Skyhawk, EPA, and gasbike.com

KCvale

In memory of KCvale 1959 - 2019
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This is good read for anyone building 2-stroke bikes.
http://grubeeinc.com/index.html

I know Don personally and very familiar with the YaunDong engine factories work.
Always my engine of choice for the quality.

Personally I have had enough of the EPA, they now also regulate MB's by TOTAL DRY WEIGHT of 44#!
44 pounds?
Shoot, I have built on bikes that weigh that much before the engine kit parts!

Actual real Skyhawk GT-5 EPA approved quality engines should hit the US shores any time now.
gasbike won't get any, they have been abusing the Skyhawk name with sub-quality parts for 2 years now and still do to this day.

For reference, a WD is a Wholesale Distributor.
They buy in in 40' long cargo containers.

RD is a Retail Distributer.
I know of a couple but that is the jest of the 2-stroke world in the US.
It's looking pretty glum and why I moving to 4-stroke and electric builds.

Just beware of gasbike/kings claims of anything Skyhawk or GT anything, they aren't.

Just a heads up from someone that actually knows.
 
saw nothing there about epa except an unexplaind blurb on 20kilos
 
Though disorganized there is a lot more info buried on that site.

Note the actual 40' container full of real 2015 EPA approved real Skyhawk parts hit shore yesterday and should be in the Durant, OK warehouse today.
That includes my 20 KC's 10G Long Shaft 4-stroke transfer cases!
I'm giddy today ;-}

Phoenix2Durant.jpg

It may be time for a road trip ;-}

Anyway...
I just wanted to point out that though I find gasbike handy for the little stuff they don't carry the engines or transfer cases I trust no matter what they name them.
I know what parts are, and are not, when I have them in my hands so just beware of anything with G-anything gasbike carries, they aren't.
 
That's some good information KC.

2015 NEWS FLASH for the United States:
2015 EPA Certificate of Conformity COC is finally obtained after a year’s delay in the process:
• 66cc Skyhawk 2 cycle engine shipments to our USA WD’s will commence in March of this year.
• We will have only 3 WD’s in the USA authorized to sell our products in 2015.
WARNING: In 2014 GAS-BIKE in Van Nuys CA was cancelled as our USA WD and will no longer be allowed to sell our products. We should point out that Don Grube CEO of Gru-Bee inc. has the Copyright Trademark of Skyhawk registered in the USA in 2011 and has used said trademark since 2004. We see GasBike continuers to use our registered brand name Skyhawk to describe a counterfeit aluminum bike frame with built-in gas tank which is now not our product. It is a fake copy sold by CDH POWER in China therefore please be advised accordingly. As of Feb 9th China GAS has taken legal action against CDH Power in China for using the Skyhawk name on Alibaba. Further legal action in the USA is pending.
We will establish no more than (3) WD accounts in the USA for 2015. To accomplish all of this a huge investment of 250,000 rmb plus a 3 million rmb surety bond was required. To amortize this cost our 2015 kit prices will be a little higher than they were in 2012.
Don Grube plays an important role as fiduciary agent for YuanDong Engine factory and licensed exporter as well as being the CDX guardian of the EPA COC while on the States side Gru-Bee inc. in Durant, OK. will be the fiduciary agent link to EPA. Each WD will have an engine warranty repair station facility.
Anyone who uses a SkyHawk 2 cycle gas engine made in model years 2015 and 2016 if installed on a bicycle to make a moped the total vehicle dry weight cannot exceed 20KG or 44lbs. with engine and all accoutrements installed. This obviously leaves the moral decision to comply with the EPA law left up to the end user.
Commercial builders involved in complete motorized bike building will need to secure light weight aluminum frame bikes that weigh no more than 9.5KG. At this time it is not clear how EPA plans to enforce their rulings on individuals using DIY engine kits if applied on a heavier weight bike. However, failure to comply will be a direct violation of the EPA Clean Air Act.

