How often do you have to wrench on your MB?

how often do you wrench on you MB?

  • a few times a month

    Votes: 9 37.5%
  • a few times a week

    Votes: 6 25.0%
  • a few times a day

    Votes: 1 4.2%
  • almost never

    Votes: 6 25.0%
  • are you kidding? , I am wrenching now!

    Votes: 2 8.3%

  • Total voters
    24

skipS

Member
Local time
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Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Messages
55
I am in the process of finding my donor bike and purchasing my engine kit. I have heard from some folks that the wrenching can be over whelming in the sense that it ca be constant. How often do you guys wrench just to Keep your HT "happy"?. Is using this bike back and forth to work( 11 miles each way) a reasonable expectation or should I expect breakdowns and and being late from the unreliability? Ill take my time with the build and follow the advice i have read here to make it as reliable as possible, But what should I expect?. Don't forget to vote in the poll above..thanks..................................................skip
 
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I have a dax 49 cc mounted on an old Columbia ten-speed that I modified to accept mountain bike wheels and tires. I also pull a heavily loaded trailer. I've really done nothing special. Most of the hardware is the stuff that I got with the kit. I haven't put on thread-locker or anything like that.
It's gotten me to and from work almost every single day (I've driven only a couple of times). That's six miles, one way.

I've replaced a few cables and I've had one flat tire. Every now and then I have to adjust something or other. But it's infrequent.

As far as practical and reliable transportation goes, it's done even better than my best hopes.
 
Something I probably should have mentioned;

My commute is six miles. It takes me about a half hour. So that means I'm averaging 12 mph.

That could have a lot to do with why my bike has been, perhaps, more trouble free than others.
 
The first couple of months I had to do a lot of tinkering and troubleshooting, but the past few months have been easy going. I don't put a lot of miles on mine though. I was three miles from work, but I moved to a plant across town and now I'm only 1.5 miles from work.
 
Every day because we build daily. These bicycles pictured have past 900 miles and no issues with them except a fouled out spark plug and that was because we got a little carried away with the corn oil. We ride our bikes every single day and we have had excellent luck in their quality. We fly at 35-40 easily on a constant basis.
 

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almost never -- yes -- it's been rather amazing -- without any locktight used

only one allen bolt has came loose
it was attached to my rear disc brake though -- VERY IMPORTANT as we

ride that thing
 
almost never -- yes -- it's been rather amazing -- without any locktight used

only one allen bolt has came loose
it was attached to my rear disc brake though -- VERY IMPORTANT as we

ride that thing

Yeah MM, but the thing your ride is a R/S, if you read the fine print the question was about HT's and wrenching that thing. :LOL:
 
While I have sold a few rides, the one I keep as a "test drive" cycle rarely needs anything.
It is a Kulana Moondog with a "80cc" engine from BoyGoFast. The typical precautions have been taken to improve reliability. (loctite head studs, replace head nuts and other misc. hardware) I have been trying to ride it about 10 miles every day (after work) just to unwind and see how reliable it is. It has about 320 miles so far, and has never broken down. I need to rejet the carb somehow because it is leaning out at WOT and top speed with the colder weather. (45F) It runs fine at 70F or higher. I've just been tooling around at around 18-22 mph and avoiding top speed sprints so I don't blow it up.
 
skipS, I'm a rack mount kinda guy so not qualified to advise you on frame mounts. That said, I would recommend taking the time to research vendors. From what I've read, HT vendors and their products vary a good bit, an informed decision here can pay off down the road.
 
My bikes go thru constant changes of engines and drivetrains. They have more down time than road time. I'm constantly wrenching.

I don't mind that at all.:cool:
 
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