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Old 8th July 2013, 14:55   #1
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My Project: A Motorized Bicycle

Hi BHP-ians,

I was looking through the forum and was surprised to find no threads or posts regarding motorized bicycles. To start with, motorized bicycles are cycles that are both human powered and can be run on an engine. Something like the Royal Enfield MOFA or the old Luna.

In an effort to renew the use of motorized bicycles, I came up with a project for a stylized motorized bicycle. The pictures are attached (taken during fabrication phase). In written, I'd say it's a bicycle with a two-stroke 80cc, 3-HP petrol engine that is stylized as a chopper.

Will upload the latest pictures soon, but for details, the front suspension is changed to a telescopic fork and has front disc brakes. Tested top speed is upto 70kmph and stability is good at high speeds. Though I aint pretty sure what would happen if I hit a speed breaker at that speed.

I build the chopper bicycle as I call it for the college and IT campuses where vehicles are not allowed inside the campus. The motorized bicycle can then be used as a bicycle within the campus and the two-stroke petrol kicks in when you are on the road.

I thought it would be a good idea to stylize it as choppers to encourage usage because of my experience at the Infosys Mysore campus where most of the cycles were Ladybirds and neglected by the guys. But then there's always the off-chance that

What do you guys think about the idea?
Attached Thumbnails
My Project: A Motorized Bicycle-untitled.jpg  

My Project: A Motorized Bicycle-untitled2.jpg  

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Old 8th July 2013, 17:04   #2
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re: My Project: A Motorized Bicycle

Pretty Innovative!!Congrats on the build, but why the chopper design? Would have looked good if it was retained in stock sense. 70 Kmph, am surprised, reminds me of my good ol Hero Puch!! Can you give us more details on the build , where did you source the parts etc.
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Old 8th July 2013, 18:21   #3
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re: My Project: A Motorized Bicycle

Very Impressive Dhaval! Good innovation.
70 kmph, is indeed fast for a "bicycle". Btw, how did you test the speed?

Front disc, telescopic forks, sounds great; however the only thing which I didn't quite like is the chopper-styling.
How much is the fuel-tank capacity? (2-2.5 ltrs ?)

-Bhargav
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Old 8th July 2013, 19:11   #4
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re: My Project: A Motorized Bicycle

Wow, very interesting.

I'm not a fan of the chopper style but great nonetheless. Also, hows the pollution levels? Gears?
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Old 8th July 2013, 19:23   #5
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re: My Project: A Motorized Bicycle

Good idea.
But I hate choppers. Any standard looking prototype?
How about battery powered instead of an engine? A smallish battery would be good enough and will charge quickly as well?

Thanks for the thread...
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Old 8th July 2013, 19:39   #6
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re: My Project: A Motorized Bicycle

Quote:
Originally Posted by Octane_Power View Post
Very Impressive Dhaval! Good innovation.
70 kmph, is indeed fast for a "bicycle". Btw, how did you test the speed?

Front disc, telescopic forks, sounds great; however the only thing which I didn't quite like is the chopper-styling.
How much is the fuel-tank capacity? (2-2.5 ltrs ?)

-Bhargav
I tested it using a speedometer I bought on ebay that uses magnets on wheels as sensors. Just to confirm, I had a pulsar running side by side for reference.
Most of the people I met had the same view regarding the chopper styling . Thanks a lot for your honest opinions. And yep, tank capacity's 2L.

Quote:
Originally Posted by naveenroy View Post
Wow, very interesting.

I'm not a fan of the chopper style but great nonetheless. Also, hows the pollution levels? Gears?
Thanks . The pollution levels are bad. White smoke coming out at the preliminary runs. However I am working on a catalytic converter side by side on my RX100 (these 2 strokes, you know!) It involves using algae so that it takes in the CO2 and gives out oxygen.
There aren't any gears, the bicycle starts when you let off the clutch after cycling to a considerate speed and stalls automatically at low speeds.

Quote:
Originally Posted by anandpadhye View Post
Good idea.
But I hate choppers. Any standard looking prototype?
How about battery powered instead of an engine? A smallish battery would be good enough and will charge quickly as well?

Thanks for the thread...
Thank you sir. Haven't built a standard looking prototype yet, but 9 out of 10 people I showed my cycle to asked me to get rid of the chopper look. So now, the next stage is to transfer this same engine and drive to a 21 speed geared cycle without extended forks.

Regarding the battery powered cycle, I have developed the plans for a 48V cycle that runs on a B&S electric motor. However I never started working on the idea because I could never get a cheap and lightweight motor. Minimum cost for a good motor I need is 10k and that is second hand cost.

