The man with the plan can not be banned

The beauty of the Internet is its decentralization. Information is difficult if not impossible to censor or keep secret for very long. In the Motored bike community there seems to be a philosophical rift that is as wide open as the Grand Canyon! My interest in motored bikes is as a hard core bicycle commuter not to be a motor cycle rider. I have some money and if I wanted to ride a motor cycle I would simply buy one. The engine and kit that I have chosen reflect this philosophy and is legal in just about all 50 US states. I am a cyclist first and a motored biker second yet the two have kind of merged when I ride that GEBE/Fisher bicycle. And bicycle it still is under Wisconsin law even with the motor and I want to keep it that way!
The way that I have chosen to power assist my bicycle is proven and safe and legal. Its engine is well under the states regulations yet it can do 30 mph on the flats with a good power assist. What more does a bicycle need to do? Augie has a plan of action for the motorized bicyclist and that plan is to cooperate with the authorities and follow their restrictions that keep our motorized bikes legally bicycles. Trust me we all want to remain as bicyclists in the legal sense otherwise you will have to purchase insurance and pay registration fees and have all kinds of additional headaches and expenses that we don't have right now.
Its time for the adults to take over the debate and provide some guidance to what the children are discussing.

Kevin

Please join Augie's web ring

I know that on my blog of late there have been some serious issues discussed on the subject of motorized bicycles. But what I am hoping for is for some folks to just put up their personal web sites or blogs about their motorized bicycle experiences. I mean things like I took the bike over to the post office or I stopped for a cup of coffee on my motorized bike. Or I commuted to work. Or I just went for a ride!
No need to tackle the big issues but their is a need to show how useful for everyday activities these motorized bikes can be. Me thinks that this is the bottom line...

Kevin

Man combined with machine

I went out today for one hour and twenty three minutes for a cycling work out on my GEBE/Fisher bicycle.
The course was hilly and very icy in parts and totally free of snow and ice in parts. I pedaled the whole way about 32 miles. It was 20 degrees and sunny.
I should put a heart rate monitor on my rides it certainly got up there! Well its a great work out.
I could go over for a bunch of cyclists why this was a good workout and how spinning the cranks is a great thing but for the audience that is reading this blog its all about speed. And all about going fast. And all about the cutting edge. But that cutting edge as far as motor sports goes was over 100 years ago and a lot of folks just need to come back to reality. The age of the motorized bicycle has past at least for pure performance purposes. But for transportation issues its still a way to get from point A to point B quite efficiently.
My use of a motorized bicycle is simply a way to get to work and back very economically at that!
I think the way to look at this issue is historically. I am no expert on this subject but a power assist on a modern bicycle is just a no brainier option for a commuter such as myself!
Think what you want and ride what you want or pump gas into your four thousand pound cage at three bucks plus a gallon. 200 plus miles per gallon or  12 miles per gallon take your pick.
My choice is clear.

Kevin

Merry Christmas motored bikers!

Wow! What a great bunch of information served up on my personal blog in the last couple of weeks. I got attention from some of the founders of the motored bicycle revolution and it was great stuff to hear about.
My personal hope for the new year is that folks might get along and focus on the common goal of keeping power assisted bikes both legal and reliable.
I am a very hard core ultra marathon cyclist but I still need to get to work and back and motorizing an old obsolete mountain bike seemed sensible to me when gasoline is now over three bucks a galleon and climbing. The powers that be simply plan on robbing us blind! However the best weapon in the new year is the idea of consuming less gasoline and going motored biking. It is a sensible idea to me but if ya need your four thousand pound cage around ya God bless you!
I also feel that keeping things legal is a critical idea in the "snitch" culture that seems to be heading our way big time. A motorist calls 911 about some lunatic on a bicycle with a motor on it and all of the sudden you have big time attention from law enforcement coming your way. But in most states their are reasonable restrictions on our bikes and power assist motors and keeping things legal and going along with the laws can prevent many problems. Some think that this is an irrelevant topic but I think that this topic will be getting a lot of billing in the new year.

