I see pictures from time to time of home made "minibikes". I thought I would start a thread where we can post our
creations.
I wish I had pictures of all the stuff I built back in the 60's. I, and some friends, would garbage pick old bikes, lawn mowers, dryers etc. Many times I would take a bike frame, cut out the seat support bar, bolt on some sort of a plate plate to use as a motor mount. Then I'd take a 2 or 3 hp engine I pulled off an edger or reel type lawn mower, bolt it to the plate. Then I would use the big fan belt pulley you could find inside an old clothes dryer. I would use screws, washers and nuts and mount the thing to the rear spokes. I would then use a small pulley about 1 1/2" or 2" and put it on the engine. It would be direct drive so you just push started it. Most of these death traps had very little and most times, no brakes.
Shoe brakes and a kill switch is all we needed as kids...
Here are some pictures I found of this more sophisticated "minibike". It had a Honda 65 cc engine/trans I got for a song as it didn't have a carb or coil etc. I got it to run using a diaphragm carb from a two stroke lawn mower. I used an old car engine coil and what ever else I could cobble up. I used a wheel barrow wheel for the rear. (that is my little sister Cindy on it). It had a broken kick starter so it was another push start contraption. Put it in like 3rd gear, Push fast, jump on, pop the clutch.
It was COOL because it had a clutch and 4 or 5 speeds. It wasn't fast but it could pop a wheelie and "burn out" if you revved it and let go of the clutch
Notice the front bicycle brake. Also it is hard to see but the brake lever is mounted on the vertical portion of the high rise handlebars. I used another bike brake lever as the throttle lever! No fancy twist grips for this kid... I didn't have money go Buy anything that costly. I had to use what I could find or get for next to nothing.
I had many hours of fun on this thing.
One notable thing that my friends to this day talk about is the lack of tools we had. We had an aluminum electric drill that would get extremely hot to hold whenever we had to drill a hole. All we had was a box of very dull drill bits. Drilling a hole in metal took A LONG time and it just burned it's way through it. Oh, let's not forget the insanely dull hack saw blade too.
NOTHING that we made was welded. It all had to be bolted together some how. We used nuts and bolts from whatever we garbage picked and took apart. I remember just picking stuff to take apart so I would have some nuts, bolts and screws. It didn't matter what it was, if someone through it out, it got dragged home and disassembled with very limited tools. The remnants got thrown away the next week.
Ah yes, those were the days...being 13 or 14 years old, building some creation then ride the hell out of it while you were busy building the next one. 50+ years later I'm still riding minibikes
Danford1
creations.
I wish I had pictures of all the stuff I built back in the 60's. I, and some friends, would garbage pick old bikes, lawn mowers, dryers etc. Many times I would take a bike frame, cut out the seat support bar, bolt on some sort of a plate plate to use as a motor mount. Then I'd take a 2 or 3 hp engine I pulled off an edger or reel type lawn mower, bolt it to the plate. Then I would use the big fan belt pulley you could find inside an old clothes dryer. I would use screws, washers and nuts and mount the thing to the rear spokes. I would then use a small pulley about 1 1/2" or 2" and put it on the engine. It would be direct drive so you just push started it. Most of these death traps had very little and most times, no brakes.
Shoe brakes and a kill switch is all we needed as kids...
Here are some pictures I found of this more sophisticated "minibike". It had a Honda 65 cc engine/trans I got for a song as it didn't have a carb or coil etc. I got it to run using a diaphragm carb from a two stroke lawn mower. I used an old car engine coil and what ever else I could cobble up. I used a wheel barrow wheel for the rear. (that is my little sister Cindy on it). It had a broken kick starter so it was another push start contraption. Put it in like 3rd gear, Push fast, jump on, pop the clutch.
It was COOL because it had a clutch and 4 or 5 speeds. It wasn't fast but it could pop a wheelie and "burn out" if you revved it and let go of the clutch
Notice the front bicycle brake. Also it is hard to see but the brake lever is mounted on the vertical portion of the high rise handlebars. I used another bike brake lever as the throttle lever! No fancy twist grips for this kid... I didn't have money go Buy anything that costly. I had to use what I could find or get for next to nothing.
I had many hours of fun on this thing.
One notable thing that my friends to this day talk about is the lack of tools we had. We had an aluminum electric drill that would get extremely hot to hold whenever we had to drill a hole. All we had was a box of very dull drill bits. Drilling a hole in metal took A LONG time and it just burned it's way through it. Oh, let's not forget the insanely dull hack saw blade too.
NOTHING that we made was welded. It all had to be bolted together some how. We used nuts and bolts from whatever we garbage picked and took apart. I remember just picking stuff to take apart so I would have some nuts, bolts and screws. It didn't matter what it was, if someone through it out, it got dragged home and disassembled with very limited tools. The remnants got thrown away the next week.
Ah yes, those were the days...being 13 or 14 years old, building some creation then ride the hell out of it while you were busy building the next one. 50+ years later I'm still riding minibikes
Danford1
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