A few quick questions about the Chinese engine kits.

[cheezyguy5]

On most of the ones on eBay, the little clutch lever only has like a little silver button. I'm a bit curious as to what it does, if anything.

And also, with these kits, is there any kind of thing to hold the clutch in the released position without requiring constant pressure? Or is it natively released and you have to pull on the lever to engage it? I want to know in case I just want to pedal with it, or it runs out of gas.

Also, how do you start them? Almost all of them have no form of pull cord or battery... Can't figure it out.

Final question, do you have to constantly hold down the throttle to keep it running, or can you release it completely and have it idle?

 

[MacZulu]

there is no button on the clutch arm, there's an acorn nut looking thing at the pivot point, and a little screw at the other end to secure the cable. clutch lever on handlebars has a locking pin to pedal or idle the motor. you start the motor by pedaling a little, then drop the clutch. it's bump starting like manual car with a dead battery. you can do it by lifting the back tire and kick starting on the peadal(clutch lever out, and if you have cheap pedals they may snap), much easier once warmed up. yes the engines idle well once you have dialed in the carb, which varies until the engine is broken in.

how to do everything you need to is on the forum here and youtube. look for noob stickies for basic info

 

[LeUnicornRider]

I think the "Button" you're talking about is the lock for the clutch... pull the lever in, push the button and the lever wont let out all the way, making it possible to park the bike and let it idle or pedal with no assistance; it's also great for walking the bike or riding without the engine running, not to mention long stop lights.

Assuming you're shopping 2-stroke HT engines, to start it, first pump it with the button on the carb, pedal up to a good speed and when you've got your pedals arranged like you would if you were trying to start riding from a stop, let the clutch out quickly and pedal as hard as you can, it'll take a little work, feather the throttle up and down until it fires, it may take a bit, but you can tell when it fires, when it does go WOT then pull the clutch back in, the engine should go full throttle no problem, at which point, you just push the button on the clutch lever, pull over and let it warm up. (feel free to happy dance at this point, if it starts you're doing better than most who're on here) Once the engine has warmed up it'll run a lot smoother, to get going again just ride up to a comfortable speed and slowly let the clutch out while throttling up, pretty soon your pedaling wont do anything so; you can stop then you're motorin'

As far as letting it idle, you can absolutely let it idle with no input, theres a screw on the side of the carb to adjust idle it has a small spring on it, what I would recommend doing (or rather what I did), would first get it started, then let it warm up, turn the screw until it will run with no input at the handle bars. Once you've got it running by itself, turn the screw anti-clockwise a quarter of a turn at a time, in 30 second increments til the engine sounds like its on the verge of dying (if it does while you're trying to set it, just turn it up 1/2 a turn and start it again), once you've got it running nice a slow 'n smooth turn it up half a turn again, so it can roll at idle without bogging out.

and thats just about how to get one started....

RIDE ON SCOOTER BUDDIES!!!

 

[cheezyguy5]

I think the "Button" you're talking about is the lock for the clutch... pull the lever in, push the button and the lever wont let out all the way, making it possible to park the bike and let it idle or pedal with no assistance; it's also great for walking the bike or riding without the engine running, not to mention long stop lights.

Assuming you're shopping 2-stroke HT engines, to start it, first pump it with the button on the carb, pedal up to a good speed and when you've got your pedals arranged like you would if you were trying to start riding from a stop, let the clutch out quickly and pedal as hard as you can, it'll take a little work, feather the throttle up and down until it fires, it may take a bit, but you can tell when it fires, when it does go WOT then pull the clutch back in, the engine should go full throttle no problem, at which point, you just push the button on the clutch lever, pull over and let it warm up. (feel free to happy dance at this point, if it starts you're doing better than most who're on here) Once the engine has warmed up it'll run a lot smoother, to get going again just ride up to a comfortable speed and slowly let the clutch out while throttling up, pretty soon your pedaling wont do anything so; you can stop then you're motorin'

As far as letting it idle, you can absolutely let it idle with no input, theres a screw on the side of the carb to adjust idle it has a small spring on it, what I would recommend doing (or rather what I did), would first get it started, then let it warm up, turn the screw until it will run with no input at the handle bars. Once you've got it running by itself, turn the screw anti-clockwise a quarter of a turn at a time, in 30 second increments til the engine sounds like its on the verge of dying (if it does while you're trying to set it, just turn it up 1/2 a turn and start it again), once you've got it running nice a slow 'n smooth turn it up half a turn again, so it can roll at idle without bogging out.

and thats just about how to get one started....

