[early October 2007]
I have the motorbike finished enough to go for a test-ride, finally (early AM of October 7th). The bike worked nicely until I ran out of gas.
I took it out on a rural road early in the morning (still dark outside), I went about three miles out, didn't see anything mechanical that appeared wrong, came back home, checked it again and didn't see any problems with the drive belt or chain, and decided to go out and back once again for fun. I got all the way out again and turned around and rolled about 50 feet before the engine stalled out. ;P
I probably only put about half a tank of fuel in it, I didn't have much on hand and didn't pay a lot of attention (obviously!). The next thing I realized after running out of gas was that I should have put the gear shifter on. The evening before I was getting the chain length right and putting on some bike lights I had, and I thought about putting on the shifter for the 3-speed wheel but didn't bother, because I'd only be motoring, and didn't think I'd need it.... The problem is that with no shifter, the Shimano geared hubs automatically shift down into their lowest gear (33% underdrive) and the chainring is only a 36-tooth--so I pedalled a LOT on the way home. I'd get off and walk until the mosquitoes began eating me, then get on and pedal like mad for a few hundred yards before walking again.
Other than the gas issue I only found one problem, in that the chain rubs slightly on the seat-stay. It's only a tiny bit and I could grind some of the frame away and weld a plate over the hole but I don't even know if I will bother really "fixing" it--it's very minor, and on a bicycle that I don't expect to pedal much anyway. I also decided to use 1/8" chain because it was easier to get than the 3/16" that the Worksman used. I had to grind down the sprocket width a bit and the idler widths even more, but I noticed that the cog on the rear wheel was made for a 1/8th chain anyway, and there's not really much strength advantage to be gained by using the wider chain (-the wider chain would have rubbed the frame more as well).
The seat springs turned out to be a bit too short for my weight, I used 4" springs and I could lift them a bit by using longer bolts under them, but I already ordered some 5" springs. The spring-mounted seat saves the frame from a lot of pounding.
The extra-long throttle cable setup I ordered for the Fusion turned out to be just about perfect for this bike. I don't quite like the cheap plastic lever, but I'll have to see what I can do about that later.
This bike steers like a boat, the steering pivot is so far ahead of you. Riding at slow speed is very wobbly but it does fine at 15 mph or so on up. I have to lean way over forward to adjust the headlights aim.
Because the drive belt and the chain pull the same direction, they both need separate tensioners. The wheel is tightened into the frame at the proper distance for the drive belt, and then the chain tension is set by spreading the two idler wheels apart.
The image above has the (unfinished) tank wedged (sort-of) in place. It also shows the rear wheel gearshift mounted on the right side, under the seat. The short tubes under the seat springs is the only place I used 7/8" tubing except the handlebars, but considering that you don't need to change the gears much anyway, I kinda like it there. The fenders are screw-adjustable because I couldn't get them welded right; either the spacing around the wheel was wrong, or they were crooked.
The tank has baffles in it to prevent the fuel from sloshing around. I wanted a "reserve" feature but found that the motorcycle fuel petcocks were rather expensive, all I found were around $75. I decided to just use brass 1/4" fittings and run two fuel feeds--one that sticks up a couple inches for the "normal" part of the tank, and another level with the bottom of the tank that will be the "reserve". I kinda like doing it this way because it allows me to set the reserve to be however much I want.
I did eventually find that there are lots of moped tank petcocks available online, many for only $10-$20 but I don't know if these have reserve settings in them. Also many appear to be made partly of plastic.
There's other little bits that need to be done as well, but the frame tank is the last major item. I've got tabs welded onto the frame for a rear rack I have to make, but that will be easy compared to the tank...
.....Which is basically done.
{update - 1 day later} Images above--tank finished, but before leak-testing (this could get ugly!). I used a motorcycle tank bung and fuel cap that ended up looking rather large but it's too late now. The line nearest the front end (the cap end) is the air-return line that extends all the way to the top of the tank, the middle line is set 1" above the bottom of the tank and the rear line is set even with the bottom of the tank, to function as a fuel reserve (both the fuel lines will get stopcocks on them). The lines are 1/4" O.D. steel tubing that 1/4" plastic compression fittings can grab onto. The tank itself is about 6" tall and about 5" wide; I'm guessing it will be able to hold around 1.5 gallons.