wow cool! I rode through there and was sad because I had missed the garlic festival!

Yeah I had that experience once myself, I suppose our common thread is that most people traveling on
4 or more wheels would prefer to see anything with 2 wheels off of the road

I built a motorized bicycle about a week ago, but can't imagine touring with it. It would be fun, but I would want to carry plenty of spare parts! Only ridden it 50 miles so far, get about 150 mpg, but it is tempermental. I can just imagine breaking down 50 miles from a town in 120 degree heat and having to PEDAL the behemoth the rest of the way... It would be a fun adventure though. How does that Sachs motor hold up? I have a spitfire 48cc on a cruiser bike, does about 20-25 mph, and climbs most hills real well...

That's really cool Guy. In the other forums, people talk freely about electric bikes, I don't think we'll be invaded by motorcyclists because of one motorized bicycle thread.

Well, I frequently wave to lone bicyclists when I'm out on my motorcycle because as I am also a bicyclist I feel a sense of camraderie with them, and I want to give them encouragement. I also watch out for them, and have reported cars that hassle bicyclists to the CHP. I can't ride my bicycles exclusively, nor do I want to. I enjoy all forms of two-wheeling. And waving. I will say this, road bicyclists rarely wave to me when I'm on my bicycle either - probably because I have racks on most of my bikes, or don't wear appropriate attire most of the time. Or I'm smiling too much. Even on a bike path, there is rarely acknowledgement from someone in full kit. I have found that generally they are one of the rudest and pompous of any group out there. Quite different from mtn bikers or touring folks, or for that matter - motorcyclists. What's up with that?

And lastly, I think Guy Burns and his partner have a great setup and kudos for them being out there and doing it.

The motor doesn't generate much heat or noise, but I do stick on the pannier the sole of an old thong (flip-flops - I don't know what you call them in the US) which is about 10mm thick. I put it there not to protect the pannier but to protect the plastic case of the motor on that side. Although thinking about it, it would insulate as well.

Now a bit of philosophy. When we took up touring the outback our first choice of transport, as I said in my original post, was horseback. But we're not horsey people so that wasn't possible. We'd been bushwalking for years and thought of travelling on foot, but you can't do that in the outback because of problems with carrying enough water. So bicycle it was.

We wanted a 'human-scale' experience that was slow and where you experienced the environment around you - the dust, sweat, sound of birds; where you were locked in to your situation by the mode of transport; meaning, if you were hungry or it started to rain and you wanted to get to the next town you couldn't just press the accelerator a bit more and travel 100km in the next hour. A bicycle (or horseback or on foot) forces a bit more responsibility on you as you have to be self sufficient. I designed the add-ons for our bikes just with that in mind - five days of self-sufficiency. For instance, I built the rear panniers out of 1/4" steel rod. If I ended up with a broken frame on some lonely outback road 200 km from the nearest town, and maybe not a car passing for the next two or three days, I wanted to be able to sit on the back of Jenny's bike so she could double dink me.

We wanted to go touring. The mode of transport was largely irrelevant, whereas most people in these forums have chosen to go touring by bicycle and leg power. Our mode of travel is just as human scale as a normal bike: we can't go any further in a day (in fact, usually a lot less), we can't get there any faster; we simply have the option, if we want, of assistance up those hills and against those head winds.

But yes, it is different. We don't have the sense of achievment that a pedalling cyclist has. We simply wanted to travel at a human pace and we've done that.

I'll finish with a Rodney Rude style "Don't you just hate that!" motor-assisted bicycle joke:

Ya goin up hill so you put the motor on. But there's a strong tail wind and it blows the fumes all over you. Don't you just hate that! Or, you're goin downhill, pretty flat really, and the headwind's so strong that you have to put the motor on. God I hate that!

It's not all beer and skittles with a motor.

