Fred
From Calgary, Alberta
March 1, 2005
| I have been looking at Golden Eagle's web
site off and on for the last couple of years
as their kit looked great and the reviews
from their customers appeared genuine and
sincere. Also I have never seen a bad word
about the company anywhere, ever. In the
meantime I have owned an old French Velosolex
from the Sixties, and a new Tomos moped.
The Solex engine was becoming increasingly
sluggish and the Tomos disappeared after
I brought it into a repair shop which went
belly-up shortly afterwards. My 52-year-old
bones protested at the thought of tacking
some of the unforgiving hills around here,
and especially more towards the mountains
where I want to take the bike. The idea of
a motorized bike, to me, is to greatly extend
your range, flatten out the hills, and make
bike riding 100 percent fun. I liked the
idea of Golden Eagle's belt drive system
as opposed to the friction drive of the Solex,
not that there was anything wrong with the
friction drive, but the thing was slow, let's
face it. On a good day with the wind at your
back the best you can hope for is about 18
miles per hour. Lately on a good day I'd
be lucky just to keep the thing upright.
And I am no mechanic by any stretch of the
imagination. Finally the time was right to
get the Golden Eagle kit. My experience was
a bit unusual in that I bought the bike first
to "agree" with the Golden Eagle
kit, instead of doing things in reverse.
Or so I thought. |
| I thought I was really clever in the bike
shop, measuring the distance between the
chainstay (bottom frame section that runs
from the bottom of the seat post to the rear
hub, and finding I had an ample 1-3/4"
clearance to allow for their drive ring.
So I got my new Norco Pinnacle based on the
chainstay clearance, plus the fact that it
has front suspension and the 2005 model has
regular rear axles, rather than the quick-release
ones. Plus a very moderate price and good
overall quality. I chose a 17" frame
because I feel more comfortable on a slightly
smaller frame than I would normally get and
wanted a lower centre of gravity. Only after
getting it home did I notice the seatstay
(the other part of the frame that goes from
the top of the seat post to the rear hub.
Might be a new design twist, but some creative
person at Norco appears to have decided,
hey let's put a curve in the seatstay so
that right where Golden Eagle's drive ring
is, the seatstay will bend inwards right
at that point to interfere with its operation.
The curve does not appear to be necessary
(though I could certainly be wrong here),
it just seems to be a "nifty" design
element. Not so nifty in my case though.
I had two choices: to bend the seatstay or
to file away at the point of interference.
Attempts to bend the seatpost in my case
were just fruitless so I did end up filing
a little bit of the seatstay to allow clearance.
That worked fine. Aside from this chore,
putting the drive ring on the spokes and
mounting the engine kit were both straightforward,
even for this non-mechanic. |
| I did some tweaking to the bike. In the past,
I have been stuck in the middle of nowhere
with flat tires once too often and need to
have what is, to me, an acceptable level
of confidence. I got Specialized Nimbus Armadillo
Kevlar tires, with street treads, the only
tires out of about six leading "flat-resistant"
brands that did NOT get flats when run on
a cruel test course covered in broken glass
shards. The tires are great, but on my first
test rides I found the aluminum bike with
the Armadillo tires was too light, it would
tend to bounce around too much for me. As
I had plenty of weight in the back, with
myself and the engine, it was the front that
had no weight. My solution was to put back
on the front the original wider, knobby tire
the bike came with, and not only that, I
installed a Mr. Tuffy tire liner, plus I
cut an inner tube in half lengthwise and
installed that on "top" of the
tire liner, then put in a Bell Universal
extra-thick tube with Slime sealant. Not
only does this give the front end some heft
and weight, but the bike handles much better
over rough terrain, gravel, sand, mud, snow
and ice, and I have every confidence in the
flat protection. I even put Slime into the
rear tube, not because it needed it, but
I'm using Slime more as an early-warning
device -- at the slightest hint of a puncture
or leak of any kind the green Slime will
show up on the tires and I'll know about
it. It looks like you've run over a monster
bug. Not only that, but chances are good
it will fix the problem by sealing it on
the spot. I realize that "mixing"
tires is frowned upon, but I felt I needed
the wide, knobby tires in the front and did
not need them in the back, since there is
so much weight in the back anyway. And it's
not like anyone is going 100 miles per hour
here-- my purpose is to cruise comfortably
over an extended range with total confidence
in the machine I am using. With this sort
of thing, I think ultimately it is yourself
that you have to please. |
Hard to believe, but this location is right
in the middle of Calgary.
