Belt drive rings

To fentor56, Could you give me more info on your friends homemade drive ring from a 20 inch bicycle rim?? I tried to get in touch with you but couldn' t make contact. Thanks, Tom
Tom/spad4
This is a friend in real life...he lives a distance away from me so it's difficult to hook-up,but i'll call him soon & get more info(perhaps even pics)
I know also he went to a place that specializes in all kinds of industrial/commercial belts,& that's where he got his heavy duty kevlar drive belt(relatively cheap to)
Leave it with me. :D
 
I want to mount an engine on my bike using a belt drive, gebe style. I don't like the plastic gebe drive ring though, I would prefer a metal one. I heard the whizzer style bikes have a screw on metal drive rings, where can I get one? Are they very strong? Or are there other brands of drive rings avalible? I have only seen the gebe style for sale. Thanks.

Don't know if this is what you are looking for, but I have a bike with a home made drive ring that I turned out of plywood laminations and coated in fiberglass. I use it on a rackmount with a 4 stroke with a 2-1 chain reduction driving a 4 inch v belt pulley which drives an 18 inch diameter plywood disc laminated to a plywood disc that fits tightly inside the wheel. It has the advantage of actually strengthening the wheel. So far I have over 7000 fairly trouble free miles on this design. I takes a A69 v belt on my rig, and they last about 1500 miles pulling a trailer. I have built about 3 versions of this so far, and they seem to work surprisingly well, and repair parts are available at the nearest hardware store. I am in the process of trying to cast them in fiberglass....mostly for weight and appearances sake. I do have some pics somewhere if anyone is interested.

Visited Alaska Van with this rig last summer. His tadpole is more impressive in person than in pictures even.
Denny
 
Thats amazing ibdennyak, I just never thought of that and I do a lot of woodworking. About a year ago I build a nice canoe out of plywood and covered it with fiberglass. I don't think I would have a problem building a ring like you described. I am trying to visualize what it looks like. I think the inside ring must be like a two piece thing that you can slip between the spokes to get it inside. How thick is the outside ring? If you have some pics that would be great. What sort of 4 stroke are you using? I have a little 2 1/2 hp briggs and stratton horz shaft I intend to mount on a rack and go to a jackshaft then to the belt drive. Tom
 
Thats amazing ibdennyak, I just never thought of that and I do a lot of woodworking. About a year ago I build a nice canoe out of plywood and covered it with fiberglass. I don't think I would have a problem building a ring like you described. I am trying to visualize what it looks like. I think the inside ring must be like a two piece thing that you can slip between the spokes to get it inside. How thick is the outside ring? If you have some pics that would be great. What sort of 4 stroke are you using? I have a little 2 1/2 hp briggs and stratton horz shaft I intend to mount on a rack and go to a jackshaft then to the belt drive. Tom

OK, I'm off to make a living, but I'll try to get some pics and specs up tonight.

Denny
 
OK, I'm off to make a living, but I'll try to get some pics and specs up tonight.

Denny

I'd like to see those pics as well.

Especially if you have some pics while in the process of building, as well as finished pics.
 
laminated drive rings

I'd like to see those pics as well.

Especially if you have some pics while in the process of building, as well as finished pics.

Sorry for the delay, but the da....ng computer seems to be smarter than I am. :mad: Tried about half a dozen times to upload some pics, but something always went wrong. Oh well, one more time. Hmmm, now it is working.

Anyway, I am running two versions of this idea. One has a 49cc tecumseh with a 1 1/2 pulley going directly to an 18 inch diameter ring with a spring loaded idler (skateboard wheel) It could be geared a bit lower except the ring would interfere with the rim brakes if it was larger. The only way it will reach max revs is down hill. Of course I am travelling over 40 mph by that time too. It gets about 90+ mpg. I have about 1800 miles on that rig. I will say that I purchased the engine from an RC aircraft enthusiast who *adjusted* a few things when he rebuilt it for me.

The other one is another rack mount on my Mongoose *mule*. That bike has been repowered by several of my hair brained ideas over the last few years, but is still going strong. This one says it is a 49cc Honda on the recoil, but it used to say 97cc as in Honda clone. Amazing what a printer and some clear coat can do. :rolleyes: Anyway it is running a 11 tooth clutch into a 22 tooth sprocket on the jackshaft. The other side of the jackshaft uses a 4 inch pulley with the belt driving another 18 inch ring. Both of them use an A67 v belt. The drive rings are flat....no groove cut into them. They track nicely, and it makes it easy to remove the belt if I have to peddle for an extended period of time. The belts last about 1500 plus miles. The bike chain is replaced when it stretches enough to start coming off. I drive the four stroke more because I usually pull a trailer, and the extra torque is handy. The 4 stroke gets about 135-150 mpg depending on wind terrain, and the trailer.

One of the nice things about this setup is that the ring actually strengthens the wheel. I have yet to break a spoke except once when the deralleur got caught in the wheel. I took out 11 spokes and still rode home with the ring holding the wheel straight.

