Warning- GEBE rant

Front rack, basket, and lights

Next up was a front rack, basket and light. In addition to providing a place to mount the front light, it holds a knapsack with road kit, a 5.2 amp 12v battery for the front light, plus plenty of sundries. If I need to make a quick stop at the grocery, I put the knapsack on my back and put a bag of groceries in the basket. A front basket is incredibly convenient.

The Elektra Townie 21 comes with a suspension fork. The Cold Springs front rack from Old Man Mountain can attach to a suspension fork and it provides a place to mount the front basket and head light.

Although the cutting boards make the front basket incredibly strong, the Townie stem just doesn't hold onto the fork firmly enough, given the weight of the basket and the stuff I usually carry. The Townie stem attaches to the fork with only 1 bolt which is torqued to about 118 pounds. Even with a light load the basket wobbles from side to side alarmingly. If I hit a pothole at speed, I'm a dead man.

For this reason I will probably swap out my beloved suspension fork for a rigid fork and a threadless stem that attaches with 2 bolts torqued at about 85 pounds each. To make up for the loss of front suspension, I'll swap out the 1.95" Armadillo Hemisphere tire for a 2.35" Schwalbe Big Apple balloon tire. Like the Hemisphere, the Schwalbe tire is kevlar belted, but is a smooth road tire with none of that "reverse tread" nonsense.

http://schwalbetires.com/node/61/ok

Hopefully this will eliminate basket wobble, but I may have to give up on a basket on this bike and go to front panniers.

The lighting on the bike is the simplest possible 12 volt system. The headlight is actually the top part of a 25 watt halogen worklight from Home Depot ($25). The top of the worklight easily unbolted from it's base (which contained a tiny sealed lead acid battery), and already had a power switch and heavy cigarette lighter connection. Add a 5.2 amp 12 volt battery and voila, massive bicycle headlight. I never tested it, but I suspect the burn time is about 90 minutes, more than I need for commuting and evening errands.

To prepare the headlight for the stress of being on a GEBE-ified bike, I put a supporting metal plate inside the plastic case and fabricated a heavy steel bracket to attach it to the basket. There's also 2 layer's of closed cell foam hot-glued to the back of the headlight to provide a cushion between it and the basket. (6 foot roll of closed cell foam from the WalMart camping department, $8 - incredibly useful stuff).

For the rear light I was going to mount a rear LED tractor light, but I ran out of energy and bought the CatEye 1100 instead. The CatEye is extremely bright and doesn't require any more cables to be threaded along the bike frame to the engine, which means removing the engine is still fairly simple. I mounted the CatEye to the spark plug cover using a longer M5 bolt and a chrome plated stand-off from the auxiliary gas tank (not installed yet). I don't know how durable this mounting will be yet.

-Sam

thanks for great info, sam. i like your style.

In our next thrilling episode...

Well it’s been a busy few weeks here back in the labs and I’ve made a number of changes to make the bike safer and more comfortable:

Avid SD7 V-Brakes
-----------------
The cruddy Tektra brakes that came with the Townie just weren’t cutting it. They did not have much ability to stop a motorized bike, especially in wet weather, so they are gone and replaced with the Avid Single Digit 7 v-brakes. The increase in braking power is noticable, however, the Avid brakes squeel worse than Deliverance in Dolby. The first day with the new brakes, burly drivers in 4 axle gravel trucks were looking around to see where all the noise was coming from. I kid you not. It was unbelievable. They have gotten slightly better over the last few days, but tomorrow I will upgrade the pads to Kool-Stop Salmon and see if that helps.


Ergon GP-1 Grips
----------------
Whatever you have to give up to get these grips -- smokes, beer, fine dining; give it up for a few weeks so you can buy them. Comfortable beyond belief. They not only spread the impact of the handlebars over a wider area of your hand, but they have that wonderful feel of something that is truly well made.




Rigid Fork, Threadless Stem, Headset
------------------------------------
I gave up my beloved entry-level RST fork to make the front basket more stable, and replaced it with a Surly rigid fork and a threadless headset. It’s definitely not perfect, but it’s much stronger and safer.




New Tire and Flatproofing
-------------------------
Without the suspension fork I swapped out the 1.95” Armadillo Hemisphere tire for a 2.35” Schwalbe Big Apple. Having tried both a 50mm suspension fork, and a rigid fork with a 2.35” tire, I would say there is not much difference, especially on a cruiser style bike, which doesn’t put much weight over the handlebars anyway.

