Updated May 24, 2017

I completed this motored bike project using a kit from this company. http://www.ezmotorbike.com/As of this time, I have ridden 5,400 miles on this bike with no mishaps or mechanical problems except for a rocker arm shaft that shifted out of place and rubbed the cover eventually making a small leaking hole. The fix was to use JB Weld to keep it from shifting. This bike has a small 4 stroke dependable motor and the drive and clutch is very simple to use and maintain.

http://motorbicycling.com/

http://www.motoredbikes.com/

These forums are a great place to learn about what it takes to start, and successfully complete a motorbike project. Lots of helpful people and information here.

This is pretty much a standard Phat beach bike with an EZ Motorbike engine kit installed.

Extras include:

Sturmey-Archer front brake Schwinn Panniers, I found these at Wal-mart (where else) for $25.00 they are made of fairly lightweight material and very roomy. Not the best certainly, but if someone steals them, I won't be crying about it.

The rack is made for an Electra bike. I liked the design so I made a bracket to fit my Phat See-breeze brand bike

I installed a wider set of crank arms and used a inexpensive set of which came with adapters which spaced the pedals out for a more comfortable position.

What is left of the original bike is the frame, seat and handlebars. Everything else has been upgraded, I purposely have not kept track of the cost, probably a good thing.

One of the coolest additions to this bike is a custom hub and sprocket made by the Manic Mechanic. The hub was certainly a precision fit and works wonderfully, reasonably priced for sure.

Bell impulse Led Light.

I like this light because it has a flashing mode that I use all the time. I would like to get some yellow or amber material to make the light more distinctive.

Like my other bike, I made sure that the chain on the motor side did not need a tensioner. I installed a slotted tang and put a sprocket from an old derailleur as suggested by: Motorbike Mike.Its clean and simple.

Update: After riding a couple of years with the muffler, I decided to take it off because it sounds better and probably helps the performance. I always wear earplugs anyway, so the louder sound is a non issue.

The motor puts outs a pretty good sound with the straight flex pipe, but too loud for me though. I made a baffle out of some 3/4 EMT conduit (used in electrical work) drill with many holes and then some flattened lock washers were welded on each end.

Click on thumbnail for a large view

I bought some muffler fiberglass and wrapped the baffle and reinserted into the flex pipe.

I ended using shipping tape to compress the glass enough so it would fit. Sure the tape will eventually burn off, not a problem.

The result is a glass-pack muffler and while the sound is still "throaty", it is a lot more tolerable.

Errand Runner Riding Impressions

The motor starts most of the time with one pull. There is a noticeable "flat spot' when accelerating. This is probably due to too lean a jet (California emissions.) It is not a huge problem but one that I would eventually like to fix.

With the present gearing, the bike is easily off the line with a couple of turns of the pedal. The cruising speed is smooth at about 25 mph. Top speed on a flat surface is 28 mph. It would be nice to be able to do 30, but the lower end would suffer. With an honest 25 mph, I can keep up with the traffic going through the wonderfully timed lights downtown.

The drive (clutch) unit is very simple but I ended up making a couple of modifications which reduced the slippage I noticed. One was an improvement to how the clutch cable attaches to the arm, the improvement made it so the cable doesn't get squashed and the cable is easily removed.

Final Specifications