@leonardomigot-yn1ti that is rather harsh. I'm sincerely hoping this was an auto correct issue and you do not actually mean you hope he lost everything.
Yep. Sometimes also called a "back-pedal brake" from the way you apply it by attempting to pedal in reverse, and the harder you try, the harder you apply the brake... but only so long as that arm is properly secured.
Nicd fix James. I was told by a factory 2 cycle engine person that if you use synthetic oil on older 20 to 1 fuel mixes that you can decrease the mixture to 40 to 1 without any issue. The older non synthetic oil was o.k. before synthetic oil was available. I tried it on several older 20/1 engines and had no issues. I use it on a power products engine for years at 40/1 and it ran great. thanks for the video.
I wasn’t going to watch this one because I have zero interest in motorized bikes, but stuck around out of curiosity. Sure enough, as usual I learned something from James’ video!
That was my reaction at first, but I wound up enjoying this video just as much as the rest of them. Thanks again, James, I also live in Florida, and we lost power, but thanks to you, all 8 of my generators, most trash picked, were in working order and 7 of them were loaned to neighbors till I could get there's running.
James, gotta give ya props. I live in FL and recently a weather event (or two) has caused many friends to call me asking to help get their generators working. Mind you I am a banker, not a mechanic. After watching your videos for years it feels like it seems I learned a thing or two and made sure they all knew your name and channel so next season they know what to do and how to store their equipment to be ready to go for the next event. My neighbor even asked last year why I pull out my 2 generators every spring and fall and run them for 15 minutes or more. Now he gets it. Hope you get more subs out of it. Keep teaching us, brother. Thanks from FL.
That push button on the float chamber James, here in the UK is called the "Tickler"! Yes ... Really and we always started these engines by saying..... Have you tickled the carb! 😅 Back in the fifties there was no seal between the carb and the inlet manifold! 😀 And they all ran perfectly! Same as an exhaust system if you consider? 🤔
Great video. Love the change of pace. I like the generator videos, but a few blowers, weed whackers, chainsaws, etc would be nice also. I say this only because we all have one [or two] of these that's not running right-or not at all, and it's not worth paying someone to fix it. Thanks again James.
I have never seen anyone who cleans the machines as much as James does. He pays so much attention to cleaning detail. It shows that he has great pride in the work that he does. He is a great mechanic as well. He hardly ever just patches something, no matter how small the item is that he is working on, he will most always replace the item rather than patch it. I really wish that he was closer to my area. Great job James, it is always a great video that you produce.
Mustie has some friendly competition! Well done! Those 2 stroke bike carbs with the pin can make you crazy, trying to adjust. They often bog under load. Great tuning on this! The open chain is still a bit scary though!
That is a sweet little bike Jim I hope you keep it .By you can always double nut the gas tank. And what a beautiful neighborhood you live in. Thanks for sharing another great video. 😊
Hello James: A great find or gift. It seem to run reasonably well. A couple of suggestions from an old bike enthusiast. 1) the back wheel is not as far back in the slots as it maybe should be? If the pedaling chain is too short to allow further engagement in the slot add a 1/2 link to that chain.2) I can not be certain from the video. The power chain tensioner usually has the chain running below the tension wheel to keep the chain angle more gently curved and requiring less tighting torque to hold it in place. If you move the chain below the tensioner wheel and move the tensioner wheel forward, I believe you will achieve better results. 3) Oil Gas ratio on those old 2 cycles was usually based on 30 weight oil. Modern 2 cycle oils have better lubricating capabilities. None of the old lawn mowers or chainsaws I use have suffered any problems with a 40-1 mix. They smoke a lot less and start better with the 40-1 mix.Good to see your boy enjoying himself with the new ride. Keep the videos coming.
Hey James, good work on that bike. Those are pretty common around here... One tip... don't rely too much on those bolts from the fuel tank. In order for the tank to stay put, you'll need to tighten them too much, and they will break loose from the welds and leave you with a leaking tank. Ask me how I know. Use some hardware in between to fix it on the frame, don't pull directly from the welds on the tank body. And that carb... well, you'll go nuts before making it run properly. Those engines only run somewhat well after warming up Actually, it would be a very interesting experiment to swap the carb and see how it does, I'm sure you have some spare generator carbs to play with. Thanks for the video!
I am in uk and have the same engine in a Raleigh mountain bike frame. It’s illegal in the road so is used in tracks. I had the same problems with the chain tensioner and shortened the chain quite a lot and like you changed the bolts for new ones. I sorted out the tank issue by doubling up the nuts as nylocks didn’t seem to help. I think the threads were badly cut from new. The doubled up nuts are aided by home made tab washers. I found that changing the spark plug to a slightly longer nose NGK one seemed to help the starting. If you are interested I can tell you what plug I am running. As you say pretty good fun!
