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UBCO 2X2 Adventure, Special Edition, and Similar

Last day at the machine/welding shop. Next up making the plates to move the foot pegs back.

It's a shame I hadn't already bought Sherco trials-bend bars. The too little sweep-back of the TRS bars became immediately apparent during a test. It's a shame that back when I was a dealer with RYP that I didn't buy like 6 'take-off' bars, leftover Ohlins shocks, etc. Hindsight! With the new guys Sherco parts in US are $$.

Hopefully the inside diameter if the Sherco bars is the same as TRS, so the machined hickey-dos fit just as well, as no doubt the TRS bars will continue to speak 'suboptimal', to me, anyway. But compared to the stock Pukemeister bicycle bars, HAYOOJ improvement!
 
Few years ago I was looking into putting a motor like this (in the front) into a 350 dirtbike I had. Only for when stuck in muddy conditions, rest of the time it would freewheel. It would have run from an upgraded bikes main battery through DC/DC converter. It ended as another "nice idea on paper" and then I sold the dirtbike. I still wonder what could have been. It would have increased low-speed-bad-terrain potential and given me the right to claim to be riding a motorcycle hybrid. :rofl
 
Amos, I love your desire to innovate and blend. Those projects are alway major learning experiences. Fifty three years of screw-ups and fixes has made the greatest teacher. I call them, 'negative knowledge experiences.' That kind of experience made it possible to pull off complex projects and get 95% to destination in the first do-iteration.

I looked at available materials. Hot rolled steel, 304 stainless steel, 6061 wrought aluminum plate, and aluminum extrusion cattle trailer plate stock, which seems just as hard as the wrought 6061-T6.

Decided on a wider mount to hit three mounting points:
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After playing around with layouts, I chose the cattle trailer material, about 10-1/2" long each and in between the black lines. That'll give me up to 6 moves back at roughly +0.7" back per choice. If nothing else, it'll be a way to determine one more ideal position to make much smaller mounts in steel.
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Doing that... now!
 
Mirror-mounted both plates to make them both in one setup. Twice as fast.
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Did enough holes to move the foot pegs back 0.7" up to ~5" for plenty of empirical testing. Right(er) position? Depends on what I'm doing.
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Maybe I should try a lower class in a trials event on the UBCO just for gits and shizzles? Kinda hard to loft the front end under power, only to have it spin up :-0. That and mediocre suspension limits what this bike can do, trials-wise. But living with, and compensating for, limitations, can be a fun mental and physical trip.

Almost done with the plates. Lunchtime.
 
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Done yesterday. Pegs in the 2.8" back position was my first guess and feels great.

The cattle trailer plate is on the visually big side but passes for 'artistic.' Upper rear mounting hole I missed by 0.1", otherwise no other mistakes. Very solid.
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Wife says there's a huge pile of delivered boxes for the 701 waiting for me at home, so the brain will pivot to that project for a while.
 
Too custom, that material. A simple steel part much smaller is the way to go, and most folks would be happy at maybe 2" back.

Returned home and rode the bike. Pegs back is definitely a winner! Bars are rotated a bit too forward and the TRS bar bend is meh. Still iterating on that one. Will adjust tomorrow and try again.
 
I don't have a web store and probably never will. I worked as a 'chef' in a very hot 'kitchen' of product development and manufacturing for years, to the point of burnout.

It's all just for fun now.
 
We rode our UBCOs a lot in two mountain places over the last week. The bikes are so quiet we could go many places without concerns of bothering anyone or being noticed.

The area around the family cabin, for example. We've a half century of deep history there, and it was interesting to creep quietly around and 'discover' many places and nooks. It was still dead in the area, being just before the warm season rush, so checking out many local places like ghosts was easy to do.
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As long as you don't need to go beyond a 50-mile round trip, and a maximum of 30 mph is fine, the things are really a load of fun! In the tighter, rougher places, 15 to 25mph feels blazing fast!
 
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I was kidding about the store. You strike me as likely to help someone make their own, but wouldn't enjoy the drudgery of management, sales, or production.

