70's Huffy Aquabug (Bike Bug)

Hawaii_Ed

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Mar 9, 2009
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Orlando, FL
I have not seen my good friend 5-7 Heaven in quite some time, so we stopped in at his place on the way home from the beach. It has honestly been too chilly for beach time until the past few weeks. I still don't want to ride the bike in the mornings yet, plus it has been raining. 5-7 is doing some adjusting on his setup, and I just swapped my engine for a new one, but I am sure more adventures are ahead of us soon!

But the reason for the post in this thread is that I was suprised to see he found ANOTHER orphan motorized bike! This is a cool, vintage, barn find! It is a green huffy three speed from the 70's with a slick little bike front friction drive. Supposedly it ran last year. I am sure 5-7 will have it purring in no time! The tires/brakes are dry rot, and he is worried about the spokes. I'd just swap the tires and pads and ride that thing as-is! :cool:


what a cool vintage look! Of course, 5-7 is sorta a 'vintage' rider! :whistle::whistle::giggle:

It is a pretty graceful setup. I wonder why they don;t make friction drive like this today?

I also spotted his cool Whizzer in the corner!


I won't disclose what 5-7 paid for the Huffy, that is up to him, but I wish I had found it! I was relaxing at the beach while he was bargain hunting!
 
Hey Ed, thanks for stopping by.

I found "BB Huffy" last night on craigslist and emailed the owner.They called me this morning and said there were a lot of emails for the bike. First come first served. Within 30 minutes I was at his place and the 1976 3-speed bike was mine for $35! Owner purchased it last year for $75, puttered around some, then it sat for 7 months. They had a garage sale yesterday; BB Huffy didn't sell because its Bike Bug engine wouldn't start.

There's rust and the paint is peeling. The 34-year-old powerplant looks great Hey, it's a classic with an engine and California license decals and stickers!

After Ed and his family left, I removed both wheels, the worn friction roller and brakepads. BB Huffy should be rolling this week; Bike Bug engine parts and literature to be ordered from Mike Schneider, aka msamigo at Bikebug.net.

Wish me luck!
 
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Parts are on order and the wheels are in the shop.

Please help me resist the temptation to install a second engine.:devilish:
 
That is "patina" not rust LOL! Keep it as a collector ride :) You don't need to go that fast on a bike that old anyway! :D

It had no spark? I'd guess messed up fuel system.
 
In Hawaii, patina occurs in a week. Then you get rust flakes, lol.

Ed, I didn't even check for spark or pull the new plug. Compression seems pretty good when I was turning the friction roller.

There is no pullstart or clutch, just kickstart and a lever mechanism to engage/disengage roller from tire. I would either have to do the electric drill special to crank it up or bumpstart the bike.

I'm waiting for the manual to arrive before working on this Bike Bug engine.
 
I woudn't do anything but try to get it running, first. Those little engines are not HT & are tough !!
 
I know, Estaban. Like Hawaii Ed stated, we'll just troubleshoot why it didn't start for the previous owner, fix that, then change the worn roller. The parts needed to start the Bike Bug engine should be here soon.
 
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