Silent lucidity is correct the piece you referred to as a safety is in fact part of the braking system. Also to fix the tension on the chain simply loosen the two nuts on the rear axle and slide the back wheel all the way back in the slots. That should give you an extra inch or maybe a little more for chain tension
I see someone has already pointed out that the black arm on the back wheel is part of the Bendix style coaster brake for the rear wheel. Another thing is never use a wrench or pliars to install the slide in the carb. That should only ever be finger tight. You may have to use a tool to remove the slide cap some times if corrosion is an issue but never use a tool to tighten it. If it won't go on with your fingers, you have a threading issue you need to resolve. Also I believe you need to add a half link to the main chain instead of shortening the motor driven chain. The rear wheel axle should fit farther back into the slots in the frame. When you look at the gap between the back of the tire and the fender you can see too much daylight in there.
I so enjoy every week watching your videos. I love it when you go off the reservation with builds like this in the go karts. It’s a lot of fun. Keep it up.
As always, another fascinating repair, highlighting your methodology and careful attention to detail. Small engines could not ask for a better caretaker.
2 points. The reason you ripped the screw out of the bulb holder is that they are c6/14, ie 6/16" (or 3/8" as you correctly guessed) but 14TPI thread pitch. The high oil ratio is because these small engines spend a lot of time in overrun (high revs with throttle off) which with less oil would cause premature cylinder and ring wear. With modern 2-stroke oils you can probably use a ratio of 25:1.
The engine & its carburetor (with the "piston" throttle control) reeks of having been made in the UK. Many decades ago I had a "Whizzer" unit, for which I paid the munificent sum $150 CDN. The Bicycle was a balloon tire "CCM" (Canadian cycle & motor) & it was pretty good bike. I could do over 40MPH..BUT once over 40MPH, the whole bike started to shudder, & shake . I was content to stay UNDER 40MPH, I ran about 30 MPH & it was just excellent. I wish you well . Cheers! Great video as well Sir ! All the best from the wind swept Prairies of Alberta.
There are engine kits coming from the usual cheap sources, I suspect that is what this is. The ludicrous 20:1 oil ratio also suggests absolute crap quality. Maybe it's "inspired" by a UK design.
Hey James, I just want to thank you for your videos, they've given me the confidence to pick up and repair significantly better tools than I could otherwise.
I would make this my apocalypse bug out bike with a solar chargeable bike as my backup. Looks like great power and no smoke. Great work by the independent test team on this too. Thanks James.
I remember those old 2 stroke engine kits. Thankfully, when I helped my brother motorize his bicycle back in the 1990s there were 4 stroke engine kits with centrifugal clutches available. He got a 50cc kit and we installed it in a couple of hours. He rode that bike everywhere. He still has it, but now it's collecting dust in his garage.
I worked with a guy years ago bought a bike and the motor kit and put it together. It was a good kit to. He was a big guy, probably 280 to 300 pounds, and it hauled him just fine . I was impressed how fast it was. It wasn't cheap. I remember that much. He rode it around a year saving up for a car. He went all over town and back and forth to work.
My first motorbike was a 125cc BSA Bantam. It had a two stroke engine too, inside the tank filler cap was a long tube which you would use to measure two-stroke oil - one fill of the tube per gallon of gasoline. So simple! The instruction manual said not to use engine braking on it, as the fuel starvation also meant no oil getting on the moving parts...
My kid and I built his. It'll run just fine. Clean the carb, and you're good. They are simple engines. We had a pull start on my kid's bike, but it kept snapping the rope. Then we pulled off his pedals, and we want to put an electric start on it. They have lots of compression, it's kinda crazy Great to see more of them. Chickanic had one on her channel too.
A friend put a B&S engine on an old bike and it moved really well. It's downfall was that it wore out tires quickly. This was in small town Kentucky in the 60's and the only source for bicycle tires was Western Auto. Hopefully better tires are available now.
The idea of the push button on the carb is to cause a little bit of flooding the engine to aid cold starting. Very common on old british motorcycles from the 50's and 60's
It would be worth tickling the carb before trying to pedal start the cold bike..... and I don't get why it is so hard to start when hot..... maybe tickle the carb and then wind the throttle wide open and the mixture would clear itself out until it reached the "right" air/fuel ratio and start? I'd be having a look at changing out that spark plug for a good NGK one.....
Not at all a safety to keep the wheel on it's a brake arm. I have o motorized bike also, they are super fun and very modifiable. I have a lot of aftermarket parts on mine. I get mine to top out at around 43mph tho I don't go that fast. For fuel I only run non ethanol and Red armor at 40:1. I've been running this mix for # yrs and it still runs like new. Piston has 0 scratches. Great video James
Wow, that looks like a blast! That would be great to take along in the Winnebago on vacations or camping and such. BTW an old motorcycle guy once told me that button on the carb is called a “tickler” and it holds the float down to prime the carb (by flooding over) for cold starts.
A really nice find and a nice save. You may want to try a spring tensioned chain tensioner designed for a motorized bicycle. Amazon has them for $12-16. It might help with smoothing out the drive chain vibrations. You would have to redesign the mounting to the frame. Another great video. I look forward to your weekly episodes.
