The project started with a "Coach Linkage"
Phat Cycles bike which I received in April ' 02. I met Gary Silva in Baton Rouge, La. at a car show where he was promoting Phat Cycles. I thought at the time it would be a good bike to motorize. I got an MX-5, 2-cycle engine off "E" Bay and saved 25%. I'm economical- or maybe cheap. It wouldn't fit in the frame because of the tube from the headset to the crank cage. I cut it out and replaced it with a piece of 1" black iron pipe from Home Depot. Not finding a shop willing to bend it to the required configuration I put a cap on one end and packed it with sand and capped the other end and went into the woods behind my house and bent it to shape between two trees. It worked quite well. The rake angle was increased from 37* to 45* when the new tube was welded in. Once the engine was mounted it was obvious that the crank arms were too short and hit the engine cases. Enter Mickey Hunt, my neighbor with a machine shop in his back yard. He stretched the left side 2" and the right side 1" to clear the cases. I also had to put 1" spacers between the crank arm and the primary sprocket to move the sprocket back in, so it would align it with the rear one.
Phat Cycles bike which I received in April ' 02. I met Gary Silva in Baton Rouge, La. at a car show where he was promoting Phat Cycles. I thought at the time it would be a good bike to motorize. I got an MX-5, 2-cycle engine off "E" Bay and saved 25%. I'm economical- or maybe cheap. It wouldn't fit in the frame because of the tube from the headset to the crank cage. I cut it out and replaced it with a piece of 1" black iron pipe from Home Depot. Not finding a shop willing to bend it to the required configuration I put a cap on one end and packed it with sand and capped the other end and went into the woods behind my house and bent it to shape between two trees. It worked quite well. The rake angle was increased from 37* to 45* when the new tube was welded in. Once the engine was mounted it was obvious that the crank arms were too short and hit the engine cases. Enter Mickey Hunt, my neighbor with a machine shop in his back yard. He stretched the left side 2" and the right side 1" to clear the cases. I also had to put 1" spacers between the crank arm and the primary sprocket to move the sprocket back in, so it would align it with the rear one.
The engage/disengage mechanism is a custom piece which slides over the seat post downtube and allows for adjustment to control how close or far away the drive roller is from the rear wheel. The foreward foot pegs attach to a piece of 3/4" black iron pipe which was bent just like the main down tube as described earlier. A piece of 5/8" square bar stock was welded to the pipe and the pegs attach to the bar stock. To keep the front forks from turning too far and hitting the tank a round piece of aluminum was drilled and tapped and fitted to the bottom part of the triple tree. Stops were welded to the frame for the aluminum pieces to hit on. The gas tank is home-made also and an aluminum cap machined to fit and polished. When engaging and disengaging the drive the muffler hit the frame. To fix this the muffler was welded to "tabs" on the frame and a piece of flexible stainless steel hose used to absorb the movement.
That about does it for the mechanical changes, so let's look at the cosmetic things. The tank and rear fender are plastic from Phat Cycle. I'm told that a very limited number were made because of the extrusion costs in the U.S. The halves are held together with allen head screws that mount flush with the tank. The tank and fenders were painted by Ed Palubinskas at USA Graphics. The front fender was formed from a 20" bicycle fender. The frame and engine covers were powder coated by Gulfcoast Powdercoating in Gulfport, Ms. They also did the muffler guard and engine drive cover in silver. The seat came off a Dyno Bicycle and the flame paint job matches the pattern on the seat. The bike has a battery operated head light and tail light. Instrument wise it has a speedometer/odometer driven off the front wheel. Speaking of wheels, I got a 20" front and 26" rear wheel from
WILD WHEEL WERKS. Steve Hutchison worked very well with me to insure that the excellent quality was in his product and that I was satisfied with it. The rear wheel has a 7-speed Nexus hub with a coaster brake which works to perfection. The front wheel has a 61/2" disc brake. Hand grips are knurled aluminum and the left handlebar has a mirror on it. The bike is 7' 2" long and the springer front end has 2" of travel. It's top speed is 27MPH. I can be contacted at: 34vicky@cox.net
WILD WHEEL WERKS. Steve Hutchison worked very well with me to insure that the excellent quality was in his product and that I was satisfied with it. The rear wheel has a 7-speed Nexus hub with a coaster brake which works to perfection. The front wheel has a 61/2" disc brake. Hand grips are knurled aluminum and the left handlebar has a mirror on it. The bike is 7' 2" long and the springer front end has 2" of travel. It's top speed is 27MPH. I can be contacted at: 34vicky@cox.net
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
Bruce Broussard - Welding
Hutch - assembly
Mickey Hunt - Machine Work
Allen - Capitol Cyclery
