National Bicycle Day!

[Davey Do]

I love bicycles and bicycling and could bore you to tears recalling voluminous stories of my many bicycles, accessories, trips, and adventures. I would bicycle everyday if I could, and do so in reasonably good weather.

Several years ago, Belinda and I took off at 6am, rode our tandem bicycle  65 miles on a round trip, returning home at 3pm. On one Dead of Winter vacation, we rode our folding bikes from one hotel in South Beach to another on Key Biscayne.

Even though I continue to regularly bicycle, last Summer my longest round trip was 15 miles and I believe Belinda put less than 20 miles on her bicycle.

Old age and past injuries have caught up with us.

Soooooooooo...

I decided to motorize my old single speed bicycle that has been hanging in storage for years. I took it apart and did some maintenance to it, readying it for the build, attaching the frame and one wheel to supports. I kept parts that will be used later in an old milk crate:

 

 

This is the kit which is scheduled to arrive today:

I plan to report on the progress.

Isn't this exciting?!

Happy National Bicycle Day!

[Davey Do]

[Davey Do]

On 4/23/2021 at 1:30 PM, Davey Do said:

So, I'm either I'm going to have to obtain some bearings and learn how to replace them, or take the wheel to the bike shop and pay to have them replaced.

I decided to take the rear axle assembly apart and learn how the mechanism works.

 

 

I thought maybe I could just play around and bend the carriage so it could once again hold the ball bearings. Trouble is, I lost one of the ball bearings. I thought maybe I could scavenge the part from one of my junk bicycles, but the carriages and the ball bearings are either too small or too large.

Oh well. Progress made.

 

[Davey Do]

4 hours ago, Davey Do said:

I thought maybe I could just play around and bend the carriage so it could once again hold the ball bearings. Trouble is, I lost one of the ball bearings

I found the ball bearing and suitably fixed the carriage!

Reassembling the guts of the axle assembly took many attempts until I got it figured out. This old dog learned a new trick, it just took a longer time. 

I made this out of the above exploded diagram for future reference:

It works, but my fix it job on the ball retainer isn't perfect, as the turning wheel drags slightly. I'll see if I can get a new ball retainer at the bike shop tomorrow. I also need replacement bolts for the engine-driven sprocket, but then I should be able to continue my build!

[maryellen12]

Nurses can do anything

You have the mind of an engineer Davey Do

[Davey Do]

I tired of working on the Single Speed 2B motorized bicycle and focused on other activities, including my Crank Forward bicycle and mountain bike. I repaired, adjusted, and took them for rides of about 5 miles.

I had some situations with the 2B bicycle, including bent steel plates for the motorized sprocket. The instruction video said to "tighten them down evenly" which I did, and ended up bending all three plates.

C'mon now.

I'm a 64 year old man using a 1/4" drive ratchet and I bent the plates! I'm not a 32 year old man using something like a 3/8", 1/2" or breaker-bar ratchet! I'm an old man using a wussie ratchet!

So, I took the plates off and straightened them in my vice, then re-installed the sprocket. I "snugged" the bolts down evenly for sound attachment and checked the foot lbs, which registered nothing.

Oh well. The proof of the mechanisms soundness will be in its performance, like the proof in the pudding.

I had to bend the coaster brake in two places in order for it to clear the sprocket bolt heads, attach to the frame, and work properly. A spacer nut was needed to assure stability.

 

I rode the bike for a couple of miles and all is well.

 

 

[Davey Do]

I thought I would just put pieces together, snug down the mounting bolts, and learn about them as I go.

This is the bike with the engine, transmission, chain, idler pulley, and gas tank attached for easy removal if need be:

 

 

 

[Davey Do]

I noted that the carburetor had two hoses coming off of it, plus another port.  This is a 49cc Huasheng engine, so I looked up some info and came out with this:

And on the opposite side:

I don't understand the Non-road Engine thing, since a lot of motorized bicycle companies use these engines!

[Davey Do]

I hooked the throttle and the fuel line to the carb, and the kill switch to the spark plug, put some gas in the tank and the engine fired right up!

Most modern small engines don't have any adjustment screws on the carb, as in the old days when the air/fuel mix and idle could be adjusted. Surprisingly, this small engine has an air/fuel adjustment screw, and about a 1/2 to 3/4 turn clockwise made the engine run more smoothly.

Although the bike is not yet road worthy, I thought I'd take it on a test drive around the yard. The chain came off of the engine sprocket after several feet, the bicycle bottom bracket crank was loose, and a bearing was damaged.

 My remedy to prevent the crank assembly from coming loose again was to place spacers between the nuts which hold the bearings and the pedal crank. We'll see how that works.

The chain coming loose could involve one, if not all three, adjustments: the sprocket, and two engine plate adjustments.

These adjustments can be easier made if I could check the alignment while pedaling  the bicycle,, so I Davey Do-rigged a stand:

 

So, attempting to align the drive train is next!

 

 

 

[Davey Do]

I messed with the sprocket and also the engine plate attachments. I ended up fabricating my own back engine bracket with heavy duty bolts, so the engine plate wouldn't move. I don't understand how the factory 10mm bolts are suppose to do the job when I used 9/16" in order to get the engine plate not to slip.

It will take a lot more work, as the engine bucks going up an incline, but I was able to ride it around my property a bit.

Belinda took this pic before she left for her MN shift:

This is a good place to stop for now.

 

[Kitiger, RN]

On 4/23/2021 at 11:02 AM, Davey Do said:

 

This is how far I've progressed on the build and my old single speed bicycle can now be ridden just like any other bike. From this point on, the bicycle should look more like a motorized bicycle.

From left to right: I added a front brake for safety once the bike is motorized. Along with the back coaster brake, I should have pretty good stopping power. However, should the pedal-driven chain should fall off, I could still stop with the front brake.

And I have, many times, had chains fall off.

I stopped a 10-speed once using the front brake. I went over the handlebars, and I don't remember how I got home. ?

[Davey Do]

13 hours ago, Kitiger said:

I stopped a 10-speed once using the front brake. I went over the handlebars, and I don't remember how I got home. ?

In the days of the Penny Farthings, you experienced what was called a Header, Kitiger.

Ouch.

Those old 10-speed racing bicycles were something, in comparison to the hybrid and other bicycles of today. I, too suffered a couple of similar injuries on my 10 speeds. They were definitely not off road bicycles. You and I both experienced symptoms of a concussion of sorts.

But in the 70's and 80's 10 speeds were all that was generally available. I made my own hybrid bicycle out of scavenged parts in the mid '80's before being able to purchase a factory-made mountain bike. And, wow, it was heavy!

Bicycles and brakes have come a long way in the past 40 years. I have an excellent mountain bike that's light with and aluminum frame and has disc brakes I bought about 14 years ago. It is the only bicycle I have ever owned that I rode so much that I wore a hole in the tire. And I'm talkin' big knobby tires!

[Davey Do]

Here's an update for all you FABULOUS readers out there:

I worked on adjusting the chains, as either the engine chain or the bicycle chain would come off while under load, until a compromise was reached and neither fell off in a six mile round road trip.

I will test and tighten every nut & bolt before I take that motorized bicycle out on the road. Yesterday, I was riding on my property and the left crank, which holds the pedal, just fell off!

I made it up the biggest, baddest hill in the area with very little pedal assist!

Our next goal: Walmart, which is five miles away and sits where the country road meets the highway!

Watch out, WALMART!