These “motorized bicycle” engines are very popular to build up custom with all kinds of modifications! They call them China Dolls, if I’m not mistaken. I know one of the most popular mods is taking a cylinder and piston made for the original 50cc Yamaha Zuma (known among scooter aficionados as the prebug since it came out before Yamaha switched up and made the next gen Zuma with two big round headlights that made it look bug eyed! Anyway, that gen 1 Zuma came with an engine Yamaha sourced from Italian company Motori Minarelli and uses a vertically oriented cylinder with reed valves and carb mounted to the back of the cylinder itself. There is a huge market in Europe and to a lesser extent in the US for these scooter and everyone modify them to go faster than the stock 30-40mph. There’s a good twenty different aftermarket companies selling 70cc performance and racing cylinders/pistons/carbs/expansion chambers and many more performance parts. So these bicycle engines can hybridized by bolting the Minarelli (vertically only, the horizontal Minarelli is a later scooter motor and doesn’t interchange) cylinder and piston on and aforementioned intake carb and possibly the pipe with a few mods too! There are many of these out there that are actually very fast and I’ve seen some close to 70mph! If this interests you look up China doll minarelli or motorized bicycle minarelli or keywords like that! There’s actually a really decent all aluminum bicycle frame outta China sold on Amazon that most start with and deck all out with disc brakes and other nice parts. Lookup aluminum motorized bicycle frame on Amazon if interested!
im glad you did this video, i built the same combo bike and motor but was unable to get it started because of my bad knee. but im not happy with the clutch lever brake lever on the left handlebar because the brakes are impossible to use...but ill figure it out. you gave me the incentive to pull it back into my shop and finish it up...i really need one of those rear wheel lifts so i dont kill myself trying to ride and start it LOLOL THX James
Hey James, that "safety" strap on the left of the bike is the coaster brake mount; peddle backwards to engage the brakes. That is a good looking find! Interesting choke design! Don't forget the metering needle on the bottom of the slide; looked kind of scuzzy or polished when you pulled the slide.
I believe this bike is a Schwinn Sanctuary 7. Front and rear caliper brakes are removed. Neat kit and nice repair.!! I used to work at a bike shop in upstate NY many moons ago
I talked to an employee of Bombardier who said their engineers, after several tests, concluded 33 to 1 was the best mix for 2 stroke engines. I can imagine you would easily foul plugs but engine life would be extended considerably. Hoping one day James you are able to work on a Yamaha EF2400is as there have been many sold over the years and not many repair video's.
These engine kits are fun. I've owned one and built another for a customer. But they are very cheap and definitely require the right bicycle, to mount the engine in correctly.
James! You look quite dashing on your 'Motor-bike'. I would love to see more of you outdoors, being active, at the end of your show. Kudos to your son as your trusty Co-pilot 😁😎
I really enjoyed this one James and great to see you and your son enjoying it too. Over here in the UK you have to licence,MOT and have to comply to emissions laws so it would probably not comply for road use🤷 Enjoy it while you can👍
Be sure to check the neck of the bicycle for a tag. It might be a Schwinn. On a different not. I got led down a rabbit hole chasing a hard to pull Stihl chainsaw. I DE carboned the head & piston etc. still hard to pull thru. I bought saw new in the 1980s. Over the years of course the starter rope frayed and I cut it and just shortened it a bit. Turns out that the cord ended up being about 3 ft long instead of the 6 ft. Since the rope winds up on the pully, I lost leverage (smaller dia pulley) each time I shortened the rope. Read a post about this issue. I installed a new rope of proper length and now the saw starts as good as ever. Thought I would pass that along to you to share with your viewers.
@@justonnie True. Though you can see a wear mark that shows was further back at one time. And being able to move that tensioner any way further forward should dampen chain rattle.
Sliding the tensioner bracket toward the front would effectively reduce the rear chain angle, if a link had been removed. 👍 Guess I should have watched to at least 49:52 to see your adjustments. ✌️
I worked on one of these for my grand kids, a trash pick from Burningman! My son brought it to me needing a clutch and some carb attention! $40 in parts and about 2 hrs word from Grandpa and it was back in action. If they used it for that long, I'd be happily surprised.😅 It was worth it though .
I built one of these kits, both the 16:1 and 20:1 are way too high. Consensus is you should run between 28:1 to 40:1, I did 32:1. Mine was a disaster, I never tuned it well so I'd restart the engine instead of idling it. The chain tensioner was always a pain, never stopped shifting around no matter what I did. The needle valve clogged up constantly. These kits come with a chain cover, I didn't install it either. One day the chain wedged between the sprocket and the chain cover and locked the wheel at speed and put me into an uncontrolled skid in traffic. I gracefully bailed, but I sold it not soon after. I don't regret the experience even if it was expensive in time and money, it taught me skills I put to use on the XR100 I replaced it with.
James, you do realize that carburetor is what is referred to as a variable venturi carburetor. Popular in Europe in the 30s and 40s. The button you thought that was a primer does almost the same thing. It presses against the float thereby raising the fuel level in the float chamber thus temporarily enriching the engine during cold air starts supplementing the effect of the choke. . Also you might notice the main needle is in the venturi piston, which is adjustable and function as a dynamic mixture setting, unlike the ones you are more familiar with which are fix jets. This type of carburetor is classified as a Strongburg Carlson side draft carburetor. Love your videos thank you.
