Tips I've learned from many builds-great newbie read.

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Yeah, and, so, what?
Let's start again, Hi, I'm grinningremlin, I have a sun ez-sport recumbent and a bridgestone mb-5 both run by a GEBE system, what kind of bike do you have?

May I be the first to fall to my knees and thank you, thank you so much for the time you spent trying to help us poor ignorant waifs, but alas, we are beyond help you see, and better left to the wolves.Thank you again for the selflessness of your truly altruistic crusade.


Yeah, and, so, what?



So you go to a MAB site to start your crusade???For such a verbose moron, you sure do come off like a moron.

So everybody should do as the majority, and swap a whole system on your decree?I suggest you prepare for a long life of disappointment.
one thing thats left out was that all the fuel measurements your crying about start at/with usa american dollars a barrel not liters or imperial measurements but gallons per barrel based on the all mighty american dollar. so poo poo pee do on your fella and get a life
 
I've build many MB bikes over the past 3+ years and have had lots of interesting failures occur. Here is my list (some may call it silly) of tips that I follow now before every bike build.


1. Pull head. Loctite (red or blue )or JB weld each head stud into the block. Rationale: studs vibrate loose and a MB owner may think that its the head bolts that are loose and tightens them and causes the stud which is backed out to strip which requires a fix that is out of scope for most with limited mechanical knowledge. Yes, the JB weld is extreme but I have had stripped or damaged engien block threads with loctite use on studs that I had to remove and reinstall for a rebuild or gasket leak. If you do have damaged stud mounting threads on your block and don't want to drill and retap or use a helicoil, JB weld works as long as you have residual threads in the block and use it as directed (don't use the quicker curing JB weld, the slower cure JB weld is stronger and tolerates heat better)

2. Ensure little pin on piston that prevents rings from rotating cannot be pulled out. If it can be pulled out, JB weld it in. Rationale: I had a pin fall out, causing piston ring to rotate and catch on a port causing lots of engine damage. Probably not necessary to do this but it happened to me and cost me a new complete head and the worst of it, I had to pedal. This tip is probably not necessary but something I wanted others to be aware of.

3. Use locknuts and new USA made washers (including lock washers) on the head. Do not use those "acorn" nuts on the head. In addition to new lock nuts and lock washers, JB weld (blue) the headbolts after you tighten them to the correct torque setting. If you are like me and overtighten head stud bolts, acorn nuts may damage the thread. 15 ft-lbs torque is ideal but my calibrated arm usually overtorques the head stud nuts.

4. Intake, exhaust, all engine mounting studs. Replace with US made metric all thread and cut to size. Rationale: Chinese factory studs may eventually fail and leave you stranded.

5. Nuts for intake, exhaust, all engine mounting studs. Use metric couplers with lock washers and blue locitite to mount all of these. Metric couplers have 4 times the amount of thread than a regular nut does which allows some serious torque to be applied to those US metric all thread studs. Couplers cost a 1.50 apiece but that is cheap compared to a broken engine mount or losing a muffler 20 miles from home.

6. Carb: take it apart and loctite (red) the main jet. Locktite (blue) the screws holding it together. Ensure float is properly set too (see other threads here on MB regarding this)

7. Intake gasket: throw away factory intake gasket. It will eventually blow...some sooner rather than later. Cut new one from gasket material bought from NAPA. Use gasket sealer/tack for gasket prior to install.

8. Exhaust: Heat elbow cherry red to bend it as necessary to clear pedals. Don't use engine as mounting point when bending exhaust. I use a vise.

9. Loctite blue all bolts to engine covers. Some folks and I do this occasionally: replace all cover bolts with USA bolts (I like using hex head bolts). Nothing worse than losing your clutch cover bolts and not being able to disengage clutch. Do this only after you are 100% sure clutch is properly adjusted.

10. Relube the clutch engagement pin and ball.

11. Touch of lube on gears on clutch. Rationale: less noise.

12. loctite (blue) the small screw/bolt on the clutch assembly that prevents the clutch adjustment from rotating. Rationale: it can loosen and fall out making a mess and possibly damaging the gear asssembly and/or clutch.

12a. Loctite the bolt on the small drive gear in the clutch assembly. I have had this bolt fall out before and have seen several threads about this issue.

13. Engine wiring: do not install the kill switch wire until you get engine running. Rationale: eliminate a source of potential no start condition.

14. All wiring connectors: cut and throw out stock connectors and use covered blade connectors. I solder and crimp mine and then use shrink tubing on everything along with conduit for a nice clean and professional install. Rationale: stock connectors will get loose causing wiring to come apart or intermittent connections. Any connector that comes loose with a simple tug is a no go in my book. Your opinion may vary. I have had wires pull out of stock connectors that were crimp connectors and not soldered. Heat shrinking stock connectors together may be an easier solution.

