Recycled Cycle

motodevo

Active Member
I like it! I'd rock that ride, love the final look of it, everything works together perfectly.
 

kirrbby

Well-Known Member
I think it looks like it belongs, well done. Any smaller on the crate and you would loose the functionality of it.

Thank you. Ya, that's the battle. To have it work...usable for the stuff you want it to hold (your poodle lol) and keeping it looking neat. This one is about 7" high, above the top of the rack. I think that would be the max, if I were to build another. Maybe down to 6".


I like it! I'd rock that ride, love the final look of it, everything works together perfectly.

Thanks motodevo. I'm loving this bike for sure. The look, the ride, the power, and the fact that I can get it dirty and beat it up if I want. I'm thinking I can use this one to practice my wheelies :ROFLMAO:
 

69ST

Well-Known Member
Milk crate size is largely failsafe/self-limiting. Too big and it'll snag everything...including the rider, too heavy and the fender will take a beating. So, you're essentially limited to the dimensions you have established and 15-20lbs capacity. That's plenty useful, imho, adequate to carry a 1-gallon fuel can, a six pack and one (brave) small furry friend. It certainly won't look too big while you're riding.

As for the aesthetics, I think it fits your recycled/road warrior-chic theme just fine.

FWIW, I tried the milk crate setup and it worked very well. I could haul enough stuff to ride all day then grab a 10-lb bag of ice on the way back to camp. The deal-breaker, for me, it was too difficult for a passenger to get on the bike. That's a non-issue for a solo rider.
 

kirrbby

Well-Known Member
I think tool pouch saddle bags would be cool too...depending on what kinda crap you want to haul.

https://goo.gl/images/fNtYjP

eabe1dd1-5dec-4cc9-afa1-3bccb6736327_1000.jpg
 

kirrbby

Well-Known Member
I'd have the saddle bags hang off of the rack instead of the crate. But you'd need a tailpipe extension, or...maybe a way to hang the bags out to the sides a bit.
 

bruces

Active Member
I like the crate you built ,and think you should make your own saddlebags the same as the crate out of the same wood if you can .
 

kirrbby

Well-Known Member
Wooden saddle bags!??

Now you're speaking my language :--)

That could be cool...big enough for a rain jacket and a dozen eggs?

The wood is pallet slats, yellow pine I think. It's super light, but tough. I built it to kinda look like a farm boy did it. Saddle bags would need some decent joints, and maybe some screws and (better) glue and reinforced corners. Interesting thought. Makes me think of kitkat's Motra. Billy goat bike.
 

bruces

Active Member
You can put some 1" aluminum angle inside the corners to strengthen it up ,put it together with some large head aluminum rivets and it would probably last a long time .
 

motodevo

Active Member
I reckon small ammo cases would be perfect for side boxes, only like $10 at a army surplus, hit em with some flat black spray bomb and they would fit in perfect and they're got a rubber seal so you dont have to worry about weather
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20170805_18960.jpg
    IMG_20170805_18960.jpg
    112.7 KB · Views: 136
  • IMG_20170805_27642.jpg
    IMG_20170805_27642.jpg
    88.4 KB · Views: 135
Last edited:

kirrbby

Well-Known Member
I put the VM20 back on the other day. My wedge spacer leveled the carb out very nicely. I've been running a 160 main jet in it, but I've moved the needle twice, to 2nd from leanest position. Now I have a pesky little hesitation when I crack the throttle. The needle needs to be at the rich side of the adjustment to run well. I don't think I have a 150, but I have a 155 main that might be the cure.

My tach has never touched 10,000 rpm's, close but not quite. Top speed so far is 61mph. I'm still running the 16/33 sprockets, but plan to try the 17/33 again now that I've spent a little more time on this bike.

I've been riding it to work quite a bit lately. Plus leisurely rides here and there... and errands.
My luggage crate is working out well. It's pretty small...but it works for what I need it to do.

I see Mike's Minitrail Restoration's offers powder coated luggage racks for 60 beans...that should work well for this bike, so I don't have to strip the perfectly good chrome off of the one I'm using.

I've been thinking about how I'll mount my turn signals...and about adding the wiring to my harness... with switches. I do miss the signals. Hand signals...well it just doesn't feel right...and would be difficult at times...one handed turns :-/
I'll add signals in the off season.

Might add a small auxillary tail/brake light to the back side of my wooden crate. I worry that it's blocking the view of the stock light a bit, and I worry about being seen...always.
Some sort of small led setup shouldn't rob too much power..?
Needs to detach easily too...when the crate is removed.

I took my Dax over to my son's house a couple weeks ago and left it for him. He's been riding that one a bit...getting spoiled by the extra 37cc, over his 88cc HK1.

