why i wish i would have never bought a bicycle engine kit

[GearNut]

Reminds me of one of the Adams Family movies.
"Wake up the dead!"

Still, the recent posts have covered a few things that every noob needs to consider before trying to undertake the challenges of building and riding one of these wonderful contraptions.

When I first started working on bicycles, lawnmowers, appliances, ect. my dad told me "Work on it like you want it to be. If you put poop quality work into it, you will get poop quality performance out of it. How do you want it to be?"

 

[Norm in Laguna]

I put my 48cc Skyhawk GT2B Angle Fire on the road April 24th of this year. I bought it from Gasbike.com. Since then, I've put about 2000 miles on it, maybe a little more. I ride it every day, it's my only transpo right now. I've got the fold-up basket set-up on it, as you can see in my pics. I broke it in just as the manufacture asked me too. I run Pennzoil Marine two stroke at 5oz a gallon. I live on the ocean, hence the Marine two stroke oil for me. Aside from the minor stuff that goes with a little two stroker, most of it my fault, it's a kick butt little engine, and I'm as happy as an old biker who rode a 63 panhead with a hardtail and jokey shift for 20+ years till it got stolen, can get on a bike. In conclusion. If you can't ride and maintain a Chinese two stroke engine, and have a LOT OF FUN doing it, don't ever waste your money on a Real Harley. It'll break your hart and butt too. Hope it's all good. Never give up. It's a blast. (like a famous man once said, "Only Bike Riders know why Dogs stick their heads out Windows"!)

 

[Chris Crew]

sounds like an MB
once you tighten up yer nuts and become one with the bike you will love it grasshopper
working through all of those issues is a zen exercise that adds wrinkles to your brain

 

[2stroker]

1. The front motor mount broke after a few days. cost me $20
2. The spokes broke twice $50
3. The bolts all come loose and fall off. $10
4. The weel popped off.
5. The muffler fell off, twice, and when i was fixing it it burnt my arm
6. Gas leaked all over my garage when i was trying to fix it.
7. You really cant turn off the gas, so it floods the carb, and is very hard to start up in the morning.
8. You get oil all over your hand, cloths, and houce when you fix it, because all the seals suck and it gets all over the engine, and all over your bike.
9. My bike broke down on me almost every time I rode it.
10. these are not a cheaper form of transportation, they break down, and cost alot to fix. A scooter is alot better.

This is my point not everyone is a pro mehcanic. Wouldn't it be nice if he bought a engine that he could just bolt on and ride and not have to worry about being a pro. and just have fun. I wonder how many other people have had this same experiance.
it sucks something like this gives motorized biking a bad name.

 

[Fabian]

There are only ten items on your list.
My list has 57 items and for my sanity, i never kept count after that

This image best describes sentiment surrounding the motor bicycling experience:

[url=http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=235&u=16577933][/URL]

 

[Fabian]

Some on here say (and passionately herald the notion) that a much better option is a friction drive system

 

[Fabian]

and this image best describes assembly logic and preventative maintenance:

[url=http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=236&u=16577933][/URL]

 

[Norm in Laguna]

Still going

Ok boys and girls. Now that my beach cruzer has about 8000 miles on it, and the Tandem Trike Beach Cruzer I built for a friend, has about 2200 miles on it, let's get down to business. First, these little engines are great. If you have at least half a brain, and build it right, and do the break-in just like your supposed to, and you understand that your dealing with a piece of junk, everything should be great. For all of you who thought you were installing an RD250 engine on your bike, well, need I say more? Get a clue, do it right, and don't push it like your taking on Dakar in summer. I watch you guys [who break down] and it doesn't take long to find your problem. Your the guy who can't wait for the page to load on your computer. Your the guy who can't wait for the kid to get out of the cross-walk before hauling ***. Your the guy who see's a yellow light ahead and punch's it. Are you seeing the pattern yet? Slow your roll, and take a little care with what your dealing with here. And yes Virgina, some of the engine's are bad, right out of the box. What did you expect for $150 piece of badly cast Aluminum? With these engine's, it's all about the cool factor, nothing more, so get used to it. Their a blast to ride and will put a smile on anybody's mug when done right. Nuff said.

 

[2stroker]

Ok boys and girls. Now that my beach cruzer has about 8000 miles on it, and the Tandem Trike Beach Cruzer I built for a friend, has about 2200 miles on it, let's get down to business. First, these little engines are great. If you have at least half a brain, and build it right, and do the break-in just like your supposed to, and you understand that your dealing with a piece of junk, everything should be great. For all of you who thought you were installing an RD250 engine on your bike, well, need I say more? Get a clue, do it right, and don't push it like your taking on Dakar in summer. I watch you guys [who break down] and it doesn't take long to find your problem. Your the guy who can't wait for the page to load on your computer. Your the guy who can't wait for the kid to get out of the cross-walk before hauling ***. Your the guy who see's a yellow light ahead and punch's it. Are you seeing the pattern yet? Slow your roll, and take a little care with what your dealing with here. And yes Virgina, some of the engine's are bad, right out of the box. What did you expect for $150 piece of badly cast Aluminum? With these engine's, it's all about the cool factor, nothing more, so get used to it. Their a blast to ride and will put a smile on anybody's mug when done right. Nuff said.

you hit it on the money- $150 a piece badly cast aluminum-Its a cool factor nothing more. ROTFLMAO- For $249 I never break down and have a good reliable engine.. I ride it full throttle every where i go. Stop at every stop sign and every red light( Its retarded to run a even a yellow light on a bike) Its a bicycle! I think its worth the extra $100 bucks to get something of good quality. I dont ride around to be cool. I have a harley for that. I ride to work and back and i ride for fun. It is cool when you stop at a gas station and people come up and tell you how cool they think your bike is. You feel enjoyment when you take off and there all watching. Its cool. But I would rather not break down cause my chain tensioner breaks or what ever the case my be. It's just a better experiance to not have to take all you bolts out and re thread the cheap threads and have to locktite all your screws. ( On my kit it came from the manufactor with thread lock on every bolt already and pre tuned and tested on a test bike. So when i got it. I bolted it one with the one bolt hooked up my bungee connected my throttle cable and i was off!!! So for the $249 I got the quality and the reliability. Seems worth it to me. By the time your done your gonna spend the money on the extra's for your kit anyways.

It may not take long to find the problem. But your still broke down fixing your bike along side the road. Cause your a cheap'o didn't get the reliable kit.
Its like a KTM dirtbike vs. yamaha. Ya your ktm is fun and gets around. but its a cheap piece of **** that last 1/4 as long as a yamaha. You gotta constantly maintenance it to keep it running good.

 

[Fabian]

Oh cripes, i only wished i had to get to Dakar in summer, for it would be a walk in the park with my bike and kit, especially with my personally designed chain tensioners that refuse to break; bolts that don't break and even thread lock that doesn't break ;-)