Bugout4x4

So the last few months I have been put in a situation where I am doing a LOT of driving around in the city with my 1 ton dually and the fuel usage was killing me. This is because how the town is laid out I am forced to drive way around railroad tracks to the only two crossings either north or south of my temporary address. So in order to make a quick run to the nearest store for a gallon of milk it turns into a 5 mile one way trip with traffic and stop lights even though the store is only about a mile away as the crow flies over the tracks.

So I got to thinking if I had something I could just pick up and carry over the tracks I could greatly reduce all this extra mess. I thought about a bicycle and backpack but really didn't want to work quite this hard in hot weather. So I was driving by a yardsale and saw this rig sitting there. Ended up picking it up for $25 and only had to do some fuel line work and put on a new set of tires to get it going. Anyone ever play with one of these? Turns out they are not a toy for kids, in fact I won't let my Grandkids ride it.

As I researched these after buying it I found there is a very serious high performance hobby based on these little rigs. They cost about a grand new and there are some very serious aftermarket high tech performance parts available for these. These guys are getting up to 70 miles an hour out of these things using gearing and performance parts like expansion chamber exhausts, nitrous oxide injection, and I even saw one with a small turbocharger. lol

So I have been playing with this thing when I am stuck out of town with nothing else to do. Tell you what... It will only do about 30 MPH right now but it is almost INSTANT when it hits the power band and will go over backwards on you in a heartbeat if you are not "on it" and ready. I gathered up some custom fabrication parts so that I can put a seat on it to make longer rides a little more comfortable and it needs a rear brake because for some stupid reason most models don't come with one.

I will update with the improvements as I get them done, but for those who haven't rode one of these yet... I can tell you that it is pretty impressive and quite intimidating... They are NOT a toy as they appear. I will try to get a video while I ride it to share what it is like. Grandpa likes it and is probably going to hurt himself on it but this thing is an adrenaline rush and a half! lol

Bugout4x4

Think I'm kidding? Here is a $200 expansion chamber for one of these... lol

caged

those were pretty popular in the 90's. a couple buddys used to race them.
they can go pretty damn fast, that's for sure.


they make a seat mast for them, so you may not have to fab one up, if you look hard enough.


good luck with it, it can be quite amusing beating gsxr's off the line. lol.

Bugout4x4

Lol... Tell you what... I have been riding and racing bikes since I was about 7 and currently own a 78 Elsinore CR 250 red racer for off road and a 76 KZ 900 for on road. But the first time I hit the power band on this thing STANDING UP I was like "holy crap!"... I'm not sure there are many other bikes or small rigs that are as quick up to 30-35 like this thing is.

I started to fab a "fold down" seat post with front handle bar parts I robbed from an electric razor I had laying around. But as my wife, a good friend and I sat looking at this thing he said "you need a lockable trunk/box to mount on that and to sit on".

Pure genius... Kill two birds with one stone because having a large lockable box would be fantastic. So I rounded up an old tall Korean war era metal .120 cal ammo box with the snap down water tight lid, all I have to do is cut and weld a slight notch in the front of the box to fit around the frame in front and bolt it down on the wooden foot pad.

Then I plan to just mount a seat to the lid of the box and fab a flat plate tire friction brake onto the back of this box for rear brakes like the old minibikes had. Add a bar to the front frame for foot pegs and rear brake pedal/linkage and I am good to go!

Cool thing is my wife is going to let me paint THIS cammo. I have tried with other vehicles we own and she kept saying "no way" lol

Bugout4x4

Thank you for that so very important first reply and being interested man... Seriously... as you point out... they are actually nothing to joke about and pretty damned impressive. lol

Bugout4x4

As mentioned to Caged I had started to fab up a seat post for this and then changed plans. Here is the foldable seat post I about had done in front of the new plan... an ammo box to use as a storage trunk and then I will just mount the seat to the lid of the box. Thinking about making the seat mount on the lid spring loaded to soak up even more vibrations. Have the bars folded down to see if I can still get it into the back of a car...