This is something that I've wanted to do for a long time now. putting a weedwhacker or any small engine on a bicycle. I never knew how to do it until recently I found out it's not that hard. for this project I used a leaf blower I got out of the dump.
I got it running pretty easy just by messing with the carburetor.
As you can see it is very muddy and nasty. I just used some brake cleaner and took the carburetor apart and sprayed everything with brake cleaner and an air hose.
Then after putting it back on with some gas it started running. it runs pretty well to my knowledge. My first idea for the bike was to use a chain to drive it.
But I didn't have any of the materials or knowledge to do that so I decided I wanted to do a friction drive instead. the way that a friction drive works are the engine mounts on the bike and you have a bike peg or some sort of pipe that has pressure on the tire
(which is what I ended up doing) so when the tire spins it spins the engine starting it and the engine spins the wheel once it starts. but I didn't have any sort of pipe or bike peg to use I tried using a derailleur gear of an old bike. which is the same thing I was going to use for the chain drive but it might work. what I was worried about is that the gear might just dig into the tire. but that shouldn't happen if the wheel is already moving when the engine starts. so after deciding on a friction drive I started figuring out how to mount it on the engine.
this was my first idea which is a big flat piece of wood that I cut out the middle so the engine shaft could go through.
then I started drilling holes through the wood for the bolts to go through
after I finished the hole I realized that the piece I was using wasn't gonna work since it was not big enough to reach the frame. so I instead made this
now it could extend and reach the frame of the bicycle. now it's time to actually attach it to the bike. I just drilled through the frame then put woodscrews through it's not very strong but I cant make threads so it was basically my only option. at this point I had it attached to the bike.
I was using this small bike I thought it would be a good idea but I was wrong the wheel is too small compared to the tiny gear I'm using for the friction drive so you have to go really fast just to start the engine and whenever you pedal my foot hits the engine since the bike is too small.
but I had other problems. since I was using a little gear instead of a pipe or bike peg it wasn't very long
it only reaches the wheel if it's angled which means I can't get it right on the bike or else it will straighten it out and come off the wheel. so whenever you try and ride it comes off the wheel. so it was clear that the little derailleur gear wasn't going to work. so I got a bike peg. and I put it on and it worked! the engine started when I was riding and I hooked up a really bad throttle at the time and it kinda worked. but the bike was too small so I had to move it to a bigger bike so it would have more torque.
and now it works great! the throttle is a little weird sometimes but other than that it works pretty well. for the throttle, I just used a backward brake lever.
I really wanted to use a twist throttle but I made the cable too short so it wouldn't reach when I switched to the new bike.
I apologize for the long wait I don't have a great reason for it.