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Vintage Honda Owners,
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Motorized bicycles... I build em.

Who said it was only about Motorcycles? What else do you collect, restore, enjoy... ?
Rusty Bikes
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Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2007 11:58 pm

Motorized bicycles... I build em.

Post by Rusty Bikes » Wed Feb 28, 2007 10:04 pm

I like to build motorized bicycles.
I never had the money for a Whizzer or a Whizzer kit so I discovered the Chinese 2 stroke engine kits about 3 years ago.
I have built 3 different motor bikes.
The first was a 1955 Schwinn 24" frame modified to accept 26" wheels, built up as a bobber chopper style.

Next was a 1905 inspired "clip on" kit style with a brass fuel tank and steam bent oak fenders.

The last was a 1920's Mead "Motorbike" style bicycle with a Russian moped engine.

Each bike had lots of custom and vintage touches.

I had to sell them all to pay the rent, (starving artist syndrome)

Here are the pictures of each bike.
Rusty
Attachments
1920's Mead crusader with Russian moped engine
1920's Mead crusader with Russian moped engine
1955 Schwinn bobber
1955 Schwinn bobber
1905 oak fenders brass coleman fuel tank.
1905 oak fenders brass coleman fuel tank.

4shorts
honda305.com Member
Posts: 436
Joined: Thu Sep 21, 2006 8:45 pm
Location: Newfoundland, Canada

Post by 4shorts » Thu Mar 01, 2007 6:46 am

Only see the last picture?? But it's great. Very nice work. See if the other pics will work. Would enjoy seeing them. Thanks for posting. Paul

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smithenhiven
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Posts: 65
Joined: Sun Nov 26, 2006 4:00 pm
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Post by smithenhiven » Thu Mar 01, 2007 9:20 am

I too can only see one picture, but I'm anxious to see the others. This is right up the alley of my next little project. I've got a 1952 Honda Cub F bicycle engine, and would like to attach it to a period correct Japanese bike (do you know where I could locate one perhaps?).

Image
Image
Image

It would look like this when restored/assembled:
Image

Rusty Bikes
honda305.com Member
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2007 11:58 pm

Post by Rusty Bikes » Thu Mar 01, 2007 10:18 am

Don't know whats up with the pictures.
They all show up when I look.

Honda Cub engine looks like a fun restoration.
The bike is probabily a 28" wheel bike that has been built the same since the industrial revolution like the "Flying pigeon" is still produced today.
They all seem to be based on the Sturmey Archer design from that period.
You could haunt ebay for one. If you could be content to have a vintage looking bike retrofitted to the project you may consider Rideable bicycle replicas english road bike.
http://www.hiwheel.com/antique_replicas ... adster.htm
They seem to be out of stock since last summer on this bike.
I'm sure Japan was crawling with english and dutch road bikes in that time period.
Look for a Dutch Batavus 28" they usually have drumb brakes front and rear with lights and everything, or tha Raligh is a great bike but more pricey.
Attachments
1905 Inspired
1905 Inspired
1905 Inspired - Detail
1905 Inspired - Detail
28" roadster
28" roadster
Gentlemens_Roadster2.jpg (16.74 KiB) Viewed 1459 times

4shorts
honda305.com Member
Posts: 436
Joined: Thu Sep 21, 2006 8:45 pm
Location: Newfoundland, Canada

Post by 4shorts » Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:56 pm

I really like what you've done with those bikes. Did you use them? I can only imagine the looks one would get riding one of those.

As for Raligh bikes. I've seen dozens of them around here in Newfoundland. Up until the mid 40's we were part of the British empire and all you would see was the Raligh bicycle around here. I still see them from time to time in the local papers. I had one here that I put in the garden for a decoration. I remember the quaility of the braking system. There were no cables just rods and a good solid bike.
Great bit of work you've done there!

Rusty Bikes
honda305.com Member
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2007 11:58 pm

Post by Rusty Bikes » Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:24 pm

Thanks for that.
Heck yes they were rideable and would hit speeds of over 30 MPH on the flats on the 55' Schwinn.
It irks me to see guys build "Show" quality bikes that never get started or ridden.
Rusty

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smithenhiven
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Posts: 65
Joined: Sun Nov 26, 2006 4:00 pm
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Post by smithenhiven » Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:38 pm

Thanks for all the info. I've been spending the past few days looking at old 1950's style bikes. I really like this one, and think I might get it:

http://cgi.ebay.com/J-C-Higgins-bicycle ... dZViewItem

The only thing I'm concerned about is, is there anyway to know if this bike will "free wheel" (sorry, I don't know the exact term if there is one) when you're not pedaling it?

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