I also swapped out the Slime tire liners for wider Mr. Tuffy liners, and changed the puncture resistant tube for a 2.4” downhill tube. A puncture resistant tube has thicker rubber only on the outer half, but a downhill tube uses the thicker wall over the entire tube, and is supposedly more resistant to pinch flats.




Suspension Seatpost
-------------------
Bama was right again. A suspension seatpost and a wide cruiser saddle are the way to go. I’ve never used a seatpost suspension before, and it does feel a little weird because the saddle now twists slightly from side to side, but it’s worth it. They call a bike with front suspension only a “hardtail”, but they should call them **** bouncers. If you don’t have a full suspension bike, get a suspension seat post.




Modified Rear Cluster
---------------------
This was a bit of a sneaky mod I had to do. I got home one day and one of my bracket bolts was gone (musta forgot to thread-loc that one). I wanted to thread a bolt from the inside of the fork to the outside, and then secure it on the outside with a nylox nut, but the cluster was too close to the fork on the right side. I removed the 2 largest gears from the cluster, pushed everything down, and replaced them with spacers. After adjusting the derailler travel, there is plenty of room for nylox nuts on the bracket bolts.




Double Kickstand
----------------
Also not cutting it was the rear kickstand. Even a good rear kickstand would probably only work if the front of the bike were not heavily loaded, but the one I bought was a POC. I’ve replaced it with the Plescher double kickstand, which is popular on touring bikes. It does an ok job of keeping the bike upright with a loaded basket, but what I’d really like is one of those front wheel double kickstands they have on some of the Dutch bikes.



-Sam

and it does feel a little weird because the saddle now twists slightly from side to side, but it's worth it

Click to expand...

Learn something new everyday, I've been fiddling with mine, trying to "tighten it to the ultimate", and that little swivel never goes away. Glad it just ain't me.

It's no big deal, just a quirk, and I still don't understand why it swivels, really.

Whell... this wore ay bit of ay strange'un.

(Just saw the movie "Hot Fuzz". I'm looking forward to several weeks of poorly reproduced, funky British accents. Bear with me.)

Although I've had my bike on the road for only a month, I've already noticed slack in the belt. I don't know how this happened. But recently I noticed it was quite a bit easier to remove the belt that it previously had been.

Yesterday when I rode to work, I noticed all kinds of new and alarming sounds, vibrations, and harmonics coming from the belt, and even slipping during certain speeds. When I got to work, I noticed the belt was frayed on *both* edges and that was also new.

Although I still don't know how this slack was suddenly introduced, it occured to me that I might deal with it by changing the holes in the frame mount brackets to slots. That way I could put the bike in the bike stand, spin it upside down, loosen the 3/8" mounting bolt and let the weight of the engine take up the belt slack, and then tighten the mounting bolts to hold everything in place.

Well, this was a high priority issue, so this evening I took a jeweler's saw and very carefully made the holes in the brackets into slots. I tightened the 3/8" bolt, which connects my bracket to the main GEBE bracket, *very tightly* and took the bike for a test ride.

The bike rode absolutely flawlessly. No noise from the belt, no vibration, flapping, etc. Even the belt vibration that used to occur while coasting down a steep hill was gone. The only question that remains is whether the bolts will remain at the "top" of the slots, given the weight of the engine, and the vibration, will have a tendency to push them down. We shall see, I guess.

When I was taking the brackets off, I realized that I had created them quite carelessly. I made careful measurements on the bike, but I did not take care that the brackets matched each other. I suspect the brackets that Bama had made are much better. If the slot modification works out over the next few weeks, I will make some careful drawings and have a local machinist run me up some 2nd generation brackets:

- machined alike
- threaded holes for the 5mm bolts (?)
- tougher steel (G8? If there is such a thing in flat stock.)
- slightly longer, so the slot can be longer.

The experiments continue. Yarp.

Dennis and I talked for about 15 minutes yesterday, discussing this "slotting development"....a variation of making that channel larger could be had using a round file, enlarging the hole upwards for adjustment.

Slotting all the way through to the top of the steel blank/tab WOULD make removing the engine mount as easy as loosening the wheels and sliding off.

But using a file would be the cheapest/quickest to accomplish.