15. Lube all cables. I use lithium grease. Rationale: some cables are dry and some are frayed. Pulling cable wire out of sheath and inspecting and lubing is a good idea. If in doubt, replace cables. Rationale: lots of frayed cables and premature cable failure out there on the cheaper kits.

16. Kill switch: If it is not integrated into the throttle, don't use it and buy a replacement throttle assembly. The older style separate kill switches are JUNK and fail causing a no start condition. A quality replacement kill switch is about the same cost of an integrated throttle kill switch from Dax.

17. Chain tensioner roller: get a bearing one from Dax. Rationale: stock ones don't have bearings and don't spin freely and are worthless in my opinion. Stock one is good for the week or two you use it waiting for a Dax bearing one to come in mail. Some kits come with bearing ones now...

17a. Chain install: Always clip on your masterlink so the opened end faces toward the rear when it's at the top of the chain run and going forward.

18. Chain tension: chain will stretch by an inch or two during first 50 miles. Keep eye out and don't use bike for transpo to/from work until you do multiple test ride and shorten chain and adjust tension with roller bearing. It shouldn't be said, but you need a chain breaker for install. On a new chain, I always make chain tension fairly tight but once chain as stretched, I make sure that is about 3/4 of an inch play/slack.

19. Rear sprocket: replace all nuts and bolts and lock washers with US made ones. Rationale: The chinese bolts threads strip when you need to tighten down that donut. Use locknuts in addition to lock washers. Nuts will need frequent adjustment during first 100 miles as the donuts settle onto the sprockets and routine tightening for course of ownership. Alternative is to spend money for livefastmotors clamshell mount for rear sprocket which will save lots of install hassle, allow you not to worry about broken spokes. Ensure sprocket is mounted so it runs true. It can be done but takes a while. Have rear tire checked for balance before installing. Clamping donuts onto sprockets can cause wheel to be out of round.

20. Clutch lever and throttle assembly: if kit doesn't have a push button locking clutch lever, buy one. I also drill small holes through the clutch bracket and on the throttle assembly and install a bolt thru the handle bars to prevent throttle and clutch levers from rotating in case they loosen or lose their mounting bolts. No offense dax, but your two piece clutch levers are brittle (pot steel?) and break if you tighten them enough to prevent lever rotation. Not an issue with this tip. Also, the small washer or eclip on bottom of the locking button has fallen off on me. I now solder it into place so this doesn't happen.

21. Spark plug: throw it away and replace with an NGK or champion plug. Rationale: very common for plug to fail internally. It will always fail at the farthest point away from home requiring uphill pedaling the entire way back home. Stock plug is ok for a while but you really replace it, its cheap insurance.

21. Spark plug wire and boot: throw away and replace with an automotive plug wire and boot. Rationale: stock plug boot has a small clip that keeps it mounted to plug. It often falls out during ride causing intermittent connection to plug.

22. If you drill through frame don't use factory bolt for front engine mount install. It may shear. I always use a bolt that is larger and US made.

23. Gas tank fuel petcock. Remove it and unscrew the screen filter that is in the petcock. Rationale: Had one clog on me from rust in fuel tank.

24 Fuel line: install inline fuel filter. Rationale: needed or crud in fuel tank may clog fuel line.

25. Fuel mixing: Use empty windshield washer gallon container. Add oil to container and them fill with gas and shake. Don't add oil to fuel in take because it will settle to bottom and oil will run to your carb causing a no start situation. Windshield washer containers are compatible with gas so don't worry about it. I've been using these as gas cans for many years with no problems in leakage, venting, or safety.

26. Oil and oil ratios: The 16-20:1 ratios are unecessary in bearing engines. Run engines at 32:1 when new and 40:1 when broken in. Oil to use: I prefer Maxima 927 or Klotch Supertechniplate because it has 20% castor (not castrol) in it. If you wish, buy a gallon or quart of castor from a RC hobby store and blend it with a quality 2 stroke oil. The ultimate blend would be 1 oz of castor oil with 2-3 oz of Amsoil or other oil of your choice per gallon fuel for the ultimate in engine protection. Castor has almost twice the temperature stability than regular oils-see my other posts. NOTE: YOU MAY VOID ENGINE WARRANTY IF YOU FOLLOW THIS TIP but then again most are only 30 days and 16:1 is just too much in my opinion for bearing engines.

27. Check plug gap on that new US or Japanese sparkplug before install. Plug gap should be about 22 thousands of an inch or ball park. Some plugs gaps are completely closed out of factory and has caused me some embarrassment on a no start situation because I just screwed the plug in without even looking first.

28. Wheel bearings: repack all of them before engine kit install. (sorry, this wasn't in an earlier step). Rationale: there must be a shortage of wheel grease in China because there was only a hint of it on my bearings.