RIDE ON SCOOTER BUDDIES!!!

Thank you! Hopefully my engine will get here soon to try it!

Also yeah, 2 stroke 'happy time' engine. Probably going to replace all the bolts considering what I've read on here.

 

[bakaneko]

Replace the bolts with the highest grade bolts available or that you want to spend. Double nut or friction nut the bolts especially the mount, muffler, and sprocket connections. You can also use some loctite on the bolts and nuts. If the muffler does not come with a muffler holder, I suggest you make one. I also wrapped the engine and mounts with hose clamps, tightened with a screwdriver + wrench. This dissipates the vibration force and wear to the low cost, but strong clamps. However, most would say it doesn't "look" clean. Good luck on the kit and if you run into any issues many folks here willing to help.

 

[LeUnicornRider]

Replace the bolts with the highest grade bolts available or that you want to spend. Double nut or friction nut the bolts especially the mount, muffler, and sprocket connections. You can also use some loctite on the bolts and nuts. If the muffler does not come with a muffler holder, I suggest you make one. I also wrapped the engine and mounts with hose clamps, tightened with a screwdriver + wrench. This dissipates the vibration force and wear to the low cost, but strong clamps. However, most would say it doesn't "look" clean. Good luck on the kit and if you run into any issues many folks here willing to help.

Can you upload a picture so we can see what you've got going on there?

Thank you! Hopefully my engine will get here soon to try it!

Also yeah, 2 stroke 'happy time' engine. Probably going to replace all the bolts considering what I've read on here.

definitely make sure to get your exhaust stabilized, I've been fighting mine for the past few days

 

[bakaneko]

Sure, here is an older picture of the two hose clamps over the mounting bolts. I also have hose clamps helping with the muffler, engine head, and the chain tensioner (tensioner is over a skinny part of bar and off centered). As you can see you can effectively supplant all bolts on the engine. I think of it as a fail safe and am comfortable really pushing my bike with the hose clamps. You do need to strongly tighten the clamps with a screwdriver and use a wrench for mechanical leverage.

 

[LeUnicornRider]

Thats an interesting set-up for sure, and it helps with vibration quite a bit?

 

[bakaneko]

It helps though I cannot really quantify how much. Another thing you can do is to run a strong metal bar under tension across the top of the engine along the head and attach this bar under pressure using hose clamps to the frame of the bike. If you think about it the top of the engine is the most vulnerable to vibration because it is further away from the mounting bolts and small vibrations from the engine probably expands to the top. This bar will help reduce that top of the engine vibration.

All of these materials can be easily bought from a major hardware store retailer (Menards, Home Depot). At my Menards, the largest hose clamps are $2. The metal bar will be about $10. You will need about 4 hose clamps (two anchor clamps for bike frame, two for bike to bar) and a metal bar for that top engine bar support.

Again doing this stuff will make your bike look like Frankenstein's monster.

 

[JunkyardDog]

The Chinese engine kits can be difficult to mount on newer bikes with oversize or oval shaped tubing. I had one on an older Trek mountain bike with standard sized tubing. The engine itself is not bad for what they cost, but they have 2 problems. One is the rag joint that attaches the sprocket to the rear wheel. Macgyver could have come up with something better than that. But the really serious problem is the idler pulley/chain tensioner/whatever you want to call it that attaches to the rear chain stay. This thing almost killed me, and caused me to switch to friction drive. It's problems are many. It will rotate on the chain stay, even with a set screw. You could drill a hole in your frame and ruin your bike, but it would do no good. If it can't turn on the chain stay, it will either bend, or the cheap screen door roller it uses, made out of the cheapest of plastic with no bearings, and no teeth, like the small sprockets in a deraileur have, will just break into pieces. Mine broke, then the chain pulled the bracket into the spokes of the rear wheel, causing me to crash. And I was riding in a bike lane, inches from speeding cars.