That's exactly why I chose friction drive as my main commuter bike. It's reliability and ease of repair is unsurpassed. I am an urban rider and the #1 issue I face is tire punctures. When you ride on the side of the road, you encounter many things that is swept aside by the street sweeper that can give you a flat where tire slime will not even work. I can honestly change out a flat in 5 minutes flat on my friction drive bike. My China girl bike looks cool but couldn't handle my 22+ mile daily commutes. That thing would frequently break down along the way. When it broke down it was harder than heck to peddle unless I removed the drive chain. Those of you who disagree haven't had to peddle the darn thing for 11 miles over multiple hills! My Gebe is a great commuter unless the belt gets hot and stretches. Here in Texas you go all summer over 100° F. My stretched belt makes my tension pulley bounce back and forth so quickly and often that riding it is unbearable. I go through a new belt every year. With my friction drive I know it will start up EVERY time on the first or second pull. I know that if something goes wrong I can lift up the engine mount and have NO drag at all when I peddle. I know that if I get a flat all I have to do is quick release the axle and brake cable ( a whole 30 seconds process) and change out the tube. I know I can get almost 35 mile range on my stock little tank. I can swap out engines in 5 minutes if I get bored. (I have 4 different size engines that I rotate depending on my mood!). In my personal experience, friction drive setup wins for reliable daily commutes. Power loss? I don't think so. Chain drive 66cc China girl with stock setup can barely hit 30 MPH and get 80 MPG average. My 35cc Robin can almost hit 30 MPH and get 180-200 MPG. Friction drive is cheaper to maintain. With my China Girl I bought a new clutch, new magneto, new twist throttle, new head gasket, upgraded the carb, new smaller sprocket, and new muffler. I wasted so much money on that thing it was ridiculous and It still breaks down. None of my friction drive engines have broken down on me or left me stranded yet. I had to spend a whole $15 on a new rear tire this year after maybe 500 miles of hard commuting. Biker dude. There are several choppers on Youtube that has friction drive setups. I think it's only a matter of welding on a support bracket of some kind and a support brace that enables the engine to slide back and forth and lock against the tire and a cheap goped spindle for $10. You can't get any cheaper form of motorized bike than that.