I've finished my motor-bicycle.

[kingkarmann]

[Xevin]

[goober]

[Glenn]

When i was a kid, we used to go to the town dump and get a lawn mower engine (horizontal crankshaft), a rectangular street sign and a large pulley from a washing machine. We'd cut the sign and bolt it to a bicycle frame to mount the engine. We'd cut the hub out of the large pulley and use large fender washers and bolts to mount it to the spokes of the rear wheel. An idler pulley mounts on a metal lever was out clutch and a bolt sticking out on the bike down tube held the tension... sort of like a suicide shifter. Brake cable was the throttle.

In the 60's we used to MAKE things. These days, parents buy their kits $1000 e-bikes.
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Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"

Member #1009

#BlueSquare

עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי

[Bonesberg55]

Similarly, I would go to the local dump in the late 60s. There I found metal rails from an overhead garage door & an old bed frame made of angle iron. On the same dirt road, an old Rambler American was turned on its side making it easy to remove the clutch & brake pedals. I also removed the steering wheel. My dad brought home an old REO horizontal shaft engine complete with a mechanical belt clutch. I had to buy wheels and over the summer I built a go-kart. I also built a trail bike a few years later thanks to an article in a Popular Mechanics magazine. I used a Comet torque converter & it could negotiate any hill or reach around 40 MPH on the road with a 3 HP engine. Many years later my nephew, who I had given the kart to, left it on the side of their house where it got struck by lightning. The strike traveled inside & fried their TV. The kart was okay.

[steve244]

I built my go-kart out of an old Speed Queen washing machine, plywood, and whatever Canadian Tire had in stock. The 110V AC motor pushed it along pretty good.
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82 AC vanagon approx 200K miles (3K are mine).
DD is a 2015 Leaf
Road Trip to Hell (FL 2023)
The Vanagon's drivetrain and chassis restomod thread. Best sung to the tune of I Did It My Way...

[oprn]

[steve244]

50 ft. Enough to launch it and the fail-safe unplugging kept us from killing ourselves. We were the terror of Neal Avenue.
_________________
82 AC vanagon approx 200K miles (3K are mine).
DD is a 2015 Leaf
Road Trip to Hell (FL 2023)
The Vanagon's drivetrain and chassis restomod thread. Best sung to the tune of I Did It My Way...

[Abscate]

[steve244]

Nice spin.

Speed Queens of that era had viscous couplings. We kept that and it made for really smooth launches.
_________________
82 AC vanagon approx 200K miles (3K are mine).
DD is a 2015 Leaf
Road Trip to Hell (FL 2023)
The Vanagon's drivetrain and chassis restomod thread. Best sung to the tune of I Did It My Way...

[Abscate]

[steve244]

May tags are the worst. Hope your ear heals.
_________________
82 AC vanagon approx 200K miles (3K are mine).
DD is a 2015 Leaf
Road Trip to Hell (FL 2023)
The Vanagon's drivetrain and chassis restomod thread. Best sung to the tune of I Did It My Way...

[nsracing]

be safe - do not be a hood ornament.

[goober]

"be safe - do not be a hood ornament."

Thank you, I'm trying not be. I make an effort to let drivers know I'm basically a bicycle and not really a motor vehicle. That seems to lower their expectations and impatience. That means pedaling around corners, through intersections, pedaling safely out of the way, even when I don't have to.

Sometimes I need to hand signal during turns multiple times. I don't have flashing turn signals that re-enforce my turning intentions while I'm making the turn. I'm learning how to use my 'g-bike' as safely as possible.

I've made a trailer and hitch to do some 'serious' shopping with. The trailer can be taken apart if necessary and will carry a 24 bottle water pack or more. The hitch's swivel/universal is made from an old Beetle ball-joint ball sandwiched between two washers. The trailer is pretty much transparent to the handling and motion of the bike.

[oprn]

[Bonesberg55]

I saw a guy this morning pedaling down our street with a trike that had 2 tires in front & one in back. The tires were those balloon type. It looked like an excellent candidate to be motorized.

[goober]

I would really like to take my putt-putt out on a long ride. Here's my problem. There are very few 55 mph 2-lane long-distant hard roads around here with ride-able shoulders and I don't want to do gravel roads. On most highways around here I would have nowhere else to be but on the road's surface.

Around town and the neighborhood, no problem. On lonely empty slower country roads, no problem. Traffic could easily go around me using the other lane. But on 55 mph 2-lane roads with traffic, I'd be very nervous. And that makes up most of the roads I'd use to travel any distance.

Nervous example #1. Let's say I'm traveling a 55 mph 2-lane road to my brother's house. The other lane's open with very little on-coming traffic. My lane's traffic can easily go around me, I'm not slowing anyone down. Now, let's say on-coming traffic builds and they can't easily go around me and I have nowhere else to be but on the road.

Do I really want to slow down an 80,000 lb loaded semi from 60 mph to 20 mph and make him wait behind me for an opportunity to go around me using the other lane? I don't think so.

But according to the Rules-of-the-Road I have every right to be there. But it really wouldn't be a very good idea. Someone could get hurt.

[oprn]

Put a turbo on that puppy and break out of the 20mph bracket!

I do hear you loud and clear though. Around here it would not be a problem. The roads are dead straight and level for hours at a time and 2 cars in sight from horizon to horizon constitutes a major traffic jam! I have driven roads in other parts of the country that is would be suicide to take that bike on! Narrow roads, blind curves, hills and all the traffic going hell-bent for nowhere.
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Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old!

[oprn]

[Bonesberg55]