Villiers beach cruiser

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I went to assemble the kickstarter, and i think i have lost the little spring in the freewheel thingy, under the kickstart sprocket. ill just have to go somewhere that sells little springs.

I fitted my mockup tank for a test run, but as i couldnt kickstart it i tried spinning the rear wheel with my hand and holding the shift lever in. It was to the point of almost firing. So i took it out onto the street to pushstart it....... i did get it to run, but i couldnt get much throttle, but i did go a couple hundred metres under its own power, albeit very very slowly LOL. And as its dark and i didnt have brakes connected i decided to call it a night. And im back to work tommorrow but it shouldnt be too long before its going......
 
Tell us about the tires Harry. They look good. Are those the Elextra 26x2.35 creams? How about a close up shot of the tread pattern. I'm looking for something a little more durable than the Shwalabe 26x2.35. I'm only getting about 400 miles out of my rears.
 
cobrafreak said:
Tell us about the tires Harry. They look good. Are those the Elextra 26x2.35 creams? How about a close up shot of the tread pattern. I'm looking for something a little more durable than the Shwalabe 26x2.35. I'm only getting about 400 miles out of my rears.

Heres the pics of the tread you asked for.....


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Ive seen many people use them, they are only cheap.... $29 or $39 or something like that for a pair. IMO they are the nicest and most authentic looking tyre, but like i said they are a soft compound. Probably worse then your Fat Frank for wear, but they are cheap if you wanted to try them...... being soft they would probably be good for launches at the drag strip..... lol ....... mmmmmm i wonder what your bike would run over the 1/4 mile. You probably wouldnt want to abuse your bike like that..... but it would be interesting.

I will however mention that when riding my 66cc Kroon i had a blowout..... it seems i ran over a slither of wood (looked like from a pallet) and it put a hole in my tyre. I found the 3 inch long slither when i changed my tyre and it was inside....... so they obviously dont have strong sidewalls or tread area.
 
My clutch that i ordered for this bike but didnt use turned up today..... ill have to use it in future projects, i also need to save for a CVT for my Indian build.

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I picked up a tank sealer today. I havent read the instructions but im guessing a few days dry time plus im guessing i need to wait to seal the tank AFTER i get my brass/copper petcock mount brazed or soldered to my tank because of the heating????? I may even attempt to do the brazing myself and buy the torch and solder etc....... except i really have never tried it before but would love to aquire the skill. So my tank may be a week or so off.... but i can use a mockup tank i have in the meantime.

Ill do my "Whippet: build tank (Villiers/Atco tank) at the same time seeing as they are both small tanks.

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I would probably mangle my rear wheel if I did repetitive drag strip launches. Your tank sealant kit will fix all the little pinhole leaks you have found. You don't happen to own a BBQ rotisserie do you? After you put the sealant in swish it around and pour out the excess, if you tape it to a slowly spinning rotisserie it will ensure that your coat will evenly dry. Something I found out. If you lay it down for the drying process most of the fluid will fall to the bottom of the tank. If it dries while spinning it can't do this.
 
Thats a good idea. I dont have a rotisserie but i wonder what else i could find to use?

Its winter here so unfortunately its nearly dark by the time i get home, so test rides are hard. When i got home from work i tried attaching my pedal chain, but i need a half link. Ill have to get one maybe tommorrow after work. And i found a spring small enough for the kickstart freewheel so ill try and get that sorted....

I took it out for a testrun on the street tonight, no pedal chain and no brakes (i really need to put them on). This time the motor definitely fired right up, its not running perfectly but its running ok.

Im a little confused..... heres what happened...... I have no pedal chain on, so i just pushed it up to speed and pushed the shifter FORWARD and it bump started. At first i thought i couldnt get it to rev when the shifter was FORWARD, and no real forward movement, but if i moved the shifter the revs would change. It took me a little while to work out what was going on, but it seems that when i push the shifter FORWARD to bumpstart, it tensions the primary belt (just like i thought it would). What confuses me is when the motor is running and i push FORWARD on the shifter the revs drop off and i dont really move but if i pull BACK on the shifter it does move forward (the opposite of what i thought would happen). Its like pushing FORWARD is actually causing the primary belt to slip, or maybe just too much load.

Remember this test was in the dark, so on Sunday when i will be able to test it i may get a better answer....