People clamoring for Motobene's Peg Plates and Bar Bush will have to search for another source. :1drink
I was part of the ownership, management (my least favorite role), in some ways sales and marketing, design, and manufacturing. Now as an officially 'retired' person who remains engaged in a ridiculous number of projects, I can't afford to dissipate the present by dropping into the trenches of the past.
 
So yesterday I get this letter from UBCO stating that the VIN number so boldly stamped into the headstock of my new Special Ed UBCO 2X2 is 'incorrect', and that instead here is the 'correct' number in the letter. And it's not off by 2, but a quite different number! They state that I should 'keep this letter together with the registration.' Uh...

Under NM moped laws there's no need for registration or insurance, but some day, as the bureaucracy inevitably swells, what the heck am I supposed to do? Show up with an MSO for registration, and disclose that the MSO and VIN are both wrong? That'll go over well! You can't un stamp a VIN number from a frame so this is definitely a chicken-shit situation.

UBCO will be getting a call from me soon.
 
I have switched numpers on machined parts at the shop from miatakes. I just peened the metal flat and stamped the correct number.

Anything electric seems to get a free pass. Only complete goons get in trouble. No one can tell the difference between 750 watts or 17.5kw. There has been a federal law for decades..250 watts and human assist. Comically, there is no weight limit.

Fortunately I live in a state that does not register human powered water craft. But a trolling motor would require registration. Seems the ebikes got an enviromental pass. But trolling motors dont count...ha. Enjoy the freedom before unlicensed goons get everything changed.
 
Over reach and goonism are now absolutely on steroids or more like runaway cancer - so it's just a matter of time.

UBCO is very proud of their VIN stamping. Very deep and big, then they fill the stamp with paint to highlight. Very pretty to be wrong.

A question I will have for them is, "If I register under the current VIN, all is legit right? Who would know?" And I can ask, "Is the number incorrect because there is another bike out there with that same number?"
 
Maybe use a vin decoder to see what is messed up. Does your original mso match the vin? If so I might conviently forget. As far as I know...you can not change numbers. The letter informing you of a mistake might not follow the guidelines of vin mistakes.
 
I'll dig deeper into this later. Have to travel. OAN and VIN decoder are good ideas. But if this is like a trials bike where there's zero need to register the thing, I won't give a rat's arse.
 
In London now. The EVs are relatively few compared to fuel burning machines, but one can change coming in from the edges. Double decker busses that are hybrid. Fuel burning sometimes, and sometimes not. Some Teslas here and there. Some electric cars that make an odd noise so as to be better heard by walkers so they are less likely to step in front and be run down.

On the two-wheeled side there are a few noisy-big bikes better suited to outside the city. These being used as lane splitting, aggressive commuters.

Two-wheeled delivery vehicles abound, ranging in size from big scooters from the Suzuki Bergmans to spindly electric bicycles. A popular electric model is a mix between bicycle and motorcycle.

I will get pictures.
 
Electric is cool. And somewhat affordable. But only big power is US supplied. I have searched parts for decades. I guess a warp 9 mini would be insane. Or a D&D setup. I only liked electric for the torque and proven results. But the weight, cost and battery replacement vs off the shelf gas couldn't justify it in my builds. The rc hobby parts builds from a decade ago was quite impressive and expensive. In runner and out runner quad motor builds were nuts. A 1 pound motor can push 2 hp...plus battery and controller weight. Great for short range, superlight and super fast builds. Until a whole package is in one unit with industrial bolt spacing I'll stick with gas. Gas industrial engines has kept the same bolt spacing for over 70 yrs. Which my ac shop motors use the same spacing...hmmm
 
From what I recall, London is bumping up fees for driving in the core of the city. I expect that cost to go up, and they may also expand the coverage. I think that's designed to reduce congestion, but it'd be easy for them to tweak that policy to encourage EVs. Maybe they already have. Dense cities seem an ideal place for EV usage.
Ebikes are legit on rail and canal trails. One can ride from Cleveland to New York city. And never be far from the convience of civilzation. I have wanted to bike or paddle this route. There are a few accounts. PA has a nice trail system and dodges city traffic in places like Pittsburg.
 