Much more fun than the modern electric bikes James and what a beautiful neighbourhood you live in, it must be a fantastic sight when the leaves turn in the Fall or Autuum as we say here in New Zealand.
Hi James, I was talking to a friend about your brilliant use of water / hydraulic force when removing a generator head from a tapered spindle. You made a video recently where you explained when and why you do that versus a rod that will destroy threads. I tried finding it but had no such luck. Would love if you or someone else could post the episode. But no worries if you are too busy making new content. You are one of my favorite UA-camrs of all time.
The plunger on the carb is called a "Tickler". It was common on British motorcycles carbs as they sometimes didn't have choke plates. You pushed the button down to "flood" the carb as it pushes down on the float and gets gas to the engine richening the mixture to start.
If I may recommend I would fill those inner tubes with hold on now Great stuff you know what you put into walls to have less air in between outside and inside Yes that particular product then that way you would have non-flat tubes inside of your bicycle that means you would never need to change the inner tubes again adjust the air pressure but you know what you'd always be on the road just an idea of my friends thank you James
While watching you work on the powered bicycle I noticed as you too that moving back the Tensioner bracket would lower the tension sprocket.. However I thought that the bracket looked like an after thought as it did not fit in with the rest of the machine. To prevent the bracket moving forward add a tension leg from the bracket to the sloping leg of the frame. Really enjoy your videos.
Reminds me of the bike I worked in my junior high school's small engines class. You could pedal all you want and you could hear the engine wanting to run, but the minute you let up, the engine died. My lab partner and I could never get it going, and the teacher was a bit stumped as well. After watching these videos, I'm almost positive it was likely a spark issue...
A trick I learned with starting, is you pop the clutch, gas it, and pull the clutch again and feather the throttle to keep the idle... Almost always kicks over. Takes practice. My kid is really good at starting it . And I see your little guy does the same mine does.. gotta rev the engine 🤣
The chain issue is not the tensioner it’s the placement of the back wheel. The wheel needs to move back to take some of the slop out. The tank is an issue to much vibration crappy clamps.
Seems it should have a chain guard and rear view mirrors.The rear tire probably could use some rebalancing and replacing for fresh tires.Did you find out who made the engine?
For the battery corrosion I use household ammonia and cotton swabs ( qtips). I had a friend who never checked her portable radios and other stuff. I cleaned them and she didn’t have to throw much away.
It looks like the back wheel can be moved backwards in the axle slot which would tighten the chain. Loosen the two axel nuts, pull the wheel back and retighten the axle nuts.
I’m in Florida right now with no power from the hurricane. I bought a broken generator for $40 on craigslist and fixed it. Thanks to James.
Hope you don't lose everything in that disaster, good luck best wishes from South Australia.
i hope for you lost everything
I had no damage where I am. Just a lot of small branches in the yard to pick up.
Im in Ocala Florida and our power went out for like 5 minutes and came back on.
@leonardomigot-yn1ti that is rather harsh. I'm sincerely hoping this was an auto correct issue and you do not actually mean you hope he lost everything.
I love your neighborhood beautiful homes and yards.
The piece you called a safety to keep the wheel on is actually part of the braking system. :)
Otherwise called a "coaster brake" on most regular bicycles.
I posted the same thing. It's a reaction arm.
In Germany, we call this arm "Bremsanker", the brake anchor. For relateable reasons.
@@texascottonfarmer yeah back in the day, if that thing went out, your safety braking measure was a pair of thick-soled converses. :)
Yep. Sometimes also called a "back-pedal brake" from the way you apply it by attempting to pedal in reverse, and the harder you try, the harder you apply the brake... but only so long as that arm is properly secured.
Nicd fix James. I was told by a factory 2 cycle engine person that if you use synthetic oil on older 20 to 1 fuel mixes that you can decrease the mixture to 40 to 1 without any issue. The older non synthetic oil was o.k. before synthetic oil was available. I tried it on several older 20/1 engines and had no issues. I use it on a power products engine for years at 40/1 and it ran great. thanks for the video.
As soon as I saw the thumbnail my first thought was Mustie! Nope! Good video James. It sure does look fun. 😊😊😊
I wasn’t going to watch this one because I have zero interest in motorized bikes, but stuck around out of curiosity.
Sure enough, as usual I learned something from James’ video!
That was my reaction at first, but I wound up enjoying this video just as much as the rest of them. Thanks again, James, I also live in Florida, and we lost power, but thanks to you, all 8 of my generators, most trash picked, were in working order and 7 of them were loaned to neighbors till I could get there's running.
