How much pedaling do you do?

Sometimes it seems that the mind may be the master, but the body is the assassin.
Anyway, I'm with you on the hospital/nursing home theme. When the time comes, I'm hoping to be able to walk down to the beach one day and start swimming in the general direction of Tahiti.

On the subject of pedaling, I ride (non-motorized) bicycles every day, having given up the car years ago.
My project, still in the works, is also directed more towards coolness than anything else, I doubt I'll do much pedaling on it, since the bike's already heavy enough without 30 lbs. of motor 'n' stuff......
 
Right now I'm 100% pedal power because my engine is not installed. Once the engine is installed, I plan to only use the pedals in emergencies. However, I also have a full suspension mountain bike that is not getting a motor. I need tubes for it, I found it by a trash dumpster after somebody wrecked it badly and I wanted to rebuild it. Front wheel was taco'd and forks were bent, rear wheel just slightly warped. I have a couple sets of wheels but when I went to throw a pair on, I was going to use the tires and tubes from the og wheels but I discovered the og wheels are 24" and I only have 26" rims and tires but no good tubes. But I did get a new pair of forks on, so once I find tubes it will be ready to go. Once I get wheels on, the mountain bike will be my pedal bike and I intend to use it even after my motorbike is done because I want to get exercise.
 
Good plan butterbean. Ive got to up my exercise program too. Today I walked a brisk 6.2 miles but generally average about 3.5 miles a day on a monthly average. So I walk over 100 miles a month not counting my cycling miles. Got to get prepared for the AT and the PCT before I run out of time. Going down to Taylorsville,MS Saturday to bury the last of our parents, my father in law, who died this morning at 4:30 AM. Ill be digging the hole.
 
Kind of on-off topic, I also ghost pedal all the time just in case of bored lawmen.A friction/rack mount doesn't attract as much attention, there is a "stealth" FD on here, completely hidden by panniers.Most FD/rack mounts have quality utility engines, self cooling, look at the rack section as far as engine problems, then look at the 2stroke/CG section, engine problems galore.I read here for years, and came to my FD is better conclusion.


I put my FD on my folder, bought a crappy bag from wallyworld, packed it with my clothes and an empty 1gal can, took it on a 600 mile greyhound bus trip, when I arrived I unpacked/unfolded/gassed-up my FD equipped bicycle and motored home.

a lot of people buying china girls aren't technically inclined and just buy what is ostensibly the easiest engine to install. I bought a china girl because they're cheap, easy to make power with, and have large aftermarket support. I haven't had a single failure in about 600 miles, and that was just a flat tire. my engine has never overheated. I'm capable of doing over 55 miles per hour and don't have to pedal once to get there.

you definitely have me beat on fuel economy though, I measured mine at around 60 miles per gallon.
 
Kind of on-off topic, I also ghost pedal all the time just in case of bored lawmen.A friction/rack mount doesn't attract as much attention, there is a "stealth" FD on here, completely hidden by panniers.Most FD/rack mounts have quality utility engines, self cooling, look at the rack section as far as engine problems, then look at the 2stroke/CG section, engine problems galore.I read here for years, and came to my FD is better conclusion.


I put my FD on my folder, bought a crappy bag from wallyworld, packed it with my clothes and an empty 1gal can, took it on a 600 mile greyhound bus trip, when I arrived I unpacked/unfolded/gassed-up my FD equipped bicycle and motored home.

I agree with you about friction drives and how they attract less attention. I demoed my mountain bike for a friction kit by hooking up my 4 stroke engine on the side of my rear rack. If I paint the engine cover black it will blend in with the rest of the bike mostly making it more stealthy. The white fuel tank might be the most noticeable thing on the bike but thought about painting it black as well. It also hardly adds width to the bike. I would just need to be more aware of the fact that I have an engine sticking out of the left rear of my bike when passing other bicyclists & pedestrians when I'm on certain bike paths.

I think logically cops see a bike with an in-frame engine more as a mini bike making them more of a target for bored cops. When cops see a bike with a friction drive setup they don't seem to notice it or mind it as much because it looks more like a bicycle.
 
a lot of people buying china girls aren't technically inclined and just buy what is ostensibly the easiest engine to install. I bought a china girl because they're cheap, easy to make power with, and have large aftermarket support. I haven't had a single failure in about 600 miles, and that was just a flat tire. my engine has never overheated. I'm capable of doing over 55 miles per hour and don't have to pedal once to get there.

you definitely have me beat on fuel economy though, I measured mine at around 60 miles per gallon.
Maybe, but how far would you want to pedal your bike if there was no IC engine power?I'm betting less than 5 miles and you'd be winded.Do a 200 mile in a day trip, and then tell me about reliability, GEBE does 170 to 200mile trips, put it away and can do another 200 the next day without one adjustment.Just saying quality rack has frame mount beat in relibility also.CG oil ratio is 25:1 quality engines are 50:1, quality 2strokes are Tier2 CA smog approved, which doesn't mean anything to me other than, SMOKELESS.CG are cheaper up front, but from everything I've read here, you end up spending more (in the long run) than a GEBE system and a bicycle to put it on, and while you're tinkering on the CG,... GEBE and FD's are riding.
 
