Sup PBPeople! I live in Dallas, TX.. 29 years old, and I love to ride pocket bikes! Ive had several, but the one I have now is nothing special.. its a 50cc cat eye, and when I got it, it didnt start at all.. the kid that I got it from sold it to me for 50 bucks, and it was all jacked up, broken motor mounts, seized piston, wiring was all wrong.. but I got it home, put some love into it and it runs like a champ now. Glad I found a community of people who love pocket bikes!
Cateyes can be made reliable, the wiring usually is first to go. Cateye frames are also the perfect platforms for larger engine swaps. Several members on here have successfully swapped in 3.5hp-6.5hp Honda clones or Brigss&Stratton engines into the frames with little modification, and at least one has stuffed a 4-speed 110cc engine into his - tight fit!
Yeah, I will definately load up some pics as soon as I can find the ones I had or retake some.. had my hard drive crash on me like a week and a half ago, cant remember if I recovered them.
Oops .... been there, done that ..... G/f and I use her laptop as our DJ system, hard drive crashed, and we lost everything ... Luckily we still had the original CD's, but we're still finding stuff missing here and there.
Hey spyguy what kind of music do you spin/mix? I only ask because I have like well over at least a half of a Terabyte of just trance. I have like 12 DVD's full of various sets, 2 hours - 4 hours long, a lot of rare mixes, d n b, dance, all kinds of good music if you are into that kinda thing.. Id be more than happy to share some with ya if you ever want it.. I also have a crap-ton of DJ / Audio software that Id be happy to share as well.. Native Instruments, Cubase, Acid Pro, plugins galore, you name it I probably have it. Just let me know! Im going to try to get pics of my bike posted today too!
I want to do some more work to my bike though, so its not in a completed stage, although it is assembled and running at the moment. Plan on tearing it down to the frame and repainting from the ground up, extending the swing arm, sprocket changes, custom lighting, lots of stuff I want to do to it.. cant wait.
Since we do a lot of linedancing, we have all sorts of stuff: country, rock, Top 40, pop, oldies, some rap .... I have backup CD's and DVD's, and about four different hard drives with all our stuff on it, so I got plenty of copies of everything! I may take you up on the DJ software, though - I usually run my music through PC DJ Red (Pro Edition, got it from a dj friend who asked me not to share it, sorry), plus have about a dozen other music players/editing programs that I use on a semi-regular basis.
Anyway, back to the bike: An important question is, "Can you weld, or know someone who does?" If the answrer is yes, then you can do just about anything to your bike - extended frame, stretched swingarm, custom mounts, whatever. As one old-timer on a welding forum told me, "If you can imagine it, you can build it if you know how to weld."
(I'll be fair here and say you might want to stay on the lookout for another cheap bike off craigslist, so you'll have a "beater" to ride while your good one is down for repairs/mods. Kinda sucks not being able to ride for several weeks because your bike's in pieces! If you're like most of us, you'll be getting at LEAST one more bike ........)
Oh I definately am keeping my eye out several times a day on craigslist for my 2nd bike. I figured since I have a cat eye to work with, I want to get a mid-bike, something like an x-19 would be awesome.. I definately want something in the 110cc range and manual tranny, the works. And as luck would have it, my good neighbor, who is also a biker (he's in his late 50's, and he rides an awesome custom orange Harley), happens to have a welding rig, and a sandblaster, and just about any power tools that I could ever need that I already dont have.. and I've already pitched my idea about extending the swingarm, and he takes an interest in my lil machine and wants to help me do the welding work. I just gotta get the extra 1" by 1/2" square tube metal from our local metalworks and order the lengthened chain (chain is tougher to get than the metal due to having to order the chain) and Ill be ready to do that mod. I cant really do any painting until I get the swingarm extended, so its just going to stay assembled for now so I can ride every day until I get my parts. As far as the software goes, just let me know what you wanted, and Ill PM you about the details.
Actually, the cateye IS considered a midbike ... but nothing wrong with one of the X bikes, either.
Cool .... sounds like you've got a good deal going there with your biker bud. Welding helps a LOT, if you know how, or if you have a friend who can do it for you. I started learning on a little Chicago-Electric MIG welder, and it's fairly easy - you just have to pay attention to what you're doing. Once you get the controls set, you rarely have to mess with them again. For some of the stuff I've done for my bikes, check out the two links in my signature, especially the second one.
You might also want to check around in your area, see if there are any other riders out that way. Maybe y'all could get together sometime at a parking lot, set up a track, and do some riding.
Ah, I didnt know that the cat eye was classified as a midbike, although I did always think that it was bigger than the 1st pocketbike I had, which was also a china made bike, but was smaller, built more like those little Blatas' I see on the net, no electrics, lights or any of that crap.. a true pocket bike.. Anyways, since Im currently unemployed (which I absolutely hate) it makes it difficult to purchase things that I need or want, but first chance I get im going to buy my own welding kit. Ive done some welding, but could get some great exp. if I had my own.. Not to mention the possibilities are endless, it practically pays for itself with the first couple of repairs or builds you do with it. That Re-Cycle bike you got going on is pretty sweet! looks like the first mini-bike I ever saw when I was like 10.. and the rat bike is crazy too.. the use of all the household items makes it unique and awesome. I wonder what it sounds like with that muffler on it! I didnt make it home today, but I should be home by the end of the week. Let me know what software you wanted to check out too so I can get that to ya!
