Just rode my simplex

[induhhwind]

for its first trip to work. rode it a total of 18 miles to and from work. It did supriseingly well. I need to make a heat shield for the exhaust because I burned my boot on pipe. The steering is a little jerky but I know I need to replace the neck bearings but Ive not been able to get the handlebars off to get to the steering stem nut to replace the bearings. Does anyone know it there is any trick to getting the bicycle style bars off? I thought all I had to do is loosen the bolt and tap it down slightly with a hammer then pull up but it doesnt budge??? Anyway it was a sunny blue sky warm day and it was a blast riding it. Still not sure how law enforcement is going to react. Built it as a moped. In South Carolina a moped is not registered and no tag requirement except that it most have the word moped on it. Its a 50cc fully automatic with lights turn and brake too with a horn. Got a few people at work notice the bike and were all amazed that its so small and liked the look and of course none had heard of a simplex. Still have to fabricate a kick stand and mount so I parked it at worn in the bike rack. I should have taken a pic of it, it looked kinda funny parked there. Just wanted to share a little with yall. I did have to change the final drive to a chain to get my rpms down and top end up , its really quiet and sounds pretty good.

[Mike Sal]

Congrats!!!!  18 miles is a bold first ride.  I'm jealous.....
Mike Sal

[Ricks]

Nice Tony!  Post some pictures of the completed bike.

[oil-lamp]

That's a great first run. On trying to get the gooseneck ou soak it well with wd-40 or whatever you have. Then "you may need a buddy for this" loosen the neck again and twist the handlebars left and right while holding the front tire steady. Pull up while twisting but watch out not to hit yourself when it comes apart. Happy motoring.   

[Ricks]

Pull up while twisting but watch out not to hit yourself when it comes apart. Happy motoring.   

Reese, how did you find this out?  I remember whacking myself in the face as a kid doing just this on a bicycle!  LOL

[oil-lamp]

I've lost my balance and ended up flat on my back with a friend laughing at me. Don't think it would be less funnier to see someone layied out behind a simplex. Will somebody video this handlebar removal for us we need a laugh.

[pd]

Sometimes a step back is needed in order to go forward .

You might try loosening the cinch bolt and the collar nut ( if there is one ) and then driving the handlebar perch deeper into the stem a bit . That would loosen the rust bond . Then a good amount of penetrating fluid . Maybe brake cleaner would penetrate deeper than a thicker type .

That procedure has worked on a lot of stuck bolts and shafts for me over the years .

[induhhwind]

Here is a pic, I have the bike down again waiting for a new battery.

[induhhwind]

few more pictures...

[illMATTic]

Looks good. Is that paint original?

[ltcps]

which engine? what rear wheel? pictures showing mounting and engine area?

Great job.

[induhhwind]

When I bought it was all blue. Im not sure if its origonal blue because Ive found traces of red and black in different parts of the bike. I painted the seat and tank because the seat was covered in surface rust and the tank has a rust hole in the bottom of it and a few small dings so I sandblasted both and repaired the tank with some titaniun putty and painted both black with rattle can rustolium. I left the rest of the blue pant as is.

I will have to look at my sprokets to give the tooth size. I used a 50cc chinese made honda clone engine from ebay and chinese wiring/electronics.lights,throttle controls kit also from ebay. I think it was for a trail 70 honda.

I mocked up the engine and made a solid non adjustable engine mount. I basically made it out of 2 pieces so it was easyer to piece together due to the different angles and offsets involved with fitting the engine to the frame and rear wheel alignment. I just welded the two pieces together. I used 11 guage 304 stainless steel sheet metal. The engine is used on wildfire childrens automatic atv.

[ltcps]

What wheels? Did you just mount a sprocket on stock? If so how?

[induhhwind]

I just mounted it to the wheel hub. I had already drilled three holes in it when I mounted a Chevy crank pulley on it previously and the holes on the tooth spocket just happened to fit perfectly. I used allen head bolts. I cant remember but I think they are 6mm standard allen heads. I just butted the sprocket up to the spokes ( if the origonal simplex pulley was just bolted to the spokes I see no harm in having the sprocket butted up to the sprocket. I dont think there there is clearance for a spacer anyway between the sprocket and the wheel hub ). I used lock nuts with the built in nylon lock ring that is built into the nut . I used two nuts per bolt because I wanted to use the second nut on  each bolt as a locking/jam nut. It was a little time consuming because nylon lock nuts dont just spin on, you have to use a wrench for eack turn and your doing this inside and between the spokes but I like the comfort of knowing they are installed. Everything lined up really good with the engine and wheel sproket and with the rear tire/rim centered to the frame and front tire. Main thing is before you drill holes in the wheel hub take measurements and double triple check them before you centerpunch where you want to drill. After you centerpunch make sure you again check your measurements and centerpunch locations. A bolt circle is actually what you are doing. To figure out the measurments first find out the diameter of the bolt circle ( lots of different ways to do this)  next divide the number of holes with the diameter of the bolt circle and thats the space between the holes you need. ( again there are several different ways of doing this to.

[induhhwind]

Sorry I forgot to mention I used a stock rim . Thanks to all of you guys for your help and ideas and kind words. I still plan on taking more detailed pictures of some of the components and mods that were made to get this bike on the road. Sorry I just work alot of overtime and family time as all you know there isnt enough time for our hobbys as we would like. Also Id like to find time to dig up specs and names of companies that I bought from when putting this bike together in case it might be of some help to anyone.-Tony