Hunter
09-10-2003, 04:18 PM
Anyone who's read any of my posts knows I spent Sep 02 through Sep 03 in the Republic of Korea. As you might imagine, there's not a lot of boating there. Work was rather sporadic and during the off times, rather than pour all my time and money into "Juicy Girls", I came up with this.
It started when I was shopping for a gas-powered scooter for my daughter. I found the Visa home page and eventually settled on a Visa Viper with a Honda GX 31 engine. I also became rather enamored with the gear reduction box they use and determined to develop a project for the combination of the Honda engine and the Visa gearbox.
This is about mid-stream in completion. The frame geometry is identical to my original design although when I do get around to building a complete frame jig (I only used one for the chainstays; the rest was eyeballed), I'll make the top tube slightly longer with a little rise near the steering head and significantly less rake.
The intent was to build a gas assisted bicycle. Getting underway initially will be done using pedal power and driving the starboard side of the Dave Staton custom rear hub. Once underway, the engine (with a 4000 RPM stall and a 7000 RPM redline) can take over driving the port side of the rear hub with an expected top speed in the mid to high 30s. Since there's a centrifugal clutch between the engine and the gearbox and both sides of the rear axle have freewheels (BMX chain on the engine; standard bike chain on the pedals), the pedals operate as footpegs under engine power. That's a Manitou 120 mm fork on the front with a Hayes hydraulic disk brake. Both ends have Rhinolite wheels.
I’m going to rubber mount the engine using plumbing stuff for availability and pull the undermounted fuel tank as there's insufficient room underneath without unnecessary angularity in the pedal chain even with a couple guide rollers. Instead, I'm going to braze on a waterbottle holder to the front downtube and snake a fuel line to the engine.
It has 20" wheels because I couldn't overcome a gearing problem though it has room for 26" (standard mountain bike wheels) and that might be amusing in terms of determining what the engine and I can muster for a top speed (the engine puts out 1.5 hp and 1.2 ft.lbs. of torque...about three times what I do on a good day).
Opinions? Am I not spending enough time on the water?
It started when I was shopping for a gas-powered scooter for my daughter. I found the Visa home page and eventually settled on a Visa Viper with a Honda GX 31 engine. I also became rather enamored with the gear reduction box they use and determined to develop a project for the combination of the Honda engine and the Visa gearbox.
This is about mid-stream in completion. The frame geometry is identical to my original design although when I do get around to building a complete frame jig (I only used one for the chainstays; the rest was eyeballed), I'll make the top tube slightly longer with a little rise near the steering head and significantly less rake.
The intent was to build a gas assisted bicycle. Getting underway initially will be done using pedal power and driving the starboard side of the Dave Staton custom rear hub. Once underway, the engine (with a 4000 RPM stall and a 7000 RPM redline) can take over driving the port side of the rear hub with an expected top speed in the mid to high 30s. Since there's a centrifugal clutch between the engine and the gearbox and both sides of the rear axle have freewheels (BMX chain on the engine; standard bike chain on the pedals), the pedals operate as footpegs under engine power. That's a Manitou 120 mm fork on the front with a Hayes hydraulic disk brake. Both ends have Rhinolite wheels.
I’m going to rubber mount the engine using plumbing stuff for availability and pull the undermounted fuel tank as there's insufficient room underneath without unnecessary angularity in the pedal chain even with a couple guide rollers. Instead, I'm going to braze on a waterbottle holder to the front downtube and snake a fuel line to the engine.
It has 20" wheels because I couldn't overcome a gearing problem though it has room for 26" (standard mountain bike wheels) and that might be amusing in terms of determining what the engine and I can muster for a top speed (the engine puts out 1.5 hp and 1.2 ft.lbs. of torque...about three times what I do on a good day).
Opinions? Am I not spending enough time on the water?