Merry Christmas motored bikers

Kevin

The best way to motorize a bicycle

What is the best way to motorize a bicycle?
That is a huge question I think and one that needs to be debated. And that debate should never end. It should set up a system of competition among the engineers and designers of any products that would come to market. Instead of suppressing ideas the Internet should spread those idea's and decentralize them. That is why Augi's web ring idea is a good one for this small but growing part of cycling culture. I went by the gas station today and it was three dollars and nine cents a gallon. That hurts everyone. And a motor assisted bike is a way to fight this trend.
Right now the technology goes hands down to Golden Eagle Bike Engines for their pure simplicity of design and their great customer service.
The key to their system is their drive ring  and engine clutch and drive belt. No one else in the industry comes close to this level of technology and innovation.
I am living with this system through all kinds of commuting environments including rain snow and cold weather yet this system is super reliable.
The most important aspect of a motor assist bicycle kit at least for me is reliability. And I can say that GEBE is a very reliable one at that.
Total miles now over 1900 with a 25 mph average speed. Not to shabby! If I could pedal a real bike like that I would be at the head of the pack next July with Lance and the gang....

Kevin

The Grin Factor

I had my Gary Fisher CR-7 bike looked over by all of my friends. And I had them all take it for a ride and there was a huge grin factor to the experience. Many traditional cyclists would frown on the addition of a motor to a bicycle but that GEBE system makes it so easy and fun!
When I explained to my cycling friends that this bike was simply an addition to my transportation needs to work and back in addition to my car it just made perfect sense to them. No judgment nor anything. But on riding the bike they all got that experience of something that was different and special. The women in particular got it more than the men did! You pedal the bike forward and hit the throttle and your at 25 plus mph just in a few seconds.
That was the grin factor for my pals at the local bike shop this past fall.
Its all about building bridges the way I see it and fighting is a waste of time and energy!
I have simply added motored biking as a way to get to work to my other cycling activities.
As many cyclists say its not about the bike its about the motor. And GEBE at least for now has the best one out there for the motor assisted bicyclist.
I have shown the grin factor to a lot of folks and believe me GEBE is a cool topic among my cycling pals.

Kevin

GEBE'S website

Here is why that I think that this company GEBE has the best motored bike kit on the market.
Go over to their page and read the customer reviews. There are dozens and quite a few of them are mounted on to cheap Walmart bikes. I am a huge hater of cheap Walmart bikes and the notion of powering one of these things to 30 mph out on the road just made me go wild. But what I discovered instead of these poor quality bikes breaking they seemed to be fine under GEBE power assist. That led me to change my opinion quite reluctantly about these bikes and motorizing them! Many folks find them selves up against it with gas at over three bucks now!  Mounting of this kit on one of these cheap bikes shows how gentle the belt drive and the drive ring is to the bicycle frame. I simply do not understand what is going on with that when I have seen strong riders simply tear these bikes apart pedaling them! I am not an engineer and simply have no answer for this fact but fact it is. That was another reason that I choose GEBE. If a Walmart bike can handle it what could my classic Fisher CR-7 do with this kit? I have that answer now with over 1900 miles on this kit.
The words are awesome technology!

Kevin

Lets debate the Happy Time motor here

My interest in motored bikes started when my long commute by car became expensive. I am a cyclist but felt that my 67 mile round trip was just a little to long to pedal so I became interested in power assisting the traditional bicycle.
I looked into this for a long time and happened on some of the online motored bike forums that I read a lot of stuff on. A man on one of the forums who rides his bike like crazy had a lot of posts on this site. He rides a cool custom framed steel bike with a GEBE motor kit on it. I looked at all of the kits out there and came to the conclusion that GEBE was the best on the market. I also came to the conclusion that marketers of the Happy Time motors, and BTW that phrase was coined by Augi, were a bit unethical. It seemed to me that this sites purpose was to sell happy time motors and kits. Then Augi got banned and I am like what is going on here?
Then I got banned for posting a link to Augi's blog?
The table is open for debate. Show me that I am wrong that GEBE is not the best system out there to motorize a bike and that HT engine kits are reliable for hard core commuters like me.
I am all ears and will let all posts stay up unlike some venues with the exception of huge flames or profanity and remember the delete button that some forum moderators love is just a push away....