Response to THEDEN: "How does that Sachs motor hold up? I have a spitfire 48cc on a cruiser bike, does about 20-25 mph, and climbs most hills real well"

The Sachs motors we have are German built but I think they are now made in Taiwan. When we first arrived in the LA in 1996 with these bikes my first job was to find local US sellers. There weren't any. I rang most of the big bike shops in LA but only one had every dealt with them, and luckily for me he had a brand new motor that he was keen to get rid of because it was his last one. $300 he sold it to me for.

These motor are exceptionally reliable. We have done about 3000 hours on them. I had one major problem when we broke down on a Navajo reservation in northern Arizona and were stuck there for a few days. Had to get permission from the boss to stay there. One of the two interior oil seals popped off. So, that meant a full strip of the motor, and gasket-seal the oil seal back in. I can strip the motor down to the piston level in about an hour from being on the bike. I carry about a kilo of tools to do that, and another kilo of spares.

My guess is, a brand new motor would give you about 1000 hours of use before things possibly started to play up. Reliability: We left ours in SC for two years in the late 1990s, drained of petrol. Came back, pedalled them down to the local gas station, fill em up, and mine started second pull. I still don't believe that happened.

Superb German engineering.

Guy,

Sounds like they are great motors. My spitfire motor is a marvel of chinese engineering . If it lasts more than 1,000 miles or so I figure I didn't do too bad. The kit was only $177 to my door though, so I can't complain too much. Gas savings alone should pay for it before too long, and it was a fun little project. Now I am trying to figure how to retrofit a shimano 3-speed nexus hub to get a little better gearing, and to increase top speed. My current drive sprocket is good on hills, but this ability reduces top speed on the flats...

Anyway, how much do the Sachs motors cost? I wonder if there are any suppliers in the US. A motorized bicycle is a great form of transportation. Between my regular commuter bike, a motorized bike, and maybe an electric bike for grins, my wife and I may get rid of one of the cars in the future. No insurance, no licensing, cheap, and you still have mobility when your legs are shot from normal riding.

I'm impressed.

The Xmart bike held up all that weight and still kept going. You're braver than me to ride that bike but it looks like fun anyway. That's all that matters.

Go to www.rotarybike.com, the Australian importers on the Gold Coast, Queensland, for pictures and some details. They have a Rotary Petro DIY kit for $1499AUD, so it's a lot more expensive than your Chinese version. I paid $1200 ten years ago. I don't know of a US distributor. There weren't any in 1996 when I enquired from the Sachs factory in Germany.

Rotarybike.com sell the Taiwan version, but they may have both. The Taiwan version is slightly inferior to the original German Sachs although spare parts fit both. Little things like: steel rear rim instead of aluminium; shorter pull handle; no decompresor when starting (I can pull-start mine with two fingers).

I'd like to see a photo of your bike if you can post one.

Thanks.

Guy,

I'll take a pick tonight and post it. I rode it about 10 miles last night. No problems other than a little water I left in the tank from fixing a fuel leak. Just needed a little thread sealer at the petcock. All good now, but the motor didn't seem to burn that left over water too well... I have finally figured out the best air/fuel mix and the best spark plug gap. Now if I just thin the oil in the fuel a bit on the next tank I should be good to go...

Phil

I feel I need to explain a few things. I am not knocking anyone for touring on anything. I toured many miles on a YZ125 Yamaha. Not something I would recommend. I did the Alaska highway on it. I think you should ride what you can and take the time to enjoy the trip.

Guys bike looks like a riot I would love to try it some time. If you want to call it a motorized bicycle instead of a motor bike you are probably just splitting hairs. Maybe we could call it a moped and we would all be smiling.

Scoana: Because some one has a different opinion than yours does not make them an idiot. It makes them another person with an opinion that you can agree with or not.

"Scoana: Because some one has a different opinion than yours does not make them an idiot. It makes them another person with an opinion that you can agree with or not."

Gtscottie,

You are correct. It was not about differing opinions however, but about the intolerance of individuals in allowing the poster to be on this forum.