68 Spokes? No Problem, kinda.

Johnny C.

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I wanted to build a motored bike out of a Micargi Royal with 68 spoke rims. It was a bit of an engineering nightmare, but well worth it. Blaze helped me build this bike as well as my electric, but on this bike, I mean help as in, he drank beer and watched me build the bike. When I first showed him a picture of the bike online he said, "Wow, that's a nice bike. Have fun trying to make it work." Not exactly the glowing endorsement I was looking for when I asked for his opinion on building this bike.

The bike ended up being a perfect platform for the Chinese motor. The bottom bar runs below the crank, so it keeps the motor nice and low to the ground (hopefully out of the eye of John Q. Law, so I don't have to deal with the nebulous laws surrounding the operation of motorized bicycles in California). It also keeps the center of gravity low on the bike; making it easier to take corners (I hope you English majors enjoyed my use of the semicolon there). The bike drives as great as it looks and was well worth the effort it took to get it running.

Here are some of the modifications I had to make in order to make this thing work:

Brakes - Since this bike ships with a coaster brake, and there aren't any companies that make a 68 spoke freewheel or front disk hub, I had to take apart the rear hub to make it freewheel, and I had to drill holes in the front hub to bolt a disk brake onto the bike.

Power - I couldn't use the rear sprocket mount that shipped with my kit (due to having 68 spokes) so I just drilled into the rear hub to mount the rear sprocket. For the front and back I just drilled holes in line with the holes of the items I wanted to mount, then I used nuts as spacers on each bolt.

Gas Tank - I wanted a rear mount gas tank so my bike doesn't scream "Gas-Powered bike here!" Luckily, I was able to order one from Jordon (he posts as SkyHawkCanada). He was a pleasure to deal with. I will definitely order more stuff from him, and if you are looking for some good deals from a solid person, then I would recommend asking him first. The gas cap that ships with the rear mount tank sucks, so I used the cap that shipped with my original fuel tank, and it works great. I had to bang some dents into my rear fender to make room for the shape of the tank and I also had to bang out a slot for the nozzle that runs from the tank to the fuel line.

Stealth - I painted my motor, gas tank, and exhaust pipe flat black to match the bike. You can see that the angle of the motor forces the exhaust directly under the bike; just a lucky break on the road to making this bike as stealthy as possible (look I used another semicolon). The exhaust reaches just far enough to clear the back tire.

Nip Tuck - I had to shave my right crank arm down to clear the motor, but I believe it is better to do that than to bend the crank. I had to cut a couple of cooling fins off the motor to let the peddle chain pass. I also had to drill some holes in the base of the saddle to mount the gas tank, drill some holes in the frame to mount the rear rack, bend the chain guard to gain the correct tension on the peddle chain, and add several spacers to the rear end to make room for the drive chain. Chain tensioners on the rear axle are a must in order to keep both chains clear of the rear tire. You only get about 1/8 of an inch of clearance on each side.

I hope you all enjoy the pics. If you decide to build one of these, please feel free to let me know if you have any questions.
 

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Great job! I love how large the tires are and how well the whole bike comes together. Looks like a comfy ride for sure.
 
I wanted to thank everyone for the kind remarks and post some more detailed build info for those of you that expressed interest in building your own. I am going to do one post for each portion of the bike.

This is how I mounted the headlight. It was easy. I just had to bend the mount at the end to get it to work.
 

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