Recumbent Honda 90

[C90MG]

-Is the lexan easy to cut and bend (your roofed version was lexan wasn't it, did you have to heat it up alot or vacum form it somehow?) I noted that you said it scratched easily but do flies/bugs cause little cracks/fractures in the 'normal' screen you use or does the racked back angle limit such issues? my homebase liteglaze looks like its been in a humvee in Iraq.....
-where/how have you attached your fairing to the 90s frame?
-I've seen the fairings on that TGA site....scorchio!
m

[Ironside]

Originally Posted by C90MG

-Is the lexan easy to cut and bend (your roofed version was lexan wasn't it, did you have to heat it up alot or vacum form it somehow?) I noted that you said it scratched easily but do flies/bugs cause little cracks/fractures in the 'normal' screen you use or does the racked back angle limit such issues? my homebase liteglaze looks like its been in a humvee in Iraq.....
-where/how have you attached your fairing to the 90s frame?
-I've seen the fairings on that TGA site....scorchio!
m

Lexan cuts easily with a jigsaw and bends cold to a radius 100 times its thickness, I used 3mm so 300mm radius curve, it can be forced a little more without issues. It will not crack, it's actually bullet proof, so suitable for use in a war zone. You can get scratch resistant but it's expensive and won't bend .
Take a look at page1, I added bolt on extensions to those brackets welded to the frame with flat plates on the ends for mounting the fairing. The fairing can be removed by undoing two bolts (very handy for maintainance). The lower part of the fairing is braced by the ff footrests but not fixed (interference fit).
I'm not saying it's the best or only way to do it, you'll have to work out the best way for your particular set up.

[C90MG]

-what sort of weight are the FGlass fairings ?
-You still running the lifan 110?

mine is still a 90, but I've gone a tooth larger on the front sprocket (I can 'cruise' at 45 (I know so ) now without it feeling like I'm thrashing her) until I hit a long uphill section then the old girl stays around 30 ......
m

[Ironside]

Originally Posted by C90MG

-what sort of weight are the FGlass fairings ?
-You still running the lifan 110?

mine is still a 90, but I've gone a tooth larger on the front sprocket (I can 'cruise' at 45 (I know so ) now without it feeling like I'm thrashing her) until I hit a long uphill section then the old girl stays around 30 ......
m

I've never weighed the fairing, it's not heavy, best guess would be around 10 kilos.

The Lifan 110 is fitted to my trail bike, the Dreamliner is fitted with an ATC 125 motor that came out of a three wheeler farm bike, geared for 70mph at 9k revs. To be honest there's not much difference between them. The Lifan wouldn't fit in my 6v frame without modifications.

I'm not going to get into a Honda/Lifan shootout, there's plenty of info on the c90 board, but the extra gear makes a big difference.

[C90MG]

lifans are like marmite ;-)

[Ironside]

Originally Posted by Ironside

I've recently acquired a Lifan 110 engine which I'm fitting into an off road bike. Now here's the thing I'm not happy about, this engine's ignition timing is set to around 27 deg btdc and is non adjustable. It's the only engine I've worked on that does not have any kind of advance/retard, either mechanical or electronic.
The pitbike boards are full of advice about how to make your bike faster, but no-one seems concerned with fuel economy.

There is a rotor/CDI kit available from OOracing for 85 pounds that will resolve this issue, I'm wondering whether anyone has any experience with these engines and whether you think it's a worthwhile mod.

Pete.

An update on the above, I got an 'easystart' CDI from OOracing for a very reasonable £18, it retards the timing to 10deg BTDC for starting, advances to 20deg at tickover and goes to full advance above 3000 rpm.

The result is no kickback when starting, a more stable tickover and a more tractable power delivery at low revs, does exactly what it says. Two problems, it's bigger than the common variety so has to be sited elsewhere, the other problem was that it failed after only 9hrs of use. Took a while to diagnose as it starts misfiring after a few minutes use.

Because of this I'm reluctant to buy another, I'm having difficulty locating a 5 pin CDI with a built in advance/retard. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

How hard would it be for you to source stock Honda electrical parts for an adaptation? Even an EFI retrofit could be done.

[Ironside]

Not easy, mechanical advance retard on the end of a suitable replacement camshaft, not worth the trouble. A suitable CDI is a simple swap, I'll probably go back to OOracing because nobody else supplies the advance/retard data.

[Planecrazy]

Love this thread! My best friend and I have built several recumbent bicycles over the last decade, including a heavy duty hybrid electric trike and two long wheelbase recumbent bikes, one of them with a hybrid electric motor installed. He is currently working on electrifying a classic Cushman motor scooter - good fun!

[Ironside]

Hi all, the time has finally come for me and the Dreamliner to part company. After 10 years of development it's as good as it will ever be. We took one memorable 2000 mile trip over the Alps just before the lockdown and the bike handled it just fine. Sadly it hasn't been used much over the last couple of years and I'm keen to start another project so it's going to be listed on Ebay this weekend.

A 125cc Honda Innova has been sourced as a donor, there won't be any chassis changes required so apart from bodywork I'm hoping it will be a fairly straightforward build. It's not going to be as efficient as Allert Jacobs 100km/litre bike, but it'll be interesting to see how close I can get.

With the current cost of fuel there's got to be some interest, I'll start a new thread and post updates as I go along.