Ghetto Motor-Scooter

[THE HUNTER]

So today i made what i like to call my "Ghetto Motor-Scooter"
yeah, something did break after like 3 trips up and down my block. but it was pretty fun lol.

it was just a proof of concept type thing anyway.

yes, thats plywood

before you say this is like the crappiest scooter ever (which it very well may be), remember it was more a proof-of-concept to see how the engine would propell the scooter.

it worked pretty good, but the clutch is really wimpy, and well.. you'll see that the materials were kinda crappy. lol

but hey, it didnt cost me anything, i just got everything outta our garage! lol

now that i know it works, i need to do it up right. needs new brakes too. they were fine when you were pushing it, but now... not so much. lol

yes, the spindle was wood. lol. thats some square stock i hammered into it.
i drilled a hole first ofcourse lol.

no sharp left turns, but it works great to keep it from falling over lol

the shifter lever from an old bike is the throttle control

bailing wire. the old-school duct tape!

ghetto starter handle. its actually more comfortable than the regular ones! lol. and btw, those two black wires are my kill "switch".. i broke the real one i had installed there

remote throttle!

im thinkin maybe using a 50cc 2HP snowblower engine... feeling the acceleration is the best part!!... heck, i just may do that! lol




so is that "most ghetto kart" contest still planned? cause i wanna enter! lol

 

[Kaptain Krunch]

Thats a poulan made for craftsman...i think, i had a weedeater by poulan, and it looked just like that. I still have the engine just not the cases, it never ran right because i lost the muffler. What you could do for a spindle is use a bike peg with a bunch of small tack welds all over for grip.

 

[newrider3]

Some pegs off equally gitto bikes are already knurled.

 

[THE HUNTER]

yeah, ive seen pics of a line-trimmer just like this branded John Deere. so i kinda guessed it was made by Poulan or something like that lol
i actually have 2 other Craftsman line-trimmers with the exact same engine, but different plastic casing around them, so if i burn one out, i can replace it! lol.

i was thinking of doing away with the clutch, and having the whole engine assembly above the rear tire on a hinge, held off the tire buy a spring, so i could just press down in it with a foot, and engage the spindle.

now i really wanna put the snowblower engine on it! lol
it would be easier to mount too.

i have a friend who has a really nice lath, and can make up a whole spindle to fit right on the shaft and everything.
he does a lot of heavy stuff so he has lots of scraps that would be the right size to do this kinda stuff.


but i have one other project i want to do this summer (a really small kart), ill have to post a thread about it later.

 

[SpyGuy]

"this is like the crappiest scooter ever"

Someone had to say it. :biggrinjester:

A suggestion? What size wheels are those? Try to find a kid's bike with the same size wheel, and put that on for the rear wheel. Now you have a wheel with a sprocket on it, and can put a sprocket on the engine, too.

Put some brakes on the front end, too - helps more with the stopping power when you have two sets of brakes. One set just doesn't cut it, not on a powered vehicle.

For a backyard build, it looks good. You may even consider bending the frame around some and making a minibike out of it - I saw plans for a scooter-to-minibike around somewhere, looked awesome when completed.....

 

[THE HUNTER]

"this is like the crappiest scooter ever"

Someone had to say it. :biggrinjester:

i figured that was coming eventually. lol


this engine prob wouldnt do too well with a sprocket, thats one of the reasons i want to use the snowblower engine, it has a regular, standard size shaft on it... and its got more power of course :arf:


i like the idea of the rear wheel from a kids bike, if i can find one, but the down side is i would need to buy more stuff lol.


and yeah, i TRIED to put a set of brakes on the front too, but for some reason, the mounting hole is farther away from the tire on the front fork than it is on the back
so i gotta rig something up for that...

just so you know, the brakes on the rear (standard caliper brakes like a regular bike) are barely adequate (if at all) when pushing it like a regular scooter! lol
they wouldnt make much difference if they were in the front or back... now if i had some linear-pull type breaks like on my mountain bike... well, that might be dangerous if yer not careful! lol

 

[newrider3]

If you can find a broken steel suspension fork off a really cheap mountain bike, you can cut off the brake plate/arch and weld it on to the scooter, letting you use canti or v brakes. If you want my honest opinion, sidepull caliper brakes like the one you have shouldn't even be used on cheap kids bikes, they suck hard.

