New guy from Spokane WA

[dcruhoff]

Hi. My names Dave and I have center mount skyhawk 66 and correct me if I'm wrong /80? on an older GT bike which I bought pre built.

My mechanical skills I would say are in between novice to moderate so I thought getting a prebuild and slowly working my way in would be best.

I'm very thankful for all who have contributed to this forum I have learned so much already and searches have brought me to relevant threads. I will do my best to be as concise in posting as you have been.

My desired mods are a free wheel for the engine side and of course I'll need a pull start with that. Looking at the hd hub at blowbyumotorizedbicycles (would post link but don't recall if I can as noob) and pull start from livefastmotors. I also hope to design something that can be connected from the hub to the freewheel to pin the freewheel for compression starts for a cold and or troublesome engine start. Also read pull starts have reliability issues and would rather not drag around an extra one for emergencies.

I will try to share as much of my experiences as I can but typing feels akin to having a tooth pulled to me so we'll see what I can muster. Hopefully I will be able to give something helpful to others.

About it for now other than my clutch cable lasted about fifty miles before it broke at the handle and was replaced. The knew seems better quality and hopefully will last.

My other experience was I slimed rear tire as it had a leak, rode it for 30 minutes or so, emptied air and refilled thinking more air would dry more slime and give better protection. Took it for another ride and in 5 minutes tube blew with such force popped the whole tire off the rim and that's how she sits right now. Debating whether to mess with it at this point or just wait till I'm ready to put free wheel on. Dieing to ride more though (I've probably got 150 miles in so far in about a month)

Also am wondering if spokes are poking tube through rim as I read here someone else had that problem. Will check that shortly and report.

If anyone has any good input on the mods I intend to do would appreciate hearing it and thanks again to all who contribute to and run this forum.

 

[Fulltimer]

Sounds like you have been bitten by the bike bug. Welcome to the group!

Terry

 

[wheelbender6]

Welcome to the forum. Sorry about the tire problems. I have had good luck with slime and street tires. Knobbies are usually more susceptible punctures on the road (The surface in between the knobs can be very thin). The edge of the road, where we ride, is littered with glass, screws, wire etc.
Do pull your tire off to see that the rim strip is intact and the spokes are not causing punctures.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Always a good idea to put a spoke end cover in place on the inner rim - lots of things will work, I use a strip cut from a smaller sized tube and stretched around the rim. I've also used foam insulation tape which is sold everywhere for use as weather stripping, and it worked pretty well.

As far as the variable freewheel/fixed hub to be able to do compression starts goes, look for posts by a guy calling himself Hybriped - an Aussie with a very nice design for just that already in manufacture.

 

[dcruhoff]

Thanks for the ideas Simon and the welcomes Wheelbender and Fulltimer.

Took a bit to check for spokes poking through...garage has been to dang hot and seems everyone is asleep as soon as the sun sets in this neighborhood.

Luckily there are no spokes poking through. The tube blew open around the valve in an off center tear drop shape. New build on old bike...maybe original tubes on it, who knows.

The neon green slime splatter looks kinda cool on the flat black bike though. To bad it don't stick better.

The rim (been a bit since I've been inside one) has a rubber strip of some sort over spokes. As I recall they all do? I figure you mean in addition to that Simon. Might as well while I'm in there, good idea.

As for the freewheel I am aware of the aussie one. As I understood it, it freewheels in both directions. Would have been clearer maybe if I said a rear coaster sprocket. I want to be able to coast forward freely and rev up to engage rear sprocket, just like the pedal side, and shut down the engine than pull start when I want it again. It's about not having to stop to put pins in but have that option to compression start in a bind. Hope that makes sense. Not sure of best way to accomplish that yet. If anyone knows better than the HD hub with the coaster sprocket at http://blowbyumotorizedbicycles.ca/ Let me know.

The hub pin feature I described was more a safety add on to that in case the pull start breaks or the engine were for some reason stubborn, it would be easier. Drill some holes in coaster sprocket and pin through holes, through spokes, to unit clamped on to the hub. Not entirely necessarily as I can carry an extra pull start on long trips if I needed. More a secondary wish list I thought would be fun to try to tinker with later.

In the meantime i'm trying to figure how to align the chain. I don't at this point see how I would move that engine any further than it is to the engine drive side and I'm pretty sure I need to for the coaster sprocket hub set up I'm looking at.

 

[skrufryder]

Hi Dave

I am In seattle. would like to ride some time. I personly dont like slime. in my perfesson I deal with alot of tubes n tires slime always gives me a hard time, but some people love it. That tube could have just been an old tube with a patch on it maybe? if a spoke poked threw the tube the spoke would have had to of been broken or the nipple missing if so the wheel will be noticable out of true.

 

[Hawaii_Ed]

Welcome, I grew up there. I live in hawaii now, but miss the NW.

 

[Al.Fisherman]

Welcome...Love the NW.. lived in Kent, WA many, many, many years ago.

Saw you had a clutch cable problem...check out my FREE drawing in the link in my signature. Good luck