Rich Werning said:
>
> I've got an old ~74 Honda XL 125cc laying around my fathers barn. With all
> the discussion of building buggy's at the BBQ and here in the group, its got
> me debating doing something with that bike. Engine would need a total
> overhaul, but I'm pretty sure I could get it running again. Kind of a small
> engine though, IIRC it only kicks out 8hp or so. I seem to recall it
> having a pretty decent top end speed - its been a looong time since I rode
> that bike.
A bike that cool deserves to be back on the road, not cut up into little
pieces for our amusement. Plus, a motor what that low of an output probably
would yield far less performance than was seen in Mike's stolen buggy. I
think it would be too heavy for it.
The buggy that was there was made out of chromeoly tube (right Mike?) and the
whole thing only weighed 425 pounds without driver. One that you would end
up building out of probably 1018 steel tube would end up being in the
neighborhood of 600 pounds without the motor and transmission in it, much
less the driver. I've been estimating that the finished buggy with driver
will weigh in probably around 800 - 1000 pounds depending on size of the
buggy and the occupant. That's a lot of weight for 8hp if you want to try
and have fun with it.
> I've been checking online for various sites that sell or have free plans for
> making baja buggies. Not sure I'd be willing to buy a completed one, but a
> decent frame for the right price would be a nice starting point so you don't
> have to fab the entire thing from scratch.
Naaa, fabbing it from scratch is the best part! You can use someone else's
suspension or whatnot, but fabbing the body structure is the most fun! Then
you can make sure that it's a good comfortable size for you to spend a few
hours in at a time. You don't want to be all crammed in to it like I was in
the buggy at the BBQ. It was uncomfortable as all hell for the maybe 10
minutes I was in it.
-- - Josh www.omg-stfu.com
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