blizzard build in progress

[a/c man]

I'm looking out my window at the 21" of snow on the ground. It supposed to snow another 8" or so before letting up sometime at the end of today here in Maryland. In the meantime I'm about 1/2 finished my newest friction drive build using a Ryobi 31 cc string trimmer motor. I've made everything myself with only simple hand tools and scrap aluminum and a motor shaft off of a 1/2 shaft blower motor I had lying around. I hope my brother-in-law never asks for his string trimmer back that I took custody of 2 years ago when he left it at my house. I'm mounting it on a 24" mountain bike that my neighbor donated to my bike collection. Here are some pics, and I threw in a pic of my finished expansion chamber that I modded on my HT. I still need to get the bearings and friction roller from BMP.

 

[srdavo]

Looking Good!!!

Excellent use of your snow days. I'm eager to see this come together.

 

[professor]

HT looks great. I did get a good laugh about the origin of your trimmer motor.

 

[graucho]

Great winter project a/c. If you finish it before the snows gone... you may go crazy staring out of the window wanting to ride.

 

[a/c man]

Updated progress pictures

I'm almost done putting my "keep me sane during endless winter" project together. I swear if I didn't have this to do during the last 2 blizzards I would have been crazier than I already am. Made everything myself, and have spent a whopping $20 for bolts and recently the 1/2 X 1 3/8 bearings which I ordered
but aren't here yet. Made the drive roller out of steel gas pipe 1" diameter with
3/4 dia. and 1/2 dia inserted inside each other, and lined with 1/2 copper pipe to bring down the size ID to 1/2". Brazed w/ bronze brazing rod on the end and drilled and tapped 5/16 set screws to secure to shaft. Everything took up a good amount of time, but enjoyed every minute actually. Can't wait until its done and snow is the heck out of here in Md.

 

[bamabikeguy]

professor HT looks great. I did get a good laugh about the origin of your trimmer motor.

a/c could scrape off all the markings, paint the engine cover, then never say a word until the bro-'n-lo takes it for a spin.

OR

graucho Great winter project a/c. If you finish it before the snows gone... you may go crazy staring out of the window wanting to ride.

He could claim he tried to convert it into a sno-blower, put it down on top of a drift while taking a *** break, next thing he knew, a snow plow zoomed by, carried it toward the Chesapeake. /shrug.

It seems we are having an influx of these unique first builds, ingenuity trumps wallet power every time.

 

[arkives1]

blizzard build in progress

You're doing a really great job AC, especially considering that you're doing this with hand tools. I see you have a shift kit on another bike so you're getting a wide range of experience building these things. I noticed the stiffener on the shift kit, how is that attatched to the plate? Welded? Rivets? Screws? I don't have my kit yet so I'm curious. Woody

 

[professor]

Looks good A/C, I am also beginning to feel like the the white witch has cast a spell on the north (like in the movie ,"The lion, the witch and the wardrobe" and winter will never end.
What do people do without projects?

 

[a/c man]

stiffener on shift kit sideplate came standard with kit, although beneath that the smaller flat plate is something I added. I made a chain tensioner out of a urethane skateboard wheel turned down to about 3/4". It was a tight fit getting it in there out of the way of the sprocket teeth. I couldn't get the primary chain tight enough .

 

[a/c man]

UPDATE:blizzard build finished and fun!!

Finally finished my homemade friction drive 31 cc Ryobi weed wacker bike.
It's not as powerful as my 66 cc WTF bike, but still a lot of fun and I think I only spent about $30 total. My brother in law still doesn't know I used the engine off of his weed wacker. My friction roller is 1 3/8" and may be just a little big for pulling the hills around here. I'll probably make a 1.25 or 1" roller. It's a good thing my labor was free because I spent many cold crappy days working out a million tiny details. Learned a lot
through trial and error, I think that's what its all about. There's a real feeling of satisfaction to have something that you create actually work. It goes about 25 mph and is plenty fast enough for my 14 year old son that I built this thing for for his birthday. Here's my pics, feel free to ask questions it might save you some effort if you ever make your own without a kit.