Newb from Bakersfield CA.

[Solohopper]

Just wanted to give a little info about what I'd like to do here.

I am a father of five kids(two are step kids), three of which are boys that are addicted to video games. UGH!! SO I started lurking and researching on the web about go karts and stumbled upon this place. Seems like a good little place to start my adventure off on the right foot.

I come from a rock crawling background. Built and wheeled a full size Blazer for many years. So fabricating, welding and building will be the easy part of this. The hard part will be keeping the cost down on the project and learning all the dos and don'ts of karting.

My plan is to purchase a used kart that I can get the kids feet wet with. Something that won't take too much work to get running but yet something i can build on an improve. Once i get the boys(and girls I predict) hooked on the idea. I want to build something with them and give them the pleasure of enjoying the fruits of their labor. At this point I am thinking i want to keep it strictly on the road. Maybe in the future I will build something for the dirt though.

So far I have looked on the local craiglist and found these few karts. Maybe someone can give me some direction on which one may be better than the other?

The red one says $500 with a bunch of extras. The Dominator says $400 and the other Manco says 300.

Looking forward to learning from you guys.

 

[souperman000]

Sounds like you've got a great plan and you've come to the right place. I would go for either the black kart or the Dominator (which is made by Manco). Depending how old the kids are, the black kart would be good for some little yard kart fun and the Dominator for a bit more serious stuff.

Hey, I'm only about 2 hours down the freeway.

 

[Doc Sprocket]

Better late than never with the intro- Welcome to the forum!

 

[OzFab]

I'm with souperman on this, the little black one; not only is it the cheapest but, IMO, the red one & the dominator may be a bit "intimidating" to some kids; the little red one looks like it has some "goodies" so, it's probably pretty quick & the dominator is just big.

As you yourself implied, start off small & work your way up...

IMO, the #1 thing to remember when building, IT'S A GO KART, not a rock crawler, baja trophy truck or race car, resist the urge to "over engineer"

 

[landuse]

Welcome to the forum. I would also go with the black one. You can make it what you want it to be

 

[Solohopper]

Thanks for the replies. I'll go check that one out this weekend hopefully.

Fabroman, I get what you are saying about over-engineering this thing. I find myself doing that in my head already. DOH!!!

 

[OzFab]

I brought it up coz I'm guilty of it myself. When I finished my daughters kart, the third person to drive it (behind myself & her mother) was her brother who hit a telegraph pole at about 12mph; it did more damage to him than the kart...

Then there was the time the throttle stuck & it went up a gutter, bent the axle a 1/4", that's it!

At least I know she's safe in it