It really moves! I love old machines that go dangerously fast. 😅
James, gotta give ya props. I live in FL and recently a weather event (or two) has caused many friends to call me asking to help get their generators working. Mind you I am a banker, not a mechanic. After watching your videos for years it feels like it seems I learned a thing or two and made sure they all knew your name and channel so next season they know what to do and how to store their equipment to be ready to go for the next event. My neighbor even asked last year why I pull out my 2 generators every spring and fall and run them for 15 minutes or more. Now he gets it. Hope you get more subs out of it. Keep teaching us, brother. Thanks from FL.
That push button on the float chamber James, here in the UK is called the "Tickler"! Yes ... Really and we always started these engines by saying..... Have you tickled the carb! 😅 Back in the fifties there was no seal between the carb and the inlet manifold! 😀 And they all ran perfectly! Same as an exhaust system if you consider? 🤔
I wanted to call it a tickler but was not sure. Thanks.
Should b an o ring in carb gets pressed between carb and manifold
Great video. Love the change of pace. I like the generator videos, but a few blowers, weed whackers, chainsaws, etc would be nice also. I say this only because we all have one [or two] of these that's not running right-or not at all, and it's not worth paying someone to fix it. Thanks again James.
Seriously though, it's a very cool bike. I'm sure 35 mph feels extremely fast on that thing. You are one cool dad.
I have never seen anyone who cleans the machines as much as James does. He pays so much attention to cleaning detail. It shows that he has great pride in the work that he does. He is a great mechanic as well. He hardly ever just patches something, no matter how small the item is that he is working on, he will most always replace the item rather than patch it. I really wish that he was closer to my area. Great job James, it is always a great video that you produce.
Born to be wild is the needed music for this bike ride video
Mustie has some friendly competition! Well done! Those 2 stroke bike carbs with the pin can make you crazy, trying to adjust. They often bog under load. Great tuning on this! The open chain is still a bit scary though!
Mustie would have told us a story about how he outran the sheriff thanks to one of these back in 72' while he was playing with the chain.
That is a sweet little bike Jim I hope you keep it .By you can always double nut the gas tank. And what a beautiful neighborhood you live in. Thanks for sharing another great video. 😊
The area you live in looks absolutely beautiful! Great job on the bike.
Hello James: A great find or gift. It seem to run reasonably well. A couple of suggestions from an old bike enthusiast. 1) the back wheel is not as far back in the slots as it maybe should be? If the pedaling chain is too short to allow further engagement in the slot add a 1/2 link to that chain.2) I can not be certain from the video. The power chain tensioner usually has the chain running below the tension wheel to keep the chain angle more gently curved and requiring less tighting torque to hold it in place. If you move the chain below the tensioner wheel and move the tensioner wheel forward, I believe you will achieve better results. 3) Oil Gas ratio on those old 2 cycles was usually based on 30 weight oil. Modern 2 cycle oils have better lubricating capabilities. None of the old lawn mowers or chainsaws I use have suffered any problems with a 40-1 mix. They smoke a lot less and start better with the 40-1 mix.Good to see your boy enjoying himself with the new ride. Keep the videos coming.
Hey James, good work on that bike. Those are pretty common around here...
One tip... don't rely too much on those bolts from the fuel tank. In order for the tank to stay put, you'll need to tighten them too much, and they will break loose from the welds and leave you with a leaking tank. Ask me how I know.
Use some hardware in between to fix it on the frame, don't pull directly from the welds on the tank body.
And that carb... well, you'll go nuts before making it run properly. Those engines only run somewhat well after warming up
Actually, it would be a very interesting experiment to swap the carb and see how it does, I'm sure you have some spare generator carbs to play with.
Thanks for the video!
I am in uk and have the same engine in a Raleigh mountain bike frame. It’s illegal in the road so is used in tracks. I had the same problems with the chain tensioner and shortened the chain quite a lot and like you changed the bolts for new ones. I sorted out the tank issue by doubling up the nuts as nylocks didn’t seem to help. I think the threads were badly cut from new. The doubled up nuts are aided by home made tab washers. I found that changing the spark plug to a slightly longer nose NGK one seemed to help the starting. If you are interested I can tell you what plug I am running. As you say pretty good fun!
That bike was definitely in great shape. Very nice indeed. Lots of fun there. 👍🏼
Silent lucidity is correct the piece you referred to as a safety is in fact part of the braking system. Also to fix the tension on the chain simply loosen the two nuts on the rear axle and slide the back wheel all the way back in the slots. That should give you an extra inch or maybe a little more for chain tension
I see someone has already pointed out that the black arm on the back wheel is part of the Bendix style coaster brake for the rear wheel. Another thing is never use a wrench or pliars to install the slide in the carb. That should only ever be finger tight. You may have to use a tool to remove the slide cap some times if corrosion is an issue but never use a tool to tighten it. If it won't go on with your fingers, you have a threading issue you need to resolve. Also I believe you need to add a half link to the main chain instead of shortening the motor driven chain. The rear wheel axle should fit farther back into the slots in the frame. When you look at the gap between the back of the tire and the fender you can see too much daylight in there.
I so enjoy every week watching your videos. I love it when you go off the reservation with builds like this in the go karts. It’s a lot of fun. Keep it up.