 

[THE HUNTER]

If you can find a broken steel suspension fork off a really cheap mountain bike, you can cut off the brake plate/arch and weld it on to the scooter, letting you use canti or v brakes.

i like that idea, but i dont see too many bikes scrapped around, though my neighbor seems too... but i think he just steals them.
one good set of brakes on the front and i would be set,
i get up to 25-30mph on my MTBike, and i stopped just fine on pavement.
(now dirt trails on the other hand... darn trees in my way.. lol)

If you want my honest opinion, sidepull caliper brakes like the one you have shouldn't even be used on cheap kids bikes, they suck hard.

yeah, totally agree there, but currently.. its alls i got. lol

 

[freakboy]

hey to make it more ghetto take the throtal off and tie a string to your leg and then to the carb

 

[THE HUNTER]

hey to make it more ghetto take the throtal off and tie a string to your leg and then to the carb

i like the way you think!

lol

 

[kibble]

Haha! Ghetto, ghetto, ghetto!!! Good job on that! It would be so awesome to have a ghetto but functional contest, kinda like Junkyard Wars.

 

[THE HUNTER]

dude, i'd be all over a ghetto contest!!!

it was functional, but not for very long... but thats how ghetto stuff goes! lol

 

[BradenM]

Gets my seal of approval!

 

[THE HUNTER]

THATS WHAT ITS MISSING!!!!
i need a sweet sound system on it!!!!


me and a friend were joking about that, chrome, spinners, sound system with huge woofers. i might need some caster training wheel-type things on the side like that third pic! lol

 

[Kaptain Krunch]

You should have seen my "speaker backpack", now that was ghetto, before i even started the backpack was already drawn on and ripped up, and partially held together with ducktape. I tossed an alpine head unit, some 4" surround sound speakers in boxes, and a few batteries in there, and still had all my school supplies. To hold the actual head unit in, i bolted it to the fabric. I went into school with this thing haha, got quite a few looks, and only got yelled at once by the teacher who heard it, over a noisy lunch, from about a 500 feet away, through 3 doors

 

[THE HUNTER]

"speaker backpack"... nice! lol


i think im gonna fix the spindle to get it working again and get a video of the scooter in action. lol

im using duct tape, in case anyone is interested. not only will it hold the spindle together, but i wrapped so much on, it will increase the top speed!! lol

and i gotta tighten up some bolts, and throw a few lock washers and nuts on. they vibrated loose last time. lol

oh yeah, and work on the breaks a little...
and put a real kill switch on... not that i mind bailing out if something goes wrong... its just that if i do, i would have to hope that the scooter goes into a bush or tree or something like that.. not someones car, window, or kid.



the repair work will happen tomorrow... im gonna catch a nap today. lol

 

[freakboy]

You should hook a flamethrower kit to it that would be fun!

 

[PyroKart]

awsome that is almost as ghetto as go kart mozart's no weld kart lol
hey who likes the beatles (yes that is random.)

 

[SpyGuy]

Man, you put duct tape on it, that's gonna be THE strongest part of the bike. It ain't NEVER gonna break ........ Get your friend a six-pack and have him lathe you up a nice metal spindle with a parkerized grip for the rear wheel. (He gets it AFTER he's done, okay?) I like the idea of the spring mount on the engine, too .......

You could still do the "tie the string to your leg"' bit, but I think making a gas pedal would be just as fun, too. Use a mousetrap - it already has the return spring on it!

Flamethrower off the exhaust pipe, dude .... scare the bejeezus outta those neighbors ....

Some of the mountain bikes have different size brakes, both side- and center-pull. You may just need a longer set for the front end. I know I ran a ten-speed road bike with a 27" front wheel and a 26" mountain bike rear wheel (among other things), and I needed to swap out the calipers for a longer set.

 

[freakboy]

Hahhaah thanks for the idea spyguy i needed a cheap gass pedal for my military mower. or i will just go with a hand throtal