29. Bike general stuff: engine vibrates and can loosen many bolts. I have lost pedals that weren't loctited, had brake assemblies fall apart etc...etc.. Note: loctite may void your engine warranty.

30. Fuel tank: put gravel in tank before install and shake too loosen rust. Rinse and repeat as necessary. There is lots of rust and crud in many new tanks. Some folks will seal the inside of tank...a good idea. Rinse well if you use gravel to get dirt and particles out.

30a. Fuel tank studs: sand paint around studs coming out of tank. JB weld the area. Rationale: some studs leak fuel out of where studs are mounted to fuel tank.

31. Double sided tape: Put double sided tape on bottom of fuel tank. This will prevent scratching of bicycle frame, keep tank from falling off when you are using both hands to mount the frame clamps and nuts. Also allows less torque on tank studs to prevent tank from rotating around the frame. Don't forget to use locknuts and lockwashers and loctite.

31a Double sided tape: chain roller bracket. Put doublesided tape on anything that is clamped onto the bike frame. This will prevent scratching paint as you do the necessary sliding back/forward to get correct chain tension and setup. I often make a new chain as tight as possible by moving bracket as close to rear as possible. Then I use the adjustment on the BEARING roller to tighten chain as it loosens from use.

32. Loctite brake pads nuts. I have had pads loosen on me.

33. Rear sprocket, before install, it may be necessary to grind some of the chrome off of the sprocket (if sprocket is chromed) to reduce chain binding or jumping.

I hope this helps. Some tips are overkill and some have been called silly but these tips are due to failures/problems I have experienced in my MB adventures.
Thank you. Those are great tips,very helpful.
 
There are a thousand and one things to know and there is an average of
1-mm clearance of working high-speed parts it's just those damn thing like frozen bolts other kinky oddities that come up and suck hours out of your day and it should of been a few minute breeze is now an all day correction.
 
im awstrayan mate!


dont care what a gallon is, all i know is that theres lots of em in different sizes!

if anyone posts the actual basic um...standards of the metric system, youll see they make as much sense as something like a "gill, hogshead or peck" the distance light travels in a vacuum in "0.768943523986453yrkjhewfkiuyerjkiu;awdse;vrpvn[0e v]vrf" of a second?

a kilogram is some other obscure type of equation.


or maybe its based on the 1/37494643097340927489026487098 of a second, the vibration frequency of a ceasium atom.

basically there are no numbers cus other than 0 or nothing, everything else is just a reference to something else. and even 0 is suspect because look at farenheit and celcius! and we are all just one consciusness thats a unity of itself so objectively theres no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and were all an imagination of ourselves.... :giggle:


the metric has issues with the base ten. what makes it so simple can sometimes make it really hard to work with in certain circumstances.

whereas you know 12 inches to a foot, 16s in an inch, etc. hard maths but easy...


but i digress. im australian, a metric country, yet i have no problem converting miles to km, inches to MM, pounds to the KG... i do get a bit stroppy over fluid measures. a floz? a whaaaaa?


and thread sizes? AAAAARRRRRGHHHGHGH!!!!!!! AMERICANS ARE CRAZY! EVERYTHING TECHNICAL IS DRAWN IN THOU! IT MAKES MY MILL CRASH WEHN I FORGET TO CHANGE BASE UNITS!


stuff ya gallons where the sun dont shine :) imperial or american!


but stop griping aboutr one unit versus another and learn to use your brain a bit. its not HARD!
You have never heard of standardisation, s**t for brains?
 
You have never heard of standardisation, sh*t for brains?
s**t for brains, read this then get back to us!


  • the imperial gallon (imp gal), defined as 4.54609 litres, which is used in the United Kingdom, Canada, and some Caribbean nations;
  • the US gallon (US gal) defined as 231 cubic inches (exactly 3.785411784 litres), which is used in the US and some Latin American and Caribbean countries; and
  • the US dry gallon ("usdrygal"), defined as 1⁄8 US bushel (exactly 4.40488377086 litres).
 
