My first mini bike

[mxfaiman]

I bought this at a garage sale a few days back. I already know it is a cat 250x. When I bought it, it wouldn't start. So I went through and cleaned the gas tank cleaned the carb, oiled the starter system, and put a new plug in. Then I tried to start it and it didn't start, you could hear it wanted to but it just wouldn't. Then I got some information for some members to clean and gap the points. So I went and did that. Turned out that they were gapped at about .040. Once I did that I went to start it up and presto it worked. It had a muffler leak at first but now that I've had it running for about an hour it seems to have stopped. I still need to get a new air cleaner and some other parts for the motor. The original chain was rusty but I bought a go-kart a while back and the guy gave me some extra chain and it happens to be the same exact chain. So I went and swapped out the chain and that problem was easily fixed.

My plans for this bike are to, strip it down and have it painted red. (I only have a gallon of red paint). Also I'm planning to by some fenders for it anyone have recommended sizes it has a 4.10 X 3.5 X 6 tire on it. Also the seat on the bike appears to be off a Honda z50 and looks to be the race one. So I'm going to re upholster that, seeing it is comfy and could be worth a lot. I need a clutch cover for the bike so I plan on building one but if someone has one for sale for around $10 that would be great (doesn't have to be metal or original). I'm also thinking about putting an in sprocket brake on this bike. I was wondering if anyone has done this and has some pictures or tips of any kind.

Also I need some information or pictures on how people do the throttle setup on this type bike. At the moment I have a temporary solution on it but is there a better way of doing it "see image".

The last image is a new reproduction z50 race seat.

 

[Bonanza Bryan]

Were are you located?

 

[george3]

Yea it would be good if people would post city and state by there name.

 

[debriscreator]

sweet! that was my first minibike too! no fenders on this one originally

http://www.oldminibikes.com/forum/photopost/data/566/HPE_Muskin_Cat_250X_Mini_Bike.jpg

there's the clutch cover.. see if mac on here has one. he also has a bunch of parts if you are in or around the LA area.. it might be worth it to pay him a visit.

you should do a search on this website for "briggs throttle linkage" or maybe google. i suggest getting a new minibike seat because it will cost you more to reupholster that one than just getting one on the classified section here or on ebay.

 

[mxfaiman]

Yea it would be good if people would post city and state by there name.

Sorry about that I'm located in the Irvine area.

i suggest getting a new minibike seat because it will cost you more to reupholster that one than just getting one on the classified section here or on ebay.

Na I'm going to do the reupholstery my self to save some money. I already bought the supplies so there is no going back. I mean all I really need to do is cut the foam and then stretch my vinyl over it. There are some hooks on the bottom for it to catch the vinyl. I just need to cut a separate panel and sew it together with the other one. Which isn't that hard to do.

there's the clutch cover.. see if mac on here has one. he also has a bunch of parts if you are in or around the LA area.. it might be worth it to pay him a visit.

Thanks for the information I'll shoot him a PM.

 

[mxfaiman]

Over the weekend I tore apart the bike. I have some images below.

We finally got all the parts that we needed for the engine. Also we trying to play with an updated brake system on the bike. We were originally thinking of using a brake inside the sprocket. Then were did some research and found that no one has one that mounts to a 5 bolt wheel. So now were playing with the idea of a separate drum with a band on it. But this is also proving to be a challenge. Because we don't want a brake lever, we still want to use the pedal for the original brake.

Also we went and washed the whole frame. Some of the red paint flaked off and underneath that was a bright orange. I don't know if that was a factory color but someone told me that there was a red that looked more like orange. However, I don't think this is what they meant.

 

[mxfaiman]

We've started the clean up & fabricating stage. First item after removing the brake lever (It was extremly rusty & wouldn't move freely) was getting the seat mount set up. We've taken some 1" square tubing to make the seat braces, and then welded the mounting bolt heads to the Z50 seat pan. It gives it the right height once the 3" foam is on, and the tubes are adding a bit more bracing than the originals.

Beats the piece of MDF they were using as a spacer & the three wood screws. And we were able to remove the original seat brackets intact if we ever want to go back.

Now mostly sanding & painting parts, and waiting for the UPS guy. Next is the brake system once the parts come in.

 

[micksauto]

Why is everyone so worried about where everybody lives? He had his state. Maybe he don't want people tracking hm down?

 

[mxfaiman]

Sorry it has been a while...

We were doing a ton of work on this bike the past month.

First of all I wanted to let you all know that it has a 2hp engine not a 3 like everyone had told me. We also got a new air filter, muffler, and throttle linkage for it and in doing so we also paint the whole engine gloss black. We also had to add an extension to the muffler due to the fact the one we ordered was bigger than the original. (No point in sending it back it was so cheap we just made it work)

The hardest thing that we were working on that was holding this all up was the brake system. We hated the scrub brake but we wanted to keep the pedal for engaging the brakes on it; because we originally planed on putting a moon foot on it. (We used one of the dimmer switches it is the perfect size.) So what we did was we figured that there was enough room between the tire and the sprocket to fit a band brake in there. Here is where the hard part came in, which was trying to figure out how to use the foot pedal to engage it. We first started by putting a bar coming out from under the frame to hold the bottom half of the band. Next we played around with various ways we could engage the brake. Finally we figured out that we will basically make it work like the scrub brake but we will make it pull instead of push. So we added an arm to the end of the rod to pull the rod coming from the top of the band. (System is pictured below) At the moment there is still some minor adjustments that need to be done but for the most part it is complete.