Working on a solution, thank you for the insight sir.
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Old 8th July 2013, 20:24   #7
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re: My Project: A Motorized Bicycle

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ikoner_03 View Post
Pretty Innovative!!Congrats on the build, but why the chopper design? Would have looked good if it was retained in stock sense. 70 Kmph, am surprised, reminds me of my good ol Hero Puch!! Can you give us more details on the build , where did you source the parts etc.
Thank You

I thought the chopper design would appeal more to the user. I agree, the stock would have seemed much better. The engine and carburetor parts were imported from China. The chain for the engine drive is from a TVS XL and the engine driven sprocket was CNCed from an aluminium plate. Got the twist grip throttle and levers from ebay.
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Old 8th July 2013, 20:26   #8
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re: My Project: A Motorized Bicycle

Is there a technical reason for the chopper look? Does it enable better balance or performance?

You are designing a new product that you dont know how it will behave in terms of safety and user comfort with the addition of power - why did you risk modifying the styling without any hard data to back you up for its performance and stability and user comfort and acceptance?

Two radical changes to an established design that will make potential users weigh the cost and risk twice and decide against is not the best way to market a new product IMHO.
But its a great effort for a college project and I hope it was fun!

--R

Last edited by Ragul : 8th July 2013 at 20:29.
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Old 8th July 2013, 21:12   #9
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re: My Project: A Motorized Bicycle

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ragul View Post
Is there a technical reason for the chopper look? Does it enable better balance or performance?

You are designing a new product that you dont know how it will behave in terms of safety and user comfort with the addition of power - why did you risk modifying the styling without any hard data to back you up for its performance and stability and user comfort and acceptance?

Two radical changes to an established design that will make potential users weigh the cost and risk twice and decide against is not the best way to market a new product IMHO.
But its a great effort for a college project and I hope it was fun!

--R
The technical reason for the increased rake angle was to provide more stability at higher speeds. Because of the engine's power, the cycle would endure speeds it's steering wasn't primarily designed to, hence the castor was increased to that effect. But the extension of the fork was total stupidity on my part. As I mentioned before, it was only to appeal to users.

About the safety aspect, when I started off with the project, I studied the parameters of the Motor Vehicle safety according to Indian Law. It said that anything above 1HP needs registration and as we all know, registration means increased costs and taxes and stuff. But motorized bicycles are fast becoming legal in other countries with the only law being that you need to be above 18 to ride one. I made the prototype just to show the safety of legalizing a motorized bicycle. Am still working on improving the prototype (getting rid of the extended fork for one).
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Old 9th July 2013, 01:11   #10
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re: My Project: A Motorized Bicycle

I congratulate you on the project. It's really a commendable one.

My (positive) criticism below:

1) The whole world is going electric. Would it not be a much better idea to fix a battery pack than to mess with the complications of an internal combustion engine?
2) 70 kmph on a bicycle? That's asking for trouble. Surely.
3) If a campus doesn't allow bikes, it's unlikely that this would be allowed as pollution and risk of accidents are the main reason for their being banned.
4) A more practical solution for campuses would be the Segway:
My Project: A Motorized Bicycle-segway1.jpg
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Old 9th July 2013, 21:19   #11
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re: My Project: A Motorized Bicycle

Quote:
Originally Posted by EagleEye View Post
I congratulate you on the project. It's really a commendable one.

My (positive) criticism below:

1) The whole world is going electric. Would it not be a much better idea to fix a battery pack than to mess with the complications of an internal combustion engine?
2) 70 kmph on a bicycle? That's asking for trouble. Surely.
3) If a campus doesn't allow bikes, it's unlikely that this would be allowed as pollution and risk of accidents are the main reason for their being banned.
4) A more practical solution for campuses would be the Segway:
Thanks
I agree, should have gone electric. 70km/hr was the maximum I could juice out. Surely if I am planning on production, will put limiters and get it down to not more than 50.

Regarding usage in the campus, these cannot be allowed as motorable in campus. You can both cycle this and run it on motor. My intention was to make people pedal inside the campus because of the green rules. So inside the campus one pedals it and outside (for near distance homes or highway fun) one switches to the two-stroke.
Segway is a way better option, and to be honest, my weakness in the electricals and electronics field prohibited me from ever exploring that side. Thanks for your suggestions, brushing up my electrical basics now.
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Old 9th July 2013, 22:53   #12
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re: My Project: A Motorized Bicycle

Can you post some pics where the power is transmitted . Is it belt or chain driven , cannot see it on the pic posted .
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Old 12th July 2013, 17:57   #13
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Re: My Project: A Motorized Bicycle

it is chain driven... the chain from the engine runs the aluminium sprocket you see on the first picture (the engine sprocket is on the left hand side of the cycle and the cycle sprocket on the right)... the pictures of the finished assembly are on my hard disk which has a mind of its own... will upload as soon as possible...


Mod Note : Please avoid typing with excessive dots.........like................this.
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