I found it funny that Poo Poo De Doo joined on July 6, 2013 and his last post was on July 10, 2013 until yesterday
Poo Poo De Doo hasn't been seen for over 7 1/2 years
Then his first post after 7 1/2 years is to HeadSmess just to call him "s**t for brains"
7 1/2 years ago Poo Poo De Doo already insulted HeadSmess over this same post.
I guess insulting HeadSmess 7 1/2 years ago wasn't enough for Poo Poo De Doo :ROFLMAO:

Here's their conversation from July 7, 2013

Looks like @Poo Poo De Doo is picking a fight with @HeadSmess after 7 1/2 years

Who is s**t for Brains?
im awstrayan mate!


dont care what a gallon is, all i know is that theres lots of em in different sizes!

if anyone posts the actual basic um...standards of the metric system, youll see they make as much sense as something like a "gill, hogshead or peck" the distance light travels in a vacuum in "0.768943523986453yrkjhewfkiuyerjkiu;awdse;vrpvn[0e v]vrf" of a second?

a kilogram is some other obscure type of equation.


or maybe its based on the 1/37494643097340927489026487098 of a second, the vibration frequency of a ceasium atom.

basically there are no numbers cus other than 0 or nothing, everything else is just a reference to something else. and even 0 is suspect because look at farenheit and celcius! and we are all just one consciusness thats a unity of itself so objectively theres no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and were all an imagination of ourselves.... :giggle:


the metric has issues with the base ten. what makes it so simple can sometimes make it really hard to work with in certain circumstances.

whereas you know 12 inches to a foot, 16s in an inch, etc. hard maths but easy...


but i digress. im australian, a metric country, yet i have no problem converting miles to km, inches to MM, pounds to the KG... i do get a bit stroppy over fluid measures. a floz? a whaaaaa?


and thread sizes? AAAAARRRRRGHHHGHGH!!!!!!! AMERICANS ARE CRAZY! EVERYTHING TECHNICAL IS DRAWN IN THOU! IT MAKES MY MILL CRASH WEHN I FORGET TO CHANGE BASE UNITS!


stuff ya gallons where the sun dont shine :) imperial or american!


but stop griping aboutr one unit versus another and learn to use your brain a bit. its not HARD!
If you had of paid more attention instead of having an opinion about other peoples opinins - the "Aww me too" syndrome, smyptomatic of clubby and clueless people., what I had started off with AND elucidated elsewhere in a thread I had started on the subject is that the best thing about metric is that EVERYONE is working from the same system, the same values and the same standards....

And it's really time these Merkins came up to speed with the rest of the people on the rest of the planet - instead of doing their own idiotic ********.

When buying wire from Merika, they have 4 or 5 standards of wire gauge, and wire measurements - talking hair like guitar pick up wires... for the ONE diameter of wire size.

Metric - it only comes in diameter.

Most of the ******** vaiables and types of mile and gallon have gone by the wayside, but the retards on the planet (Merkens) still use liquid gallons and it's their size gallon... which is different to THEIR dry gallon.

And both are different to the UK liquid gallon......

There are Meriken companies that sell globally, yet they are too stupid to put anything in metric....

And they use DIFFERENT ounces, for different products - dry ounces, fluid ounces, Adoupolis ounces, and a few others that escape me....

I am tired of having to deal with retarded Merikens with their ******** measuring systems.

"In Alley Bamee we use the Southern Tin and Gold Miners Association gallon"...

Yeah **** - right.
 
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WELL...We could just all go back to Cubit measurements...Now, let's see...Which Cubit measurements should we use...Ancient Egyptian Cubits, or Biblical Hebraic Cubits...lol...lol...lol...There is nothing thats truly standardised, (standardized), not even the English Language, Just depends where on the globe you reside...lol...DAMIEN
 
I found it funny that Poo Poo De Doo joined on July 6, 2013 and his last post was on July 10, 2013 until yesterday
Poo Poo De Doo hasn't been seen for over 7 1/2 years
Then his first post after 7 1/2 years is to HeadSmess just to call him "sh*t for brains"
7 1/2 years ago Poo Poo De Doo already insulted HeadSmess over this same post.
I guess insulting HeadSmess 7 1/2 years ago wasn't enough for Poo Poo De Doo :ROFLMAO:

Here's their conversation from July 7, 2013

Looks like @Poo Poo De Doo is picking a fight with @HeadSmess after 7 1/2 years

Who is sh*t for Brains?
i feel honoured :)

i think he missed the point of what i was saying....

standardisation is just an agreed set of comparisons between people. that aint that special!

for that same reason, without clocks, or accurate methods of measuring time or frequency, Beethovens idea of "A" probably was NOT what WE think of as "A"... a standardised 440 cycles per second... Anything composed before about 1930 will have no "standard" so to speak. and why "A", and why 440? ive never seen it in writing, but 440 is a weird number that keeps dividing by the 12th root of 2 and leaves no nasty rounding errors. halve it, double it, 12th rt 2 it, and it always returns to 440... start at 330 (E) and it doesnt work...

an arbitrarily chosen number, name, length of time...

whats a second again? an arbitrarily chosen division of rotation of planet...

gets scary when you start digging into the old physics books on electromagnetics and start thinking about things...

i am yet to find an electrician or electrical engineer that can define a volt, or an ampere, or anything really.

sort of like a cook that cant define what oil or 260C is... use it all day long but dont know what it actually is.
 
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