Kevin

Happy Times are not so happy

Some forums  promote kits for bicycles to motorize them that are made in China from just a few sources. There website is a tool to get customers to buy these products of dubious quality at great profit to the sellers of these products and to the disadvantage of the consumer a pretty noticeable trend of our times. Doing a Google search I could not help but notice that this site got top billing over on Google(another reason to use another search engine)since the folks on this site paid Google to put their site at the top of the heap.
There greatest tool to do this is there message board billed as the greatest thing for the motored bicyclist.
On the side bar are numerous adds for a plethora of company's that sell motored bike kits but in the true scheme of things there is only one motor sold by these folks and that is the Happy Time motor. Its origin is from a few Chinese factories and its distributors in the US are many. Many claims of speed and fuel economy have come from some of these "company's".
Golden Eagle Bike Engines also has an add on this site but any opinion of there product on these message boards is closely regulated and to post about GEBE one must go to a sub category of motored biking "the rack mounted engine"! I guess that is not really a motored bicycle after all!
Cycling is a very mature sport and to put things in perspective let me tell a few story's and give some examples of our culture. The first bikes were before the turn of the 20th century and by 1900 it was a hit and even roads were fixed to accommodate the riders. By the latter half of the Century there were many cycling print publications one of which was Bicycling magazine which is still in print to this day. Many cyclists feel that this publication should be renamed "Buy Cycling" for its very commercial content for the bicycling retailers and manufacturers but in the end this publication has some great stories from time to time and does report on abuse from retailers and manufacturers. In traditional cycling there is so much competition between manufactures that it is beyond belief! Yet this simply gives the consumer a grand choice of high quality products! In the motored bike industry this is not the case. Poor performing company's are protected with censorship from the moderators of some sites and real cutting edge company's like GEBE are ignored and forced to the back of the bus!
So as a reasonable journalist I am just cautioning anyone planning to motorize their bike to observe the motto buyer beware!
Here is an example of this sites censorship.

You have been banned for the following reason:
Posting that link is enough.
Date the ban will be lifted: Never

I posted a review of my GEBE kit along with a link to Augi's web ring site and this was their response.
That link is proudly displayed in my side bar and I would invite any reasonable person with a blog or web site to join.
Golden Eagle Bikes feels that Augi is so important that they have sponsored him as a rider!
Well, I am banned with Augi and proud of it!

Kevin

What makes for a good motored bike?

First off I would like to point out that the most important choice for any bicyclist and that includes one with a motor on it is the frame. Once you have found a suitable frame you can change anything out. Like the wheels or drive train. My opinion at least for a motored bike is that steel is real. I mean its the oldest choice for a frame material. Its strong and tough an malleable. One can repair it inexpensively.
Unfortunately this material at least in quality bike frames seems to be getting quite rare with most of the interest in exotic carbon for most of the high end market and Aluminum for the low end market.
What is a motored biker to do? First look on Craigslist for a good used preferably steel framed hybrid or mountain bike second look for a good quality used aluminum frame set from one of the top manufactures such as Fisher or Trek. I can spot old bikes that will work a mile away.
The next thing to consider is your motorized drive train. GEBE is the absolute leader in reliability and quality of design and pure speed for there small engines mounted on a simple bicycle.
There are many kit providers out there to supply the motored bikers needs but most if not all of them other than GEBE are all of the notoriously unreliable Russian/Chinese motors that come with most if not all of these kits. Listen to me here. If you commute 60 plus miles a day on a motor that has to be mixed with 17/1 oil and gas the oil costs more than the gas to operate the motor. Or one can get a Robin/Subaru engine that is a 4 stroke and needs no oil added to the fuel! Or if ya need the 2 stroke power you can get the Tanaka engine that is fuel efficient and powerful for the commuter. This engine has a 50/1 oil fuel mix and is an extremely low emission engine.
So to recap to be a successful motored biker one needs to have a solid bicycle frame with reliable wheels and a good drive train powered by a great engine and power transfer system like GEBE's.
This is the stuff that powers a great reliable motored commuter bicycle the way I see things!

