Advice needed

[sadarahu]

I have an old mountina bike. Bought it for about $600 12-15 years ago. It still runs perfectly fine. since it was (I guess still is) ultralight I 'm looking to add ultralight motor (gas) and trailer to it. One of the trailers I like it BURLEY - Travoy. It attaches to the seat pole or (carrier rack with adapter).

I was going to buy a motor kit to fit it in a V frame but it looks like the frame is to small. The internal V dimensions are: 20 (front pedals) x 18.5(front to seat) x 15(seat to pedals ").

Since I do not like friction kits I thought I can install the belt kit solution (i.e GEBE). To problem then is with mounting the trailer. I do not think there will be enough clearance and there is no way to mount the carrier rack (at least that's what I think).

I wonder what other options I have ?
Her is few features/criteria/conditions my solution must met:
- trailer
- going off paved road
- 4-stroke
- not concerned about the speed but need enough power going up hill (I'm 150LB x 5,8")
- size / weight as small as possible

If there is not other solution I will consider single axle trailer attached to the rear axle (i.e BOOB or TOPEAK)


Any suggestions ?

ART

 

[FurryOnTheInside]

Just get a 2 wheel trailer that attaches to the left side of the rear axle.
The BoB style is okay, the best for narrow single-track, but you have to learn to love it's foibles.

The frame might take a 2-stroke anyway. Or buy a new frame. It's not like you would have to spend much for a new frame a bit larger.

A four stroke isn't powerful, light or small. It's 10.5" wwwwideeeee

 

[Frankenstein]

Rear rack if you can attach a strong enough one is the only way in that case, with axle mount trailer. A belt drive is a good option for a single low gear that will handle hills, when you say handle do you mean without pedaling?

Maybe a slightly larger bike would be a little more appropriate if you want to just jackshaft it or outright single speed it with a 4 stroke in the frame, don't know how willing you are to change bikes.

Rack mount takes most of the guesswork out other than the room for the belt and the pulley that goes on it, just figure out what will bolt in place.

When you checked the dimensions of the engine did you calculate for the muffler being removed and likely the gas tank, most of these mention the sizes with those items installed when they will be swapped out or removed and don't really count. Bikeberry has a 38cc 4 stroke with some pretty small dimensions, and that includes the stock muffler, plastic coverings, and small tank, if you remove them you gain some room all around so you can fit it even if it seems like it wouldn't.

http://www.bikeberry.com/flying-hor...ction-drive-bicycle-4-stroke-engine-only.html

That's the small 4 stroke, it's not a lot of power but it's a worthy competitor to the old fashioned leg muscles.

 

[Frankenstein]

Rear rack if you can attach a strong enough one is the only way in that case, with axle mount trailer. A belt drive is a good option for a single low gear that will handle hills, when you say handle do you mean without pedaling?

Maybe a slightly larger bike would be a little more appropriate if you want to just jackshaft it or outright single speed it with a 4 stroke in the frame, don't know how willing you are to change bikes.

Rack mount takes most of the guesswork out other than the room for the belt and the pulley that goes on it, just figure out what will bolt in place.

When you checked the dimensions of the engine did you calculate for the muffler being removed and likely the gas tank, most of these mention the sizes with those items installed when they will be swapped out or removed and don't really count. Bikeberry has a 38cc 4 stroke with some pretty small dimensions, and that includes the stock muffler, plastic coverings, and small tank, if you remove them you gain some room all around so you can fit it even if it seems like it wouldn't. http://www.bikeberry.com/flying-hor...ction-drive-bicycle-4-stroke-engine-only.html

That's the small 4 stroke, it's not a lot of power but it's a worthy competitor to the old fashioned leg muscles.

@Anton why isn't the redirect actually giving the page I'm linking to, it's giving a dead end page basically as it doesn't have a followup link to the real page.

 

[crassius]

spend some time looking thru pics here of bikes with trailers - maybe something will catch your eye

 

[sadarahu]

Yes, I would like to keep my bike. The quality bike I would want would cost min $800+ so I see no reason to spend that money if my bike is working well. If would sell it I wouldn't really get much for it despite it's in god shape simply because it is used.

After reviewing some videos and options, yesterday I decided to go with friction drive kit from STATON INC. This was horrible experience. I cannot say anything about their product but the shopper experience simply sucks. The worst site I have ever seen for many years. Things hart to find and it looks like it was build by 7 years old kid. I tried to place an order and it did not go through because my Sipping and Billing addresses are different. Finally I decided to use my billing Address in place of shipping. The order went through. I have sent them separate email and asked to ship it to different location.
Today I received a call and they stated they cannot ship it to different location (because they are afraid the customer might say he/she never received item). They also asked me what's wrong with the website and when I explained (as above) they said I'm the only customer out of over 10.000 customers who has the problem. I'm IT guy and I used to build sites and do development in the past so their attitude is terrible, arrogant and the whole conversation sounded like they making me a big favor to sell a product.
Well, perhaps I just shouldn't pick the friction drive motor (?)

