What's wrong with this picture?

[brillo]

See attached pic of bike for sale locally via craigslist.

My first thought when I happened upon it was "Wait a minute!" The entire engine is displaced to the left, the oversize gas tank is entirely displaced to the right. And isn't that the muffler poking out the top left of the engine there?

So spread those legs, guys... The crank arms/pedals must be way out there, extra, extra wide.

Then I looked at the crank. No arms. No pedals.

And then the most obvious oddity, chain drive, engine drive shaft to front chainring. Or is that some kind of clutch/other doodad on the drive shaft? Anyway, FRONT chainring?

Where do you put your feet? How far do you ride before absentmindedly reaching down to scratch your thigh and you lose a couple fingers in that top chain gear?

What's going on here? Based on the jungle in the background, I'd say this thing used to be the guy's weed whacker. Maybe still is (whacking attachment sold separately).

(excellent asking price though... )

edit before first response: OK, I found a somewhat similar setup in the Picture Gallery under "Jackshaft pics" by GhostO. Engine and gas tank over midline and crank arms and pedals aren't missing, but does have drive chain from engine to FRONT chainring. Isn't the crank (and your feet) rotating ALL the time? What am I missing? How does this work?

edit 2 before response: Got it. That's a front freewheeling system on Ghost0's setup. Rear sprockets fixed, not freewheeling. Never seen that before. Front chain rings rotate while coasting with your feet stationary on the pedals. Front chain rings always rotate. I get it. Interesting. I'd like to see a video of the bike in operation. However, the bike in the pic I referenced is not a jackshaft and has no crank arms/pedals. Different animal. Not really a bike.

 

[losenup]

Looks dangerous.

 

[fastboy9]

That is from an old petrol scooter, I had one. The engine is a Mitsubishi TLE43 clone with a fixed gearbox. The tank is also from a petrol scooter. I've got one in the garage somewhere. Think I might have to look into this, Never seen a TLE43 frame mount, they are usually friction drive rack mounts. Very nice engines, not too loud for a little 2 stroke, they come with an X-can style exhaust. And there are lots of modifications available for them as these engines are commonly used in midi moto's go-peds, mini go karts, and mini quad bikes.

 

[Jax Rhapsody]

Maybe it was made that way so he could shift it. But how much torque having pretty much two main drive gears. My trike isnt gonna have any pedals, just foot rest.