Bicycle Engines!

Has anybody here monkeyed around with gasoline engines such as the Tecumseh 49er, or the Honda GX31
on a bicycle? I'm considering putting one on my Gary Fisher Gitche Gumme.

Joe

 

> Has anybody here monkeyed around with gasoline engines such as the Tecumseh 49er, or the Honda
> GX31 on a bicycle? I'm considering putting one on my Gary Fisher Gitche Gumme.
>
> Joe

Sure, it's been done lots. Try searching for bicycle power assist.

Have fun, but take note that power assisted bicycles appeared about ten minutes after bicycles did.
They have been refined over the years, and are now called motorcycles.

The basic problem is that the weight pretty much requires you to use the motor most of the time, and
a ready made motorcycle works better in all ways except the licensing/insurance thing.

--
Ted Bennett Portland OR

 

From what I understand, the stock engine on your Gary Fisher Gitche Gumme would probably make the
bike alot faster with a little bit of work.

Joe wrote:

> Has anybody here monkeyed around with gasoline engines such as the Tecumseh 49er, or the Honda
> GX31 on a bicycle? I'm considering putting one on my Gary Fisher Gitche Gumme.
>
> Joe

--
Mark Wolfe http://www.wolfenet.org gpg fingerprint = 42B6 EFEB 5414 AA18 01B7 64AC EF46 F7E6 82F6
8C71 "Everything's working, try again in half an hour."-chorus.net tech support

 

"Joe" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Has anybody here monkeyed around with gasoline engines
such as the Tecumseh
> 49er, or the Honda GX31 on a bicycle? I'm considering
putting one on my Gary
> Fisher Gitche Gumme.
>
> Joe

There was a thing called a "BSA Winged Wheel" back in the '50's - a rear wheel with a built in
engine - about 35cc two stroke engine. All you needed to do was stick the wheel in the bike, connect
the throttle and clutch cables to the bars, fill the tank, and pedal to get it going..... There's a
pic here - http://www.scottsoldautorubber.com.au/bsa.jpg

(And there was also the French Vélosolex - engine mounted over the front wheel, with friction drive.
You can still buy one - see http://www.velosolex.co.uk/ or http://www.velosolex.com/ )

 

You'll find info on these conversions, plus original big motors like the Sears Free Spirit and the
BikeBug on our site under the "Motorized Bicycle" Discussion Area.

Here are some tips:
1) a 2-stroke engine has the best power to weight ratio
2) a 2-stroke engine has the best power to price ratio
3) I wish electric would cut it, but it can't
4) There are weed-whacker conversion kits around which are cheap to build

Vin - Menotomy Vintage Bicycles, Inc. http://OldRoads.com

>Has anybody here monkeyed around with gasoline engines such as the Tecumseh 49er, or the Honda GX31
>on a bicycle? I'm considering putting one on my Gary Fisher Gitche Gumme.
>
>Joe

 

Ted Bennett wrote:
>>Has anybody here monkeyed around with gasoline engines such as the Tecumseh 49er, or the Honda
>>GX31 on a bicycle? I'm considering putting one on my Gary Fisher Gitche Gumme.
>
> Sure, it's been done lots. Try searching for bicycle power assist.
>
> Have fun, but take note that power assisted bicycles appeared about ten minutes after bicycles
> did. They have been refined over the years, and are now called motorcycles.

Indeed. If you're familiar with a brand of motorcycle called "Ducati," you may be interested that
their first two-wheeled kind of product was a clip-on engine for bicycles called the "Cucciolo"
(Italian for "pup"):

http://members.xoom.virgilio.it/ducati/cucciolo/

They've come a long way since then:

http://www.ducati.com/bikes/my2003/ducatiModel.jhtml?modelName=999R-03

Duke

 

There is a lot of info on the net about using an electric motor for such purposes. I know, poor
power/weight ratio and all, but two stroke engines are really big polluters. I ride my bike to avoid
such pollution, not to exacerbate the problem.

Whitfit

 

"whitfit" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> There is a lot of info on the net about using an electric motor for such purposes. I know, poor
> power/weight ratio and all, but two stroke engines are really big polluters. I ride my bike to
> avoid such pollution, not to exacerbate the problem.

OK, but where does the electricity come from? Coal and fuel oil ( because of the irrational fear of
nuclear here). The contribution of solar/hydro is pretty small. And besides being generated from
coal and oil, your electricity suffers conversion/transmission/storage losses too .

So enjoy if you are so inclined but please don't bring "less pollution" as an argument for
electrics. Similar to the current hydrogen hype ( the "clean" hydrogen gets separated by burning
coal and oil ) and the shamelsss ethanol hoax ( a net loss after the energy to produce/deliver
the stuff) .

And just for perspective, all the assisted-power bicycles in America taken together add up to
virtually nothing in a discussion of pollution. There just aren't big numbers there.
--
Andrew Muzi http://www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April 1971