Wiley Davis bike video

[pucksterpete]

scroll down a little on the page to see the bike video.

http://wiley-davis.com/


He explains that "it uses a 35cc 4-stroke engine and a driveline geared to work with my pedaling cadence of 100rpm. I designed and built the bike from scratch out of brass-brazed 4130. So far he has around 1200 touring miles on the bike and says that "it gets anywhere from 200-300mpg depending on load and terrain. Recently, he rode it from San Diego to Las Vegas in two and a half days while towing a 50lb trailer.

 

[srdavo]

Wiley is a member here. I see from his video, he has added a freewheel to his pedal cranks.
Nice design.

Here's his build thread:
https://motoredbikes.com/threads/crank-drive-subaru-build.25350/

 

[happycheapskate]

That looks pretty neat! the engine mount seems strange though, but I suppose under tension it stays put and keeps from fatiguing the frame.

 

[wileydavis@gmail.com]

@pucksterpete: Thanks for the link.

@srdavo: Good eye. I did add a freewheel crank. Had to drill out the staton gearbox, flip the output shaft around. I used the White Ind. freewheel and crank arms from SBP. I also switched the rear 8-spd hub out for a Nuvinci N360 hub.

@happycheapskate: Almost all the load is taken up by the rear mount in the gearbox. That forward strut that connects near the headtube, is only there to prevent the engine/gearbox from rotating around the rear mount. The strut uses right/left rod ends to rotate the gearbox around the rear mount, allowing me to adjust the primary drive chain tension just by rotating it (like a tie-rod).

 

[happycheapskate]

That is really good. I saw a motorcycle engine mounted similarly, and it didnt fare so well, but for something at only a few horsepower and around 10 or 20 lb, it shouldn't be a problem at all. Very clever!