This Wisconsin Winter has been a bit brutal! I have not commuted to work for a couple of weeks but the night time temps have moderated a bit so maybe today I might do the commute on the motored bike. I just mounted some fenders on the bike to go along with the great IRC studded tires. None of this is perfect of course just my little experiment. But I have to say that GEBE has given me to date 2000 miles of commuting with a power assist on my Gary Fisher CR-7! Lets go figure, it does cost about 50 cents a mile to operate an auto in America so that means I saved over 1000 dollars including fuel costs on this GEBE system.
I am indeed ahead of the game already.
Ride what ya want...

Happy times to all in this great new year...

The crazy motored bike commuter

Duck tape does indeed fix all things!
My drill got borrowed out to a relative or a friend or who knows...
So I was mounting fenders on this bike so the closest thing on hand was a roll of duct tape. Red to match the frame set!
It will last long enough for me until I can get a couple of holes drilled into those GEBE mount brackets for the fender struts.

The super crazy motored bike commuter

This bicycle is a Gary Fisher CR-7 mountain bike set up with a power assist GEBE internal combustion system with a very clever clutch and drive train mechanism.
This bike has done and will do many hard core commuter miles in all types of weather.
I am extremely impressed with this GEBE motor kit!
In Wisconsin this set up for commuting is perfectly street legal. It is reliable and very fuel efficient. Is this the best thing out there for the motored biker? Me thinks so. If ya can prove other wise please post. No bans here for honest opinions!
The traditional definition of a bicycle like mine is a moped.
Maybe in some other post at some other time I will address this historical issue.
But for now and for me the crazy commute must continue...

The motored bike crazy commuter

Motored bikers beware

You folks simply need to read the bike snob to see what is going on.
I mean getting a ticket for riding a bike in New York City for heavens sakes! But it seems that a lot of cyclists don't want to follow the law. And to the law in New York City any type of power assist seems to be illegal.
So the thugs win at least in New York State as I see things.
Me thinks that it is a greater plan to control transportation of humans. A simple motored bike? Not going to happen man. Does cooperation with the "man" give us any more right to ride down the road on a motorized bike?
Just a simple question in light of what is going down...

The super crazy motored bike commuter

Motored bicycles are currently under the radar

Since I have been commuting on my motored bicycle I have noticed that law enforcement does not care at the present time if you have a power assist motor on your bicycle. Nor have I seen in almost 2000 miles of riding another  motorized bicyclist. So, one can assume that as for right now it is clearly business as usual for the Happy Time industry in the motored bike world.
So for now you have a buy. But how long this buy lasts in this current police state economy who knows? Maybe I will turn you in to home land security for being suspicious on that motored happy time bicycle.
Naw... don't care a bit what ya ride around on but as snitch culture gets ramped up who knows?
Well not to harp on the GEBE product here. But why not harp on it? If ya want to get there as Augie says run with GEBE. That's what I am running and its a great reliable product. Great to see that GEBE has adds on those questionable forums. Those adds point the way to folks to have a reliable motorized bicycle experience!
For me anyway out on that open road at night on the way home from work reliability is king!
I know that I am simple minded but that's simply the way I see things!

The motored bike crazy commuter

Some changes to this blogs formats

I changed the nature of how the subjects are posted on the main page of this blog. All the entries are on the main page.  On the sidebar is a monthly link to each month of the posts. It reads more like a book on the main page. With all of the great information posted that is how I was trying to present it.
All are welcome here both motored bikers and traditional cyclists.
I want to thank one of the guru's and founding members of this new cycling tradition "Augiedog" as he goes by for providing history and incite into this new and very fascinating perspective on the simple traditional bicycle.
Putting a motor on the simple bicycle seems to change things for a lot of folks but for me as long as that motor is only a power assist it changes very little as far as I see things!
Basic transportation is a big issue with fuel prices approaching 5 dollars a gallon! And a power assist bicycle powered by GEBE and strapped on to a solid Gary Fisher mountain bike are my answer to my personal transportation dilemma's.
As always the politics of the motored bike world are welcome here as are the issues of the legality of motored biking and power assist. Everything is political in my opinion. From politics come policy for how one can or can not ride down a road on a bicycle with a power assist motor on it!
From motored bike society comes motored bike politics to real motored bike policy's that are enforced by law enforcement. Some need to learn and understand how the system works or suffer for not doing so...

