Mini bike recycling

Back in 2007 my dad decided to make a mini bike for his grandsons to learn on. Now most people would go down and get one of those cheap no name bike from China that they sell in the auto parts stores. Not my family.

The bike is actually recycled from several common items:
• Weed eater two stroke engine
• Steel chop saw gear box
• Framing from a old kitchen table
• Baby stroller wheels
• Bicycle rear cog and handle bar setup
• Trunk lid shocks

Yes there was a lot of fabricating like the exhaust expansion chamber was form using two pieces of metal welded together and then pressurized with a Landa pressure washer: this caused the chamber to ‘inflate’.
To give the back wheel full travel and reverse the direction of the motor, the pivot was double bearing’ed and an intermediate cog was added at the pivot point.
How well does it run: at the time I weighted around 255 and that little bike could zip me around pretty good. For my dad at somewhere around 125 he could pop a wheelie. The secrete was the chop saw gear box, giving the weed eater engine quite a bit of torque.

As for the boys learning a little track was built so they could learn the control and speed that the bike could putout.

Theres my dad in the left corner

Gave the boys a little woop-de-do.