My daily commuter (first proper build)

Hi guys,

After a long and tiresome search ive finally picked a bike to start my first proper commuter build, Its a Fluid Method mountain bike, 21 speed, 26" wheels, disk brakes and front suspension.
fluidmethod.jpg


Dad picked it up for me yesterday, im getting it from his house tommorow.

The motor will be a Z Box 49cc HT that ive had for a few years now, but with RSE clutch, billet throttle and possibly dual brake lever, and an SBP shift kit

I am also getting a friend of mine to CNC machine a "200w powermax" logo into the clutch cover and put a build plate on the magneto cover similar to what the RSE 200w motors have, ive also printed off and laminated a dyno graph of 198.4w max power so hopefully these should fool most police into thinking it is under the 200w legal limit where i live.

High on the list of priorities when i get the bike are also front and rear lights, some kind of horn, and a nice comfy seat depending how it feels.

Thanks for looking, il get some pics of the actual bike and motor up tommorow if i have time :)
 
Hi Guys,

Didnt get a chance to get pics of the actual bike up yesterday but here it is!
2012-12-20170555.jpg


Already pulled off a few stickers to clean it up a bit, adjusted all the controls to suit my liking a bit better and added a rear light in the form of a 30cm 12v LED strip normally used as accent lighting in cars:
2012-12-20170350.jpg


I will be adding a similar thing to the front as well as a small 12v battery to run them soon

I also ordered new clutch, brake and throttle levers from RSE and a HD Shift kit from SBP, then test fitted the motor, i will need to custom make the bottom mount once the shift kit comes as the bottom tube is too big to fit the normal mount around
2012-12-20171718.jpg


Thanks for lookin
 
Hi guys,

Today i continued the lighting by adding a 12v lithium battery pack to the handlebars, it used to be a Milwaukee cordless torch but it broke so i pulled it apart and used the battery holder attached to the headstem:
2012-12-21171917.jpg


then i used one of the reflector mounts to hold a couple of switches, one to turn the lights on and another as a push button for a horn:
2012-12-21194154.jpg


The horn itself is off my old car, i re painted it black and bolted it on just under the rear stays:
2012-12-21194320.jpg


Then i rewired the rest of the Milwaukee torch and bolted it to the forks:
2012-12-21194202.jpg


I still need to run the wires to the horn but im using all black wiring so it still looks pretty neat on the handlebars:
2012-12-21194308.jpg


and the lights are brighter than i was expecting!
2012-12-21194250.jpg


2012-12-21194823.jpg


2012-12-22004949.jpg


Once the incadescent bulb blows i will replace it with an LED globe so it will be even brighter and last longer :)

Thanks for looking
 
I'm currently doing upgrades to my autoshifting bike as well. One of them was to go from 21 gears to 8 gears. Any 21 speed is really only an 11 speed with 10 redundant gears. I use a Staton Inc crank drive system. What I did was to get rid of the 28 t and 42 t chainrings up front. I kept the 34 t chainring. In the rear I got rid of the 28-14, 7 speed freewheel. I replaced that with a DNP Epoch 34-11, 8 speed freewheel. By doing this the gear range I had with my 21 speed has been consolidated into 8 gears. With no more redundant gears. If you decide to do this I also recommend using a 34 t Surly stainless steel chainring up front. A Sram 890 chain would also be a good idea to use with this setup. On my bike the rear gears shift automatically. So you can get rid of your front derailluer and only have to shift the gears in the rear.
 
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Hi Guys,

Did a bit more work on the bike today, first i hooked up the horn then i started adding bits for the motor, first i cut up an old inner tube and wrapped it around the frame, then i mounted the fuel tank and motor:
2012-12-28134101.jpg


As you can see the bottom bracket of the motor doesnt fit the frame, so i will have to custom make something to get it to work once i have the shift kit and everything is in its final resting place:
2012-12-28134122.jpg


Once the motor was mounted i realised the exhaust wouldnt fit either, so i had a look around on here and decided instead of modifying the factory pipe i would make a jaguar torque pipe, here is where im up to so far:
2012-12-28193002.jpg


It is quite difficult to weld thin metal neatly with a big MIG welder but after a few adjustments it seems to be going ok.

Thanks for looking
 
I'm really liking this build. Looking great so far, even the torque pipe.

Great looking bike too! Can't wait to see more.
 
Hi guys,

I finished the torque pipe the other day, i just need some more tube to make the header for it, then paint/heat wrap:
2012-12-29163018.jpg


It fits neatly under the frame for extra stealth:
2012-12-29163034.jpg


Today my SBP HD Shift kit arrived, but they sent the wrong seat tube size so i cant fit it just yet.
2013-01-03110722.jpg


Also my billet throttle, new clutch and dual brake levers arrived from RSE :D
2013-01-03125232.jpg


I didnt realise before but my gear shifters and brake levers are all one piece so its going to be difficult to change the controls around to the way i want them, i might have to get a new rear shifter (dont need the front one anymore with the shift kit)
2013-01-03125304.jpg


Thanks for looking :)
 
Hi guys,

Ive been playing around with all the new gear over the last few days, got the shift kit mostly mounted, turns out they didnt send the wrong clamps they are just labeled for ID tube not OD, big thanks to Jim from SBP for clearing that up for me so quickly :D

heres the motor and shift kit temp mounted:
2013-01-08205525.jpg


i had to modify the air filter slightly because it hit the top of the shift kit bracket:
2013-01-08205532.jpg


front deraileur it removed but i need a puller to get the cranks of and swap them over, they are really tight :(
2013-01-08205853.jpg


then i swapped over to the dual brake lever, and moved the rear shifter, il have to get a new one sometime but this works fine for now (just looks silly)
2013-01-08205820.jpg


then i put the clutch lever on and cut down the cable to get it nice and straight and neat into the engine:
2013-01-08205832.jpg


2013-01-08205637.jpg


still need a new chain, the inner part of the throttle (and killswitch) and some pipe for the exhaust header to get it running

thanks for looking
 
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