Kevin the crazy motored bike commuter

I went out today in a snow storm on my motored bicycle. It has been a tough winter here in Wisconsin. Little snow for us cross country skiers and plenty little to do for any out door fitness activities except for motored biking on winter roads that is!
I snapped a few pics out on my motored bike today. Its better to look at some pics of some beautiful winter roads in Wisconsin than to concentrate on some of the negative things about motored bikes of late. Let me tell ya how beautiful it was today to be out on the open road...
Me thinks that this is what cycling is all about even if the bike has a power assist motor on board! On Blogger if you left click the pick will enlarge to near full screen for these images. The pics are full quality so there is a bunch of detail to them enjoy.

Kevin

Happy Times yet well made

This bicycle has a very stout frame set with its mounted Happy time motor to it. This is an edit to my original post. The motor on this bike is under the 50cc threshold for legality in most states. I am impressed with its quality and have no problems with its use as a power assisted bicycle. The look is artistic and cool. However its design as a bicycle leaves me to wonder how much actual pedaling will occur with this bike? I suspect very little.
Its kind of that ghetto chopper style of bicycle not meant for much pedaling but for much "cool". To each his own. As long as its safe to ride I have little problems with this type of bike.
Steel is real for this type of app and I think that with some thought one would use this material to its best advantage. Its not that expensive to be safe either.
Motored bike manufacturers need to step up or step out the way I see things...

Kevin

The Happy Time Attitude

This is a perfect example of the Happy Time Bike with a cheap bone shaking Chinese engine on it. This cheap frame set is not made for a power assist engine. This bikes frame is so poor that simply pedaling one is dangerous!
This is a picture of the problems that I have with your culture and this industries obvious void of character! Pardon my rudeness but as a cyclist this bicycle is so poor in quality that the notion of a motor on it to power it over 30 miles per hour is just ludicrous in the extreme.
This is what Augie means when he speaks of the Happy Time Attitude and I agree.
With the rack mounted systems it is less dangerous than on one of these with a mid frame mount. These cheap frames were not designed nor intended to have a powerful motor attached to them! Especially one that can cause a lot of vibration on the critical frame structure.
However some of the rack mounted systems such as the roller drive and GEBE ring system seem to be gentle on the bicycle as long as one power assists.
I think that folks that want a Happy Time motorcycle set up need to first find a very strong preferably steel very stout frame set for this type of application. Department store bikes simply do not fit the bill they were never intended to be motorized. Simply put the average Walmart bike customer might ride his bike once a month at best and that's what these frames are designed for. Its simply a price point for a bicycle.
Happy Times to all in this new year...

Kevin

The motored bike world is a peculier world

I have been cycling for 40 plus years and am seriously trying to understand motored bike culture. In this culture there are folks that sell motors and kits that make a simple bicycle into a motorcycle and that on some of the cheapest of frame sets!
In most states there are laws that define what a bicycle is or is not and how much power assist can be added to a bicycle and still have it be legally classified as a bicycle. You know if you are classified as a bicycle you need no insurance nor registration and in some states no drivers license. The restrictions are reasonable in most states yet some in the motored bike community insist on pushing this issue with law enforcement. Trust me they will figure it out!
The cheap China revolution consists of a motor designed in Russia and now moved over to China and imported by a number of "American" distributors of dubious character.
I will quote Augidog one of the founders of the motored bike culture of the last few years on the China bike thing.


