Bicycle Mechanics - Adding A Motor or Engine

I was just looking though a magazine and saw a bicycle, old style with balloon tires, with an engine on it and thought what would it take to do that myself? I have the perfect bicycle for it but wondered if anyone had some good ideas or opinions for me to consider before I go any farther with this project.
Thanks in advance!!
Here's the bike I'm thinking about converting.

http://www.gotbiz.com/bicycles/aa/aa/aa/aa/bricycles/imp1botgraf.jpg

You'd have to get a rack-mount, since most cruisers today are designed so that you cannot fit an engine in the front triangle.

I have one of the 2 strokes which go into the triangle and look like a little motorcycle engine. It was just perfect for the ubiquitous Taiwan made lug brazed free spirits and would probabaly fit my Giant/Schwinn World Sport. I am writing to say I do not think it would fit that thing & good luck finding something else.

You MIGHT get it to fit but it would sit oddly high in the frame. There's a clutch right behind the cylinder & I'd say it would fit if there wasn't so much space between your downtube & front wheel.

It looks like the space in your frame is too short although I totally disagree with the previous poster. They will and did fit a modern cruiser but you have to kluge up a clamp for the tube which is larger and further away from what would fit the stock clamp.

It looks like the space in your frame is too short although I totally disagree with the previous poster. They will and did fit a modern cruiser but you have to kluge up a clamp for the tube which is larger and further away from what would fit the stock clamp.

Electra has been designing a lot of frames like this one:

http://www.tuningfever.fr/pics-med-171-316057-electra-bike.jpg

If you look at modern cruisers, they are indeed making it more difficult to add an engine.

What about electric? Any Ideas? anybody?

What about electric? Any Ideas? anybody?

You should ask a moderator to move this to the Electric forum.

I was considering a scooter engine but didn't want to deal with the 2 stroke oil mixture. Thing is they are light and small.
Electric has the clean/green advantage but the batteries are expensive. and I'd have to get the wheel/hub motor.
I checked into that and at 1,200 buckaroos more than I have for the project.
I was hoping that someone had some real world experience with either....

I'm pretty sure that I created a forum for electric bikes on this site. (I was opposed to it, but they whined loud enough ;) ) You may want to go browse around in there for home-built ideas.

try goldenmotor.com for hub motors. I think they might fit your budget.

try goldenmotor.com for hub motors. I think they might fit your budget.

Checked it out, good site by the way.... Thank you!!
so heres the prices, and I didn't use all the bells and whistles but I did spec out the 16 hr battery.
is 500 watts enough? they offer 1000...

Goods:$658 + Air Shipping Fee:$165

OK is that a good price? Anybody?
Here's why I am considering this as a project, Gas is going up again, I wanted something to do some short trips on. I've always used my bicycle but sometimes I just don't want to show up sweaty....
I've got a motorcycle, but sometimes to just go a couple miles its over kill.

I think the scooter engine might be a better bang for buck option. 120 miles per gallon....

Please do not buy a battery from golden motors, this is something you will almost certainly regret. Ping is just about the cheapest lithium that works, http://stores.shop.ebay.com/PingBattery but his store seems empty atm, you'll have to email the dude with what you want. Or if money is tight you could source cheap lead batteries locally (from the people who service emergency lights) and get an el-cheapo charger from tncscooters or something, but lead batteries rather suck.

Goldenmotors, if the motor and controller work out of the box then it should be good, otherwise you'll have to learn about how pmdc motors & controllers work, however not to worry, if you can use google and figure out bike repair then you can figure out this stuff also, it's not hard.

But, I would suggest reading more about your options before doing anything, this could save you lots of expensive mistakes.

Please do not buy a battery from golden motors, this is something you will almost certainly regret. Ping is just about the cheapest lithium that works, http://stores.shop.ebay.com/PingBattery but his store seems empty atm, you'll have to email the dude with what you want. Or if money is tight you could source cheap lead batteries locally (from the people who service emergency lights) and get an el-cheapo charger from tncscooters or something, but lead batteries rather suck.

Goldenmotors, if the motor and controller work out of the box then it should be good, otherwise you'll have to learn about how pmdc motors & controllers work, however not to worry, if you can use google and figure out bike repair then you can figure out this stuff also, it's not hard.

But, I would suggest reading more about your options before doing anything, this could save you lots of expensive mistakes.

Thanks for the tip, I cant say that I'm sold on the electric yet. I like it because its clean but the gas option is cheap.... Still checking into things.

Thanks for the info.

ampedbikes >goldenmotors

Check out Golden Eagle Bike Motors (http://www.bikeengines.com/)... they sell high quality kits for rack mounted gasoline driven motors. They have both 2 stroke and 4 stroke kits. I'd go with this before even considering a scooter motor... GE is cheaper than a scooter motor and is built for bicycles. And if you're looking to get economical, then electric is not the way to go. Electrics are very expensive for a good quality kit, and have a much shorter range and efficiency than a modern gas kit. Hell... the new 2 strokes burn clean and get as much as 200MPG!

You definitely need to read more before you jump into something.

http://www.motoredbikes.com/
Above is a website with tons of info on conversions. I, too, think that the bike in the pix, will need a rear [ rack ] mounted engine. There are several kits out there that are good. Remember this;
CHEAP Kits = & you will be buying 2-3, & working on them a lot.
PAY MORE- [ Japanese engines ] & ride with little to no problems for years.
About $399 will get you riding.

FWIW:
Thanks for all the input.
After thinking about it I'm going to keep the bike as is. For the cost of a conversion I can get a use moped and still have my cruiser that I love.

2-stroke engines are a royal pain in the keister - you need to premix the fuel and oil (unless you have one of the rare and expensive oil-injector engines), the carburetor will require frequent adjustments, and they make lots of smog.

Vastly better in every way are the Mars Electric brushless motors. You'll need a pretty impressive battery pack (a Ping will melt under a 200A discharge rate) but one of these 22lb. motors will produce up to 15HP for a 1-minute burst - enough to get you moving very quickly indeed.

http://www.marselectricllc.com/burnishermotor.html

If you want a less expensive easier-to-use option, I would suggest using R/C airplane gear, similar to this:

http://www.recumbents.com/WISIL/shumaker/default.htm