BEWARE: It’s common knowledge some importers in the USA are still bringing in the 2 cycle bicycle engines from China smugglers that are not EPA certified for exhaust emission.. EPA officials have repeatedly told us this is totally illegal and they plan to stop it. Proof of this is a 2013 shipment of 1800 uncertified bicycle engines sent to the USA by China FeiMa Flying Horse engine factory that were confiscated by US Customs at port of discharge in California. That represented a huge financial loss for the US importer!
So beware if exporters in China tell you that EPA certification is not needed. Shipments are now being confiscated and destroyed by US Customs if unloaded at port of discharge without proper EPA ID stickers and accompanying copy of an EPA COC. Beware if you run across this situation or encounter any attempts of Chinese sellers who offer you a fake copy of EPA COC or tell you EPA certification is not needed because they know how to get around the law. Ref: www.epa.gov
 
Hope you get your forum back up soon KC. On Yahoo Answers Cycling section I often send people to your forum to view your builds.
 
I wonder if this will lead to an end for 2-strokes. Doubt anyone would buy one if they become near in price to a 4-stroke. Hobbyists may survive, but all my customers are looking for transportation that is cheaper than the bus, which 4-strokes can't provide.
 
I wonder if this will lead to an end for 2-strokes. Doubt anyone would buy one if they become near in price to a 4-stroke. Hobbyists may survive, but all my customers are looking for transportation that is cheaper than the bus, which 4-strokes can't provide.

There are enough kits in this country already to keep this hobby going for awhile. Honestly tho, this is just another reason why need to bring manufacturing back to America.
 
my homeless customers probably don't think of themselves as hobbyists, and I can't think of any way these could be made in USA and still provide transportation under $200
 
Hope you get your forum back up soon KC. On Yahoo Answers Cycling section I often send people to your forum to view your builds.
Me too Jerry,
That is the down side of years of great free hosting on an awesome server located in another country.
If it goes down and nobody is there to fix it, I'm dead in the water.
I will check Cox Cable about a fixed IP for home and just build my own server here, I'm almost always here and have 30 years building and fixing PC's ;-}


I wonder if this will lead to an end for 2-strokes.
Doubt anyone would buy one if they become near in price to a 4-stroke.
Hobbyists may survive, but all my customers are looking for transportation that is cheaper than the bus, which 4-strokes can't provide.

The EPA want's anything 2-smoker dead.
I guess we all have to adjust now so we don't suffocate from bad air as we bake in global warming.
Heck China outlawed the 2-stroke engines made there from use there years ago and they still have the worst air in the world.

A Motorized Bike vs Local Mass Transit

That sounds like a subject worthy of it's own topic...

Here in the Phoenix area you can get a $64 or $104 monthly pass for busses and light rail.
That is $768 for bottom line cheapest to $1,248 if you want the express forms a year, every year and you own nothing.

BusFares.jpg

I sell decent 4-stroke MB's for $750 and make a profit.
Just a tad less than the price of the cheapest 1-year bus pass around here.

Sure you have operation and repair costs, but far less on a little 4-stroke than a 2-stroke.

Figuring 80 mpg riding WOT all the time and $3 a gallon gas=
3.75¢ a mile.

Traveling 600 miles a month (20 miles every day) that is $22.50 in gas each month.
$270 a year but lets call it $300 with the and oil change, etc.

So here anyways...
~ $1,020 for your own personal transportation including fuel for the first year of operation, $300 a year after that, and you can always get $300 for it when don't need it.

The Bus?
Well, if it came to your door like a Taxi or Uber and took you where you wanted to go when you wanted to it still costs more.
The 'rapid' thing which really is not 'rapid' $1,248 year pass not just the first year, but every year is more.

The Bottom Line to me though is what is the transportation needs and abilities of the rider.
Every customer's physical size, age, strength, mechanical skills as well as their transportation needs are different.

The trick is figuring out what they are each time and building accordingly ;-}
 
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my homeless customers probably don't think of themselves as hobbyists, and I can't think of any way these could be made in USA and still provide transportation under $200

Not anymore. Manufacturing in the USA is dead. China has the #1 economy in world for a reason. When the USA manufactured products we had fewer homeless and more Americans making real money. That generation could afford, and demanded quality items made in the USA, not a made in China "Tweeker" bikes. It's a race to the bottom and we (Americans) let it happen.

On the bright side, we get stuff for really cheap that has to replaced twice as fast.
 
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