I've also seen some negative opinions on kevlar belt solutions where the belt was wearing off to fast or simply coming of the rim etc. I guess most of it was due to poor installation but what seems to be a problem for me is that I would like to keep my original rims (they are aluminum) unless I find the kit with aluminum rim included. I also was able to find only one site selling quality kits with motors (I would rather buy a Honda motor or something of that quality) than cheap Chineese. Those I've seen were around $700 for the whole kit which seems to be way to much. I could get Honda 38cc for about $250 so their prices are insane. I also haven't found precise video showing how the whole kit is installed. The site is here . I contacted them with some questions and they replied that somebody will contact me in 24 hrs. Guess what - after 48hrs, nothing. It seems that this is another crappy seller and I don't think I want the deal with such terrible support from the beginning.

To figure out my space I use the template presented on BikeBerry website. I noticed that 2-stroke is smaller but I only want 4-stroke motor. Bike berry also offers low end motors which I would rather stay away from (unless I see many, many really positive opinions about Chinese product).
For now I want to concentrate on fitting the motor first and I will deal with the trailer later because I have many options.

I just learned that friction drive is not good when raining and belt drive requires fixed rear axle (I need to use quick release) so it looks like both options are eliminated and I'm back at ground zero with V frame install ;-(

 

[Frankenstein]

Yes, I would like to keep my bike. The quality bike I would want would cost min $800+ so I see no reason to spend that money if my bike is working well. If would sell it I wouldn't really get much for it despite it's in god shape simply because it is used.

After reviewing some videos and options, yesterday I decided to go with friction drive kit from STATON INC. This was horrible experience. I cannot say anything about their product but the shopper experience simply sucks. The worst site I have ever seen for many years. Things hart to find and it looks like it was build by 7 years old kid. I tried to place an order and it did not go through because my Sipping and Billing addresses are different. Finally I decided to use my billing Address in place of shipping. The order went through. I have sent them separate email and asked to ship it to different location.
Today I received a call and they stated they cannot ship it to different location (because they are afraid the customer might say he/she never received item). They also asked me what's wrong with the website and when I explained (as above) they said I'm the only customer out of over 10.000 customers who has the problem. I'm IT guy and I used to build sites and do development in the past so their attitude is terrible, arrogant and the whole conversation sounded like they making me a big favor to sell a product.
Well, perhaps I just shouldn't pick the friction drive motor (?)

I've also seen some negative opinions on kevlar belt solutions where the belt was wearing off to fast or simply coming of the rim etc. I guess most of it was due to poor installation but what seems to be a problem for me is that I would like to keep my original rims (they are aluminum) unless I find the kit with aluminum rim included. I also was able to find only one site selling quality kits with motors (I would rather buy a Honda motor or something of that quality) than cheap Chineese. Those I've seen were around $700 for the whole kit which seems to be way to much. I could get Honda 38cc for about $250 so their prices are insane. I also haven't found precise video showing how the whole kit is installed. The site is here . I contacted them with some questions and they replied that somebody will contact me in 24 hrs. Guess what - after 48hrs, nothing. It seems that this is another crappy seller and I don't think I want the deal with such terrible support from the beginning.

To figure out my space I use the template presented on BikeBerry website. I noticed that 2-stroke is smaller but I only want 4-stroke motor. Bike berry also offers low end motors which I would rather stay away from (unless I see many, many really positive opinions about Chinese product).
For now I want to concentrate on fitting the motor first and I will deal with the trailer later because I have many options.

I just learned that friction drive is not good when raining and belt drive requires fixed rear axle (I need to use quick release) so it looks like both options are eliminated and I'm back at ground zero with V frame install ;-(

That engine is mearly an example, these small 4 strokes are nearly always a copy of a well established design, many of them copying Hondas, if you can find it on bikeberry as a cheap copy you'll likely find a real copy somewhere else. Research a bit and you'll see what they copied and you can move on from there, as you should expect the original will be very similarly sized, even then you can get dimensions online.

That might be up your alley, a clamp on hub mount for the rear gear if you want a single speed.

 

[crassius]

quality of bike is subjective - for me it is the heaviest, thickest, mild steel frame I can find because it will handle any vibration motor puts out

 

[Anton]

@Anton why isn't the redirect actually giving the page I'm linking to, it's giving a dead end page basically as it doesn't have a followup link to the real page.

That's strange, I copied and pasted the link into your post again and now it seems to be working ok

(If it's still redirecting to the wrong page just reset your browser cache and it should go to the proper link.)

 

[Steve Best]

Hmmm, everyone seems to be looking for a genius solution.
"I want need enough power going up hill and the size & weight as small as possible"
but then, it has to be 4 stroke. There goes all those parameters...

Seriously. There is no 4 stroke as small and light as the China Girl engine that will get you up steep hills unless you gear it, and now you are adding more weight. A China Girl 2 stroke is made to fit in that frame, it is the smallest, narrowest, and at less than 20 lbs, the lightest and makes the most power for the weight. The fitment to the frame is easy too. I don't understand why everyone is trying to reinvent the wheel, er, the perfect engine.