Sun EZ-3 SX Clueless Newbie needs mentoring

OilItRight

New Member
Local time
5:17 AM
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Jul 20, 2011
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I finally found something in my area (Mohave Desert aka middle of nowhere) Been getting older and fatter for years and finally decided maybe a recumbent tricycle might be a good idea. Been watching Craigslist and finally spotted this one. Well it has a gas engine (it's engine right? not motor) I took it for a little test drive up and down the seller's street; start the engine, pedal up to some speed and pull the throttle, let me tell you it went as fast as I want to go on it. Forked over $400 which by my checking on the internet would not have been a bad price for the tricycle by itself without the gas engine.

OK I got it home and decided to show off my new healthy mode of transportation. I almost died in the process. The sellers street is flat ground, the street in front of my house has a slope, not sure of the percent of grade. Let's just say that coasting down it was a lot faster then I needed to go and I made ample use of the break (white knuckled it until it started to slow) brake application brought a new thrill on top of the somewhat wobbly ride as it pulled to the right more then I liked.

At the bottom of the street I turned around and pedaled up to a speed that I thought was sufficient to hit the throttle, well the effect was a total disappointment. Absolutely no detectable power assist from the engine. So I started pedaling, whew it's been a long tie since I pedaled a bicycle up any kind of hill, I was at nearly the stroke point when my friend who had been watching came to my rescue. Now he's probably 100 pounds lighter then me and it wouldn't pull him up the hill either.

So we decided its probably the centrifugal clutch. Only I got no information or manuals or anything. The motor has essentially no markings. I'm sure it's some kind of Asian import knockoff. It does have the letters ECI in a couple places. I did some time on Google looking at gas engines for bicycles, didn't see anything that looked like it. I did find a few more Sun EZ-3 SX recumbent trikes with gas engines but they are coupled to the wheels differently. Mine has the engine mounted on the left side over the wheel shaft whereas all the examples I saw had the engine mounted about mid line and behind the axle.

Aside from the won't go up a hill issue the bike seems in good shape, clean, not scratched up, engine started on one pull.

Any guidance or suggestion will be gratefully received.

I tried attaching pictures but the upload kept failing.

ok second try on images

http://null.linuxgod.org/~whynot/trike/IMG_0519.JPG
 

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