As always, another fascinating repair, highlighting your methodology and careful attention to detail. Small engines could not ask for a better caretaker.
yes, indeed ... This is the reason why I like this channel A LOT.
Too much fun!!!! Thanks Jim!
2 points.
The reason you ripped the screw out of the bulb holder is that they are c6/14, ie 6/16" (or 3/8" as you correctly guessed) but 14TPI thread pitch.
The high oil ratio is because these small engines spend a lot of time in overrun (high revs with throttle off) which with less oil would cause premature cylinder and ring wear. With modern 2-stroke oils you can probably use a ratio of 25:1.
The engine & its carburetor (with the "piston" throttle control) reeks of having been made in the UK. Many decades ago I had a "Whizzer" unit, for which I paid the munificent sum $150 CDN. The Bicycle was a balloon tire "CCM" (Canadian cycle & motor) & it was pretty good bike. I could do over 40MPH..BUT once over 40MPH, the whole bike started to shudder, & shake . I was content to stay UNDER 40MPH, I ran about 30 MPH & it was just excellent. I wish you well .
Cheers! Great video as well Sir ! All the best from the wind swept Prairies of Alberta.
There are engine kits coming from the usual cheap sources, I suspect that is what this is. The ludicrous 20:1 oil ratio also suggests absolute crap quality. Maybe it's "inspired" by a UK design.
Hey James, I just want to thank you for your videos, they've given me the confidence to pick up and repair significantly better tools than I could otherwise.
Great resuscitation! That motor bike is in beautiful condition!
That's a beautiful bike. Put together nicely. Great job.
I would make this my apocalypse bug out bike with a solar chargeable bike as my backup. Looks like great power and no smoke. Great work by the independent test team on this too. Thanks James.
I remember those old 2 stroke engine kits. Thankfully, when I helped my brother motorize his bicycle back in the 1990s there were 4 stroke engine kits with centrifugal clutches available. He got a 50cc kit and we installed it in a couple of hours. He rode that bike everywhere. He still has it, but now it's collecting dust in his garage.
I worked with a guy years ago bought a bike and the motor kit and put it together. It was a good kit to. He was a big guy, probably 280 to 300 pounds, and it hauled him just fine . I was impressed how fast it was. It wasn't cheap. I remember that much. He rode it around a year saving up for a car. He went all over town and back and forth to work.
What a beautiful neighborhood! Excellent job on the repair, personally, I didn’t know these types of bikes existed.
My first motorbike was a 125cc BSA Bantam. It had a two stroke engine too, inside the tank filler cap was a long tube which you would use to measure two-stroke oil - one fill of the tube per gallon of gasoline. So simple! The instruction manual said not to use engine braking on it, as the fuel starvation also meant no oil getting on the moving parts...
Something totally different!! Loved it.
You can't see it but James has a HUGH smile on his face!!! 🤣🤣🤣
This was an incredible find. With Your expertise another masterpiece.😊
My kid and I built his. It'll run just fine.
Clean the carb, and you're good.
They are simple engines.
We had a pull start on my kid's bike, but it kept snapping the rope.
Then we pulled off his pedals, and we want to put an electric start on it.
They have lots of compression, it's kinda crazy
Great to see more of them. Chickanic had one on her channel too.
Love your work Jim! Addicted to your work.
A friend put a B&S engine on an old bike and it moved really well. It's downfall was that it wore out tires quickly. This was in small town Kentucky in the 60's and the only source for bicycle tires was Western Auto. Hopefully better tires are available now.
The idea of the push button on the carb is to cause a little bit of flooding the engine to aid cold starting. Very common on old british motorcycles from the 50's and 60's
The famous "tickler"...depresses the float enough to let fuel flood out the carb throat.......
@@JohnSmith-pl2bk I think James is too young to be in the tickler era. . . . . . . As I started bike riding in 1962, I do remember them well !
It would be worth tickling the carb before trying to pedal start the cold bike.....
and I don't get why it is so hard to start when hot.....
maybe tickle the carb and then wind the throttle wide open and the mixture would clear itself out until it reached the "right" air/fuel ratio and start?
I'd be having a look at changing out that spark plug for a good NGK one.....
The were comon on german mopeds and motorcyles, too.
Not at all a safety to keep the wheel on it's a brake arm. I have o motorized bike also, they are super fun and very modifiable. I have a lot of aftermarket parts on mine. I get mine to top out at around 43mph tho I don't go that fast. For fuel I only run non ethanol and Red armor at 40:1. I've been running this mix for # yrs and it still runs like new. Piston has 0 scratches. Great video James
Thanks for posting James
Wow, that looks like a blast! That would be great to take along in the Winnebago on vacations or camping and such. BTW an old motorcycle guy once told me that button on the carb is called a “tickler” and it holds the float down to prime the carb (by flooding over) for cold starts.
Holy crap that bike looks bad ass, I need one
Kind of neat to fix a toy for a change. Fun stuff.
