Another Canuck joining the ranks

[Rob930]

Hey all,

I'm Rob from Vancouver (B.C.) and have never built one of these bikes before... but I just received a fine People's Republic 49cc kit yesterday and picked up a slightly used but decent condition hybrid-style 21spd bike last week for the project.

The plan with my project is to help me a little with hills along my 20km route to work (I only commute with a bike a day or two a week). I have one particularly nasty windy hill to climb on my way home from work near my house that I normally granny-gear up or have to walk. I'm hoping that the engine will at least supplement my efforts and keep my heart rate within safe limits. My challenges initially appear to be the mounting of engine to frame (dodging gear change cables running along the down tube and brake running along the horizontal cross tube), figuring out how to keep the grip-shifters and brakes intact while introducing a clutch lever, interpreting a very Chinese-translated-to-English instruction manual, and just generally filtering/deciphering all the postings on here that often contradict the manual and/or each other. Just an example: the manual shows the two rag joint discs mounted on the inner side of the spokes with no rag disc on the sprocket side, yet Dax and forum posts indicate sandwiching the spokes base with the rags...

Aside from this project, my life generally revolves around my family (wife + 2 young kids), my work (engineer), my aging high-maintenance house, and keeping my other modes of transportation running (wife's car, my truck, and a "hobby" car).

Looking forward to the discussions! I hope I'll be able to give as much as I will need to take.

Rob

 

[Neon]

Welcome to the forum Rob. Hope you can get your questions answered here. It seems that this forum has really gone to the dogs lately. All that seems to be going on here lately is how much one user can insult the other. Or people just defending their mechanical knowledge. I hope it's a two stroke engine you have. If it's a four stroke, you'll usually get a response of i don't know nothing about four strokes and can't help you. Or why waste your time with a four stroke. Heaven forbid should you have decided to give electric a try. I won't even go there. Anyway welcome from another goofy canuck.

 

[Rob930]

Thanks for the welcome, Neon.

It is a basic 2-stroke 49cc. I also hope that my questions can be answered both with the search feature and posting. I have tried a bunch of different searches already on the rag joint mounting, but haven't seen any that address the opposing viewpoints on how to mount. I don't like the idea of the sprocket being up against the ends of the spokes where they join the hub.

Anyway, I must digress - this is only an intro message board!

I looked into electric, but the battery packs and other equipment seemed a little heavy and/or expensive to maintain over time... but then again, this engine could require as much or more attention!

Rob

 

[Neon]

I use one binder on the sprocket and one on the other side of the spokes. I've been using that setup for over a year without problems. Just make sure the bolts are tight and you shouldn't have a problem.