It's at the Rocky View Hospital overlooking
the Glenmore Reservoir.
| In the process of getting the bike tweaked
to meet my desired level of confidence in
it, I would take the bike out for a couple
of hours each day, always trying something
new, i.e. different types of terrain, different
hills, then come back home and make any adjustments
to the bicycle that I noticed were needed
during the tests. In the process I learned
especially how to change tires and tubes
(after this exercise I could do that in my
sleep, though I would dread having to tackle
the rear tire in bear country. Hence the
Kevlar tires). Also how to adjust the brakes,
and thankfully a bicycle is a relatively
simple machine and if you know about tires,
tubes and brakes, you're in pretty good shape. |
| And now to how the Golden Eagle kit works.
I got their 35cc Robin/Subaru 4-stroke engine
with the trail gear installed, since I'm
not about speed --it's the hills that worry
me. I love the fact that the engine "mixes"
its own oil (actually it automatically sprays
exactly the right amount of oil at the right
time), so that's one less thing I'll be messing
up. Golden Eagle says this engine has more
low-end torque; that's why I got it. The
very first time I started it up, after four
pulls on a brand new engine --not bad at
all, I hopped on the bike and just placed
my little pinky on the throttle and wow!
--the bike and me were off at a speed that
I normally would peddle at. I engaged the
throttle maybe one-quarter of it's capacity
and zoom --off we were with even more power!
I knew at that moment this was no mistake
at all, getting this kit. It is all get-up-and-go
and no questions asked. Very, very impressive.
After about two weeks now of riding it a
different "way" every day, with
different objectives that is, I have total
confidence in the kit, and have learned to
help it especially when starting off from
a dead stop. Oh, it doesn't really need the
help usually, but it is nice to have that
bicycle experience too. A few good pedals,
ease into the throttle and the engine scoots
right along nicely without exerting any undue
pressure on the spokes. This particular engine
also has a great sound, maybe a little loud
but it lets you know it is commanding the
road, and it lets you know this is a real
engine, not just some toy. I get a big kick
out of the sound --it's addictive in some
way, and it just oozes confidence. I can
tell by the way people react that before
they look, they think a motorcycle of some
kind is heading towards them, then they are
invariably surprised by this unique contraption
when they do see what it is. |
As for the ultimate test of the engine, how
it handles hills, Darryl and Sina of Fort
Collins, Colorado, other reviewers on this
site, said they got the engines to "flatten
out the hills". They have an excellent
description of just how the engines work
on hills in their review, and that phrase
stuck with me. Truly it does flatten out
the hills. I find most moderate hills that
I would be grumbling about having to deal
with are a cinch with the Golden Eagle. I
must confess it's not even necessary to peddle
on moderate hills but this is where I feel
guilty -- I mean I'm able to help out some,
right? I get a kick out of pedaling on hills
actually, because I marvel at how easy it
is climbing a moderate hills and it really
is like pedaling an un-assisted bike on level
ground. As for the tough hills, the really
steep inclines, sure you have to peddle,
and you do feel it, but the engine gives
all the assist you could reasonably hope
for. I don't like to think I'm straining
the engine so I help out. The exercise is
of value of course and since you're climbing
at a rate much faster than you could ever
pedal, the hill is tacked in a short enough
period of time.
So the Golden Eagle bike kit from me gets
a perfect score. It's a well thought-out,
brilliantly designed system that brings you
the fun of riding a bike with greatly extended
range and "flattened" hills. All
of the fun of bike-riding and none of the
drawbacks. And as a bonus, at least here
in Alberta, you don't need a license, you
don't need to register the bike, you don't
need insurance and you can park anywhere
for free. What other motorized vehicle can
even come close to this?
Fred
Calgary, Alberta
Canada
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