I use about 6 pieces of aluminum to hold the ring in place. I have also used stitching screws to hold them in place. They seem rock solid. Just to try it I only used 6 screws once for a couple hundred miles. It was still tight when I added more to ease my nervousness. :D

I used a router and home made circle cutter to build these things. First I drilled a half in hole in a work bench. Then I put a 1/2 inch bolt through the hole with a nut on top. Then I drilled a half inch hole in a 24 X24 inch piece of 1/2 plywood and screwed it to the bench. This was routed to the id of a wheel....something like 22 5/8 inches I think. On top of this I screwed and glued a 24 X 24 inch piece of 1/4 inch plywood. This was routed to match the OD of the first disc and a 16 in hole was routed for the ID. On top of this I screwed and glued a 20 X 20 in piece of 3/4 inch plywood, and this was routed to 18 inches OD and the ID to match the 1/4 in plywood. After that I sanded the edges and applied several coats of epoxy resin. That's about all there is to it. I am working on molding these things out of fiberglass using a bike wheel as the outside mold. These should fit even better, and should be lighter, and of course look a bit less crude.

I do have a third ring on my home made tadpole trike using another Honda clone engine. Got to finish it one of these days. I also have another unfinished setup on another bike. This one used a 22 inch ring on the front wheel of a bike with a disc brake on the front. I plan to use my little 25 cc Honda bracketed to the caliper brake mount and have a front wheel drive. This will be my lightweight bike to throw in the trunk or whatever.

Anyway, there you have it. I have some more pics of the ring building process somewhere. I will post a few when I find them. I also have more pics of the bikes themselves if anyone has specific questions about something. Both of them are used as daily drivers, so I can take pics of more specific details if anyone likes. Thanks for the interest

Denny
 

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Denny that is really a neat way to a belt drive and shows a lot of thought and skill on your part. I think I can get my little B&S 2 1/2 hp on a bike now. That drive ring is unique. I think you could easily fabricate one with fiberglass mating and cloth and I believe a carbon fiber ring would even be better and lighter but more expensive. you probably already have a source but the place I used for my fiberglass and epoxy resin for the canoe I built was US Composites at www.uscomposites.com
The pictures tell the story and I appreciate you letting us in on your belt drive build method. Tom
 
Denny that is really a neat way to a belt drive and shows a lot of thought and skill on your part. I think I can get my little B&S 2 1/2 hp on a bike now. That drive ring is unique. I think you could easily fabricate one with fiberglass mating and cloth and I believe a carbon fiber ring would even be better and lighter but more expensive. you probably already have a source but the place I used for my fiberglass and epoxy resin for the canoe I built was US Composites at www.uscomposites.com
The pictures tell the story and I appreciate you letting us in on your belt drive build method. Tom

No problem. That's what these forums are all about. :D Your 2 1/2 should be about equivalent to the *49*cc ahem four stroke. :whistle: Mine has evolved a bit since I took those pics. I removed the tank and plumbed in a fuel pump from a 4 hp Honda that runs off the crankcase pulses to lower the profile and make it look more like 49 cc's. Also when I first built the rack, I bolted it to the axle. That made it a pain to change tires, so I attached it to the fender mount holes in the drop outs. I think they are #10 24. I never broke the hardened bolts, but one came loose, so I retapped it for 1/4 20 and lock tited it in place. I put a nut on one side to lock it in, but a nut would interfere with the high speed cog on the freewheel, so locktite fixed that.

Both engines run at 3600 rpm, so the 9:1 ratio works out pretty well. The chain reduction from the clutch is 2:1 and the 4" pulley coupled to the 18" ring comes pretty close. A 3 1/2 inch pulley gives you a bit more pulling power for the trailer however. Slippage even with the trailer has never been a problem. With the 4 " pulley I can do over 35 with only minimal overspeeding of the engine. It does really well pulling a trailer and cruising 25 or so.

I would recommend keeping the engine as low and forward as possible. Your Briggs is probably heavier than my engine, and it is noticeable although not a problem. My biggest problem is swinging my leg over the engine with winter riding clothing on. Might be age related. :giggle:

Funny story about the two stroke version.....when I first built it, I left it with forward exhaust. Really wasn't that noticeable. Well, one cold winter day, I climbed on the wet frozen seat and ran a couple errands. On the way back a car pulls up beside me at a red light and one of the three young girls opens the window and says, "Dude, your a** is smoking". Well, at my age, I took this as quite a compliment even though my friends call me "buns o steel" from all the bike riding. The light changed and as my smile turned to a self satisfied smirk, I pulled into my shop parking lot.....and the car was following me. I parked the bike and walked over to the car, and the young lady said, "Really man, your a** is on fire. I looked at the bike, and the exhaust had melted the frozen seat, and the covering was smoking. I was crushed. :cry:

Denny
 
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