The un-chopper Baja

#1
Well it's been an interesting couple weeks. I picked up a baja warrior with a basket case engine, and had no real plan for it. I Had a predator and a tav 30 so I put them on there. Also fixed the broken fork stops, brakes, and locktited everything. Road it around the back yard some, dumped it once. Than decided I wanted the seat higher, I'm about 6'2" and really have no business riding a mini bike, but I like it. I started the Advice on frame modification thread to get some help and ideas. All the help is greatly appreciated. I decided to just take the plunge and just totally chop the "top half" of the frame off and rebuild it. Taking Baja's weird little off road chopper and make it into a big tired mini bike. So here we have the un-chopper.
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I braced the frame, to keep it from "folding up" when i cut it apart.
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No going back now!
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Some fabrication photos
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So this is what we have now. The seat stays where upgraded to 1 1/4" tubing. The seat stays will have a brace connecting them, giving me a place to mount the fender. I still have to make gussets of the "stock" down tubes and build as suspension set up for the seat. Any criticism is welcome!
 
#3
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This is the sub frame for the suspension seat. It is made of 1" .0625" round tube and 1x2" .0625 rectangular tubing.
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This is the initial mock-up. I will need to lower the back of the seat some, however the bike is quite comfortable. The seat is just tack welded for now. I'm just using some valve springs from an old 300 Ford engine. I got some aluminum foot pegs to use. I should be able to test ride this thing by the end of the long weekend!
 
#5
Well I've had the bike "complete" for a couple weeks now. Friday took it out to Uwharrie, and rode for about 3-4 hours. Covered rocky mountain loop twice, up and down wolf den and falls dam, ran the half of dicky bell that's dirt bike friendly (I know most of you aren't familiar with these trails but I'm just putting it out there). Blew past all the Jeeps like they where tied to a post. A couple of dual sport riders pulled off to the side to let me bye, this is kind of crazy considering there riding 400+ cc motor cycles and I'm riding cobbled together junk. I mean the clothes there waring cost more than my bike. I know trail riding is not a competition, and I was being considerate to others, but one must maintain momentum on two wheels.

Anyway the bike is rough, but I can deal with it. It's a lot faster and kinder than my Ct200u. It tractors thew thick mud. However the handling is not great, the bike can be leaned a little bit but really just wants to go in a straight line. I think this has to do with the fat tires and i think it may have too much rake. Slow speed turing is difficult. Also the peg placement and short wheel base make it difficult to stand up while riding. Anyway a good learning experience, the next bike will be scratch built.

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Sorry for the sideways pictures, had kind of a lot of adrenalin going.
 
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