well over 1000km on doodle bugs, need help

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smalltownpower

New Member
#1
#1
hello, we have purchased 3 baja doodlebugs from a local canadian tire and not much after all 3 have gotten replacement clone engines. i probly wouldnt have known what to do without this site, and thanks to this site i have probly saved a bit of experiementing time and money. needless to say, now that we have 3 of these things...well they obviously get raced. pretty much every week, and weekend night we would do "the indy 500". the way our yard is configured it is a perfect figure "8", perfect for mini bike racing. the course is .7km long and we have recored well over 750 laps this summer and fall. ...no we dont have anything better to do.. its such an adrenaline rush. now if your doing math .7x750 is about 525km each. then there would be atleast another 2 or 3 hundred ontop of that from checking beaver dams, and driving to the main farm wich is 16km away (15 minute joy ride). two bikes have max torque clutches and 1 has a hilliard. max torques are far superior but even after doing this many km in one summer the gears are stripped off. this isnt any of my worry, i am worried bout the rear gears. the rear gears on all 3 mini bikes are pretty sharp and dont hold new chain very well anymore. the reason we drive these bikes so much is because their fun and extremely cheap to drive, we can do probly 80 or 90km on a gallon of fuel. (went riding with two quads one day n did 80km's) i am looking for a place to buy 3 doodle bug rear sprockets for a really good price and shipping to canada, as i wont have a job for a few months now that its winter.

Indy 500 - YouTube

Mini bike chain broke - YouTube
 
Newoldstock

Newoldstock

New Member
#2
#2
Well if you were in Northern Ontario I would say Source 1 Imports.
But the Mail is expensive and you might just as well buy from the USA and ship USPS.
Odds are that would be cheaper than buying Canadian.

Canadian tire are arses, just about ever retailer we have is an arse that over charges.

Source 1 is good but they are small and far away.

You live anywhere near Esterhasen or Yorkton?
I might know some some guys that can help you with other doodles in the area
 
KustomKartKid

KustomKartKid

Administrator
#3
#3
.....can't help you with the sprocket but I'm diggin how much you guys ride those things...that's what it's all about...:thumbsup:

I thought that guy at the 1:15 mark was gonna high-side that thing for sure...that pea gravel must be very forgiving.....

Makes me wanna go outside right now and ride mine but I'm too lazy to get off the couch :laugh:
 
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smalltownpower

New Member
#5
#5
i was lookin around on OldMiniBikes. thats actually where i bought a clutch n 2 brake bands from. (other clutch from mfgsupply and princess auto) i am really thinking about changing to .40 chain because .35 stretches so fast and indy 500 doin tight turns it digs in the gravel pretty bad. would you guys recomend going to a 10-60 .40 chain (same thing as 12-72 .35) so i can get more chain life out of it. i searched for a long time n found a stock replacement sprocket for 45 dollars, but for the same price i can put an adaptor on with .35 split sprockets. OldMiniBikes doesnt have .40 split gears on their website but bmi does.

and yes i live somwhere near yorkton, all 3 bikes came from yorktons candaian tire. its about an hour or 1.25 hour drive from my small town.

graduated now, but my bikes made at least 15 or 20, 25km trips to school. these bikes are the funnest things ever. only thing i only ever worry about is the chain.
 
Clayon

Clayon

#7
#7
Wow that's alot of riding right there. :thumbsup: Amd like KK said, OldMiniBikes Warehouse is the best place.

Where are you guys in Saskatchewan? :shrug:
 
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smalltownpower

New Member
#8
#8
thinking im going to buy a hub adaptor and 60t .41 gear from OldMiniBikes. anyone know if you can cut the center out of a sprocket while keeping it perfectly true? can you spin a sprocket on a lathe?
 
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smalltownpower

New Member
#11
#11
^^^the problem with that is getting the 6 holes drilled perfectly so the sprocket is true and has no high and low spots. because the center of the hub adaptor is 4 9/16's of an inch and the center of the sprocket is 2 and a half inches, i would like to put the sprocket on a lathe and cut the center out to 4 9/16's of an inch. that way it will have no high and low spots and it would fit on the hub so drilling the 6 holes for the hub adaptor would be idiot proof.

is it possible to clamp a sprocket to a lathe using the 2 and a half inch center hole to make it spin perfectly true?
 
KustomKartKid

KustomKartKid

Administrator
#12
#12
you could use an old school "face plate" on the lathe....indicate the sprocket using the exisiting center bore and then clamp it in place...might need to space it off the faceplate slightly to allow for the machining...

or.....I you could turn a hub with a 2.500 step on it to register the sprocket....use a center pucnh to mark the hub and drilll and tap some bolt holes to hold it in place nice and tight...then bore out the center to the required 4.562 machining the sprocket and the hub all at once...but that's a lot of work.

I guess I really don't understand .....the new sprockets already fit the adaptor hub...are you trying to use old sprockets on the new adaptor hub????:confused:

If your question is can you chuck up the sprocket by grabbing the outside teeth I would say no unless you have an independent 4-jaw where you can indicate the existing center hole true....
 
KustomKartKid

KustomKartKid

Administrator
#14
#14
smalltownpower said:
no they would be new sprockets from OldMiniBikes warehouse. i would use this adaptor
Doodlebug Sprocket Adapter (#4)

and then take this sprocket
Steel Sprocket - 60 Tooth / #41 Chain
and machine out the center of the sprocket to 4.562 by holding the sprocket by the 2 inch center hole, not the outside teeth.
Click to expand...
I see so the trick is you want to use 40 series chain........guess i should have read over the thread again.

You could hold the sprocket by the center hole and grind a special parting tool to plunge into the face and "part out" the hole....the sprocket will just fall away....it will be a bit hairy but I have done it many times and can show you how to grind the bit so it leaves a clean hole......

You need a lathe with a back-gear because you are going to have to turn the part slow........

sort of the same technique you see me using here.....

http://www.oldminibikes.com/forum/project-logs/49064-rare-cat-twister-trike-2.html#post362465



.
 
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smalltownpower

New Member
#19
#19
yay, so it is possible to hold it in the lathe by the center hole?? i always thought you could only clamp on outside surfaces with a lathe. now that i know its possible, and by doing this it will be true (no tight lose tight lose chain) i will go ahead and order from OldMiniBikes....and get screwed by shipping. canada needs their own OldMiniBikes
 
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