Mini bike steering

[redneckengineering]

ive been building a mini bike from scratch. im working out the steering currently, but don't know what to do for the pivoting shaft part that actually allows to steer. what is the best way to go about making this part?

 

[itsid]

nothing much to it really..
go to your next bicycle shop and ask for the head bearing races

those need to be pressed into the tube and you're all set
(well matching bearings and locks help to mount the fork )

frankly.. just cut the head off an old bicycle and call it a day..
you could even reuse the fork's head stem to have a perfect matching set
scrap yards are full of old bikes... some even rott in your nearest landscape I bet

c'mon, your screen name tells me you know how to redneck yourself through that

'sid

 

[redneckengineering]

Lol. typically i’ll redneck it together myself. I had looked into bicycle parts before, but most of the bike frames I find are aluminum or some funny alloy. it can make welds brittle if you don’t know what you are doing, so i had kind of ruled them out. if you think it’ll do it, though, i’ll start looking into finding a steel one. probably the older the better. thanks!

 

[itsid]

get whatever you can find for free or pennies;
if it's a "funny alloy" you still don't have anything to worry really,
you get the races, the bearings the locks and the matching stem tube..
And a nice head tube template to make a copy from a steel tube blank

'sid

 

[Randy H]

Some "OG" minibikes used nothing more than a ⅝“bolt of the appropriate length and a snug fitting chunk of pipe or tubing. Others used bushings and of course bearings.

I recently had to beat a bent ⅝“ bolt out so I could remove the bent forks from a Heathkit Boonie Bike (GT-18). Ouch, concussion protocol.
The first couple of pics are from an assembly manual for that machine. High tech suspension. Lol.

 

[mckutzy]

It's called Cromolly... It needs pre and post heat treatment.. As I understand..
On the bike I built I used a head tube and bearings, from a bike I found..
If anything you can us a known piece of steel pipe/tube that the bearing cups can fit into..