We’ll I’ve finally gotten around to making some progress on a mini I bought last year, as seen in my ”WTH is this?” thread.
Anyway, it was hacked on, glob welded, badly painted, parts poorly selected, and just generally trashed, so restoring it wasn’t really in the cards. I decided to embark on a “get it working well as cheaply as possible without it looking stupid” type project, and this is where I am so far. Still needs more love, but progress is evident!
Though the (believe it or not, running) Honda GX200 engine fit, it would never look quite right on this bike. So off it went to find a better home on another machine someday.
I removed the rear wheel, replaced the old wheel-barrow style bearings with sealed units, and made internal and external spacers so I could tighten it down properly. The crappy (riding mower?) tire was replaced with a spare snowblower tire and tube. It's a Cheng Shin, but looks identical to a vintage Schenuit/Carlisle.
It needed a sidestand, so I took an old bent Kawasaki one I'd been saving for 20 years, shortened it, and made a pivot tab to assemble it to. Welded it to the frame, and it works pretty well.
I decided an HS50 would look right, so pressed that into service from the same cheap snowblower the tire came from. It required a new motor plate, as the spacing was off on the old one, it was too thin, and I wanted to add rear jack screws to tension the chain.
The seat is one of those Doodlebug units that GPS had on sale for cheap. I made a mounting plate for it and welded it to the top of the frame. To get the ergonomics right, I had to hang it off the rear quite a bit, so made up some stainless struts with stainless rod-ends to hold it up. Kind of overkill on the componentry, but I had the stuff laying around to do it.
The solid pegs were all jacked-up, plus I didn't like them anyway, so I removed them and welded some tabs on the frame for some EMGO buddy pegs instead. They fold up for storage and can deflect if the mini falls down or hits anything, so I'll consider it an improvement.
Instead of an unsightly handlebar switch and wire, I added a little panel to the top tubes to mount the old snowblower key switch.
Moving forward, I need to add a band brake and cover so that it can stop. Will also need to take the fork off and rework the top plate, as the pivot hole has worn bigger and has a lot of play. The front wheel also needs converted to sealed bearings, so I'll have to make internal and external spacers. Needs painted and a matching tire (think I have a good Schenuit) also... Speaking of paint, I'm thinking Deep Green hammered metal. Also need controls.
Anyway, it was hacked on, glob welded, badly painted, parts poorly selected, and just generally trashed, so restoring it wasn’t really in the cards. I decided to embark on a “get it working well as cheaply as possible without it looking stupid” type project, and this is where I am so far. Still needs more love, but progress is evident!
Though the (believe it or not, running) Honda GX200 engine fit, it would never look quite right on this bike. So off it went to find a better home on another machine someday.
I removed the rear wheel, replaced the old wheel-barrow style bearings with sealed units, and made internal and external spacers so I could tighten it down properly. The crappy (riding mower?) tire was replaced with a spare snowblower tire and tube. It's a Cheng Shin, but looks identical to a vintage Schenuit/Carlisle.
It needed a sidestand, so I took an old bent Kawasaki one I'd been saving for 20 years, shortened it, and made a pivot tab to assemble it to. Welded it to the frame, and it works pretty well.
I decided an HS50 would look right, so pressed that into service from the same cheap snowblower the tire came from. It required a new motor plate, as the spacing was off on the old one, it was too thin, and I wanted to add rear jack screws to tension the chain.
The seat is one of those Doodlebug units that GPS had on sale for cheap. I made a mounting plate for it and welded it to the top of the frame. To get the ergonomics right, I had to hang it off the rear quite a bit, so made up some stainless struts with stainless rod-ends to hold it up. Kind of overkill on the componentry, but I had the stuff laying around to do it.
The solid pegs were all jacked-up, plus I didn't like them anyway, so I removed them and welded some tabs on the frame for some EMGO buddy pegs instead. They fold up for storage and can deflect if the mini falls down or hits anything, so I'll consider it an improvement.
Instead of an unsightly handlebar switch and wire, I added a little panel to the top tubes to mount the old snowblower key switch.
Moving forward, I need to add a band brake and cover so that it can stop. Will also need to take the fork off and rework the top plate, as the pivot hole has worn bigger and has a lot of play. The front wheel also needs converted to sealed bearings, so I'll have to make internal and external spacers. Needs painted and a matching tire (think I have a good Schenuit) also... Speaking of paint, I'm thinking Deep Green hammered metal. Also need controls.
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