A really nice find and a nice save. You may want to try a spring tensioned chain tensioner designed for a motorized bicycle. Amazon has them for $12-16. It might help with smoothing out the drive chain vibrations. You would have to redesign the mounting to the frame. Another great video. I look forward to your weekly episodes.
These “motorized bicycle” engines are very popular to build up custom with all kinds of modifications! They call them China Dolls, if I’m not mistaken. I know one of the most popular mods is taking a cylinder and piston made for the original 50cc Yamaha Zuma (known among scooter aficionados as the prebug since it came out before Yamaha switched up and made the next gen Zuma with two big round headlights that made it look bug eyed! Anyway, that gen 1 Zuma came with an engine Yamaha sourced from Italian company Motori Minarelli and uses a vertically oriented cylinder with reed valves and carb mounted to the back of the cylinder itself. There is a huge market in Europe and to a lesser extent in the US for these scooter and everyone modify them to go faster than the stock 30-40mph. There’s a good twenty different aftermarket companies selling 70cc performance and racing cylinders/pistons/carbs/expansion chambers and many more performance parts. So these bicycle engines can hybridized by bolting the Minarelli (vertically only, the horizontal Minarelli is a later scooter motor and doesn’t interchange) cylinder and piston on and aforementioned intake carb and possibly the pipe with a few mods too! There are many of these out there that are actually very fast and I’ve seen some close to 70mph!
If this interests you look up China doll minarelli or motorized bicycle minarelli or keywords like that! There’s actually a really decent all aluminum bicycle frame outta China sold on Amazon that most start with and deck all out with disc brakes and other nice parts. Lookup aluminum motorized bicycle frame on Amazon if interested!
im glad you did this video, i built the same combo bike and motor but was unable to get it started because of my bad knee. but im not happy with the clutch lever brake lever on the left handlebar because the brakes are impossible to use...but ill figure it out. you gave me the incentive to pull it back into my shop and finish it up...i really need one of those rear wheel lifts so i dont kill myself trying to ride and start it LOLOL THX James
Hey James, that "safety" strap on the left of the bike is the coaster brake mount; peddle backwards to engage the brakes.
That is a good looking find!
Interesting choke design!
Don't forget the metering needle on the bottom of the slide; looked kind of scuzzy or polished when you pulled the slide.
I believe this bike is a Schwinn Sanctuary 7. Front and rear caliper brakes are removed. Neat kit and nice repair.!! I used to work at a bike shop in upstate NY many moons ago
I talked to an employee of Bombardier who said their engineers, after several tests, concluded 33 to 1 was the best mix for 2 stroke engines. I can imagine you would easily foul plugs but engine life would be extended considerably.
Hoping one day James you are able to work on a Yamaha EF2400is as there have been many sold over the years and not many repair video's.
Orange bike is my favorite its really cool
These engine kits are fun.
I've owned one and built another for a customer.
But they are very cheap and definitely require the right bicycle, to mount the engine in correctly.
Man you have got the world figured out. ❤❤❤❤
Jason is one lucky SOB. That is awesome! ✌️
James - your neighborhood is gorgeous!
James!
You look quite dashing on your 'Motor-bike'. I would love to see more of you outdoors, being active, at the end of your show. Kudos to your son as your trusty Co-pilot 😁😎
I really enjoyed this one James and great to see you and your son enjoying it too. Over here in the UK you have to licence,MOT and have to comply to emissions laws so it would probably not comply for road use🤷 Enjoy it while you can👍
I live in Wales Peter and I was thinking that too.
Be sure to check the neck of the bicycle for a tag. It might be a Schwinn. On a different not. I got led down a rabbit hole chasing a hard to pull Stihl chainsaw. I DE carboned the head & piston etc. still hard to pull thru. I bought saw new in the 1980s. Over the years of course the starter rope frayed and I cut it and just shortened it a bit. Turns out that the cord ended up being about 3 ft long instead of the 6 ft. Since the rope winds up on the pully, I lost leverage (smaller dia pulley) each time I shortened the rope. Read a post about this issue. I installed a new rope of proper length and now the saw starts as good as ever. Thought I would pass that along to you to share with your viewers.
10:25 You can take up slack in the chain also by loosening the rear wheel hub nuts and sliding the whee further back.
Wheel travel to the rear is limited by the REAL pedal/bike chain.
@@justonnie
True. Though you can see a wear mark that shows was further back at one time.
And being able to move that tensioner any way further forward should dampen chain rattle.
Sliding the tensioner bracket toward the front would effectively reduce the rear chain angle, if a link had been removed. 👍
Guess I should have watched to at least 49:52 to see your adjustments. ✌️
The bike chain would not allow the wheel to slide back. I was considering a longer bike chain as a possible solution to the engine chain issue.
I worked on one of these for my grand kids, a trash pick from Burningman! My son brought it to me needing a clutch and some carb attention! $40 in parts and about 2 hrs word from Grandpa and it was back in action. If they used it for that long, I'd be happily surprised.😅 It was worth it though .
Neat bicycle motor setup.
