I'm really; really hoping Rich can come up with the goods and make true on his words to create a redesigned engine from scratch.
Having said that, the way things are looking, Rich "may" very well go the way of "Superchared Customs", with fanciful stories of his super charged 2-stroke bicycle engine, that had a tyre blowout at 60 miles per hour, all whilst he skidded to a stop.
I've never heard anymore from Superchared Customs - shame really, as i wanted him to make available his supercharged 2-stroke engine for purchase.
Fabian
Fabian,
It is all pipe dreams...and here's why:
Putting experience aside for a moment; the capital outlay for the equipment necessary to embark on such an endeavor is huge!
For anyone to manufacture parts for, a niche market such as, motoredbikes requires a unique set of circumstances.
1) The owner of the manufacturing facility must have a genuine interest in motoredbikes, just for the sheer enjoyment of motoredbikes.
2) The equipment, (capital), must be paid for, thereby greatly reducing the overhead of the operation as a whole so that parts can be made for a market that is notably spend thrift.
3) The owner of the manufacturing facility needs to have a full understanding of engines and mechanical engineering in order to produce/offer said parts that represent an improvement.
It's the total package of the operation that makes things happen...if one part is missing...the whole thing becomes a pipe dream.
The idea of anyone producing engines that are fuel injected, supercharged, case reed valve inducted etc...etc., for motorized bicycles is just ludicrous.
A reworked engine that addresses the short commings of the Chinese engine is all that is needed for a motorized bicycle.
This can be done affordably, and I have the know how and tools/equipment to do it.
At this point the hype has gone to such an extreme that I feel like a decent engine that made 3-4 horsepower, smoothly, would just be shot down for not being up to everyones elevated expectations.
Here are some pics of a Schwinn Spoiler I built for a customer...The bike was purchased, the engine was purchased...the rest I made here at the shop.
http://www.motoredbikes.com/showthread.php?t=27885
Jim