Freak-Bikes, Homemades, Customs, Frankenbikes & Oddballs

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bruces

Active Member
#5,501
#5,501
sparkwizard said:
Does anybody have guess about that come-along handle under the wheel? Was it an oval racer, and that is a left turn aid?
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I used to own an air boat I used exclusively on good and bad ice ,I had ice brakes on it ,you get going on ice with no snow and you will find yourself really moving and it’s tough to stop .Also ,warming up your engine at -35 ,it’s nice to do it in one place and you need the ice brake to hold it .My brakes were foot operated but I think it’s a hand brake although I do not see it present .
I doubt it would be fast ,unless it was on ice or hard packed snow ,and that prop looks like the lift prop I had on a racing hovercraft ,not much shape to it probably moves a relatively high volume of air .It does not look like there is a reduction unit on it and I doubt there is enough engine power to really get that thing moving .
if you guys are a little interested in small airboat drives ,have a look at the “Bandit” air drives made for Jon boats .
 
Augiedoggie

Augiedoggie

Well-Known Member
#5,508
#5,508
M

MJL

Active Member
#5,509
#5,509
Augiedoggie said:
I guess we all started our first builds with some mistakes......
I can't criticize someone else's work. Could be their first attempt. Mine were at least that bad or maybe worse. I'm just glad nobody posted pictures of my first few builds:rolleyes:
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No criticism here. I’d classify them as oddballs. I figure many of them are teenage pipe dreams that need a friendly neighbor to help finish up. I certainly had my share of pipe dreams. When I was 14 or so, I bought a blown YZ80 for $20 and was hoping to swap in a Tecumseh 5 horse. Problem was I didn’t have a welder, $300 for the engine, or a great group of folks on a friendly internet forum like this one to help me out with the things I didn’t know. When a friend offered me $40 for it, I sold it to him. After I sold that, I still had plans for a bicycle based trike. Same problems as before. The final dream was to add a 2 stroke from a Lawnboy mower to a bicycle, but I left home before I got too far along on that one. I’ve done significant repairs on minibikes for a couple of neighborhood kids, because I remember what it was like to be a kid dreaming about zipping about on a ride. My only criticism is what people want for these projects. Many of them are asking several hundred when they should be much less.
 
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Augiedoggie

Augiedoggie

Well-Known Member
#5,510
#5,510
I recently posted a long, detailed story of my first build. I had no access to a welder and no real idea how to build it. Bit of luck and tons of determination turned my dream and a bunch of discarded junk into a running(barely) mini bike. Perhaps somewhere, in a shed or barn is my first attempt at building a mini bike. I have no idea where it went. Probably scrapped after one of many floods at my homestead I suppose. Some folks may see it one day and be appalled by the sheer crude nature and execution of the build, but I may one day see it again as the first step of a long and satisfying journey
 
Mr. Pink

Mr. Pink

Well-Known Member
#5,511
#5,511
MJL said:
I figure many of them are teenage pipe dreams that need a friendly neighbor to help finish up. I certainly had my share of pipe dreams.
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I just KNOW that in the 70's if my friends and I as 13 year olds has access to a flux welder, we would have fabricated some awesome machines.
Google tells me that flux core welding came out in the 50's. But I'm assuming that not until the Chinese imports of these machines was anything accessible or affordable to a teenage budget.
 
Augiedoggie

Augiedoggie

Well-Known Member
#5,513
#5,513
Mr. Pink said:
I just KNOW that in the 70's if my friends and I as 13 year olds has access to a flux welder, we would have fabricated some awesome machines.
Google tells me that flux core welding came out in the 50's. But I'm assuming that not until the Chinese imports of these machines was anything accessible or affordable to a teenage budget.
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There was a plumber nearby who took kindly to us young boys needing welding work and helped out some of us. A few selfish, short sighted boys wore our our welcome out there and my brother and I had to coax the plumber with the promise to clean his storage shed and workshop floors for welding favors. He also allowed us some scrap metal and steel pipe for our projects
 
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