"i agree with you that the leading forums hosting MBcontent have taken on an unsavory commercial flavor, and like you i no longer send folks to them.

the Happy Time, a phrase i coined some years ago ("Chinese super bicycle happy time" as a play on words referring to Chinese fireworks that go off unpredictably) DOES offer one politically-correct option, imo: the 48cc version, while still of dubious quality, can be installed on a suitably safe frameset/wheelset for entry-level riders, altho i am aware that is hardly ever the case.

i think the large majority of the MB'ing populace, both buyer and seller, shamefully & stupidly ignore the safety considerations involved."

These cheap Chinese engines are so unreliable that Augie has coined them and compared them to cheap unreliable Chinese fireworks!
Augie is very funny but is spot on in his analysis of this peculiar culture.
Many company's sell Happy time motors but they all come from the same place no matter how many American distributors hawk them. Its the way things are man. I am in a sea of BS just trying to find some truth. Well Augie the truth is told on my blog. I plan on inviting a number of my hard core cycling friends to check out this blog. That might get interesting! I am hard core cycling yet need to get to work in an economical manor. I am of course a huge fan of GEBE! Me thinks that they have superb engineering into their kits but of course I am biased this is my personal blog....

Kevin

Hard core commuter GEBE/Fisher setup

This bicycle has two inch studded tires for winter roads. A GEBE super reliable engine with its patented drive train. The frame is a valued Gary Fisher CR-7 road frame which pioneered many many mountain bike innovations. It makes a superb road bicycle with a power assist.
Kevin

The New York Bike Snob has a blurb about motored bikes

The Bike Snob has a few words to say about a new electric motored bike.
I would love to here his critique of the Happy Time motored bike culture. Please scroll down a bit to see this gem! And to the faint of heart and to most motored bikers this site could be a little hard to handle that's why its on my sidebar of course! This guy is a great read with a great sense of humor about the absurd things going on in cycling culture. Happy time culture is indeed absurd! I love the little midget Harley look but I don't want to discriminate against midgets so I will leave it at that! Seriously, a GEBE bike could be humorously criticized but would ultimately pass muster. Just my thoughts on this subject.
Maybe I should send him an email...

Kevin

Some Wisconsin Winter photos

I really am going to take some pictures of our recent snow fall in the Kettle Moraine forest and post them for you folk on this blog. Maybe today if I can find some time to take a few pictures.
Its been brutal cold up here in Wisconsin the last few weeks with a break of warm weather with driving rain than back to brutal cold weather. One of the toughest winters that I can remember! The night time lows are always in the single digits.
It was 12 for a high today. So I should get out tomorrow with that camera.

Kevin

The Corps of Discovery

I am a huge fan of Thomas Jefferson and of Lewis and Clark! Imagine what Jefferson had before him with the Louisiana purchase and a whole contenent before him! So he sent out this expidition paid for by the new US government. This trip was very profound in my opinion on our history as a nation. It was almost greater in magnitude than the trip to the moon! But I guess that is a matter of perspective.
It's great to hear that Augidog wants to go over these great roads that our forefathers built this great country on!
And hopefully the spirit of Jefferson will come back to our shores! And that's what I think motored bicycling is all about. It could be the last way for the common man to get around without the "man" around to control how he gets to and from whatever.
Getting to or from "whatever" is what the experiment in freedom is all about according to men like Jefferson!
It is hard to imagine what would have come to our world with the freedoms that our new country had in 1805 with the technology of today could have built so in a nut shell there is no perfect world but there always is that ideal.

Kevin

Happy New year Motored bikers!!!

Lets hope that the new year lets folks ride what they want down the road with out harrassment from law enforcement and that all may get along and find a way to fight the five dollar a galleon thing that I think that is coming!
It's all about getting down the road the way I see things.
I will continue to let my personal blog be an avenue for serious debate about motorized bicycling what ever the definition of that happens to be.
All opinions will be respected but subject to some control. I would love to see a network of writers about motored bikes emerge in the new year.
This site is not about control but about decentralization of information about motored bikes.
I am pretty open to most if not all ideas on this subject but in an imperfect world we have law enforcement breathing down our backs as laws are passed with who knows what will happen in the future that I think even pedaling a simple bike down the road might be illegal some day in the former great US of A.


Kevin