Tinker1980
New Member
Used to be an active member here. Way back in 2008, gasoline went to record levels (just a few cents from $4 a gallon in tulsa) and at the time I drove an '89 chevy truck that cost over $120 to fill up.
That $110 BoyGoFast engine kit on Ebay seemed like a good idea. Bought it, installed it on an old mountain bike, rode it quite a bit, crashed it and broke my hand in three places. I healed up, and went even farther down the rabbit hole of motorized bikes, transferring the old BGF motor to a different frame (Which worked better) and ended up building a motorized bike using a 79cc blue Harbor Freight motor, a friction drive with a 2.75" roller. I ended up taking it apart and using the pieces in something else, it was difficult to ride. A year or two later, around 2011, I purchased a GEBE kit, using a 32cc Tanaka two stroke. It didnt have the torque of the 79cc HF motor, or even the 66cc BGF two stroke, but it was very smooth, and better balanced side-to-side on the bike than the HF engine was. My wife and I went on a few rides, her on the GEBE rig, and myself on the pretty banged up and filthy BGF equipped orange bike. She could easily outrun me. We ended up moving from the Tulsa city limits, to the middle of nowhere, and didn't have much time to ride anymore. In addition, when I did ride, I was riding one of these two "motorized bikes":
Suzuki DR650
Suzuki Intruder 1400 (Brought to me on a trailer, in pieces, with the words "I think all of this goes to the same motorcycle")
Fast forward from 2011 to 2015 - Wife is away with the new baby (20 months old) and I have a rare day to myself. I finish mowing the lawn, and see the old, banged up and filthy bike in the shed. I decided to install my new sprocket I made (I made a 36 tooth sprocket using a CNC laser and never installed it) clean the carb, and see if the engine would even turn over, much less start.
Here she is after some work on the carb.
My sprocket - 10g carbon steel, may not last long but the engine isn't very powerful... who knows?
Clean carb, new fuel line.
Wait... I did something wrong here...
I aired up the tires, rolled the bike out of the shop, pulled the clutch and pedaled off down the road. Put the choke on, and dropped the clutch expecting the engine to either spin freely with no compression, or stop the back wheel dead due to being seized up. To my surprise, the engine turned over fine, and even tried to start. Felt like good compression, but it just wasn't quite firing up. Back to the shop... and the carb isn't getting fuel. Fuel is coming from the petcock, but not making it to the carb... I unscrew the fuel nipple on the carb, and sure enough it's blocked. Stuffed a torch tip cleaner through it, and I could see through it again. Put it all back together for another attempt.
Back into the road, get it going at a good clip, drop the clutch.... she lives! Fires up, the familiar sound and smell bringing back adventures of years past. The engine sputters a bit, but after about 50 yards it clears out and starts to pull as if the past few years had never been. I take off for the local gas station/convenience store/bait shop. The road is terrible, but the bike is running along just fine. The brakes could use some attention. I go a couple of miles, to the first stop sign... I start to slow down, and the clutch doesn't let go. I roll to the stop sign, and diagnose the problem. Two of the three screws have fallen out of the clutch cover, so the cover flexes instead of the clutch moving. I attempt to pedal, and she's locked up tight - won't even spin the motor. A closer looks reveals that the right-side nut on the rear axle has come loose, binding the wheel against the frame. I move it back, but since I haven't any tools except my knife, I remove the master link on the drive chain, hang it out of the way, and have a nice two mile walk in the sun.
A nice re-introduction to motorized biking for me. Hopefully I will have more time in the future to ride.
That $110 BoyGoFast engine kit on Ebay seemed like a good idea. Bought it, installed it on an old mountain bike, rode it quite a bit, crashed it and broke my hand in three places. I healed up, and went even farther down the rabbit hole of motorized bikes, transferring the old BGF motor to a different frame (Which worked better) and ended up building a motorized bike using a 79cc blue Harbor Freight motor, a friction drive with a 2.75" roller. I ended up taking it apart and using the pieces in something else, it was difficult to ride. A year or two later, around 2011, I purchased a GEBE kit, using a 32cc Tanaka two stroke. It didnt have the torque of the 79cc HF motor, or even the 66cc BGF two stroke, but it was very smooth, and better balanced side-to-side on the bike than the HF engine was. My wife and I went on a few rides, her on the GEBE rig, and myself on the pretty banged up and filthy BGF equipped orange bike. She could easily outrun me. We ended up moving from the Tulsa city limits, to the middle of nowhere, and didn't have much time to ride anymore. In addition, when I did ride, I was riding one of these two "motorized bikes":
Suzuki DR650
Suzuki Intruder 1400 (Brought to me on a trailer, in pieces, with the words "I think all of this goes to the same motorcycle")
Fast forward from 2011 to 2015 - Wife is away with the new baby (20 months old) and I have a rare day to myself. I finish mowing the lawn, and see the old, banged up and filthy bike in the shed. I decided to install my new sprocket I made (I made a 36 tooth sprocket using a CNC laser and never installed it) clean the carb, and see if the engine would even turn over, much less start.
Here she is after some work on the carb.
My sprocket - 10g carbon steel, may not last long but the engine isn't very powerful... who knows?
Clean carb, new fuel line.
Wait... I did something wrong here...
I aired up the tires, rolled the bike out of the shop, pulled the clutch and pedaled off down the road. Put the choke on, and dropped the clutch expecting the engine to either spin freely with no compression, or stop the back wheel dead due to being seized up. To my surprise, the engine turned over fine, and even tried to start. Felt like good compression, but it just wasn't quite firing up. Back to the shop... and the carb isn't getting fuel. Fuel is coming from the petcock, but not making it to the carb... I unscrew the fuel nipple on the carb, and sure enough it's blocked. Stuffed a torch tip cleaner through it, and I could see through it again. Put it all back together for another attempt.
Back into the road, get it going at a good clip, drop the clutch.... she lives! Fires up, the familiar sound and smell bringing back adventures of years past. The engine sputters a bit, but after about 50 yards it clears out and starts to pull as if the past few years had never been. I take off for the local gas station/convenience store/bait shop. The road is terrible, but the bike is running along just fine. The brakes could use some attention. I go a couple of miles, to the first stop sign... I start to slow down, and the clutch doesn't let go. I roll to the stop sign, and diagnose the problem. Two of the three screws have fallen out of the clutch cover, so the cover flexes instead of the clutch moving. I attempt to pedal, and she's locked up tight - won't even spin the motor. A closer looks reveals that the right-side nut on the rear axle has come loose, binding the wheel against the frame. I move it back, but since I haven't any tools except my knife, I remove the master link on the drive chain, hang it out of the way, and have a nice two mile walk in the sun.
A nice re-introduction to motorized biking for me. Hopefully I will have more time in the future to ride.