Kevin

Todays Ride

I went out today on my motorized Gary Fisher/GEBE bike today for about 35 miles.
It was maybe 20 degrees today but it was sunny and beautiful. As usual I used this motored bike as a work out machine. I hit snow covered icy rural roads with my studded tires mounted this week! I thought that those studded tires would really slow me down but with that great GEBE system I only lost about a mile per hour! I went from a 26 mph average to a 25 mph average!
I mounted an old pair of IRC studded Blizzard tires that are about 2 inch in width that just barely fit the drive belt from the engine mount. But every thing was working out just fine!
What is really remarkable about the GEBE system is how it lays down power to the rear wheel. I mean with out a power assist I would barely be able to hold 15 mph average on these super heavy tires with metal studs in them....

Happy Time Motors

I became interested in motor assisted bikes about a year ago.
Golden Eagle Bike Engines had the best concept for motorizing a pedal bicycle.

 The reason for this sentiment is the "Happy Time" motor. These motors and kits that surround them come from an engine designed in Russia in the mid '40s and maybe were popular there until the '60s. The Engine was then cloned by the Chinese for there domestic transportation needs and later imported to America under various vendors but all the engines are basically from Chinese factories. There quality is notoriously poor and with there mid frame mount on cheap bicycle frames are at least to me some what problematic! They all have chain drives to the rear of the wheel and the kits and bikes very much resemble small motor cycles.
All of these engines would be illegal in Wisconsin where I live. We have a 49cc restriction and a speed limit of 30mph or less in our state. All reasonable restrictions.
The problem as I see it is engine displacement and all of the problems with that and a human powered bicycle especially the cheap bikes from places like Walmart.
The best cyclists such as Lance Armstrong can generate 500 watts for about an hour in events like the time trial in the Tour De France. The bikes like Lance rides are designed to take the rigors of super strong pro athletes like lance Armstrong. A strong pro rider could simply tear apart a cheap Walmart bike in just a few rides. My point with all this is simple. My Robin/Subaru EHO 35 is rated at about 1200 watts plus the power I can muster as a really fit cyclist of maybe 300 watts with the average untrained cyclist able to muster maybe 150 watts. My point here with this is simple. Once you add a motor you place a lot of stress on a bicycle frame that it was not designed for and risk that frame set failing with catastrophic results!
I believe that these oversised HT engines are simply to much for the common bicycle and that there are serious safety concerns with these cheap kits!
I also believe that the best engine mount on a traditional pedal bike should be a rear rack mount such as what I use. With the frame mount model all of those stresses are added to the frame which it was not designed to handle. GEBE proves to me how well there system integrates with cheap Walmart bikes since many of their customers use the kits on these bikes with little problems. They have hundreds of testimonials about their product on their website! I think that there is something to their belt drive system mounted via a rack on the rear of the bicycle that is gentle to the bicycle as long as one power assists the bicycle.
So, in a nut shell I have become really opposed to these cheap Chinese Happy Time motors. I believe in personal freedom and personal responsibility.

Kevin

Grounded by the weather for commuting by bike

The weather this early winter in Wisconsin has been so very brutal that I have put on hold my commuting for a week or so just waiting to see what happens.
Today I put an old pair of IRC Blizzard studded mountain bike tires on the bike! They just squeaked by the drive belt for a nice fit at about two inches in width!
I did a little over 30 miles on some very slippery frozen ice covered Wisconsin rural roads. What a blast flying down a rural icy road at 25 plus miles per hour!
Of course today's high was 8 degrees but with that motored bike and some great clothes I had no problems at all on this ride! Of course I pedaled quite a lot to add to the great ride a nice cycling workout. I think that today I will have to take my camera along to get some pics of just how beautiful winter is up in Wisconsin...


Kevin