I'm missing that dax a little now. If I can get settled on the jetting on the Black n Red, I might swap him for a while. Then he can see how the TB 117 runs, and I can ride the Dax before the weather leaves again.
Him and I are planning to build ourselves a pair of TRX90/125cc engines this winter.
I recently was trying to add up the money to build one if these motors, so he'd know what to expect. I was surprised that it was going up and over 2g's...just for the engine. (That's a TRX90 54x54 with a proper manual clutch setup.) But...$500 crank, $350-450 manual clutch cover, $200 kickstart shaft...it adds up quick. Plus you gotta buy a core engine to build from.
It's only money I spose. This is why I get up every mornin and go to work.

Looking at $2000+, you can start comparing to a NICE 110. The NICE isn't as fast, but it's a nicer motor. Maybe a NICE 127..?


OK... Gotta get back to work...make them beans. Lol. Need more beans...
 
Last edited:

kirrbby

Well-Known Member
I just swapped in the 155 main jet at lunchtime. Dropped the needle clip to 2nd from rich. I took a 10 minute ride with the engine cold. It ran like a champ, top to bottom. I'll drop the clip to full rich before I leave for home, see how it runs there.
After I put the 17 tooth counter sprocket back on, I'll play around with the gearing calculator, comparing to my actual readings from the tach and speedo/gps app. I think I'd rather drop the revs at cruising speed if possible. And I think it is.
 

69ST

Well-Known Member
Best to approach this as a complete system, then plan on jumping-in with both feet and redoing the wiring from scratch, over 2-3 afternoons. Adding leads for the front signals, along with whatever leads are required to integrate your bar-mounted switchgear is going to mean more work than you realize, at the moment. And that bundle to be threaded into the frame is going to be fat. IOW, essentially, you're going to rewire the whole bike anyway, in the attempt to "save time & work" and "not disrupt anything". Hindsight will come back to taunt you...ask me how I know this.

My suggestion, save this for a time when you won't mind having the bike out of action for a while. 2 day's work can take weeks, when your job demands top priority on the schedule. Use the same switchgear & wire harness as in your cruiser bike, source an electronic flasher relay, amber LED bolts for the the license plate, for the rear signals, and whatever suits you for the front. With 12v electrics, you've many choices. That's as clean and reliable as it gets. The "difficult" tasks will adapting keyswitch leads and lengthening some of the leads to the front end...a bit tedious, but straightforward, stuff.

With the engine topic...you've just rediscovered what I did circa 2000. At that time $1900 seemed outrageous for a 110 Nice motor...until you started adding-up all the parts needed to build a Kitaco, or Takegawa, 110-124. Until 2002, even a 160 Nice was a lot cheaper (low $3K range). The TB 110-117 stuff didn't exist yet. There's still nothing out there that compares to the Nice lower end & electrics. A few years before this board was created, 60mph was the small bike equivalent of "doing the ton" (reaching 100mph...in Britspeak). Top speed potential increased almost overnight, but it came with a cost curve that resembled the power requirement to reach those increased speeds...including the one factor few seem to grasp, cost per mile. There was another evergreen discussion topic, along with "what's the best oil?"..."how much we're willing to spend to get another 10mph" That one was a heady mix of truth, enthusiasm and wry humor. A reliable/reasonably durable motor, capable of sustained 60-65mph cruising, is going to take the kind of bucks you're talking about, at a minimum. When the service life, between rebuilds/repairs, is factored-in, a 127-146 Nice won't cost any more...might even have the lower cost-per-mile...but you're still talking $3K+, depending upon the options selected. And, the operational characteristics will be different. At any power level, the 49cc-based tunes will be revvier, with less torque...and still based on a 49cc lower end, including the tranny. The Nice-based tunes, including bone-stock, will be torquier and with lower ends that are unmatched. What's the "best" motor...there is more than one answer and no answer. It's up to guy writing the checks and riding the bike. IMO, every choice will have at least one compromise and the decision can be at least a little painful...a strong argument for having more than one bike, each purpose-built. Come to think of it, isn't that what keeps this hobby interesting & engaging?;)
 

kirrbby

Well-Known Member
I thought it might be easy to add signals wiring to my harness, but if not, maybe I can repair and modify a crappy K3 up type wire harness, keeping with the theme of this bike. Then some k4 up type switchgear would allow me to cut the perches off of my existing bars and still use them. I don't like the perches anyway.

The switchgear on my Cruiser would be a little too fancy for this bike.
 

69ST

Well-Known Member
IDK...maybe turn signals don't fit the theme of this bike, no joke. OTOH, if you happen to have the aforementioned K4 switchgear I reckon that's as good a start as any. In that case, maybe 4 amber LED bolts for the signals, and an electronic flasher to operate them reliably, could do what you want and be minimally-invasive (visually).

BTW, forgot to compliment you on your carb tuning skills. You're beginning to sound like a seasoned pro.(y)
 
Top