New Bumble Bee Bolt-On

I was personally looking for a product with a smaller engine displacement and lower speed and was attracted to this product for its ease of installation and apparent quality compared to so many of the Chinese kits on the market. I had also read reviews stating that people had gotten over 3000 miles on them before reviewing them. Finally, I was sold on the idea that this product uses a Homelite engine, which is reliable and efficient.
I use the bike to commute and I live in Oregon. I work late so the buses often have stopped running when I head home. One thing I wished I would have known is that they are used for dry conditions only. It rains here for eight months of the year and I didn't realize that friction drive motors would slip so badly in even damp pavement conditions, much less rain, so using it in inclement weather of any type wont work. Also, be aware that ideally this product only works as intended on single speed old school or beach cruiser bikes with coaster brakes. I did not know this and had to go purchase another bike for this kit to work. It would
I am currently experiencing a throttle cable issue that causes the throttle to lock in the full throttle position while riding. I am very grateful that when it happened I was able to get the bike stopped and force the engine to shut down. If I would have disengaged the engine it wound have wound out at full throttle and possibly blown up. The engine does have a kill switch, but the switch, along with the cold weather start are nearly impossible to reach while on the bike, as both are mounted on the engine behind you, at the rear. The throttle cable exits its housing near the linkage, but drags itself over a metal part of the engine on its way to the throttle. As such, both the cable and motor housing are wearing severely after five weeks of twice a week use, and the cable is rubbing on bare metal and doesn't want to move.
The retailer "utterguys" tools in Sanford Florida ( purchased through eBay )has offered no help. When the sales associate looked at the pictures, his comment was that I was using it for off roading, which is absolutely ridiculous. I do ride my bike in the rain. It is mounted on a single speed beach cruiser bike , not something for off road. It took repeated calls and emails and I have now had to contact the manufacturer, bumblebeebolton for assistance. I am keeping my fingers crossed at this point and will update my review when this issue is resolved. I use eln1 for an email address through msn.com and would be happy to forward pictures of the throttle cable wear issue if you like.
Here is a copy of the email I just now got back from utterguys while I was typing this. I wasn't aware third graders were allowed to work there.

"Throttle cable is full of sand or dirt and needs to blow out cable with
air, oil cable at each end with something like WD 40 the picture
shows engine covered with mud or sand these kits are not for off road if
sand gets in engine it will hurt engine. If customer can not fix customer
he send it us to fix and we will only charge for parts no labor they will have to
pay shipping or we can send new cable they are about ten dollars."

WHAT???!!!


Hi folks,
I'm 2 weeks new at riding a motorized bike. What a blast!!! I installed my 1998 Homelite 25cc weed trimmer with a bumble bee bolt-on bracket (friction drive). Well, the compression was low and it lost too much speed uphill for me...Soooooooo we changed the cyllinder head/piston/ring/ to a 30cc.
25mph on flat, 20 uphill, 33 downhill and 150 mpg.
Charlie
 
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