Who uses a motored bike as a daily commuter?

i ride mine every where i go rain or shine and i HAVE a car i think ive drove twice since my first build i do about 20-40 miles a day depending don't realy have a 9-5 job just handy man odds'ends whtever i can find so if it's raing to hard or the bike needs work i stay home dry and fix the bike other than that i'm ride'n. For work or play:cool: I'ts a way of life.:cool:
 
I rode my 70cc mtb (shinobi sinner), pretty much everyday th' past two years. Since my license got screwed up, had to find a way to get around to work, get groceries, go to the bank etc., without being all tired and sweaty. Thankfully work is an 8 mile round trip, but I still have to bike if I need ANYTHING. (th' irony is I have two cars legally I cant drive) Watching daily weather reports is mandatory, not to deter me but to prepare myself for any possible nastyness. If it rains, I bring an extra pair of pants,socks, and shoes to work. A black handkercheif safety pinned to th' bottom of my backpack makes a good imprompto mud flap. When it snows, as long as theres a decent patch of ground to pedal start it I'm golden. When its cold (Michigan 20 below), I wear heavy sweat pants/hoodie over normal clothes, longjohns underneath. Two skull caps, thinsulite gloves, scarf, and shop safety glasses over regular glasses so my eyes wont water up on me. The deepest amount of snow i,ve riden in is 2-3". (the key is to skim th' surface of th' snow with BOTH boots WITHOUT dragging them. Plus, go SLOW) Also, use th' RIGHT oil/gas mix for weather conditions. 4oz. of oil dont cut it when th' temp drops. Shouldnt have listened to those stupid posts from another site. Recomendation: 5, or 5 1/2oz summer, 6, or 6 1/2 winter (if you re feeling gutsy) Run your engine like you just installed it. SLOW and WELL OILED! Lastly, dont use th' stock air filters they just choke your engine and or, vibrate off. Dont use th' stock spark plug cap, same problems, dont use th' stock kill switches. When I switched to just using th' choke I havent replaced a magnetto yet. Replace your rear tire with an armodillo hemisphere. A little hard at first ( depends on air pressure), but they' re tough! Th' small (081?) red star chain is MUCH lighter,and FASTER!!! The 415 may be big, but I had some kink up and get jammed in th' little gear housing couple of times. Anyway, The biggest hurdle of ANY daily ridden moto bicycle is th' terrain. If you don't do a lot of stopping and going ...youre probably gonna have alot less problems versus riding an urban route. Less wear and tear. Riding thru dirt, grass, whatever....LOOSENS things up some. IF theres alot of uneven surface coming up, or grass I unclutch th' motor to decrease any strain on th' drive chain and peddle through it until back on concrete. Sorry for th' long post....just trying to provide some insight. sunofjustice (brian)
 
... dont use th' stock kill switches. When I switched to just using th' choke I havent replaced a magnetto yet. ..

The moment I tried installing my kill switch on my engine just 200 miles old my magneto went south after around 10 miles of riding afterwards. I thought it was just a fluke cause visually there's nothing wrong with that magneto but right there and then I threw away that kill switch and use the choke myself...actually I choke then give it a slight turn of the throttle and it shuts right down. I like leaving my choke up anyway and I intentionally keep my petcock turned the wrong way when I lock 'er up so any crooks would get confused when trying to run it and may give me an edge in catching the guy and making his day.
 
I use my motor bicycle as my sole form of transportation after fighting the problems with the import 2 cycle motors I went to a honda 50 horizontal clone and racked up 4 thousand miles with no engine problems other than adjusting the valves . It gives you 12volt charging system for lights (head tail Stop Turn signal and electric start) Drawback is it cost about a grand to do it but u get 4 speeds and no problem finding parts
 
I replaced most gaskets, gasket goo'ed the exhaust gasket because it destroyed the cork gaskets.
Fox,

Forgive me if this has already been addressed here, but exhaust gaskets have a special coating over them that make them heat resistance.
You're actually lucky the rubber didn't melt off and put a serious burn (as in "skin graft time!") on your leg or the cork didn't catch on fire, which could've led to even more serious injuries.
From the tone of your post, I don't think you realize just how lucky you were when that gasket melted.


Dean
 
i ride my bike about 30 miles a day 15 to work and 15 back the only major problems i ran into was my own impatence the first piston i locked up due to not enough oil, the second one due to a broken retaining clip on the piston shaft, the third one is still alive and kicking very well i also found out i didnt break in my last 2 pistons long enough i thought i was going 40 until i got this one broken in and felt the difference lol
also changed to a solid state tire. flat tires are very bad on a bike at 40mph lol
 
i ride my bike about 30 miles a day 15 to work and 15 back the only major problems i ran into was my own impatence the first piston i locked up due to not enough oil, the second one due to a broken retaining clip on the piston shaft, the third one is still alive and kicking very well i also found out i didnt break in my last 2 pistons long enough i thought i was going 40 until i got this one broken in and felt the difference lol
also changed to a solid state tire. flat tires are very bad on a bike at 40mph lol

I've been looking at something called AirFree tires. They're a little pricey, like 70 bucks for 2, but they have a lifetime guarantee, and reportedly can hold weights up to 350 pounds.
 
they are pricey but they are worth it in the end between the money i save on tubes and the pain of flying over the handlebars from the front tube flying out at 40 lol very much worth it lol:devilish:
 
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