I don't ride for exercise, I ride either to test or get somewhere in comfort, especially in summer.

The LAST thing I want to be doing is exerting any effort when it's 110F outside!

I'm building an in-frame bike because I want it to be strong and fast and handle well.
.
2-stroke engine kit right?

Strong AND Fast simply can't happen with a fixed single gear ratio.

If you want great low end and high speeds install the engine with a shift kit and get a good bike with gears.

The 26" Fito Modea 7-speed is a nice nimble bike.
7-speed with 3" wide tires on 24" rims and dual disc brakes.
~$350 from BikeBuyers.com

2_Fito3doneL-1280.jpg


The shift kit ~$200 from SickBikeParts.com
You want a dual pull brake lever and front mount from SBP as well.
~$30 for those parts.

Though 7-speed derailleurs are common and cheap, I find them to be overkill gear steps and literally the 'weak link' in the system.

Though it's easy to learn how to shift one properly the thin chain is an issue if you miss-shift, it's pretty easy to snap that chain or a sprocket tooth.

I don't use all 7 gears either, that is for human power so I usually just shift between the even numbered gears as chain angle gets extreme in 1st and 7th.

I'll take an internal shifter every time.
I replaced the 7-speed hub with a Strumey-Archer 3-speed with disc mount on this build.
That gives you Low, Drive, and Overdrive for your engine.

You can use HD 410 single speed chain and it's always in alignment so not prone to wear or breaking like 7-speed chain and sprockets under engine power.

I don't like the straight triple forks on the Fito either.
The extra thick 3" tires take some of the road out of the ride, I put an XCM suspension fork with disc mount on this build.
~$85.

Fito3DoneRrear.jpg


Fito3DoneLfront.jpg


Pop a wheelie in Low and pass 45mph in Overdrive.

As for all the friction drive stuff...
Jezz guys, he has a 2-stroke center mount engine.
It requires a bump start and never been designed for rear wheel friction mount so just silly to bring up in this topic don't ya think?
 
Maybe, but how far would you want to pedal your bike if there was no IC engine power?I'm betting less than 5 miles and you'd be winded.Do a 200 mile in a day trip, and then tell me about reliability, GEBE does 170 to 200mile trips, put it away and can do another 200 the next day without one adjustment.Just saying quality rack has frame mount beat in relibility also.CG oil ratio is 25:1 quality engines are 50:1, quality 2strokes are Tier2 CA smog approved, which doesn't mean anything to me other than, SMOKELESS.CG are cheaper up front, but from everything I've read here, you end up spending more (in the long run) than a GEBE system and a bicycle to put it on, and while you're tinkering on the CG,... GEBE and FD's are riding.

you keep saying "I've read" but not "I've experienced". I've experienced that a China girl motor when installed by a competent mechanic is perfectly reliable. I don't have to do any of that on the go tuning, I run 50:1, and I've got roughly 2000 miles on my current engine. plus, I never pedal unless I'm starting uphill. the only problem I have with any consistency is that I occasionally throw the pedal chain if I pedal too hard, but that's down to the fact that my chain ring was pulled off a kids bike that got run over. I've never lost engine power either, except one time after a crash on my old bike.
 
you keep saying "I've read" but not "I've experienced". I've experienced that a China girl motor when installed by a competent mechanic is perfectly reliable. I don't have to do any of that on the go tuning, I run 50:1, and I've got roughly 2000 miles on my current engine. plus, I never pedal unless I'm starting uphill. the only problem I have with any consistency is that I occasionally throw the pedal chain if I pedal too hard, but that's down to the fact that my chain ring was pulled off a kids bike that got run over. I've never lost engine power either, except one time after a crash on my old bike.
When researching to see what is and isn't reliable, a person reads others stories, then tallies the amount of positive and negative aspects, that's called "reading up", as in "I've read", so unless
every story in the 2 stroke section was done by a shill for rack mount sellers trying to steer people away from CG's, I'll take the stories at the writers word.

Your ONE story is fine, but there are hundreds to the counter view, on this site alone.Also you stated a FD weighs 45lbs, which says a lot.As KC said, the OP has a CG and likes the look of a frame mount, to each their own, but I can assure a CG will weigh more, cost more in the long run, and it's reliability will be less, while a rack mount with a quality engine will weigh less, cost less in the long run, and it's reliability far higher.
 
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