Chicken Motor

[upshifter]

chicken picture

Here is a picture of my Chicken Power. It's been outside in my garage for several years, and I need to clean it up. It's dirty, and has some rust on spots, like the spring. I'm going to put it on a bike and try it out, probably next spring. The weather is bad here on the Oregon coast, but not as bad as the Portland area. Ok, let's see if this posted the picture; this is my first time on this forum.

 

[arceeguy]

yes -- me too

my buddy rode a Chicken Power aprox 100 miles a day to work and back
for over a year
never heard him say one THING about break downs
when will we hear a claim such as that from a China motor ???

now that's a THING you can ride !!!

Holy cow batman, how much time did he spend commuting to work? At 20mph average speed, that's 5 hours a day!

 

[Mountainman]

maybe more like 80 miles

Holy cow batman, how much time did he spend commuting to work? At 20mph average speed, that's 5 hours a day!

it wasn't easy for him -- he had gotten into trouble and lost his license
admitted -- I guessed on the miles traveled
but -- it was a long ways
I would almost want a full day so as to ride and travel that route
probably closer to 80 miles
not to forget three very large hills -- one is a small mountain

anyway -- I think those Chicken Powers were build pretty strong

ride those things

 

[Esteban]

Upshifter,
I hope you can get it running without much trouble. If it has ANY old gas in it, the sooner you clean it the better. The tiny carb passageways can get mighty bad!
" 100 miles a day ?" GOOD LAWD! The best ride with these things is on a heavier balloon tire bike [ Cruiser ] . But many will only do about 15mph, then. A skinny tire, lightweight, English bike, was the fastest, getting close to 25mph. Roads around here will kill you riding on a bike like that, though. The best compromise , for me, was on a bike like shown in my pix, a fairly lightweight Schwinn hybrid.
I would like to see someone take the plans , make a few modifications, & start production of them, again.

 

[Mountainman]

I would like to see someone take the plans , make a few modifications, & start production of them, again.

Esteban

do you know where and when they were made ?

Have a nice Christmas -- from MM

 

[upshifter]

I believe they were actually made in Los Angeles, CA. The company later became "Advanced Engine Products, Inc", still at the same address in Los Angeles.

I have a 1983 book, "Small Air Cooled Engines Service Manual, 14th edition, that covers all kinds of small engines with repair data, old and new. It has several O&R engines under that title. One looks exactly like the engine used for the Chicken Power. I don't know if Advanced Engine Products, Inc. is still around; and I don't know when the last O&R type engine was made.

 

[Esteban]

Take a look at the little engine in action ! I think this is the 3/4 HP engine, rather than the " leaping, screaming, wild, high-energy , exciting , dog attracting 1hp" that was on bikes ! Enjoy !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BogkRqNdEis

 

[upshifter]

Thanks for the link. That is indeed a neat little power plant.

I used to have an O&R .23 model airplane engine. It had an ignition system, not a glow plug. I could control the RPM by varying the timing with a small lever on the distributor. It was easily converted to a glow plug engine by exchanging the spark plug with the glow plug. It drove a hardwood prop, plastic props were not around yet in those days, 1949 when I was in high school. The hardwood prop would do a number on your finger if you were not careful. It split mine wide open one day.

 

[Esteban]

Still plenty of those R/C airplanes around powered by an O & R. Also, gas boat & tether car.

http://shop.ebay.com/items/_W0QQ_nkwZOhlssonQ20Q26Q20RiceQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZR40QQ_mdoZ

 

[upshifter]

Wow. Thanks for the link. I saw a 1940 O&R just like the one I had, wood prop and all. They ran smoother with a spark plug than they did with the glow plug, more like larger engines run.