[3 October 2006]
The engine kit arrived and I attempted to install it. The good news is that the belt-drive will indeed fit onto a Rans CF frame (at least a 2006 Fusion anyway) and everything did basically fit on.
The image above ( _01_motofusion_overview...) shows the engine mounted on the bicycle, with only the engine sprcket cover and tension lever handle removed. The part highlighted in red is the throttle cable, which is sized for mounting on a regular-frame bicycle and so is a foot or so too short for these frame types--both the throttle cable and the kill switch wire are too short to mount properly on this type of bicycle, and longer pieces of each need to be found . The drive ring (mounted on the rear wheel) is a one-piece cast plastic part, with some "teeth" on it (two quadrants opposite each other have teeth molded into them; I'd guess this is a limitation of the molding equipment that was used to manufacture the ring but even only that much teeth seems to work well enough and is WAY better than a smooth surface). The drive ring simply snaps onto the spokes which I thought wouldn't be all to firm of a method--but it is quite solid once all the spokes are clipped into their slots.
Here above (_02_controls_overview....) are shown the extra handlebar controls added, the red arrow points to the kill switch and the green arrow points to the throttle. The kill switch seems to be a very-inexpensive part, with a single wire running to it. The throttle is somewhat flimsy but workable, the only problem I can see is that if you have grip shifters (like I do) it's not really possible to get the throttle positioned comfortably close to the handgrips. The throttle looks like a standard lawn-equipment type so finding alternates to use shouldn't be real difficult.
This image above (_03_drivering_clearance...) is a view from the rear of the bike, looking towards the rear brakes. I was attempting to photograph the drivering-frame clearance, but couldn't get it real well. So just trust me when I say: the Fusion frame has about a quarter-inch of drivering clearance.
The belt is surprisingly small and thin and bears the markings "GATES 16355M09K SPCL 2606MC" but I cannot find that part number listed in the Gates website, or online anywhere else. I have read where people online have said that the belts last about 5000 miles and only cost $20 to replace, but I haven't read where they are getting them exactly. If there's some secret to this that I don't know, feel free to tell me....
The image above (_04_fender_mod...) shows the rear fender. I ordered my Fusion with fenders because I wanted them and there appears to be room to mount them, but the forward wire supports will need to be moved. The "forward" pair of wire supports will not be able to connect to the frame eyelets anymore, as the engine mount covers up the forward pair. At this point I am guessing that the forward pair will need to be mounted with clamps, to the seatstays.
The image above (_05_front_strut...) shows the part of the engine mount that I had to make. In my hand is the original forward strut that would connect the engine mount to the brake bridge but obviously the Rans does not have that, and the seat would get in the way anyway. The front end of the strut I simply mounted to the right-hand side of the Fusion's seat clamp. I don't suspect that there's a whole lot of stress on this part, because the bolt that the kit included for attaching the forward end to a brake bridge was quite small and thin, much thinner than the bolt used for the Fusion's seat clamp.
I'd also point out here that I have the seat at the 18cm mark, and with the engine at this angle there is always going to be at least 3-4 inches of space between the seat and the engine. If I knew that I'd never need to set the seat lower (for others borrowing the bicycle) then I could have made the front strut shorter and pulled the engine forward under the seat a bit more. Also--I am using an extra 1-3/8" seatpost clamp around the seatpost itself, because I had problems with the seat slipping downwards.
The original strut is about 5/8" wide, 1/16" thick zinc plated steel with holes 1/2-inch from both ends, and three more holes spaced an inch apart at one end. The strut I had to make is 3/4" wide (just because I did not have any 5/8" on hand) and ~14.5 inches long from hole-to-hole and is highlighted in red as it was made from mill stock and the camera didn't pick it up too well.
The image above (_06_mount_clearance... I can usually spell, really) points out another [couple] problem[s] that I ran across. I had planned to initially try the kit with using the regular wheel's QR axle even though the instructions advise against this (up until I actually tried putting the back wheel+drive ring on, I did not know that the drive ring would have enough clearance to use the engine on the bike at all).
When the engine is aligned properly and the rear wheel is spun, the belt is supposed to run right in the center of the engine's drive pulley. It was running to the left, and I could only center it by pushing the engine mount to the right and then snugging up the QR. When I looked closely on the right side QR, I could see that the engine mount was hanging low enough that it was resting on the washer used on the derailleur mount. I also noticed that the belt idler arm is pretty close to the end of its range of travel, meaning that on a QR-axle, the engine mount is probably riding a bit too low. The Golden Eagle website info seems to hint that a QR isn't strong enough for this use, but the real issue is keeping the engine mount's alignment correct, and the notches cut into the bottom of the engine mout legs are sized for regular axles and not QR skewers. ....I'm not sure of any easier way to fix this issue other than by using a solid axle. I kind of thought that keeping the QR would make it still-fairly-easy to change a flat--but with the motor mount present, removing the back wheel is rather "complicated" now anyway.
I also noticed that the end nut of the QR (on the side opposite the release lever) was only engaging about one-third of its threads. Normally the tip of the skewer would just extend out of the nut, but the engine mount legs are both 3/16" thick, taking up that much more of the QR skewer's length. The threads in the QR nut only appear to really go about halfway through the hole, but that still means that the nut isn't fully engaging all the threads it should,and a QR skewer at least 12mm longer or so should be used.
Some good news (_07_kill_wire...) I said before that the kill switch wire wasn't long enough for a CF bike. The kill switch wire has back near the engine, a electrical connector already installed in it, so all you need to do is fashion an "extension cord" with matching connectors for it. With a decently-stocked electronics supply shop this isn't much of a difficult thing to do.