Old Crusty Homemade Mini Bike project.

[Creed Bennett]

Here’s my current project. It ain’t much but it’s a start. I got the frame from a friend about ten years ago. It was under his house in the crawl space. Both foot pegs rusted away but the frame is pretty solid. It had a jack shaft on it and a scrub brake. Someone did a great job of bending black pipe to make the frame. He was a real artist but it weighs a ton. I’ve removed the rusty handlebars and plan to go back with a straight aluminum one. I going to sand blast the fork and use a wire wheel to get the rust off the frame. The two upright pieces will have to be removed for me to be able to get the engine far enough back.
I just recently had my garage built and already have all the tools I’ll need to bring this crusty mess back to life. I think my Lincoln 225 amp mig welder will come in handy.
I’m open to any ideas you guys have so fire away.

 

[JTSpeedDemon]

That looks like a MIGHTY FINE beginners' project!
That is a very well made frame, are you sure it's homemade?
I think that fixing stuff up is the way to start with powersports, and then build from scratch later.
Good luck!!!

 

[Creed Bennett]

Yes, it’s definitely homemade but very well made. The tube the fork fits in is a part from a bicycle and where the frame y’s going down is part of the bike frame as well. There’s one joint where you can see the threads from the black pipe. The linkage for the old scrub brake is made like a Swiss watch and the gussets in the rear are welded nicely. I’m figuring this was made in the ‘60’s. I need to get some wheels and tires ordered for this thing next.

 

[Hellion]

Cool bike. Definitely looks 1950's-1960's era and could be a project bike made out of old Popular Mechanics plans. A lot of them used whatever parts a handyman might have access to.

Even though the motor is modern, are you going to make it as modern as possible or more of a vintage/survivor sort of look?

One of these days I'm going to "backdate" a clone motor and make it look aged...

 

[Creed Bennett]

Hellion I think it’s going to be a little of both. I’d like to find some black steel 6” wheels for it and then paint it satin hot rod black. Anybody got a suggestion on the best place for wheels and tires?

 

[Hellion]

...Anybody got a suggestion on the best place for wheels and tires?

Well the interwebz is your friend.

I would bet the possibilities are endless though.
I typically use that popular auction site because they invariably undercut every other 'legitimate' go kart/mini bike supplier. And I mean not bidding on stuff (who has time for that?) but the Buy It Now stuff.

Off the top of my head:
GoPowerSports
BMI Karts
MFG Supply

EDIT= are you looking for one-piece wheels or two-piece? The latter calls for use of an inner tube.

 

[Creed Bennett]

Yep, the three parts suppliers are the ones I’ve been looking at. I wasn’t sure if there was a site I hadn’t found yet. I’ll probably go the two piece route since I have no way of mounting tire here. I’ve got some measuring to do to see what axle length I need.

 

[Hellion]

There's OMB (OldMiniBikes) Warehouse which is more mini bike oriented but I have never ordered from them.

https://www.ombwarehouse.com/mini-bike-go-kart/tires-tubes-and-wheels/

You're going to need a rear wheel that accepts a sprocket and/or sprocket and brake drum assembly. I bet you could go disc brakes (front/rear) if you wanted...

 

[Creed Bennett]

Here’s a update on Krusty. Monday I got a few engine pep parts and today I ordered some tires, rims, rear sprocket, axles, chains and inner tubes. This weekend if all goes well I’ll take her for a ride.
And Hellion I ordered my wheels and all from OMB.

 

[Creed Bennett]

Change of plans!

Well, I didn’t get anything done on Ol’Krusty but my parts came in. I have my parts for everything (shooting, reloading, refrigeration, ect) sent to my dads house because it generally takes another day for them to be delivered out here in the sticks where I live. My best friend lives in town and has to pass dad’s house on the way out my way. He texted me this morning and wanted to come see me so I had him pick my minibike parts up and bring them out. He knew I was trying to get this old bike up and running so when he got here he had a little minibike in the back of his truck. He also had a predator 212 he got somewhere for cheap too. His bike was a Monster Moto 80cc rig that I didn’t even know he had. I figured it would be easier to get his ride running so we worked on his. It was functional but just didn’t have enough power for him. He’s kinda plump so it was really crying with that little engine. Well if that Predator non hemi had been a 1/2” bigger in any dimension it wouldn’t have fit. We had to drill new holes to mount the bigger engine and the little motor had a 5/8” shaft so his clutch wouldn’t work on the predator. We ended up using my 12 tooth 3/4” clutch and 35 chain on his rig. There was just one spot his motor would go without the carb hitting the frame so that’s where it went. His bike had a chain tensioner so we could get the chain tight with the motor mounted where it hade to be. After about 4 hours of r and d and fitment we took it for a spin. It’s plenty fast enough for my 52 and his 46 year old butt to get hurt on so we didn’t play with the governor and it had plenty of power to get us up the big hills out here where I live. I might need to clarify that we weren’t riding it together . I think we’ve decided to call my garage The Shoehorn Cycle Shop! Anyway, for my efforts today he gave me the 80cc engine we replaced but I can’t figure out what brand it is. The tag on the motor says Wuhu Fourstar Mfg Company and Monster Moto so I’m thinking that’s the company that made the whole bike. Anybody got any idea what I have here? I’ve always wanted a barstool cart and this might just be the power plant for that project.

 

[landuse]

Nice little update!!! Glad you got it running and were able to take it for a ride Is your buddy going to allow you to keep it at your place?

Have a look at this link

http://sinofourstar.company.weiku.com/