commuting that 11 miles each way to work for about two weeks. I pedal it in the morning (motor OFF). I use gas power on the way home. With that arrangement, I still end up using a half tank. This MUST be due to the small roller size. The bike's top gear seems to be made to go about 20 MPH, which has the engine screaming nearly WOT.

I just ordered from Staton a second kit (minus motor) with 1.25" roller. I KNOW this won't take me up hills without pedaling, no problem. I pedal 100% of the time whether the motor is on or not. I use this kit to assist me on the way home, not to motor my lazy butt from place to place. I have a car and motorcycle for that

I think I have the tire wear thing under control. After careful alignment, the wear seems to be less.

I continue to marvel at the quality of this kit (well, other than the cheesy kill switch). You get what you pay for folks. This kit is rock solid so far. No offense to our HT friends, but I am really glad I held off on buying one and got the friction drive. I absolutely love the simplicity.

-TD

 

[greguk]

Good for you. Don't forget that engines burn 1 tank for hour as a strimmers so it's like depends from you how far you will ride by hour. There is no miracles.

For HT friends everything will be offence - but what I can do about it? Are they want me to unscrew bolts on cylinder to be equal? I have life you know, I'm tired after work, I can't sit with that drive and repair it and repair it etc.

 

[mbatl]

I have a fully broken in robin 35 with the 1 1/8 or 1.125(?) roller and I get 20-22miles if I'm riding wot and aggressive. Your mileage should improve with time once fully broken in.

 

[BentTooner]

Hi,

EH035 & BMP Kit = Happiness!
I've been riding a recumbent with the R/S EH035 for 2 years now. I bought the engine used on CList for $100 so I don't know how many miles/hours it had on it when I got it. I've put 2,500 miles on it so far.
I'm using a BMP friction kit with a 1" drive roller on it because there are some pretty long hills where I live. Never had a problem of any kind with the kit or the engine.

SPEED
It goes about 25 MPH top speed. I cruise at about 18 - 20 MPH most of the time and only pedal to help it get started. It goes up all the hills here in Oregon.

MPG
I've been checking gas mileage for 2 years now and, every time I calculate it, it comes out to about 180 MPG. I have the stock gas tank that holds 21.76 ounces and I can go 30 miles on that with a tiny bit of reserve. If you do the math, 21.76 ounces is 0.171875 gallons. So, divide 30 miles by 0.171875 gallons and you get about 175 miles per gallon.

OIL
The engine never uses oil between changes which I do at 10-12 hours of riding. Since I ride at about 20 MPH, that's about 200 - 250 miles between oil changes. That's pretty often but I do it that way because these are air-cooled engines with no oil filter and, the way I get the oil, it seems free.
I do my own car oil changes at home and, with 6 cars in our family, I'm pretty much always changing oil. I scavenge the oil from the plastic cans by draining them overnight into a container. I usually get just enough (3.2 ounces) from one car oil change to do an oil change on the EH035. I mix oils without worrying about it since I change it so often. The oils range from 5W-30 on the newer cars to 20W-50 for the older ones.

OIL ADDITIVES
I add Rislone oil additive to all my vehicles and have done so for decades, ever since I learned about it as a general aviation pilot and its use in air-cooled airplane engines. So, I get a little Rislone in every oil change for the EH035, as well.
Recently, an older car of mine with 190,000 miles on it started burning a little oil so I tried a can of "Engine Restore" and it helped. So, I scavenged what I could from the can and used it in the EH035. I can't tell any difference at this point, though.

SPARK PLUG
I check the spark plug at every oil change and it always looks perfect so I have never changed it.

AIR FILTER
I clean the air filter every other oil change.

I hope this is useful to someone. Overall, I have found the MB to be the best form of transportation I have ever seen and I am constantly amazed at how fun and inexpensive it is!

 

[loquin]

I've found that the UCO Fuel Faucet is a great add-on; makes it very handy to refill the tank. Just cover the air vent hole with your finger, and no fuel flows. Lift your finger, & out comes the gas. (If you shop around, you may find it for a little less.)

Also, Staton has several kill switches - I would recommend the rotary style High Quality switch kit. (The toggle switch shorts out REALLY easily.) The rotary switch is also available without the bracket.
.

 

[tjdmobile]

I've found that the UCO Fuel Faucet is a great add-on; makes it very handy to refill the tank. Just cover the air vent hole with your finger, and no fuel flows.

Very cool find! I will certainly be picking up one of those. Right now I go from my 5 gallon tank through a funnel to my MSR, then pour carefully from the MSR. This will make things a little easier.

Now I just need to find a slow pump from the 5-gallon to the MSR to make it even more handy.

TD

 

[lowracer]

File the points off your new friction drive rollers & the tires last much longer. Jim @ BMP gave me this tip & OMG it works great. The points are like little buzz saws chewing away your expensive rubber...
-Lowracer-

 

[drg007]

I had the same kit n actually never started the engine. Still missing the gas tank.
Thanks for the great info.

 

[dchevygod]

good thread

I just want to say that a staton or bmp kit is prime for an engine swap. Im going to use a CY460R " i kno its chinese but im gonna pull it apart and port it and fix any sharp edges" these are rated @4.2 hp @ 13000 with that much power a huge roller can be used! Im fixing a deamon fd kit tho, im not able to afford a quality kit so im using what i got and reenginering the design. I made a thread on it but this info was helpfull.

 

[rawly old]

TJD:
Tire pressure vs. roller pressure determines whether your tires get
chewed or the roller slips. If your tires are rated 35 to 65 psi, I've
55 psi is about ideal with the staton kit. you'll have to experiment
bit to find the sweet spot for down pressure. When you do, mark on
support rod at the top of the cam lever. A problem I found with the
staton kit was the plastic spacers for the skewer slip from vibration
after a bit. This too will chew rubber. Solution: Cut spacers from
alumnum tubing. A pair of crutchs from a thift were just the right
I.D. for the plastic spacers to fit or buy metal ones at most hardware
stores.
Don't get me wrong, I love my staton kit, but a little tweaking
to fit your own bike may be in order. I've found the best tire for the
money is the kenda 838, 26 x 1.95.
As for after mkt tanks, staton's 96 oz. kit is fine, but pricey with
shpg. Again ,in a thrift I found a sprayer tank designed to be slung
on the shoulder horizontally, $2.50, no cap. But, upon further
scrounging, I found a pumping cap that fit this 1 gal. tank per-
fectly. I thought about cutting a hole for a fuel line grommet,
until I realized with a bit of removable fuel line, I could just pump
gas into the stock tank as needed. So now I have a range of about
120 miles, more if i fill the 2 one liter bottles for the holders on my
frame tubes.