I did get the bike up to about 20mph and it was pretty cool just chugging along, i got to this speed by moving the shifter back and forward (almost like riding the clutch in too tall a gear) but the end of the road was coming and i only had my shoes for brakes. It certainly feels that when i release my clutch the motor is under strain ( i am around 95kg ). I may need to go over the motor as well.

Anyone know whats going on or how to fix it????

Is my primary belt the wrong size? Does my motor not have enough torque? Have i geared it wrong? Maybe when i attach my pedal chain and help the motor along things will be different?
 
I went for another run and realised at least part of the problem. It seems my primary belt has stretched a lot, probably from the heat of the belt slipping, and now the clutch arm cant put enough tension on the belt. I may need to go back and buy the same size but in a high quality belt (will they still stretch?) and maybe redesign my clutch arm.

On a positive note it is surprisingly very comfortable, and im 6 ft 3. So even if i need to pedal to help the motor, it wont be too bad (once i get my chain on). And im not fussed if i dont get much speed out of it. It felt real nice putting along listening to the nice sounding motor, a welcome change from the irritating, high revving, teeth chattering, vibrating chinese 2 stroke sound of my 66cc Kroon.

I noticed another issue, and its worse now my belt has stretched, when my clutch is disengaged the top of the primary belt lifts up, and in doing so bites on the pulley, and doesnt always let it slip. I may need to put a guide above the top of the primary belt to hold it down and allow it to slip.
 
when you get another belt, get one of the power rated belts i mentioned earlier. they are made for lawnmowers and will not stretch. having the pedals to "assist" you will help out trememdously!. when i had the wmb briggs motor on the murray i had to help it out alot by pedaling. if it still seems low on take off power you might want to gear it down. what size is your secondary pulley? just a tip, a half-inch in size on the pulleys makes a big difference! :wink: the bike is looking really good, keep up the good work!
 
murraymadman said:
when you get another belt, get one of the power rated belts i mentioned earlier. they are made for lawnmowers and will not stretch. having the pedals to "assist" you will help out trememdously!. when i had the wmb briggs motor on the murray i had to help it out alot by pedaling. if it still seems low on take off power you might want to gear it down. what size is your secondary pulley? just a tip, a half-inch in size on the pulleys makes a big difference! :wink: the bike is looking really good, keep up the good work!

I had originally planned to go 4" and 5" on the primary and a 2 3/4" on the secondary for an 8:1 reduction. (Is 8:1 the desired reduction?)
But i didnt realise when this style of pulley goes from 4" to 5" it changes to an ugly design..... so i ended up going 4" and 4" on the primary and 2" on the secondary to get around the same reduction.

I plan to buy a high quality belt but i honestly thought id get a little longer testing out of these belts before they stretched, oh well ill have to go back and buy the same size but a high quality belt.
 
I also noticed another problem last night, and as I'm clueless when it comes to electrical I need advice.

Last night when i went to flip my choke lever on the carby I received a nasty shock.... Spark?..... Check lol. My uneducated guess is that something is earthing out? Am I correct? How do I fix this? Would it be my ignition lead, if so I'm planning to replace it with some cloth covered wire I have.....And Finally would it be causing it to run worse, or cause any damage to anything?
 
Haha I don't think of it being unlucky at all, I've managed to get a 60 year old motor that I previously knew nothing about to run in something I built. I consider these merely teething problems and as I work them out I'm learning new things, and I'm loving every minute of it. If it just fired up and ran perfect what would be the challenge or the fun in that.
 
Awesome build! I just sat here and read through the whole thing. Maybe a video of it would help determine the problem. Could be the wire or the magneto. The magneto may need to be cleaned or adjusted. If you get the kick start going you might be able to see a spark somewhere when trying to crank it.
 
AKB said:
Build problems are fun? I think you're just crazy :lol: lol

Build problems without solutions are not fun....
Teething problems that I can fix and learn something aren't exactly fun, but they don't get me down in the least bit.
Or maybe I am crazy ..... It'd explain a lot
 
NumbaFo said:
Awesome build! I just sat here and read through the whole thing. Maybe a video of it would help determine the problem. Could be the wire or the magneto. The magneto may need to be cleaned or adjusted. If you get the kick start going you might be able to see a spark somewhere when trying to crank it.

Thanks man, yeah that sounds about right. I think I will remove the motor and have a real good look at things. And I will wait until I can testrun in daylight hours, that would help a lot.
 
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