Bike build perilous

perilous

Member
Local time
10:50 PM
Joined
Jan 6, 2012
Messages
37
Location
New South Wales, Australia
Hi Guys,

This is my second bike build now the first was way back in 2002 sadly that bike was stolen in February 2009. Unfortunately I never owned a digital camera back then so this burly mobile phone picture is the only photo I have of the old bike.

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So many good times on that thing :devilish:

At that time I kind of accepted that I no longer had enough free time to build another bike. I have now changed my mind, the bike will be based the staton crank kit which I ordered before Christmas and am now just anxiously awaiting its arrival to get started. I want to spent quite bit of time on the detail with this build and make it look as good and neat as possible.

Here is the official before photo. :cool:

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The big day finally came this week, After 3 weeks in the post customs decided that finding my awesome station components and handing them over to Australia post for delivery was a good idea.

Unfortunately I'm incredibly busy with work right now so have barley touched touched the stuff except to make sure the engine works and the crank stuff fits. Which it does :)

I have mapped out in my head how its all going to work, I'm going to attempt an in frame mount of the engine first. I think it can be done, if not on the back it will be.

So excited. Hopefully this thread will get interesting soon :) All advice welcome!

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Some progress photos, starting to get the crank set where I want it now,

I decided that I wasn't comfortable with the 44tooth driven sprocket provided in the staton kit. So I spent some time machining an adapter for a 54 tooth 8mm pocket bike sprocket. I also upgraded the mounting bolts to M8 high tensile so I can apply a bit of torque to them and not have to worry anything working loose. Also you can see just how much smaller the pocket bike sprocket is.

The Next step is to make a nice chain guard I'm going to mount that to the crank arm and make it significantly bigger than the 54tooth driven sprocket. Don't want anything to do with the engine coming in contact with any part of me :)

One of my project goals was to create a workable hybrid I want to be able to pedal and have the engine assist as much as ride with just engine power. Using the pocket bike sprockets gives me access to shorter ratios and hence will reduce the rpm of the crank gears to comfortable pedaling cadence even at high engine speeds. I would need a dinner plate size push bike sprocket to achieve the same ratio.

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A bit side tracking for a moment.

This part of the project isn't my main focus right now but here are some photos of my gauge pods.

I will be mounting a bike computer and analogue tach inside 2 custom fabricated gauge pods. The analogue tach is just a chepo automotive tach from ebay. I changed the resistor value for the 4 cylinder setting to 2 (not 1) as the Subaru fires on the exhaust stroke as well. As of yet the tach isn't totally acurate but fairly close I had the opportunity to test it against a digital one recently, I'm going to temporarily wire in a pot dial it into to match the digital one exactly and work from there.

Here is a video from my first test, this is connected to a Honda gx25 was still waiting for the Subaru at that time.

http://vimeo.com/35741440

Here are some gauge pod photos:

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Just a question, I have been studying my engine mounting options for my build tonight and have narrowed it down to 2 possibilities, but one involves mounting the staton gear box vertically clearance wise it looks plausible but havn't test fitted yet. I'm concerned about lubrication and the grease sitting in the bottom of the box, is it possible doing that could cause a problem down the track???
 
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Perlious,

like your gauge pods. Are they made of aluminum or steel tubing? Ever thought of using PVC pipe and end caps? Just a thought - not being critical.

As for mounting vertical, Staton does sell a Left Side Engine Mounted 16.01 to 1 gearbox kit that is almost vertical. See: Two Wheel Gear & Chain Drive Kits on his website. I would email him just to be sure not to void any warranty.

Good luck,

Chris
AKA: BigBlue
 
Perlious,

like your gauge pods. Are they made of aluminum or steel tubing? Ever thought of using PVC pipe and end caps? Just a thought - not being critical.

As for mounting vertical, Staton does sell a Left Side Engine Mounted 16.01 to 1 gearbox kit that is almost vertical. See: Two Wheel Gear & Chain Drive Kits on his website. I would email him just to be sure not to void any warranty.

Good luck,

Chris
AKA: BigBlue
 
Thanks Chris your advice was very helpful I decided it should be OK, seeing as I live in Australia warranty is not such an issue as postage is so expensive I would probably just figure out another way to do it if the box did blow up.

The gauge pods are made out of steel tubing they do have a bit of weight to them, this bike is only for recreational riding so a little bit of extra weight is ok. I actually didn't consider using plastic with a nice paint job would also look good.

Ok here we go for a big update.

I have been finding it difficult to get any serious time on the build but have been doing what I can.

Here is the primary engine mount, sadly it ended up being higher and further forward than I wanted but its just to wide to have it any closer to the crank. I think I still prefer this to over the back wheel.

https://motoredbikes.com/media/albums/perilous.1556/

And in the frame, I have some pedal extenders to resolve that clearance issue.

