Motorised bicycles

Always liked Honda P 50, which is an engine in a wheel like the old BSA Winged Wheel

http://www.vintagebike.co.uk/pictures/1967-honda-p50/

as these were made by the thousand, cheep, reliable, possibly to find spares for I've always thought the wheel unit would be a really good basis for projects

like

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=honda+P50&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=ldd&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1016&bih=597&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=CO7Hqea7H643UM:&imgrefurl=http://50ccs.blogspot.com/2009/10/custom-honda-p50-chopper.html&docid=-s0-i1Gh9MJgJM&imgurl=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_l7298LIzt5Q/StIvCRwnCRI/AAAAAAAACj8/aMpXDHt6ZVs/s400/WEB-P50-05-1.jpg&w=400&h=326&ei=PdVCT4_mFsqw8gOoq-HNBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=726&vpy=275&dur=515&hovh=203&hovw=249&tx=154&ty=82&sig=116115952471926647136&page=1&tbnh=124&tbnw=152&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=0CGgQrQMwCQ

i bought something like this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dutton_Phaeton_1981.jpg

(anyone see the connection between my name and the car? )

Sweet as! Did you get it painted up and running like Mr. McGoohan's?

Always wondered about doing something along these lines. The one Clarkson was riding on stage was powered by something similar to this http://alshobbies.com/shop/cat.php?id=370
they are used to power remote control model jets. You can also get some pretty beefy electric motors designed for the Remote control plane market, anything up to say 5kw or more, and they would probably be pretty easy to mount to a bike, not cheap though :( unless of course you go the cheapy Chinese copy way like this bad boy http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/%5F%5F14427%5F%5FTurnigy%5FCA120%5F70%5FBrushless%5FOutrunner%5F100cc%5Feq%5F.html
equivalent power of a 100cc IC engine if set up correctly.

Drool...

I'd really like to build a motorised bicycle. I think for it to be viable as transport, it'd have to have some form of rear suspension - taking a very beefy bike to begin with, then adding an engine, fuel tank, monster sprocket etc will give you really quite a heavy machine, and the thought of the rear end skittering around whilst taking a corner at 40mph is quite scary.

Some kind of softtail arrangement would probably be best - light, low-travel suspension simply for keeping good traction. Combine that with a modified engine capable of running E85 or pure ethanol, you've got a great little eco-friendly commuter.