Screaming Eagle minibikes 2019/20

#1
Last night we started the new bike build season. We have 25 students involved at this point. As a group cut up a lot of tubing and started bending frames. This will be the biggest build year yet. Spent three hours at the high school, the students stayed on focus and special thanks for the parents that were assisting. bending 2019.jpg
 
#5
That's exciting. Do they design their own after researching OldMiniBikes?
All if the bikes are the same design. I designed the frame building fixture a few years ago. The intent is to build brand new old school minibikes. I just completed two new jigs to make the flow easier in the shop. Last year it was a large bottleneck only having one. I want the parents to say they remember riding one of those when they were a kid and the kids to tell their children what they built in shop class.
image.jpeg
 
#9
All if the bikes are the same design. I designed the frame building fixture a few years ago. The intent is to build brand new old school minibikes. I just completed two new jigs to make the flow easier in the shop. Last year it was a large bottleneck only having one. I want the parents to say they remember riding one of those when they were a kid and the kids to tell their children what they built in shop class.
View attachment 250412
Nice work. Were you able to fine-tune your rake and trail a bit?
You work was a fantastic read last time.
 
#10
Fantastic! The same frame on all 25. Sounds like a parade is in order when finished.
A few weeks ago the school had a parade at one of the games. We got about half of last years group to ride their completed bikes in the parade. They had a great time and had a blast. It was good positive exposure for the club.
 
#11
Nice work. Were you able to fine-tune your rake and trail a bit?
You work was a fantastic read last time.
The caster angle was set at 22 degrees last year, it was low. The plan this year is to move it up to 30 degrees. We are also switching to differant tires. My goal is to keep the cost as low as possible, but the Harbor Freight tires we were using could be worn out in a day of riding. The better tires is going to add about $30 to the cost, but both will be good changes.
 
#14
I just made up a minibike frame on my tubing bender, it takes a lot of patience and accuracy to bend 4 different angles and have the tubes meet together on the first try. This is a great project for the students that will get much use and reward for their skills!
 
#15
All if the bikes are the same design. I designed the frame building fixture a few years ago. The intent is to build brand new old school minibikes. I just completed two new jigs to make the flow easier in the shop. Last year it was a large bottleneck only having one. I want the parents to say they remember riding one of those when they were a kid and the kids to tell their children what they built in shop class.
View attachment 250412
Nice work. Were you able to fine-tune your rake and trail a bit?
You work was a fantastic read last time.
The caster angle was set at 22 degrees last year, it was low. The plan this year is to move it up to 30 degrees. We are also switching to differant tires. My goal is to keep the cost as low as possible, but the Harbor Freight tires we were using could be worn out in a day of riding. The better tires is going to add about $30 to the cost, but both will be good changes.
We have always started with 30 and 3. Clamped the forks on the bike as a roller and gave it a push with a rider to test the mock-up. Trial and error with a few adjustments gave us a good result. The offsets on the triple trees can’t be changed, but rake angle usually worked.
 

Harquebus

Well-Known Member
#16
This is great. Can anyone provide the link to last year's build?

...but the Harbor Freight tires we were using could be worn out in a day of riding. The better tires is going to add about $30 to the cost, but both will be good changes.
Heheh, the Harbor Freight dolly tire [and wheel] is well known for failing. Then again it was never intended for use on a powered vehicle.
 
#19
Mass produced mini bikes with your own logo. Does it get any better? Do you have t-shirts for sale. A fund raiser with with one of the guys on a mini bike and your message would be great. I would buy a couple. Does your school have a class on small engine repair? Probably get a lot of engines donated. I love the education and character building. I hired on as a small engine mechanic at the city's landscape department when I had no formal education. It was just my hobby. I worked at auto parts sales for 30 years before and we had a machine shop that I learned a lot from. The city contracted everything out in a few years and they eliminated my position and moved me to the vehicle maint. yard. A little more pay, a different title but did the same job for 12 more years because I still had over 500 machines with small engines to maintain. I had a nice hydraulic workbench, so no crawling around on the floor, and lots of local suppliers. When they wanted me to start working on cars and trucks hanging over fenders and sliding under vehicles, I retired. Now all their small engine repairs go to outside shops. I offered to train a replacement, but they passed. So now they have to wait for days and weeks for anything to be repaired and it usually comes back still needing something and always filthy. An employee can't bring a recoil starter in and watch me put a new rope in it while he waits 5 minutes. What I'm getting at is there's still a great need for small engine mechanics if the companies and municipalities would consider an in house position instead of going with the lowest bid outside shop. So guys like electrathon are providing a great service. Keep it up.
 
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