Motorized bicycles

[Myk Rian]

I got myself wrapped up in a new hobby. Motorized bicycles. Buy a complete 2 stroke Chinese engine kit, and slap it on a bicycle.
My first MB was a Walmart road bike with the motor already mounted but never finished. Looked like someone gave a Monkey a monkey wrench and told it to fix it.
I took it apart, cleaned it up, and remounted the engine and controls.

443482

After messing around with this one for a week or 2, I started eying my cruiser bike. My wife and I bought a couple Giant Suede , forward pedal bikes several years ago.
I bought a motor kit from Bikeberry and started work on it. A few days later it was ready to ride. This is one comfortable ride. Does 30mph and is very roadworthy.

443483

443484


Anyone else bombing around town on one?

[Rod Sheridan]

In July I helped one of the neighbourhood kids install an electric conversion on his bicycle, he really likes it....Rod.

P.S. You're back to the beginning of the motorcycle, a small engine in a bicycle frame.......Rod.

[Kev Williams]

I've been considering getting a motor for my 'beach cruiser'- I love riding a bike and I really SHOULD just for the exercise, but I'd like a motor backup just because ;)

for pure 'bombing around' on motor, I have a Segway Ninebot that's a lotta fun. I use it to go to Walgreens, night bank deposits and such. I had to use it last summer to fetch my truck after my ride got drunk while I wasn't looking. 7-1/2 mile trip. My legs got a bit tired but it did the job :)

I know this much about going 30mph on a bicycle, I personally would get an actual disc brake setup for the front wheel...

[Bruce King]

We have these for neighborhood roads, beach, paved, dirt and gravel trails.
24mph, 5 power levels, up to 40 mile range, throttle or pedal assist, dual disc brakes, front shocks, cargo racks. 3700 miles on mine. Never had a flat with Kenda special tires.
Rad Power Bikes, Rad City model.

[Bill Dufour]

Someone in the neighborhood has one of those with a 2 cycle engine and little or no muffler hear it 2-3 blocks away.
Bil lD

[Matt Day]

Sure it’s be fun, but there’s nothing like The feeling of human powered bicycles. Quiet, smooth, and good exercise.

I’ve been mountain biking for about 25 years. There’s a whole new genre of mountain bikes that are battery assist. I get it, but don’t get it. Earn your downhill!

[Zachary Hoyt]

There's a guy around here who has one of those, he rides around with a gas can in a little trailer, smoking a cigarette most of the time. Not my lifestyle, I prefer a pedal bike and getting some exercise, but to each their own, I guess. A lot of people think I'm crazy too, last year I had my longest day ever when I covered 129 miles towing a canoe on a trailer with my camping stuff in the canoe.

[Brian Tymchak]

I think around here,since it has a motor, it needs to be licensed to operate on the roads and also have a rear view mirror.

[Myk Rian]

In Michigan, up to 100cc requires no license or insurance. They are to be registered as a moped.

I have flashing lights on this bike and use them when I'm on the road.

If I didn't have a motor on the bike, I wouldn't be using it, as a bout with Amiodarone induced thyroid toxicidy took all my strength away 4 years ago.

[Kev Williams]

100cc, no license... hmmm

Anyone ever see one of these?
443563
circa 1968 Bonanza mini bike with a Hodaka 100cc dirt bike engine. Popular Mechanics tested one of these in 1969 I think, dam thing did 0-50 in 6 seconds! A dealer in town used to sell Bonanza's, I saved up to buy one when I was 15 years old, but it would've taken months to get it, and the money was burning a hole in my pocket so I got a first-year (1970) Honda mini-trail 70. Still wish I'd gotten the Bonanza, it'd be fun blowing by all the UTV's I see on the road with a dinky minibike! :D

[Frank Pratt]

100cc, no license... hmmm

Anyone ever see one of these?
443563
circa 1968 Bonanza mini bike with a Hodaka 100cc dirt bike engine. Popular Mechanics tested one of these in 1969 I think, dam thing did 0-50 in 6 seconds! A dealer in town used to sell Bonanza's, I saved up to buy one when I was 15 years old, but it would've taken months to get it, and the money was burning a hole in my pocket so I got a first-year (1970) Honda mini-trail 70. Still wish I'd gotten the Bonanza, it'd be fun blowing by all the UTV's I see on the road with a dinky minibike! :D