My original plan was to simply extend the output from the staton gear box, however for a number of reasons I decided to employ a lay shaft to transfer the power to the crank.

I got these 2 17 tooth motorbike sprockets (420 chain) for $5 each, so some grinding was needed to make the chain fit.

The bearings are gokart wheel bearings:

Strong making, It not apparent in the photo because the engine is removed but I have 1 long high tensile bolt will go through this piece and the gearbox to make the drive train nice a rigid. However not done yet.

#%# that, I'm not taking this apart again and mounting it in the lathe, lets just rev up the Subaru and get angry with the grinder. I don't have a milling machine so I couldn't really make a splined shaft anyway the plan was always to just cover it in weld. I figured when the sprocket is worn out I'll just have to make a new shaft.

Chain tensioner number 1, This is just made from a *******ised derailer if you look closly it should be obvious what I have done, I ordered a proper one but I was so disappointed with it I decided this would be better.

One thing I'm quite upset about is that the fancy staton freewheel chain ring part is not in true it actually wobbles quite noticeably, I'm tempted to take it apart and see if I can do anything to fix it, thats one thing I'm not happy about :(

I put the regular chain to the back wheels on just for fun and gave the motor a hit and the bike literally slingshoted it self across the garage, that really made my day engine feels really strong :)

Seeing all the parts turning was exciting for me here is a video for those interested:

 
First major milestone completed, the bike is rolling!!!

I'm very pleased with how the bike runs overall, In fact its difficult to put into words just how good it felt to ride a motorised push bike once again after so long. This bike feels lighter than my old one and definitely feels more comfortable cursing at a constant speed. If anybody expresses interest I may be able to borrow a go pro and post a riding video.

I'm pleased with my decision to shorten the gear ratios down to the crank. I can easily keep up with the pedals to give the bike some extra power to maintain speed when going uphill. I feel that I have achieved my hybrid objective here and I have a few extra usable gears. For those curious the total reduction down to the crank is 1:82. 8000Rpm in top gear = 45Kph Maximum Cruising speed is ~35Kph.

I'm finding that shifting 2 gears at a time seems to be the most fun way to accelerate. Currently I'm taking off in mid range and selecting 1, 3, 5, 7 and then just shift to high range for more speed when I'm on the open road. So far I haven't needed low range but I haven't tackled my favorite hill climb yet either. :rolleyes:

I never managed to get the crank set perfectly straight but after many reassemblies its close enough now.

So far I'm finding the clutch on the engine fairly brutal, I find I have to engage the throttle quite gently to avoid jerky take off.

Here are a few more photos:

Chain Tensioner:

https://motoredbikes.com/media/albums/perilous.1556/

My next tasks before painting are to build a custom fuel tank for it, its not going to be especially fancy haven't finalised my design yet. And to fabricate the chain covers.

I was wondering if anybody was aware of a build thread or just some photos where somebody has either painted or sanded / polished their staton gearbox. I feel there is some room for improvement with the way it looks and want to make a decision on what to do as I prepare to detail and paint the bike.
 
Bike is finished now,

I have just completed the final task which was to restrict it to under 200watts to make it legal where I live. This has reduced my top speed by about 11Kph, I can still cruise at about 27KPH. Because of all the low gears I can still get up hills with engine power alone however patience is required, some light pedaling makes up the difference.

In my testing I managed to break the chain supplied in the staton kit after only 3km, I replaced it with a KMC-Z510HX and don't expect any more trouble.

As I mentioned at the start I wanted this to be a detailed build, here are a bunch of photos of what I have been upto. I don't expect to do much more with this project for quite a while except enjoy riding it, but am happy to answer any questions.

https://motoredbikes.com/media/albums/perilous.1556/

Secondary Drive Chain Cover:

Primary Drive Chain Cover:

Electronics Box:

That round circuit board drives the tacho;

The pref board (top-left) has a Atmel Mega8 micro controller clocked at 1Mhz running an information display, it reads 2 temperature sensors (LM335A), a low fuel float switch and measures battery voltage.

Information Display:

For those with the Subaru engine it likes to run between 50 and 60 Degrees, I'm yet to see it get hotter than 60Degrees but its uncharacteristically miserable at the moment so haven't yet had a decently warm day to see how it goes.

Completed Bike:

The analogue Tacho is definitely worth the investment in time for those of you who have gears. I used to have a digital Tacho on the previous bike and I didn't even worry about replacing it when it stopped working. However watching the little engine slowly creep to the red line in low gear when hill climbing and then changing up a gear, dropping 500rpm, and doing it again really makes you appreciate the mechanical side of the bike.
 
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