Confused

[HumanPerson]

Well i've been shoved off the road and cursed at by regular bicycle riders and scooter riders and hated by the homeless bicycle people.
I now have been asked by a young man in a town that i travel through to get to work, to help him build a bike like mine.
I don't know what to do. If he has a bike like mine, he's 17 years oild, i think he will not respect this.
I've spoke to hius father who is disabled and can't help his son very much in life so i fee sad and want to help.
BUT!
I told the kid what I have and where to get the same engine and i'll help him with the port work but he went behind my back and bought off of ebay.....f***in 88 dollar engine now his dad says i steered the kid wrong!
I spent two hours today trying to get them to understand the differences in the engines from zeda and ebay.......simple is as simple does i guess.
We as MB riders and owners have the ability to help others, but where does the help stop?
At what time do we stop helipng those that will not listen to us?

Just a few questions for you old heads that have een through this.


Thanks,
Human

 

[6blueoval9]

He dont need a higher powered anyways...tell him to buy a cheap hp carb and air filter and gut his stock muffler..add a 44 tooth gear to it and be done..lol

I would have that permission to help him in writting however...just sayin.

 

[crassius]

6 years ago - the best that were available were exactly today's $88 kits - we got along with them

 

[FurryOnTheInside]

If anyone I don't know asks where or how I got an engine on my bike, I'm just going to say I bought it on eBay and bolted it on. That's true enough.
If they can be bothered to learn and take it seriously they will google bicycle engine kits, and they will find their way to this forum.

 

[Frankenstein]

Well here's how I see it, if I were you I'd of figured if he was all in, part in, or really not for it at all and wouldn't be buying a kit anyway. So all in is willing to learn, and part in is just looking to put a bike together with a motor and go looking to die with it unintentionally.

The part in's and not for it's I will basically shrug off with the information that you can buy them on eBay, simple as that and I prefer not to help, I am a busy person after all.

The ones who are willing to learn and understand I kindly offer any help I can to.

If he's still willing then disregard his father's banter as his son will do it equally so since if he's willing to learn then he's in it enough to willingly disobey his father. Teach him what is obviously most important, and also explain that the 88 dollar kit cannot compare to a better quality kit no matter what you do unless it involves throwing the kit in a garbage can, I'm certain you've done that part already.

Now observe, if he's acting like a fool then let fools be what they are, he would have gotten the kit anyways and without your help if he is very inept and he gets it running then he'll have it die soon enough and be unable to fix it. No problem.

Really there's a point where you should ask yourself if a person would be off any differently at all if you had met them a month later than you did. To me a 17yo kid with a father in a wheelchair and probably no car is probably itching to get on/in anything with an engine, so I would bet after seeing you and any number of other people with one he'd of come to own one anyway.

So if you think he's worth teaching, teach, if he's on a path to recklessness and it was inevitable anyways then you may want to step back and get uninvolved, the more days between you last seeing him and the day he gets flattened by a semi the less chance you'll get caught up in any nets and less you'll feel affected by his death regarding a guilty conscience/natural human bonding.

Use your best judgment in other words.

 

[springfieldscooter]

Nothing wrong with the ebay kits!
Zeda on the other hand is too new to be "proven".
Id consider them experimental at this point....

 

[Frankenstein]

Nothing wrong with the ebay kits!
Zeda on the other hand is too new to be "proven".
Id consider them experimental at this point....

Zeda may have been producing engines for mopeds and other vehicles before grubee had the dream of building bicycle engines.

Parent company is the key word(s) here.

 

[FurryOnTheInside]

There was lots wrong with my eBay kit. I was on the floor laughing for several minutes it was so bad.
I can't fix the huge side-to-side movement in the conrod.

 

[mattrgray]

I dont both to really help people with the bikes, I really dont want someone off the street relying on me to build them a bike and have it work. Love to show people my bike, but I dont build them fo people and I tell them that's its more of a hobby bike than something I would depend of for reliable transportation, everyone I've talked to seems to under sand so.

 

[crassius]

There was lots wrong with my eBay kit. I was on the floor laughing for several minutes it was so bad.
I can't fix the huge side-to-side movement in the conrod.

One can, without taking the crank out if care and patience is used. If the side play is worrisome, one can cut 2 circular pieces out of a good steel coil spring that has slightly smaller diameter than rod journal - snap one piece onto journal on each side of rod to limit movement.