I remember those minibikes from the '60s & '70s, though they usually were a kit that you assembled & provided the engine, usually a Briggs & Stratton. Hodaka dirt bikes were the real deal & had a reputation for being very fast.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

state regs vary a lot from state to state. Virginia's slow speed vehicle rules have much different regs than PA's slow speed vehicle rules and the electric bike rules are pretty much the same. However, a gasoline motor is different from electric. the gas engine model must be licensed have lights, etc. That said, there is an eccentric fellow here in town that has a bike operated with compressed air their is a pair of scuba tank looking things over the back wheel. An air motor, and a little weed wacker engine runs a compressor to fill the tanks. There is a sort of regenerative compressor gizmo hooked up to the other wheel to compress air as it goes down hill. I am told he had one that operated just by centrifugal force spinning a fly wheel, but the range was just a couple miles. An earlier one had a roof built over the bike that was solar panels and had an electric motor wound into the spokes. Don't know if it is true, but was told as a teenager, he bought a kerosene powered model jet engine and mounted it on the back of his bike. Supposedly got up too fast and hit a curb, wrecked and was burned badly on his arm.

[Myk Rian]

I sold that first bike to a fellow that just got out of jail, his wife still in jail, no license, and needed something to get around with. $250 and I let him have it.
Today I'm looking at an Iron Warrior bike to mount my other motor on. This one will be the hot rod. Dual disc brakes. Strong frame.

I was in the garage-shop last week with the door open, (it was warmer then) and I see my next door neighbor ride by on a MB. What the heck?
He liked mine so much he bought a Walmart Mongoose online for under $100, ordered a bikeberry motor kit, and slapped it on.
We went for a 4-5 mile ride to check it out. He already has a high compression head and racing carb for it.
It's going to be a fun summer in 2021.

[lowell holmes]

Check this link, https://www.google.com/search?q=whizzer+motorbike&oq=whizzer+motor+&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0i10i457j0l2j0i10j0j0i10j0.1179 9j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[Myk Rian]

Whizzers are quite expensive. Cruzzer makes them now.

[Bernie Kopfer]

Sure it’s be fun, but there’s nothing like The feeling of human powered bicycles. Quiet, smooth, and good exercise.

I’ve been mountain biking for about 25 years. There’s a whole new genre of mountain bikes that are battery assist. I get it, but don’t get it. Earn your downhill!

I believe the correct expression is ‘Pedal Assist’ not battery assist. If you don’t pedal you don’t move! I’ve been mt biking over 30 years and at 72 my leg strength and cardio capability ain’t what it used to be despite great effort to the contrary. Now I can go up with you younger guys without excess fatigue and enjoy the thrill of the ride down. Took 20 years off me, just wish the balance and reaction time were what they used to be. Now I enjoy the uphill climb and can still get a maximum heart rate workout. Ya, I earn my turns!

[John K Jordan]

I believe the correct expression is ‘Pedal Assist’ not battery assist. If you don’t pedal you don’t move! I’ve been mt biking over 30 years and at 72 my leg strength and cardio capability ain’t what it used to be despite great effort to the contrary. Now I can go up with you younger guys without excess fatigue and enjoy the thrill of the ride down. Took 20 years off me, just wish the balance and reaction time were what they used to be. Now I enjoy the uphill climb and can still get a maximum heart rate workout. Ya, I earn my turns!

Same here. Got a good e-bike on the recommendation of a friend. His rides were usually 20-40 miles but with advancing age was having a few problems. He bought a high-end e-bike and rides it everywhere.

These things are amazing. I can ride up steep hills just as if it was on flat ground. Note that the balance between the effort extended and the power assist is adjustable on the fly. As a plus, and add-on monitor/controller keeps up with riding stats. (Mine is a Turbo Levo by Specialized)

JKJ

[Roger Feeley]

Some years ago, my daughter was a law clerk for Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the 9th circuit court of appeals.
— she had never learned to drive (said she was too busy)
— her hours were 9am to 2am 7 days a week
— she graduated law school on a Saturday and was expected in chambers the following Monday
— she found an apartment about 2 miles from the courthouse
— the ninth is in Pasadena, she graduated from Northwestern in Chicago and we lived in Kansas City.
— formal dress was required and the judge expected his clerks to look their best when they entered the courthouse so no changing clothes. That meant a bike was out of the question.

wanting to support her in every possible way, I did a lot of research and found an electric bike called a Velotec. This thing looked like a Vespa so she could ride it in a skirt and heels. It took advantage of a loophole in the law that said it must ‘be capable of being propelled with pedals’. Velotec included a pair of pedals under the seat that could be snapped in place. They also included a laminated copy of the pertinent statute. If she had ever been stopped by the man, she could have snapped in the pedals and made it go two feet. This loophole meant that it was classed as a bicycle and required no license.

she rode that thing every day. Worked like a champ. We wound up giving it to a college kid. It had served its purpose so I didn’t care. She got through the clerking and when she went to a big law firm in DC, they had a hard time keeping her busy so she moved over to the general counsel for the us House of Representatives. Now she’s at Justice in the Office of Legal Counsel.