I built one of these kits, both the 16:1 and 20:1 are way too high. Consensus is you should run between 28:1 to 40:1, I did 32:1. Mine was a disaster, I never tuned it well so I'd restart the engine instead of idling it. The chain tensioner was always a pain, never stopped shifting around no matter what I did. The needle valve clogged up constantly. These kits come with a chain cover, I didn't install it either.
One day the chain wedged between the sprocket and the chain cover and locked the wheel at speed and put me into an uncontrolled skid in traffic. I gracefully bailed, but I sold it not soon after.
I don't regret the experience even if it was expensive in time and money, it taught me skills I put to use on the XR100 I replaced it with.
Another great video…… your neighbors. Got to love you.
What a cool machine. Well done.
Enjoyed the video. Thanks for sharing
James, you do realize that carburetor is what is referred to as a variable venturi carburetor. Popular in Europe in the 30s and 40s. The button you thought that was a primer does almost the same thing. It presses against the float thereby raising the fuel level in the float chamber thus temporarily enriching the engine during cold air starts supplementing the effect of the choke.
. Also you might notice the main needle is in the venturi piston, which is adjustable and function as a dynamic mixture setting, unlike the ones you are more familiar with which are fix jets. This type of carburetor is classified as a Strongburg Carlson side draft carburetor. Love your videos thank you.
James that is a primer. It pushes fuel into the engine. When it pushes the float down.
Much more fun than the modern electric bikes James and what a beautiful neighbourhood you live in, it must be a fantastic sight when the leaves turn in the Fall or Autuum as we say here in New Zealand.
Goodness you live in a beautiful neighborhood.
Hi James, I was talking to a friend about your brilliant use of water / hydraulic force when removing a generator head from a tapered spindle. You made a video recently where you explained when and why you do that versus a rod that will destroy threads. I tried finding it but had no such luck. Would love if you or someone else could post the episode. But no worries if you are too busy making new content. You are one of my favorite UA-camrs of all time.
Great segment, thank you
Great video and a fantastic place where you live
Nice work James. Fun ride
The plunger on the carb is called a "Tickler". It was common on British motorcycles carbs as they sometimes didn't have choke plates. You pushed the button down to "flood" the carb as it pushes down on the float and gets gas to the engine richening the mixture to start.
If I may recommend I would fill those inner tubes with hold on now Great stuff you know what you put into walls to have less air in between outside and inside Yes that particular product then that way you would have non-flat tubes inside of your bicycle that means you would never need to change the inner tubes again adjust the air pressure but you know what you'd always be on the road just an idea of my friends thank you James
Killer find....Definitely something differant...
While watching you work on the powered bicycle I noticed as you too that moving back the Tensioner bracket would lower the tension sprocket.. However I thought that the bracket looked like an after thought as it did not fit in with the rest of the machine. To prevent the bracket moving forward add a tension leg from the bracket to the sloping leg of the frame.
Really enjoy your videos.
Nice touch with pulling the socket wrench out of the bike tool bag!
Glad you rode it and not the kids that thing looks a little nuts! growing up i remember the solex,s
Nice neighbourhood! Fun project.
Schwinn is a name I remember form Mustie 1`s channel, glad to see it here as well!
Reminds me of the bike I worked in my junior high school's small engines class. You could pedal all you want and you could hear the engine wanting to run, but the minute you let up, the engine died. My lab partner and I could never get it going, and the teacher was a bit stumped as well. After watching these videos, I'm almost positive it was likely a spark issue...
A trick I learned with starting, is you pop the clutch, gas it, and pull the clutch again and feather the throttle to keep the idle... Almost always kicks over. Takes practice. My kid is really good at starting it .
And I see your little guy does the same mine does.. gotta rev the engine 🤣
2-stroke bikes are the best!
The chain issue is not the tensioner it’s the placement of the back wheel. The wheel needs to move back to take some of the slop out. The tank is an issue to much vibration crappy clamps.
Great Saturday afternoon project! Those acorn head nuts remind me of early Kioritzsu. Good Job Dad.
I think the issue to it starting hard is the oil ratio, I have the same bike and I use 40 to 1 and it runs great all day
To remove a link you only needed to slide the tensioner forward on the frame- its clearly too close to the rear sprocket.
or keep the current length of chain and move the tensioner closer to the rear?
Hi James. I believe the left hand bracket is more about countering torque from the pedelling action than saftey. Stops the back wheel from racking
Seems it should have a chain guard and rear view mirrors.The rear tire probably could use some rebalancing and replacing for fresh tires.Did you find out who made the engine?
James, James, James.... that safety you referred to is actually a coaster brake.
Nice find and fix James 😊
For the battery corrosion I use household ammonia and cotton swabs ( qtips). I had a friend who never checked her portable radios and other stuff. I cleaned them and she didn’t have to throw much away.
Very nice and up class neighborhood.
Watched the test drives in 2x speed playback making them even more exciting. 😀
now that is cool , great fix
It looks like the back wheel can be moved backwards in the axle slot which would tighten the chain. Loosen the two axel nuts, pull the wheel back and retighten the axle nuts.
That set up is cool!!