Planning on a long bike tour

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What Woodruff Key is used for? And why should I carry extras?
A woodruff key is what locks a sprocket or gear to a shaft. It is a brittle piece of metal about the size of a fingernail (clipping, not the whole fingernail).
It acts as a sort of safety measure so that if some part locks up the key will break and allow the shaft to keep on rotating, instead of the whole engine being locked up and possibly cracking the case or exploding with gears and bearings flying out of it, just because of some minor mishap like if your chain came off.
Carry spares because they are intended to be the most likely part of the engine to physically break, that's their whole purpose. They are very inexpensive, you can get a pack of four for the two stroke kit for about £2.
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Carry spares because they are intended to be the most likely part of the engine to physically break

1. Thank man for the fine explanation. BTW, the engine that comes in the kit already comes with Woodruff keys inside it?
2. How do I know if the Woodruff keys were broken ? Do I hear a breaking sound? Then I just replace them with new ones ?
 
1. Thank man for the fine explanation. BTW, the engine that comes in the kit already comes with Woodruff keys inside it?
2. How do I know if the Woodruff keys were broken ? Do I hear a breaking sound? Then I just replace them with new ones ?
1. I am fairly sure that all engines and many other powered machines have woodruff keys in them somewhere, just in case something gets jammed, so that "a spanner in the works" will only cost a woodruff key, it won't be a catastrophic irreparable failure.
2. If a key breaks there will be a sudden loss of the transmission of force/rotation, then you just have to find which key broke and why.

He got the HS-142F 4G kit.
Yeah I know, I was just giving an example, but surely there are woodruff keys in those engines too. I would try a lawnmower shop for a couple of spares.
 
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That is a LONG trip. I took a trip about half that long way back in the '80s when I was young, on a Tomos moped, which was street legal in all states. It had to have a license plate, registration, and insurance. It was not a fun trip. This was before GPS and cell phones. I decided to never try anything like that again. I have ridden all over the country on motorcycles, but a moped was just miserable, and I think a bicycle would be even worse. Still, it can be done. But I would definitely use a better bike and engine. I would get a good name brand bike off Craigslist, and put a Golden Eagle engine kit on it. And make sure motorized bicycles are legal in all the states you plan to ride across.
 
Hi.
So I finally decided to buy 49CC 4 stroke motorized bicycle with HuaSheng engine and planning to ride from California to South Dakota. (I Know those bikes are not ment for this but that a challenge I'm willing to take)

My question for you guys is as following:
What spare parts are essentials to take with me in my journey?

a reliable Japanese 2-stroke
 
That is a LONG trip. I took a trip about half that long way back in the '80s when I was young, on a Tomos moped, which was street legal in all states. It had to have a license plate, registration, and insurance. It was not a fun trip. This was before GPS and cell phones. I decided to never try anything like that again. I have ridden all over the country on motorcycles, but a moped was just miserable, and I think a bicycle would be even worse. Still, it can be done. But I would definitely use a better bike and engine. I would get a good name brand bike off Craigslist, and put a Golden Eagle engine kit on it. And make sure motorized bicycles are legal in all the states you plan to ride across.
Thanks for you comment
 
okay, so I did a long crazy ebike ride today. total 130 miles or 210 kms, 1000 feet gain and lost or 305 m, and stop at half way point 65 miles for McD lunch and return after resting for 30-45 mins. total power used only 250 watt-hour (Wh) out of a 300 Wh battery. this was the furthest i went and my legs were dying at the 4/5 mark but actually when i got back they freshened up.

while you have a gas bike and will do little peddling and i am on a ebike with lots of peddling. there are common lessons.

1. My older iPhone ran out of power at the 4/5 mark and I could not tell my family I will be late. I arrived 1h30min later than planned in almost pitch black. So that was not good. I was very, very careful with phone power usage (ie closing map app after checking location and directions) and all other programs. This was not enough. So, you need some way to charge your phone while riding such as a small solar panel (there are a lot of them for phones and camping)

2. I could check the map because I was in areas with reception, but you might not. So as other said maybe GPS. The more you check your phone map the more power you use. The route I took today was basically straight west and straight east back. but last weekend, i went to a new area and i literally had to check my phone constantly and ran out of batteries

3. Probably good even with a solar panel to have a spare battery that is always full to charge your phone.

4. Since I was so late, it got dark. You do not want to ride in the pitch black. Even if the roads are good, you hit a dead deer or rabbit or racoon and your gonna fly. So, plan to stop way before night fall. i almost wiped out because i saw a cop hiding on the other side of the road in the bushes and i wanted to blow the stop (no one on road); I skid off into the gravel at high speeds but recovreed.

tldr, you need to charge your phone on the road, have map positioning always, and an emergency out (someone to call or local cops)...
 
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