First Build Finished Just in Time For Winter...

[EnderbyRider]

Good evening gentlemen. I'm Tom and I built a motorcycle from scratch basically. Pretty cool right? So I just finished my first build. Ordered a kit off amazon that had some good reviews and got a new Canadian Tire mountain bike. Now I have a brand new motorcycle for $350 CAD I needed to swap out my intake pipe for a stubby one and flip the air box upside down to fit the carb, than needed to cut the twist grip shifter on the right handlebar in half to fit everything on properly but everything went very smoothly. I got a dual brake lever to eliminate the brake lever on the left handlebar to tidy things up a bit which seems to work well.

Filled the tank up and the engine fired up right aways with no issues and runs smoothly for the most part. However it will not start or run with the choke on and it will not idle. Every time i pull the clutch in the engine dies unless I give it throttle. Messed with idle screw a bit and does not seem to help. It also seems to be 4 stroking under full throttle. Cruises very nice under about 3/4 throttle. After doing some reading I am guessing it either has an air leak or is running to rich. Maybe find a leak or adjust the needle on the carb. If I can figure this small issue out I will be very happy. Was a very fun project and a blast to putt around on so far

 

[Whitewill1412]

No pictures? Sounds like you enjoyed the build. These things are fun. Show some pics please

 

[GW's Motorized]

Sounds rich if it won't start on choke. Pull the plug and take a picture of it so we can read the burn

 

[BruceBanner1983]

Good evening gentlemen. I'm Tom and I built a motorcycle from scratch basically. Pretty cool right? So I just finished my first build. Ordered a kit off amazon that had some good reviews and got a new Canadian Tire mountain bike. Now I have a brand new motorcycle for $350 CAD I needed to swap out my intake pipe for a stubby one and flip the air box upside down to fit the carb, than needed to cut the twist grip shifter on the right handlebar in half to fit everything on properly but everything went very smoothly. I got a dual brake lever to eliminate the brake lever on the left handlebar to tidy things up a bit which seems to work well.

Filled the tank up and the engine fired up right aways with no issues and runs smoothly for the most part. However it will not start or run with the choke on and it will not idle. Every time i pull the clutch in the engine dies unless I give it throttle. Messed with idle screw a bit and does not seem to help. It also seems to be 4 stroking under full throttle. Cruises very nice under about 3/4 throttle. After doing some reading I am guessing it either has an air leak or is running to rich. Maybe find a leak or adjust the needle on the carb. If I can figure this small issue out I will be very happy. Was a very fun project and a blast to putt around on so far

All I would like to say is that I’m due you’ve got yourself a fine motorized bicycle or what is considered a moped by some regions laws, what you do not have is a motorcycle.

 

[Amwicr]

All I would like to say is that I’m due you’ve got yourself a fine motorized bicycle or what is considered a moped by some regions laws, what you do not have is a motorcycle.

Laws aside, it technically is as much a motorcycle as the early harleys. It's a motor. It's a cycle. It's a motorcycle!!

Of course, people may think he's crazy for calling it that.

 

[BruceBanner1983]

Laws aside, it technically is as much a motorcycle as the early harleys. It's a motor. It's a cycle. It's a motorcycle!!

Of course, people may think he's crazy for calling it that.

While it’s true the first motorcycles were motorized bicycles, by law and current common definition, it would not be a motorcycle.

 

[Amwicr]

The law doesn't necessarily make sense.

There's this:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/motorcycle

I agree with you on one thing, that's that it isn't the norm to call them motorcycles now. It seems weird.

also It's a moped too but if you go on mopedarmy.com with it, you'll get loads of insults from people who think it's not a moped because it wasn't factory built, or something. But I digress.

 

[BruceBanner1983]

The law doesn't necessarily make sense.

There's this:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/motorcycle

I agree with you on one thing, that's that it isn't the norm to call them motorcycles now. It seems weird.

also It's a moped too but if you go on mopedarmy.com with it, you'll get loads of insults from people who think it's not a moped because it wasn't factory built, or something. But I digress.

The law partially seeks to differentiate between factory built motorcycles and “everything else”, but also partially seeks to add taxes, fines and fees to take as much of our money as possible. I agree with you, it doesn’t make sense, but it is what it is. My state has definitions for motor driven cycles, electric bicycles, scooters and motorcycles. Mopeds are a subcategory of motor driven cycle. Motorized bicycles with pedals are mopeds. Without pedals are motor driven cycles. My bike is titled as MODC, which is just motor driven cycle. No distinction between having pedals or not, at least on the title. My understanding is if it’s under 50cc, automatic transmission, and doesn’t have pedals, it then requires yearly inspection. With pedals, it does not require inspection. The law is different everywhere, but mainly I was saying by current commonly accepted definition.

 

[GW's Motorized]

So if I call my shed a "factory" and roll out a POS and call it a motorcycle, is it then legally a motorcycle?

 

[BruceBanner1983]

So if I call my shed a "factory" and roll out a POS and call it a motorcycle, is it then legally a motorcycle?

Really not much different from how Harley and Indian got started