We also decided to put a kill button on here instead of the one that is on the engine. That is why we welded on a bracket on the handlebars. We also decided to put some fenders on the bike. So we figured the best position for them and welded a bar just above them, which we could screw the fenders to. After we make some minor adjustments and add some other parts; the frame will be sent out for sand blasting and powder coat.:thumbsup: We decided to paint it the same orange that it was painted when it left the factory. (Image below of original paint on foot peg)

 

[KustomKartKid]

well....I could be wrong but I don't think the band brake will work (well) as configured....the two ends of the band need to be drawn together to squeeze the hub evenly all the way around and once it starts to grab it actually acts like a Bendix system... that is it self-energizes by winding itself tighter....it kinda has to float..not be held rigid.
...but I've been wrong before ...:shrug:


the way you have it set up it will want to do the opposite...."unwind" the brake band plus it will only apply pressure to one small area.



.

 

[DZLBIKE]

You could also look into using a band brake on the centrifugal clutch, then instead of attaching the cable to a hand lever, loop it back over to the foot brake lever. Push down on your re-incarnated scrub brake, pulling the cable, squeezing the band around the clutch. Its looking good though, good job!:thumbsup:

 

[mxfaiman]

You could also look into using a band brake on the centrifugal clutch, then instead of attaching the cable to a hand lever, loop it back over to the foot brake lever. Push down on your re-incarnated scrub brake, pulling the cable, squeezing the band around the clutch. Its looking good though, good job!:thumbsup:

I thought about for a while. The only issue with that is that the pedal doesn't have that much travel to make that work. You would have to wrap the cable around the rod and then it would work but then you have the issue that you will have constant pressure on the clutch so then it won't work right.

 

[mxfaiman]

the way you have it set up it will want to do the opposite...."unwind" the brake band plus it will only apply pressure to one small area.

Yes you were kinda right there. We did some test trials with the way it was and we did realize it did want to kinda unwind. But we did some testing with it and came up with a solution to that problem. So what we did was add bar to keep the two rods at a constant tension.(Imaged below) This fixed the problem perfectly and the bike stops great (actually a little too well :laugh We were testing it out and with bearly touching the pedal we were making 4 ft. skid marks with it. But it is an easy fix to make if slow over a longer distance. We just need to remake the top bar and make the hole in-between the two that we made on this one. Also if you look at the other picture attached that is the main reason why we wanted to keep the pedal.

 

[KustomKartKid]

Yes you were kinda right there. We did some test trials with the way it was and we did realize it did want to kinda unwind. But we did some testing with it and came up with a solution to that problem. So what we did was add bar to keep the two rods at a constant tension.(Imaged below) This fixed the problem perfectly and the bike stops great (actually a little too well :laugh We were testing it out and with bearly touching the pedal we were making 4 ft. skid marks with it. But it is an easy fix to make if slow over a longer distance. We just need to remake the top bar and make the hole in-between the two that we made on this one. Also if you look at the other picture attached that is the main reason why we wanted to keep the pedal.

you guys are persistent I'll say that :laugh:....it's definitely a lot more stout than a flimsy cable pulling on it...I see some nice fab skills there...
I admire the fact that you don't give up and keep at the idea until it works...thinking "out of the box" too.... good job :thumbsup:



.

 

[mxfaiman]

Also, In testing we are finding it's actuly putting enough force to bend the engine mounting plate due to it's kinda thin at the back. So some more bracing to connect the two frame tubes across the back to counter that issue.

By the way, the parts used are a Manco brake drum with the holes slighlty radiused with a die grinder, the Manco band with the side tabs removed, and a 3/8" rod end for the pivot. In the picture the top bolt on the band will be on the wheel side, so the gear will bolt in & clamp the drum to the hub. It's tight in there but it all clears. (Barely)

 

[mxfaiman]

Well I got the frame back from powder coating. I had to send the forks back it had some imperfections on the top of the hinge plate.ut: But I'll go pick them up on Monday. Now eveything just needs to go back on.

 

[mxfaiman]

Well All I need to do is put the motor on, hook up the throttle, hook up the kill switch, mount the # plate (won’t actually have #’s on it :laugh, and then make / upholster the seat and this thing should be done. :thumbsup: Also after powder coat I was finally able to find the serial # on the frame I guess there was too much paint covering it up. It looks like the # is 7223513

 

[2quick]

That turned out nice. Now when winter arrives I will take mine apart for powder coating.

 

[mxfaiman]

Finished

Well been a while since I have been here. Just thought I'd post the complete finished product. Only took 11 months to completely finish it. :laugh:

 

[buckeye]

I remember this. Cool. Turned out to be a beauty.
11 months,not bad. You see my Thunderbolt thread. :laugh: