Inner-tube seat

Decent bike seats are expensive and they aren't always as wide or cushy as you might want them to be.  This interesting DIY approach takes a bike inner-tube and transforms it into a bike seat! 

Expansion chamber with dual tail pipes

Another interesting project if you're a welder.  It might help with performance some, although I think it may be louder than even just the stock muffler?  Looks cool, though!

Make your own clutch cable

The Bell brake cable repair set for $4 has a compatible cable to replace the stock clutch cable, but why even spend that amount if you have a perfectly good spare brake cable?  This mod lets you use solder to make seemingly any brake cable compatible with the stock clutch lever!

How to fix a slipping clutch

As well as hacks, I also like to feature some maintenance tips, since the manuals that come with the kits don't do quite enough to tell us how to maintain our bikes.

This excellent video demonstrates how to clean out your clutch and fix it from slipping.

As a word of caution to anyone who tries this, please remember to wear goggles and gloves!  Brake cleaner is nasty stuff and try not to get it on your skin!

Getting a bicycle engine kit in California

Due to CARB regulations, it can be tough for newbies in California to buy a motorized bicycle kit!  Many distributors refuse specifically to ship to Californians!  


Now I have made a page with a list of all distributors I know of that are California-friendly!

Clutch rod modification

This is one of the more unique clutch mods I've seen.  The clutch can be a pain to disengage without a pulley, but this hack would theoretically make it a bit easier to pull in the clutch. 

Rounding off the edge of the half-circle might give the clutch more of a dropoff and make it easier to ease in/out.  If you're one of those people who slips the clutch to start from a complete stop, this may make that process even easier!

Make your own CDI!

CDIs(capacitor discharge ignition) is what makes our spark plugs spark, but it's rarely mentioned how they actually work.  I bet most of us didn't know that making your own would be practical, but it turns out the CDI is a relatively simple piece of electronics.


Rohmell from motorbicycling.com found some CDI schematics and decided to replicate them in reality.  If you'd like to venture into building your own CDI, check out his thread for more details!