Motorbike forks for a minibike

[chris_the_poser]

Looks really good I like it

 

[rgvkid]

Great job!

If it were me I'd drop the seat back and a bit lower. It will give you a bit better lower center of gravity, and look more like a bobber also.

 

[landuse]

Well.....I finally got my sprockets back from the machine shop yesterday. I have a 57 tooth rear wheel sprocket to replace my 48 tooth, as well as a 12 tooth jackshaft out sprocket to replace my 14 tooth.

The 12 tooth sprocket was a bit too small for them to bore out the centre diameter, cut the keyway, and still have enough thickness to make it safe from coming apart. So what they did was shrink a metal sleeve onto the sprocket to hold it all together. I thought that was a really clever idea. I also got my axel back. I have been waiting for this for nearly a year, so my thread for that is pretty dead.....but it will be resurrected!!

I am going to put everything back together over the weekend, so by next Monday I should have some finished pics up for you all, and some feedback on how she rides now

 

[Simon Thomas]

Questions

Landuse, I have a few questions here:

1. What is the diameter of your rod?
2. Material of the rod? Is it mild steel or something else?
3. How long is the rod from end to another end?
4. Can you take a closer photo of your left / right wheel hub? Want to see how your hubs hold the rod.

Thanks.

 

[landuse]

Hi Simon

1. The axle is 20mm in diameter
2. It is mild steel
3. I would have to measure it, but roughly I would say it is 1m long. It is actually 2 pieces that meet inside the diffrential.
4. Here are the pics of the hub. It is just held on by a key that goes into a keyway cut into the hub and the axle. It also has a set screw (or grub screw) that you can tighten down onto the key.

 

[landuse]

Sorry that I haven't posted on the progress of me putting the bike back together, but last weekend I had the flu, and my wife forbid me to work outside, and this weekend I had to clean the garage out a bit to make place for my new car!!! I did get a bit done though.

I changed the rear sprocket on the wheel from a 48 to a 57 tooth sprocket, as well as changing the 14 tooth on the jackshaft to a 12 tooth.

I then got the back wheel fitted on, and got the jackshaft as well as the engine bolted down. I still have to put the chains on and reconnect the throttle to the engine. I also want to make some sort of chain and clutch guard. Otherwise I am pretty much done.

 

[Simon Thomas]

Thanks

Hi Simon

1. The axle is 20mm in diameter
2. It is mild steel
3. I would have to measure it, but roughly I would say it is 1m long. It is actually 2 pieces that meet inside the diffrential.
4. Here are the pics of the hub. It is just held on by a key that goes into a keyway cut into the hub and the axle. It also has a set screw (or grub screw) that you can tighten down onto the key.

Your photo and explanation really help. Thanks.

 

[Simon Thomas]

Sorry that I haven't posted on the progress of me putting the bike back together, but last weekend I had the flu, and my wife forbid me to work outside, and this weekend I had to clean the garage out a bit to make place for my new car!!! I did get a bit done though.

I changed the rear sprocket on the wheel from a 48 to a 57 tooth sprocket, as well as changing the 14 tooth on the jackshaft to a 12 tooth.

I then got the back wheel fitted on, and got the jackshaft as well as the engine bolted down. I still have to put the chains on and reconnect the throttle to the engine. I also want to make some sort of chain and clutch guard. Otherwise I am pretty much done.

Eventhough it is a slow and timing progress, but I can see you are working well on your design.

 

[landuse]

Hi everyone. I have to apologise again for the slowness of me getting my bike back together again, but I have been sick, and the rain has been keeping me from working on it.

I finally got it back together this weekend. I wanted to give it a test ride yesterday after connecting the throttle, but it was raining so hard that I couldn't. I am itching to see what the new gearing is going to do for me. I went from 8.14:1 to 11.28:1. I should have some nice torque now. I am going to give it a test drive when I get home from work. I will also do a vid if I can to show you all what it looks like.

Here are 2 pics of the bike as it stands now....

 

[landuse]

I took the bike for its first test drive when I got home yesterday, and it rides really nicely now. It has decent torque (not amazing, but fine for me) and good speed. As it is for my daughter, I wasn't too concerned about it going a bit slower. It is still fast enough though.

The only thing I must do now is tighten the chains a bit. They are a fraction loose and they are making a noise when I turn. I also want to make a chain and clutch guard in the future.

My camera was giving a bit of trouble, so I only have a short vid of me riding it. I wanted to post one of my daughter riding, but it was messed up.

I think I am going to consider this thread closed now, and finish with this vid. If there are any more improvements I will post them from time to time.

Thanks for watching and giving me support.

http://youtu.be/8mva3RdtzGI

PS: I don't know why the vid isn't showing up here, but the link works

 

[kendelrk]

you have to pull the one from the actual link, like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mva3RdtzGI&feature=youtu.be

 

[landuse]

I took the bike for a test again down the road.....and my clutch came of and went rolling down the road in front of me. The chain fell off and landed in the road behind me. The clutch is OK, but I suppose it was my ego that was a bit bruised. The embarrassing part was that a kid on his bicycle helped me pick the parts up, and I had to free wheel home.

This comes from not tightening your clutch down properly with some Loctite. I am also going to drill a little dimple hole for the set screw to sit in. I suppose they just came loose with all the vibration.

Don't you hate it when you think you have everything done, and then something goes wrong? Frustrating!!

 

[Simon Thomas]

I took the bike for a test again down the road.....and my clutch came of and went rolling down the road in front of me. The chain fell off and landed in the road behind me. The clutch is OK, but I suppose it was my ego that was a bit bruised. The embarrassing part was that a kid on his bicycle helped me pick the parts up, and I had to free wheel home.

This comes from not tightening your clutch down properly with some Loctite. I am also going to drill a little dimple hole for the set screw to sit in. I suppose they just came loose with all the vibration.

Don't you hate it when you think you have everything done, and then something goes wrong? Frustrating!!

We have almost the same problems here but we are improving from time to time.

 

[Simon Thomas]

you have to pull the one from the actual link, like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mva3RdtzGI&feature=youtu.be

I have watched your video. Not bad!

 

[landuse]

Thanks, but it wasn't a very good one. I will try post a better vid soon. This weekend I tightened the chains and put the clutch back on the bike. It seems to go well now

 

[landuse]

I took my minibike out for a ride yesterday....and it went perfectly!!! I am very happy with it now. Tensioning the chains really helped a lot. The clutch is also not going to fall of now.

 

[kendelrk]

as promised, here are a few pics of the linkage, it will dissable your governor, but that kit really makes a diffrence on throttle control, pics arent the best, but there what they are

 

[landuse]

as promised, here are a few pics of the linkage, it will dissable your governor, but that kit really makes a diffrence on throttle control, pics arent the best, but there what they are

Thanks kendelrk, that has given me some ideas. I just hate being here in South Africa where we don't have things like online gokart stores and Ebay. Shipping is also bad for most things from the States.

I am going to maybe make something similar to what that kit has in it. It shouldn't be too hard.

Thanks again

 

[Simon Thomas]

Landuse, speaking of your hub in post #166 (shown in photos) what material used for making that? Is it solid iron or cast iron?

Just curious.

 

[landuse]

Landuse, speaking of your hub in post #166 (shown in photos) what material used for making that? Is it solid iron or cast iron?

Just curious.

As far as I know it is just normal mild steel. Hardened steel is apparently very difficult to machine and cut. If you hit the hub with a hammer it will get a dent.