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O

milspec

How I spent my summer ....

Back in June a friend gave me a 68cc motor that was mounted in a trashed out aluminum mountain bike frame. The old bike had been sitting out in the weather and was missing some parts. Since the price was right I decided to move the motor over into another frame and see if I could create a sort of unique military style look. The project was inspired by pictures of a Swiss reserve army unit which rode non motorized mountain bikes. There's some video of that unit moving silently through the woods at a pretty good speed. They all come to a stop, hit the deck and open fire.

Since I'm an out of shape American I figured that my military bike needed a motor. I found an old style 1980 vintage mountain bike frame. I wanted a frame with round steel tubing and a horizontal top bar to give me lots of room for the engine. I removed the front derailler shift mechanism and kept the rear six speed unit. I installed a chain tensioner on the motor drive side and added a guard over the motor chain.

I didn't think that the motorcycle style gas tank I got with the motor looked right on my project, so I bought a luggage rack mount tank from ThatsDax. I really couldn't find a commercial luggage rack that looked sturdy enough, so I got out the oxy-acetylene torch and fabricated a luggage rack/tank mount from 1/2" square tubing and 1/4" steel rod. I've got a couple of black nylon MOLLE style bags that I can attach to the rack sides to carry some cargo.

I did the full fender treatment to keep with the military styling. I used oversize hardware with blue loctite and I'll check the fittings for tightness before and during every ride.

The seat is an gel filled unit to accomodate my almost 60 year old butt.

I pained the bike with Krylon olive drab from their camo paint line. I applied a clear gloss topcoat which gives a nice semi-gloss peacetime finish and contrasts nicely with the black seat, grips and cables.

The bike and rider are both on the "portly" side and the package tops out at about 25mph on a long straight according to my Schwinn speedometer.

I'm going to rig up some lighting and I'll post again with those details.

Until then - be safe

Dave Lewis
the Old Guy in Norman OK
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