Good-bye to China/Grubee Junk, Hello To Reliable Motorized Bicycling!

[Fabian]

How does friction drive work when you are climbing muddy mountain trails, or in the snow, or fording a river crossing or in loose sand or climbing a 30 degree slope whilst hauling a bicycle trailer loaded up with 140 lbs of gear; over terrain as previously described?

 

[Deleted member 12676]

I was always under the impression that friction drive was hard on the tire and wore its surface down quickly. With the higher power I am getting now from my 55cc engine I am pretty sure chain and sprockets are essential. But it sounds like you are onto something for those preferring reliability over everything else.

 

[johncy7]

That's a lot of hauling...

How does friction drive work when you are climbing muddy mountain trails, or in the snow, or fording a river crossing or in loose sand or climbing a 30 degree slope whilst hauling a bicycle trailer loaded up with 140 lbs of gear; over terrain as previously described?

including your !#@$ that would 300lbs give or take, to push . I've read where fat people road friction drives no problem. But if I were hauling 140lbs up muddy mountain..snow..river..sand I would probably go with a 4 wheel drive model

 

[johncy7]

I was always under the impression that friction drive was hard on the tire and wore its surface down quickly. With the higher power I am getting now from my 55cc engine I am pretty sure chain and sprockets are essential. But it sounds like you are onto something for those preferring reliability over everything else.

Yes, ordinary tires won' last too long. In the future if I have the desire to fix what ain't broke, I've considered giving my bike a chain option to the friction kit. That way if the roller or bearings go bad, I can switch it to chain drive. Have the friction kit pulling upwards to tighten the chain and pushing downward to engage the roller would be a cool. I've seen something like that once online, but it didn't look universal enough to quickly switch from one to the other. Maybe I'll just go ahead and buy the bearings early to be on the safe side.

 

[johncy7]

How does friction drive work when you are climbing muddy mountain trails, or in the snow, or fording a river crossing or in loose sand or climbing a 30 degree slope whilst hauling a bicycle trailer loaded up with 140 lbs of gear; over terrain as previously described?

including your !#@$ that's about 300lbs give or take to push. If I were hauling 140lbs up a muddy, 30 degree slope mountain, snow, river, sand... I might go with the 4x4 model

 

[Lee_K]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I have been one of those chain only types, and after lots of tweaking have been able to get that to work reliably. I am now thinking about a second bike and was leaning to a rack mount with chain drive. After reading this, I am starting to work on friction drive concepts and can see how that could work for me too.

 

[johncy7]

happy to help...

Thanks for sharing your experience. I have been one of those chain only types, and after lots of tweaking have been able to get that to work reliably. I am now thinking about a second bike and was leaning to a rack mount with chain drive. After reading this, I am starting to work on friction drive concepts and can see how that could work for me too.

I would like to thank motoredbikes.com for allowing me to vent my frustrations in this thread from my bad experiences and share my good experiences (while still venting) as well.

My ride to work and home are big highlights in my day and yours should be too. I have the excitement of a motorcycle with the safety of a bike. The freedom of the open road... it's pretty special.

If you need any advice or tips, I'd be happy to help.

-John

 

[johncy7]

The admin here didn't give me the last word on the thread I started (cute closing comment Ilikeabikea)
John

I would like to point out that the admin I was referring to is IlikeaBikea from motorbicycling.com where this thread originally started and kept getting deleted by admin 2door. I'm sure the admins here are too cool to behave like that.

 

[Anton]

I would like to thank motoredbikes.com for allowing me to vent my frustrations in this thread from my bad experiences and share my good experiences (while still venting) as well.

My ride to work and home are big highlights in my day and yours should be too. I have the excitement of a motorcycle with the safety of a bike. The freedom of the open road... it's pretty special.

If you need any advice or tips, I'd be happy to help.

-John

It's no secret that cheaper kits have potential problems. It's good that you are pointing out the problems while also offering helpful solutions.

 

[Esteban]

Cheap kits + cheap WalMart bikes = still equals CHEAP. && problematic. Some people like to tinker with their kits a lot, but not me. I don't ride on muddy hills , snow , etc., & friction drive works great. Learn how to " correctly " ride a FD bike, & the tires will last a long time. People who compalin about chewing up tires, don't know how to ride FD powered bikes.