Actually, once you pull all the electrics off the "crap-eyes," they're fairly reliable .... don't really remember how to do it, but there's a few guys on here who have ... Try CAM2 - he knows.
Go check out your local Harbor Freight (if you have one in your area). Sometimes they have their little 110v MIGs going for about $120, even cheaper if you manage to catch them on sale. (I got mine for $89.00.) I do a lot of artistic welding - the bike frame was the first "structural" piece I've done, and it's holding up quite well. I'm very pleased.
The Re-Cycle is pretty much done and painted, but I screwed up and shattered the rear rim ... just ordered another today for it, along with a new gas tank. I'm planning on stripping some paint back off the frame, and welding a couple of solid mounts (wrenches, of course) to mount the tank in the same place.
The Rat sounds pretty good with that big muffler on it. Drops the engine tone from the annoying high-pitched whine down to a lower rumble ... perfect for a ratbike.
Shoot me a PM, let me know what you have in the way of music players / editing software. We can go from there ...
Yay! I found the memory card with my bike pics on it! Going to upload them to photobucket real quick. Will post links in 5 minutes or so.. And Ill shoot you a PM as soon as I sort through my music software.
Okay, here are the pics I took when I first got it home and rewired the electrical. This is also before I took all of the crappy stickers off, and fixed the visor and fairing damage:
Thanks, it was in very bad shape when I got it. It came with a box of extra parts though, including an extra motor. The carb that was on it was flooding the engine with gasoline anytime there was gas in the tank, the motor that was on it had a broken motor mount, wiring was totally jacked up and the spark plug wasnt even sparking when the pull start was engaged. Nothing worked. When I finally got spark from the plug, and rebuilt the carb, I took the motor apart to see why it still wouldnt start. I found out that the kid that had it obviously ran it without any oil in the mixture, because the piston and the cylinder walls and piston rings where heavily scored, and beyond any repair. I disassembled the good motor (broken motor mount) and disassembled the bad motor (internals beyond repair) and I threw out all the bad parts, and rebuilt a solid motor out of all the good parts, properly seating everything, new gaskets, and fresh oil for the internal parts. Got it all back together, and it started right up on the 2nd pull (after priming the carb). Everything works like it should right now, carb is adjusted right, brakes, throttle cable, everything works perfect (except the elec. start). All I really want to do to it now is give it a fresh custom paint job down to the frame, extend the swingarm, and put some LED light strips on the inside of the body so that it glows red on the inside of the plastics. If I can get those things done, id be satisfied completely with it. I didnt really buy it for speed or anything, I just wanted something to ride till I get my r6. My software book is at home to, so ill get ya that list of audio stuff when I finally get back there.
Sometimes, that's exactly what you have to do to these bikes - tear down two junkers, throw out all the bad parts (well, I throw them in the scrap metal pile for welding, now), then build up something with the good parts you have and order the parts you don't. You've done a nice job on it so far, keep us informed on the build. Not sure about the LEDs, but you can probably get those at any auto parts store - they always have a good collection.
Just so you know I know where you're coming from, The Rat, may avatar bike, was very badly abused when I got it. The previous owner had been using a street bike for an offroad dirt bike, and I literally couldn't tell what color the bike originally had been until after I got it home and hosed off. (Turned out it was silver with a cracked yellow seat section, not the dusty red and grimy oil-black when I first got it ...) Surprisingly, the engine ran halfway decent, and after a thorough carburetor cleaning and reed change, it fired up good and strong - the top end's never been off the bike, and that's been close on two years ago. Everything else - well, if you've gone through the thread on the bike, you know everything else I've done to it. Different carb, different reeds, custom parts ... a whole lot of stuff. Sure looks different than when I got it ...
Well it looks awesome in my opinion. Id like to hear it sometime, but even a video wouldnt do the audio any justice really. Before I had this pocket bike, my neighbor with the welder (Glen is his name) had an older model Suzuki 250cc Quad sitting in his backyard for well over a year, flat tires, wasps had built hives in the exhaust, SPIDERS.... OH MY GOD THE AMOUNT OF SPIDERS.. *shiver* Anyway, he was going to use it out at his deer lease, but his back isnt that great, so he never got to repairing it. He just gave it to us for no charge at all, so I could get it running and let my siblings ride around on it. That was my first real.. whats the word... recreational vehicle tear down and rebuild. It needed tons of parts, but I still remember the day that I first got it to crank up and idle... thats a great feeling. Thats pretty much what my whole aim is anytime I have a project.. is the satisfaction of when you complete it.. nothing else like it. Im sure you know exactly what I mean, and your avatar says it all... Great job. ANYWAYS, I picked up my glow kit today.. found a kid on craigslist selling some awesome LED tube lights, Ill post some pics and a video of them in action soon as I figure out how to charge this camera. They are awesome! And only cost 15$! Cant wait to install em on the bike!
hi to you all pbp members. i would just like to know if any1 frm here are from the philippines? cause im luking for a shop where in i can buy for un upgrade for my pocket bike im new in this hobby pls! help thanks