A chat with an R/S Technician

Well, I had quite a nice chat today with a very knowledgable tech at Robin/Subaru, and I had the chance to ask him some R/S questions that have been on my mind. I mean ... moy moynd.


1. Can you use the EHO35 in the rain?
-------------------------------------
He said the EH series are designed to be used "in the field" and can usually run in the rain without any problems. All of the manuals say not to use the engines in the rain, but that is really legal CYA. At the worst case, in a really heavy rain, there was some risk that the spark plug would short out and that the engine would stop. He said it would be ideal if you could rig some kind of cover over the top of the engine that would prevent the rain from falling directly onto it, and that would also protect the spark plug.


2. Why doesn't R/S make an engine bigger than the 1.6 HP EHO35 and smaller than the 4.5 HP EX13?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
R/S actually does make such a motor, but it is not sold to the general public. He and a bunch of other techs were shown a 2 HP 4 stroke motor about a year ago, and they all thought it was a fantastic engine. However, they were told that the company only sells it to other manufacturers and there is no motivation for R/S to push into the smaller general market, when the b2b market is doing so well.


3. Can you damage the EHO35 by running it at "full bore"?
---------------------------------------------------------
He said you could reduce the life of an EHO35 engine by running it full bore, but only if you ran it that way for hours and hours with no break, and you could damage any engine by running it like that. I asked him if keeping the engine wide open for 15 minutes while you climb a hill would damage it and he said it seemed unlikely. The engines are designed to be run quite aggressively.


4. Where is the EHO35 made?
---------------------------
He said the EHO engines are still made in Japan. He said he wasn't quite clear on the details, but he was under the impression that Makita had actually purchased the tools, dies, and rights to make the EHO engines, but that they still market them under the R/S name.


5. Does R/S sell clutches for their motors?
-------------------------------------------
He said that most R/S engines are sold to manufacturers or re-sellers who have their own very specific clutch requirements. Usually they call R/S and work out a design with the R/S engineers. However, R/S does have some stock clutches for certain motors.


-Sam

Thanks Sam,
As a R/S35 owner I never thought running it wide open would be an issue...Once bedded-in. The engine produces 1.6hp then the governor regulates the rpm and at that time(on the gov.) the engine offers 1.1hp.

I saw/read it posted on this forum that the Feds want pedal assisted gasoline engines to be 33.5cc or less and that is the displacement of the R/S 35. The day may come when this is of importance, like riding bicycle trails posted for such.

Good research Sam.

Well Smapadatha, I share in much of your frustration with GEBE. I have had two major issues with GEBE in the short 500 miles that I've owned one. (35cc Suburu/Robin, which is one great little engine, btw) I agree that they should advertise their kits a little more realistically, in that it should be mentioned that most bicycles don't come with spokes on the back wheels that will withstand the constant "flexing" from engine torque on the drive ring. Also it's funny that when I was talking to them on the phone, I told them that I was a big guy weighing in at over 350 lbs, and all Dennis said is that the kit would help me loose weight if I rode it often. When I called them to address the spoke breakage issue, suddenly my weight was the issue! Well...even if it is the issue, strangely it wasn't an issue before I gave them my credit card number....I guess it's ironically funny...lol. Dennis tried to sell me a back wheel, but I was not going to buy it from him, after already sending him $629 for the kit. On the website it also says something about GEBE's goal of providing dependable transportation for the young, old, handicapped, and folks not in such good physical condition...not a quote, but I remember seeing something like that on there. What they don't tell you, is that if you're over weight, you have to spend at least another $100 on a new back wheel that probly won't work with your existing gear casette. I don't have much faith in those 12 guage spokes either, after snapping three 14 guage spokes within a month and a half, (one of the "ring driven" spokes every time). Does that mean that the 12 guage spokes will last 3 months? I had my wheel built with 10 guage spokes by "The Wheelmaster" out of Auburn, WA. The wheel is awesome...but then again, time will tell. Hopfully they'll hold for awhile...Geez. Oh...lol...now I need a new drive belt with just over 500 miles on the kit. Another 30 bucks exclusively for GEBE. As far as them answering the phone: I can honestly say that although they are both very friendly, and knowledgable, I have no desire to talk to them again for any reason, unless it involves ordering a part that I can't aquire elsewhere. I definitely feel your pain bro...Hope it turns out better for you than it did for me. I might be in luck if I were to loose 200 lbs...hmmmm...I'd sure be awfully skinny for my height though....lol.