Check out rcycld.com's Motoped side project
Posted on 16 Oct 20:46
Check out Recycledmountainracing.com’s side project: Motoped Pro 110cc
We know allot of you gravity racers out there like to twist throttles and we thought you would enjoy an update on one of our side projects: a Motoped Pro 110cc
You can learn more about the stock bike here:
(we have no official connection to this company)
Also if your interested in building your own Motoped or customizing the one you have check out:
Facebook’s motoped build and ride group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1432733183623914
this is a great builder’s resource and a great place to meet people passionate about the motoped platform
Why do we love the motoped platform? We are stocked on Motopeds here at recycledmountainracing.com because the bike uses many of the same awesome parts we sell for downhill and enduro mountain bikes. We also like this platform because the bikes are relatively lightweight 110lbs approx vs 200+lbs for a full size dirt bike, The motopeds are relatively fuel efficient - The bike uses a Honda CRF50 tank that hold .6 gallons of premium pump gas - (How much is a gallon at your local gas station?), and most importantly the Motoped is a fairly open standard platform that allow the use of many standard downhill bicycle parts with a combination of standardized pit bike motorcycle parts, These open standards allow for a huge range of customization options. The total package allows for a bike that is lightweight and nimble, feels much like a downhill bike, and is amazing on motorcycle single track. We love to ride our bike in the BLM motorcycle trails between Redmond and Sisters, just north of Bend, Oregon.
Here is a list of the upgrades we have completed and our build notes since we first blogged about the stock bike on May 21, 2015
Build notes for upgrades to stock bike:
The first issue we noticed on the stock bike is that the handlebars are too narrow and the stem was too long and position too high. We don’t necessarily fault the manufacture for this as it could be to make the bike easier to manage for beginner riders who will want to sit more upright on the bike. We swapped the stock bar to a Spank Vibrocore bar that is 800mm wide. If I had the to guess this probably added 1 ½” to each side- We choose this bar because it has a great shape and about the same rise (50mm). We love this bar because it filled with vibration damping foam. We love this bar for DH because our fingers and hands feel less sore after a full day in the bike park and we think using it on a light motorcycle is an excellent application of the vibration damping foam. It is worth noting that most parts intended for DH bicycle riding are not approved for any type of motorcycle use by the manufacturer, so customize and ride at your own risk. You can see the handlebar here:
Spank Vibrocore
http://recycledmountainracing.com/search?q=vibrocore
The stock stem is 50mm long and it puts the stock bar about 3” above the top crown of the fork. We find this setup combined with the narrow stock bar makes the bike much to twitching and unstable feeling at speed. We swapped out the stock clamp on stem for a direct mount style stem - We did add about 15mm of stem spacers made by North Shore Billet to bring up slightly our Spank direct mount stem - The stem we used is adjustable for 25mm to 30mm length - We ran the stem in the 30mm position and felt this did a great job combined with the wider 800mm bars of slowing down the steering feel and making the bike feel stable - This setup brought the bar back 20mm and down about 1” from the stock position - All of these details contributed to greater stability at speed.
Spank stem
http://recycledmountainracing.com/search?q=+spank+direct
North Shore Billet spacers
15mm of rise
The stock Hayes Stocker Ave brakes were not bad brakes, but we certainly felt they were lacking in power. We upgraded to a set of Hope V4 downhill brakes with steel braided lines. We like these brakes for three main reasons: first they have a high quality machined calipers, secondly the levers are very adjustable, and lastly and most importantly, the braided lines have extremely little pressure loss. The Hope V4s are also the only calipers that can accept Hope’s trick vented rotors which we had planned for a later upgrade. We thought we would have to upgrade the Hayes 9” rotors to get the feel we were looking for in the brakes but we discovered that the stock Hayes rotors worked great with the Hope V4 brakes. We now feel an abundance of power and modulation. The bonus is the Hope V4s are available in some very bling colors like red, purple, and now orange - Check them out here:
Hope v4 brakes
Replacement rotors here:
Hayes 9” rotors
http://recycledmountainracing.com/search?q=motoped+hayes
We replaced the stock loose ball pedals for some alloy body Nukeproof Protons. We love the pin layout on the Protons and think they are a great value at $62, plus they also have cartridge bearings
Nukeproof pedals
http://recycledmountainracing.com/collections/nukeproof-pedals
So far we have covered major upgrades to the coqpit (bar/stem/levers), and the brakes, and now we will replace the stock suspension:
We think Marzocchi Moto C2R is one of the best values in performance rear shocks. The Motoped uses the same 9.5” x 3” size that most downhill bikes use. We were a bit disappointed with the performance of the stock suspension. We understand that the DNM fork and shock are inexpensive components designed to help a bike meet a certain price point but the DNM’s rear adjusters didn’t seem to do anything as far as we can tell. We were super stoked with the C2R when we able to stop on the trail while riding and dial in the motoped rebound adjuster and get the adjustment we were looking for. We think at $299 the Moto C2R performace is hard to beat - We would be interested in trying a Cane Creek double barrel but at over $600 the value seems dimished. We are also looking into testing air shocks like the RockShox Vivid air and the Marzocchi WC air. The Moto C2R has rebound, compression, and low speed compression adjusters. You can check it out here:
