Newcastle, NSW, Australia

heathyoung

Member
Local time
12:02 AM
Joined
Jul 30, 2008
Messages
185
Hey all,
just getting into motorised bikes - I bought one of those $450 4 stroke GEBE 'knockoffs' from fleabay to fit to a 15 year old Merida mountain bike.

Its been a bit of an experience - never expect an ebay seller to be exactly upfront about their products... But i'm hoping there are a few more knowledgeable people around that can help iron out the bugs...

Cheers
 
Welcome Heath,
So what are the issues? Got one of those a couple of months back. It's been sitting in the shed waiting for me to get some time to fit it. Be keen to hear of your problems. May be able to help, dunno.
Cheers,

Glenn
 
Well, the seller was less than forthcoming with information as to fitment, it definitly does NOT suit a bike with quick release skewers (changed the rear axle to solid) and the fuel tank sits at an angle such that you cannot fill it up very much - not sure if I did it would leak out the cap? It holds vacuum, but hopefully wont leak.

It would be good if the motor was able to be tilted so that the tank filler was upwards (as per the tanaka purefire's - but they are a 2 stroke, so they don't have a sump).

Gearing is also very poor, a 16 tooth gear on the motor means acceleration is poor, with little hill-climbing ability, I'm hoping that the 12 or 13 tooth from Gebe will fit it. It does do an easy 30-35kph, any faster and it gets this awful vibration, not sure where this is coming from, seems to be a harmonic from the belt?

The stupid cheap throttle doesn't exactly inspire confidence (i'm getting a dual brake lever for the LHS and using the RHS original brake lever as the throttle) but thats not that bad - the choke needs to be on for a lot longer than I expected as well. The kill-switch isn't too bad though, and it isn't too noisy - and the rack mount means I can fit a 7.2A SLA to power the headlights easily as well.

A Honda GX35 sounds like a bit more fun, but I'll see how far I get with the gearing - the 'sumtingwong' brand belt doesn't inspire confidence either - time to look at a gates catalogue.
 
Hello Heath and Glenn, looks like we all have the same kit. I've had mine fitted to my large frame Mongoose hybrid for about 2 months now, and apart from some rear wheel and brake issues, I have found the kit to be a very effective way of reducing my fuel cost's, particularly to work and back.
Heath, I found by fitting the mount on the inside of the frame that the straight up position could be achieved, thus retaining full fuel tank usage. Not much vibration to mention, but my motor does seem happiest on the flat between 30 and 45kph.
I agree with you on the belt, and it's interesting to note that my freind just purchased the same kit and her belts supplied are double the thickness of mine! If you do source a better option, please let me know. Cheers Martin.
 
I'm not sure I could mount the motor inside my frame, I'm having trouble visualising this...

I'll probably design a mount out of aluminium to turn the fuel tank around so the filler is on the high side.

I've been looking at belts around the place, there are some really good ones that are used for timing belts/power transmission - Farnell list some that are steel belted inside, with a 10mm width and 5mm pitch, they can transmit about 5KW(!!) - very suprising for their size.

I'll see if the GEBE drive pulleys will fit onto these kits, gearing would probably help with the hill climbing ability - but so would a Honda GX31 (what these engines are a copy of - NLA though) or its replacement the GX35.
 
A slight misunderstanding. The frame that the motor bolts on to, instead of placing this on the outside of the bike frame, as per instructions, and securing with the axle nuts, I've put mine on the inside of the bike frame to allow me any angle to set the motor at.
If your frame is like mine there may be some obstruction stopping you from placing it in the ideal spot, ie straight up. So this is how I resolved the problem. I also purchased a new heavy duty wheel, with a longer nutted axle and my gear cassette fitted for $100 from the local bike shop, and this has made a great improvement. cheers Martin.
 
I see - my brakes foul on the belt if I don't have mine angled back - I found the reason for the vibration at higher speeds - centrifical force throws the belt back against the brakes :(

I'll probably modify the fuel tank mounts to get the tank turned around I think.
 
Yes Heath I had the same issue with my brakes, so I have removed them for now and am lookig at mounting them differently. And yes I am very aware of only having front brakes atm , which I have adjusted accordingly.
 
gates produces that belt solely for gebe. the engine can be mounted any way that works because of the oiling system on a r/s engine
 
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