How long have you been Motorbiking, and when did you start?

[Kestrel Motors Inc.]

Hey guys,
I heard about MBing a few years ago, thought about buying a kit (at 10 or 11, I didn't have $150 to blow on a motor) but in the end ended up having my dad help me build one from scratch. I just wondered when you heard about MBing and how long after you built yours. Thanks!


Kestrel Motors Inc.

 

[Al.Fisherman]

I first saw a MB while in Viet Nam in 1967 (two years before I joined the service). There were literally 100 of thousands on the road, mostly with a front wheel drive. After that, I really never thought about them as I really didn't have a use for one. Only had a few tickets but never a loss of license that many here have. It wasn't till my youngest son (33 at that time) had to move back home. He had no license due to Georgia's tough laws, but that's another story. So he was riding a bike to work every day (he had also peddled from Orlando to Atlanta) and with a sore knee asked how much trouble it would be for me to put a motor on a bike, he was actually thinking "electric"..told him no problem...piece of cake then told him about a engine powered bike I saw in 1967, and hit GOOGLE. That was somewhere late 2008. Joined both MB forums around 3/2009. I myself had a scooter or a motorcycle through out my life. Heck, I still have a motorcycle endorsement on my license today. That's my history about MB's. Still don't need one but it's just a toy. Not long after my son moved home..1st priority was paying back fines and getting him his license back after 14 years.

 

[Tinker1980]

I had been kicking around the idea of building a motorized bike since about 2005. I looked at different kits, liked the looks of the frame mount engines the best. Didn't feel like spending $250 on a bike engine, though, since at the time I lived six miles from work, and rode a recumbent bike to work.

A few years later, I moved farther from work - and paid less in rent. This was 2008. Gasoline started its dizzying climb to $3.93 a gallon in the summer of '08. I drove a 1989 Chevy truck that summer, and it cost $125 to fill it up. It cost me $110 to buy a "80cc" engine kit off ebay, and I had a bicycle lying around. So I jumped at it. Built my first bike on a Trek 820 mountain bike. Rode it for a few months, my girlfriend at the time thought it was great fun to ride. One night, riding to wal-mart to buy a helmet, I crashed it and broke my hand in three places, got a quick painful lesson in why proper lighting is critical. The bike survived, with only a dent in the tank. I leave that dented tank on the bike (Engine is now mounted on a Moon Dog) to remind me to keep the headlight charged - and be careful.

Today, the UPS fairy dropped off my Golden Eagle kit, and in less than an hour, I had constructed my fourth motorized bike. The girlfriend mentioned above? She is now my wife. And the bike was built, so we could ride together.

 

[RedBaronX]

Last year when my car died, I bought a bicycle since I hadn't had one for awhile (and it was going to take many months to save up fore the car repair). After I bought the bicycle, a friend told me about HER friend who built MBs here in the area. A MB kit sounded like an economical way to extend the usefulness of the bike I had just bought (work is 15 miles away, which is too far for me to pedal).

 

[5-7HEAVEN]

In 2004, I started work in my wife's office. We had the same work schedules, so we carpooled. Great, right? Nope. My wife would work late, so I'd be sitting in the car waiting for her for 1.5 hours. That was wasted time, so I tried walking home. That took 105 minutes, and it hurt. In 2006 I built my motorized bikes to commute, and have been riding ever since.

 

[cloud_2901]

I saw an article about a bloke down here winning a "commuters race" through the CBD on one of the Zbox 66cc engines, ordered one in the next couple of weeks, and spent a good few months figuring out how to mount it properly (large-framed bike, I had no experience with anything mechanical back then)

Got it going, and keep meaning to buy extra bits for it, but all I've done so far is change all the bearings and gaskets, got 6500km (so far) out of the original piston / rings so far, and they're still in PERFECT nick (well, rings maybe nearly due). I don't rev the pants off it though, cruise at about 40km/h, which the 50cc engine I have on another bike can also do, but its right at the top of the band whereas my 66cc can get to about 48km/h.

They're just so fun.

 

[recumbentbill]

I started MB ing in the early 70s with a sears front friction drive made by Tanaka. The same as a bikebug. Great little friction drive. During the years after I had a zip electric friction drive[junk] a dimension edge rear friction. 30 + years later I got back into the MB club with a grubee stage 111 4stroke then a gebe then a staton chain drive and back to the grubee with a 4g belt trans. Also very briefly had a Q matic. Now back to the stage 111 with gxh honda 50 mated to the SBP shift kit turning a sturmey archer 3 speed

 

[Greybeard]

I started in 1956 with a Travis friction drive. They were advertised in Pop Science and Pop Mechanics for $69-99. The $69 one had 1hp, and for $79 you got 1 1/2hp, for $99 you got chrome. It was really a lot of money in those days. You could buy 500gals of gas for $99 bucks. I was fortunate to live on a dairy farm, and my dad paid me $25 month to get up at 4:20 to help with chores, and then again from 4pm to 7;30, 7 days a week. Only took a few months to save up for the 1.5hp one without chrome. ALSO, I got a discount of 33% if I promissed to show it off to my friends. The engine was made by Power Products and only failed me once. I was going down a long hill at speed with the throttle closed and it didn't get enough oil. Top speed was around 35 and I ran it WFO everywhere I went. I had 2 buddies I rode with. One had a Whizzer and the other had a nicely done Briggs powered bike.
I now have, or have under construction a rear friction Tanaka, a front friction Solex clone on a '64 Schwinn Hollywood, a honda GXH powered 53 Panther strait bar, and a Tanker Felt with Honda GHX power. Am having a great deal of fun.

 

[Member 5549]

Always wanted one

Saw them in popular mech. Mag when i was a kid 1970's.
Then forgot about it for 30+ years .
Say a show on tv in 2008 and they had mb's in calif.
I said man i want one !!!!
A few months later i got a Schwinn point beach at walmart and ordered a GEBE Tanaka 32 kit. What a blast!!!!!!
Its kinda funny the reaction you get from the public, they cant believe it !!!

 

[thimmaker]

motor biking

Started in 1949 with a Monark Supertwin. $169.95 complete with lights. Times have changed.
Geo.