There are likely tens of thousands of electric assist Tier bikes "Powered by Seguay" as rentals in London. They have a critical innovation that all EVs should have: the drop-in cartridge-type battery. Download an app to operate and pay for. There must be quite the late night service to geolocate bikes that need battery swaps. Also, they sometimes need re distributing because they tend to cluster in popular destinations.
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These bikes are strewn about everywhere! They are SO common they sometimes are treated like so much trash.
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Another pretty common type has one hub motor. Most I've seen are used by delivery services. This one looks a family model:
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In the fuel burners for delivery the scooters dominate and are an apparent big theft target. Check out the three disc locks
plus the wheel lock!
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Here's a delivery dude checking his phone for his next job. Note the red L. My son says this means 'learner.' There is a perverse incentive to forever stay a learner. 125cc or less and they can keep renewing their L plates. The next-level course is expensive and there is a long wait list.
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Electric is cool. And somewhat affordable. But only big power is US supplied. I have searched parts for decades. I guess a warp 9 mini would be insane. Or a D&D setup. I only liked electric for the torque and proven results. But the weight, cost and battery replacement vs off the shelf gas couldn't justify it in my builds. The rc hobby parts builds from a decade ago was quite impressive and expensive. In runner and out runner quad motor builds were nuts. A 1 pound motor can push 2 hp...plus battery and controller weight. Great for short range, superlight and super fast builds. Until a whole package is in one unit with industrial bolt spacing I'll stick with gas. Gas industrial engines has kept the same bolt spacing for over 70 yrs. Which my ac shop motors use the same spacing...hmmm
In reading your reply there are many details I've never heard of, like 'warp 9 mini' and the issue of bolt spacing as a driving element of which technology to adopt. I will chase those details down.

Adoption is best with freedom to voluntarily adopt and not too many forcings, especially ideologues so lost in their own silos they cannot grasp basics such as energy source density differences and think things like EVs are 'emissions free.'

Being currently in a massive urban area, I get to see the propaganda of the climate doom/death cults up close. One I got a good chuckle from a poster by Just Stop Oil, "Only 3 years left!"

Of course they are clueless to the fact that if their got their way most of humanity would expire in less than 3 years.
 
In reading your reply there are many details I've never heard of, like 'warp 9 mini' and the issue of bolt spacing as a driving element of which technology to adopt. I will chase those details down.

Adoption is best with freedom to voluntarily adopt and not too many forcings, especially ideologues so lost in their own silos they cannot grasp basics such as energy source density differences and think things like EVs are 'emissions free.'

Being currently in a massive urban area, I get to see the propaganda of the climate doom/death cults up close. One I got a good chuckle from a poster by Just Stop Oil, "Only 3 years left!"

Of course they are clueless to the fact that if their got their way most of humanity would expire in less than 3 years.
Electric has alot of potential from the aspects of simple power. And it would be nice if a complete powetrain bolted up to a tiller or a minibike the same as the gas engines. I try to leave the eco stuff out. There are US manufactures of motors and controllers. The heyday was 20yrs ago. Cars used big DC motors and the bicyclist used AC rc parts.

This video features a car with two stacked motors. The controller was built to switch from series to parallel


There is a simple build that was fun to read about. A contactor system is used like a golf cart. The car is posted on evalbum.com
The poor man's ev ....I like this site for the search feature. Builds can be searched for by vehicle type, battery type or brand, motor and few other differences in builds. You can find a DC powered gsxr build or whatever else. There are 1000s of builds. I have almost placed orders on parts. And some builds would be cheaper than some gas engines. Industrial engines are low priced and harley powertrains are not. A rigid frame harley can be built for resonable money. I kinda lost interest because the first thing outsiders ask is how far can it go. When the reality is far enough.


My commute is 1.5 miles. 4 lawn garden batteries would achieve this putting down some decent power on a lighter chassis. It seems that more innovation was around before the boom in sales of drop ship products from over seas. That said...I might own an Ariel Rider if I lived in the city.
 
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