Hi,
I’m new to the forum and new to minibikes. My involvement with old minibikes came about because of my interest in motorcycles sold by the Montgomery Wards department stores. My first motorcycle (about 50 years ago) was a Wards Riverside Mojave made by Benelli. A little over ten years ago, I started collecting Riverside (Benelli) motorcycles and that led to a collection of Benelli minibikes. An idea of building an electric motorcycle lead to a ‘proof of concept’ electric minibike using a Benelli Hurricane minibike frame. I also put together a Benelli Hurricane and will be soon be rebuilding a Benelli Volcano as soon as I get the frame and other parts back from powdercoating.
I would like some advice/assistance with the minibikes. As I mentioned, I just put together a Benelli Hurricane. While the engine starts and responds well to the throttle if the chain is not installed, the engine bogs down and is unresponsive with a chain installed. I suspect that the centrifugal clutch is the culprit but I don’t know what to do to fix the problem.
Even though the bike has a centrifugal clutch, it also has a clutch lever. Examining the clutch, it appears that the lever works just the opposite of a standard motorcycle clutch. When the clutch lever is pulled in, a driven plate is forced against friction material on the driving plate (that holds the two centrifugal plates on its back side). It appears to me that the clutch lever is designed to force the clutch to engage, probably to allow the minibike to be pushstarted. Is this right?
Thanks for any help,
leo