Marzocchi moto c2r
http://recycledmountainracing.com/search?q=Marzocchi+Moto
We are using Nukeproof steel springs. We went with a 550lb spring for a 250lb rider riding mostly singletrack
We sell Nukeproof spring in huge variety of sizes and weights please message us if you have questions
info@recycledmountainracing.com
The stock muffler was intended for bikes under 88cc so we got a performance muffler off eBay. This made a huge difference in the engine's temperature, performance, and we love the new sound. To ride legally on BLM land in Oregon you need a spark arrestor so we had one installed in the new muffler. (You also need a ATV type 4 permit- this runs you about $16)
Prototype fork
Probably the most exciting piece on this build is the prototype fork. We are working on bringing this fork to market for motopeds and electric bikes. We can't say alot about it now, but we can tell you it rides awesome! The fork uses legs made in asia and crowns and axle made in the USA. The fork has 48mm uppers, 38mm lowers, a full 8” of travel, 20x110mm hub spacing and has IS 51mm disc mounts. It has boxxer style direct mount style threaded holes as well as threaded holes in the lower crown for mounting fenders. Each leg contains a spring and rebound and compression clickers to deliver mx quality front suspension. We hope to bring this fork to market at about $900 - if you are interested in getting a “Beta” version of this fork please email us at:
info@recycledmountainracing.com
We added some finishing touches like plastics and number stickers to give the bike it’s race dress:
We used a Box brand bmx number plate. We like the vented look of this plate and the vents made it easy to zip tie the plate to the fork legs. The side plates and fender are standard CRF50 plastics. We did have to drill two small holes in the fender to be able to bolt it to our fork lower crown.
The number stickers we got from:
customer 3 color numbers for about $16, they sent us extras also - thanks!
The last major issue we addressed was the stock tires- The stock Duro tires aren't bad, but many have complained about them not lastly long - We are currently using a couple of our favorite downhill tires from the mid 2000’s - The front is a Michelin Comp32 26”x2.8” and the rear is a Arrow Prime Bite 24”x 3” - The stock front is a 26”x2.6”, the Michelin we use runs wide and is more like a 3” front - We think the 3” front does a great job of making the bike turn better and adds stability at speed - Unfortunately the tires we are running are no longer available - We are hopeful that more manufacturers will begin producing these sizes with quality ties again. We are eager to try Duro’s new 26”x3” tires and we be selling them by November. The Surly Knard and Dirt Wizard also look interesting to us for motoped application -
MTB wheels vs MX wheels
The popular thing to do right now for wheels seems to be to build 19” or 21” motorcycle rims onto the motoped hubs using moped spokes. The main benefit of this approach is it builds a much stronger wheel and allows the use of motorcycle tires like Shinko’s 241s that are much more durable and are also fairly inexpensive - The downside of this approach is that the motorcycle style wheels are significantly heavier sometimes as much as 10lbs or more. There is certainly an argument that once your motorized the rider worries a lot less about wheel weight compared with bicycles, but we think unless you're doing heavy jumping or extreme riding that bicycles style tires and rims offer enough strength and other benefits like being much more nimble, having lower unsprung weight, and less stress and burn on the brakes. It is for these reasons we have decided to stay with bicycle tires and rims. We would like to see more tire and rim options on the market.
We replaced the stock front wheel with a custom hand built front wheel. We went with a Hope Evo Pro2 20x110mm front hub and Spank Stiffy Evo40 40mm rim - The front hub is lighter than stock and comes in bling red! The Spank rim is 40mm which is about 7mm wider than the stock rim. We also like the disc specific profile of the Spank rim over the box style stock Alex rim. We also went from 13g spokes down one size to 14g as these wheels are used for singletrack and trail and we think the 14g spokes will save a little weight in a weight critical area - think rotational mass
We swapped the stock FSA cartridge bearing headset out for a a heavy duty Syncros headset- The Syncros model we are using has a steel lower cup and uses a cone and needle style bearings in the lower cup as opposed to the regular cartridge bearing in the stock headset (see pic) We think this will make the headset much stronger, stiffer, and more durable in an important area.
We also added a Enjoy brand ribbed seat cover. When we bought this we thought we were getting a whole seat so this upgrade was a little more expensive than we thought at $79 and it was a lot more difficult to install than expected given it didn’t fit the stock seat well, but we were very happy with the end result and the ribs on the seat do give your butt a little more reference when moving around on the bike.
Thank you for checking out our build notes!
Did we miss anything? Did we get it wrong?
Let us know!
info@recycledmountainracing.com
Also you can see many more images on our Facebook page - Check it out! also please "Like" us!!
https://www.facebook.com/recycledmountainracing