Bob
From Southern California
November 5th, 2005
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Hi.
I bought a Golden Eagle kit in June of 2004.
I live in the mountains of Southern California
at 1500 feet above sea level. A trip to *town*,
Santa Barbara, is about 5-1/2 miles down
a windy mountain road to Highway 101 and
then a relatively flat 10 miles along the
shoulder to the edge of town where many street
side bike paths take one just about anywhere
in town. I work at home but haul my wood
carvings to town using a kiddy cart (two
wheel type). I make several trips a week
to town. So far I have over 6,000 miles on
the engine.
My bike is a Cannondale aluminum mountain
bike and was well used when I mounted the
motor kit. I had a few problems all minor.
First I broke a bunch of spokes on the pulley
side of the rear wheel. Turns out the previous
owner had stressed the spokes. I replaced
them with Swiss stainless spokes of a constant
diameter (not tapered). The Golden Eagle
folks suggested wrapping the cross point
of the spokes with copper wire and soldering
which I did. No broken spokes now for a year
and a half. The muffler kept working loose
even when I used thread lock. So I made a
new mount as pictured and have had no problems.
The rear wheel pulley started to move a bit
up and down the spokes. I adapted 1/4 inch
stove bolts by hack sawing a slot next to
the bolt head, sliding it on the spoke, adding
a washer and tightening it with the tensioner
released. No problem sense then. My drive
pulley and belt wore out and I could see
why. The roads I use have a lot of dirt/grit
and it gets tossed into the belt and drive
gear. First I added a fender I made out of
1 1/2 inch black PVC drain pipe cut in half
and about 8 inches long front and rear. On
the rear I made a cover for the drive pulley
out of 3 inch white PVC drain pipe end caps.
I slotted the outer cover which is held on
with a metal screw and comes of for pulley
changes. I got a new hardened drive pulley
from Golden Eagle. Now instead of 1000 miles
on a belt I get over 2000 miles.
I have a Sigma Sport dual beam light set
up and a LED rear flasher. Night riding is
fun but a little caution is advised on the
speed. As far as speed goes I cruise at 30
MPH easy, sometimes up to 35 MPH. On slight
hills I usually pedal a bit to keep at 30
MPH. At stops I accelerate using motor and
pedal and usually can keep up with cars.
I changed from knobby tires to *street slick*
tires, made a big difference in top speed
and mileage.
Here are the things I love about this system.
First I have always loved biking but at 64
years it gets to be hard doing the long distances.
This system is like always coasting downhill,
pure fun. I hate being dependent on fossil
fuels, I am a firm believer in Peak Oil and
if that is a new concept I suggest you Google
the phrase. I also am a firm believer in
Global Climate Change as caused in large
part by burning copious amounts of oil in
our cars and trucks. This is one way of reducing
my pollution footprint as I get 250 mpg as
opposed to under 30 in my Ford truck. And
last but not least I love the simplicity
of the engineering that went into this design.
It is hard to imagine that a 25cc motor can
get me around town with all the function
of a 2500cc truck and 6 times the mileage
and a whole lot less problems parking or
avoiding traffic tie-ups. And the folks at
Golden Eagle are truly *Golden* folks.
Many thanks.
Bob Hazard
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