new owner few questions

[CheezballFH]

Hi -- my bike's called Cheezball because of its generally low build quality but it gets me around (so far). A guy here on my (semi-remote) island is building Chinese gasbikes using cheap Canadian Tire bicycles and Flying Horse kits. He does some welding to beef up the bike frame, installs dual-cable brake levers, does a decent job attaching the rear sprocket and idler.

Anyway I've put a few miles on the gasbike so far and have a few questions for all you more experienced types. I rode motorcycles years ago so it's kind of familiar, but this hybrid bike/scooter thing is, ummm... different

1) I went on a short ride to the post office and when I arrived, didn't bother to turn off the petrol petcocks because I was only going to be inside for a minute or two. When I came out the carb was leaking fuel all over the engine block. Is this normal?

2) My rear wheel seems loosey-goosey on the axle. Is this something that loosens up while riding due to the fierce torque on the motor drive sprocket?

3) When y'all ride down steep hills do you pull the clutch and roll down fast in neutral, or let the engine rev high? where is redline? I don't have the greatest confidence in these tiny engines and don't want to blow it up, but am not sure if running at speed with the clutch out is good for the clutch mechanism.

4) has anyone got an aftermarket kit for adjusting the choke from a handlebar control, 'cos it's a real nuisance in the dark

5) I'm getting a tremendous amount of mechanical noise -- almost as loud as the engine itself -- and wondering if this is common to all these amazingly cheap engines or whether mine is in serious need of some grease.

Having said all that, I'm impressed by the hill climbing power of these little devils. I have not had to assist-pedal yet, even with 20 lbs in my backpack on a steep hill. The engine just buckles down and snarls its way up even our steepest hills. Starting from cold is sometimes a nuisance (three or four bump-starts needed) but it seems to heat up fast and the choke can go off after only a few minutes.

Anyway, this is my first Chinese bike motor kit and I'm kind of tickled by the "larval motorcycle" look, low cost and decent power. Glad to meet you all and hope I won't have to ask a lot of unhappy tech questions any time soon!

 

[Anton]

1) No this is not normal. Check where the pet cock screws into the tank.

2) Tighten the screws on the axel that hold the wheel bearings in place.

3) I pull the clutch in and idle down steep hills and even turn the engine off.

4) Not sure about a kit for the choke on the handlebars. I think you will learn where the choke is naturally after a while.

5) The noise is probably from the clutch cover. Nothing to worry about. You can dampen it if you like. See this thread for ideas: http://www.motoredbikes.com/showthread.php?26375-Clutch-cover-Noise-reduction

 

[Deleted member 12676]

the noise is from the primary gears under the clutch cover. You can put valve grinding paste on them so that they wear down a bit (rounding off the sharp edge of the teeth) and mesh more smoothly.
If the gas leak is from the carb itself then you'll need another carb. Don't replace it with the same type. Use a good carb. click on my signature link and read about it.

 

[bluegoatwoods]

As for a remote choke adjust, here's what I've done. It works nice.

Take a small piece of aluminum (less than 1 square inch), with a tiny hole drilled in it, and fasten it to the choke adjust arm. I slipped mine right into the U-shaped end of the lever, crimped and fastened with a zip tie.

You could stop at this point because you'll find that it's much easier to find it without looking. But if you want to get something even more convenient, then.....

Mount a gear shifter up top somewhere. A stem mounted shifter, like on the old ten-speeds, works good. Less handlebar clutter. Mount a cable and a sheath. You'll want the sheath to end an inch or so above the choke lever. Just above the choke lever you'll want to mount, using a hose clamp, a furniture corner brace (L-bracket?) with a tiny hole drilled in it. You want the unfastened end of the corner bracket to be more or less horizontal to the ground. Run the cable through the hole that's drilled in it. Now you want a small spring that the cable will run through. Cut it to fit the gap between choke adjust lever and corner brace. Run the cable through the hole you drilled in the aluminum 'handle' that you fastened to the choke lever. Fasten the cable beneath using a small machine screw and a couple of washers.

You can probably see where this is going; when you pull on the shifter the choke lever is pulled up. When you release the shifter the spring pushes the lever back down.

I've done it and it works really well, especially when temps start dropping and you want convenient choke adjust.