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.
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
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
posted by KMB at
1:20 AM
12 Comments:
The first two lines of the blog are false so how can I trust that anything else said is correct? For what is worth I am banned also but I deserved it...
Funny....anyone can search GEBE on Motoredbikes.com and anyother vendor. I got over 500 results for GEBE and 500 for EZ Motorbike. Seems pretty fair. It is also odd that you are speaking out for one against commercialism by promoting GEBE.
How much did Augi pay you to post that load of rubbish? I haven't read so much misinformation in one place in a long, long time. Get your facts straight.
You make that forum out to be a dealer of engine kits. With that totally incorrect assumption in the first part of your post, how could anyone possibly take what you're saying seriously?
Also, searches on that site show many, many results for companies such as GEBE, EZ, Titan, Robin / Subaru, Honda, Harbor Freight (Greyhound), Whizzer, Morini, Staton, Zenoah and others.
You simply did not respond to my article at all.
Every one you mentioned except for GEBE uses the happy time motor. That's the issue and what exactly am or who am I miss informing?
Please refute my first two lines with some facts.
I will go one better for you. I will not delete your posts like you deleted all mine and banned me from your site.My crime was a link to Augi's site hardly any big deal. Your handlers should simply let Augi have a link posted on your site. I have no plans on reading your site again nor do I think does Augi.
The content of my article is the HT motor and how it is the main supplier to most of these company's on motored bikes.
I will leave your posts up here.
I am looking at the delete button though. You folks love that one or should I say you love the ban button.
Kevin
You make that forum out to be a dealer of engine kits. With that totally incorrect assumption in the first part of your post, how could anyone possibly take what you're saying seriously?
Dude,
That's the beauty of your scam man! You are a message board but its goal is to promote happy time engines. These HT engines are the whole point of my post on this blog. Look, in all 50 states what is being hawked on your adds on your side bar are not legal in most of the 50 states including Wisconsin. Why is something that is illegal promoted on this site? That is my point exactly that this is unethical. You can post what you want here my friend. Not at all hostile to you and the debate is good. And a debate like this will never happen on MBC.
Thanks for your responce
Kevin
hello, "anonymous"...you name-less wonder...i authored MBc as you see it today, with a few addendums as exception. i allowed for ALL makers and sellers to have an equal say, and influence...i was about fair-play. are you aware GEBE was the first sponsor of the forum, always paid for exposure, and never once tooted its own horn except thru action, UNLIKE some other new "american" companies who have lately emerged only to behave like the aggressive chinese-engine companies? i tried to anticipate and curtail the mercenary behaviors, but doggone it if too many of you are glued to the MTV mentality...since when is freedom about pushing the envelope? it (freedom) is about proactively trying to get along and ethically playing fair. personally, it's very disappointing to help spawn local businesses only to have business-as-usual. bah!!
grube and his oversize versions of the unHappy-Time will be the ruin of the legality of ALL Motorized-Bicycling...and i'll be goldanged if y'all just don't play along. in order to be approved & labeled, he had to declare them "off-road MOTORCYCLE" engines. NOT bicycle-engines. so quit peeing up our backs and insisting it is raining. you are either a motorized-bicyclist who respects & complies with the reasonable parameters, or a lame motorcycle wannabe poser.
kevink, being relatively new, may have missed a few facts, but the point is: the new MBc would prefer you clueless. it wants to be like the "other forum"...all about the clicks (money) and popularity. bigger is NOT better. bigger is just more profitable, and the drive for profit-as-primary has pretty much destroyed everything else the united states ever had going for it.
my whole MB-trip has been a marvelous study in macro-sociology...and trust me my friends, the prognosis is NOT positive.
banning folks for agreeing with the founding ideals of MBc? well, shoot, THE mbc is dead as far as i'm concerned. and who would know better than one of its founders?
Let's face it, the motorbike site is ok with some good peeps, it's the admin and a mod who are doing the damage. Bans left and right, place is uptight, not much fun anymore. You'd think it was something really serious not just folks having fun with bicycles.
Wow....is little kevin going to let Augi tell him what to delete and what to leave up on his own site?
Kevin. You really need to get your facts straight.
"Every one you mentioned except for GEBE uses the happy time motor. That's the issue and what exactly am or who am I miss informing?"
I can answer that question.. Everyone!!!
None of these motors; GEBE, EZ, Titan, Robin / Subaru, Honda, Harbor Freight (Greyhound), Whizzer, Morini, Staton, Zenoah are the Happy Time engine.
You need to do your homework instead of listening to one person with an axe to grind!
use your name if you want any credibility.
i haven't been "telling" kevin anything, he's been reading for himself. i was quite surprised to see him get so involved.
the problem i have with the route the forums have taken is that new guys can easily get the impression that HTs are what MB'ing is...and that should be made clear by how confusing it is for kevin to get the facts. i happen to know the facts, and having "an axe to grind" does not apply, i simply am disappointed in what the facts show me, and i gotta say i believe the average HT buyer/rider is detrimental to our motorsport ever going beyond hobby-level. if i never see another huffy/HT upside-down-handlebars "boardtracker" again it will be too soon.
Anon,,,
GEBE is not a motor its a kit with a motor made in Japan and a high quality one at that.
Augi, let this person rant it just shows what is going on to me! I always wondered why you were so angry about this place now I see why.
When you were banned up came a picture of a crying baby and underneath was your name and the word banned. I thought to myself that that was really childish!
With a dispute like what is going on over on mbc a smart web manager would have posted a link along with a fair well to a great founding member to your new site so that your many readers could follow your rides and adventures. I saw what this site is with my banning for simply posting a link to your new site.
Thanks for posting Augi and great info as always...
Kevin
Augi,
I was confused. It took a lot of time to sort through all the stuff.
My goal as a motored biker is to get to work and back as much as possible on my motored bike.
My goal is to cycle both motored and pedal 10000 miles of my 15000 mile commute. Your adventures on your GEBE motored bike convinced me that GEBE was the way to go for a kit purchase. I am most impressed with the system...
Kevin
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