Transformation of a Chinese scooter

[rollingbender]

Pulled this Schwinn badged Chinese out of the weeds for a project. My wife is 4’11” and struggles with stops on her regular ride (‘09 Zuma) with being able to reach the ground and hold it up. Thought it would be nice to build her something with a much lower seat so she can flat-foot it at stop signs. 






I started by stripping it down to the bare frame. 




It was without an engine so I found a 50cc GY6 out of another scrapped scooter. I hotwired it before taking it home to confirm it wasn’t stuck. I welded some extensions to the rear of the frame, relocated the shock mount and stretched the motor mount by 8”. 




Gas tank was unusable and in the way so I bought a new tank and I am currently in the process of mocking things up so I can figure out the mounts. 

[geoffh]

Welcome to the forum,nice work,I can feel an easy rider vibe and old glory paint job.

Geoff

[90GTVert]

Welcome!

I like the project and am interested to see how it turns out.

[aeroxbud]

Welcome to the forum.
This has the makings of a cool build.👍

[rollingbender]

Version #1 of the stretched motor mount had the engine sitting at too much of an uphill angle so I cut and welded a “kink” into the mount for version #2… didn’t work. The mount hit the valve cover. Tried flipping it, it hit the exhaust pipe. Version #3 is the Goldilocks mount with 2 “kinks” in it. Now the engine sits flatter, especially when loaded. 

[rollingbender]

Thanks for the welcome and kind words on the build.

Even at this early stage, the direction has drastically changed several times. The picture of what I wanted it to be did not look like the progress. I have found that if you let the build be what it wants to be rather than force it, things end up looking more “correct”. My original vision was a miniature Goldwing type of thing but as soon as I put the tank on, I could see that it did not want to go that way.

I pulled it out of my tiny workshop onto the driveway and was able to walk around and get a good look. I’m going to need to be careful as I progress to keep it from looking like a mini bike.

[rollingbender]

I’ve been wanting to have a “real” triple tree on this but…. There would be a LOT of hurdles. I have a large CNC but then I would need to draw it up first to match all the geometry to be able to use these forks. Also, there is a rake to the forks (forks are at an angle to the steering stem) which would severely complicate the setups. I don’t want to lose the rake. And then there is this…



The triple tree would hit the tank. I think I’m going to machine a bracket for the headlight and turn signals that occupies the space where they would be if it had a “real” triple tree. I’ll figure out how to mount it to the bottom bracket so all the lights turn with the front wheel rather than stationary like they often are on scooters.

[rollingbender]

I ordered some fenders through Amazon that arrived on Tuesday all the way from the UK. It was a bit of a shot in the dark… they were advertised as trailer fenders and did not list the radius of the curve, only length, width, and height. 1/2 of it turned out ok. The radius seems to be a good match for what we are doing and the style seems appropriate … on this side…




Problem is on the other side. Since they are trailer fenders, the other side is flat.



My solution will result in more work, more money, and more extra parts. I ordered another pair of these fenders. I will split them all down the middle and then weld together the halves so I will end up with one set of fenders with curved sides and rolled edges and one set with flat sides.

[lucatorelli]

[br4inl3ss]

wow. just WOW.
been thinking to do a chopper/cafe with mine since plastics are going out and its harder than any other scooter to get those plastic ( non existant, plain and simple ). i need some parts on the cheap, but everyone went full retarded on parts price ( a gas tank worth $25 3 years ago is now MINIMUM $200. thats what happen when one retard go all in and then everyone follow without thinking how bad its gonna be later. if at least it was worth half of that including covid and everything...

i only need a used gas tank. brand new tank are either retardedly expensive ( 450+ ) or way too small ( like 2 and 4l, while mine is 7l... ). the cheapest used tank i found on ads is 180$ and need a complete restoration. then i found a 80$ one in good shape, comes from the us and shipping cost is 90. ok yeah but no.

anyway. i cant wait to see your next step and pics !

[captincvmn]

Very nice.
Be careful rolling bender, you might start a trend

[rollingbender]

Trying my hand at a new skill. I bought a conduit bender and I am making the frame under the seat out of 3/4” EMT conduit.  I started out with 2 pieces with 90 degree bends and the cut the bends back to achieve the width I am going for. Then, I had to learn the basics of offset bending. The rear of the seat frame is 2” higher than the front. Research showed that 2 opposing 30 degree bends 4” apart would give me the desired offset. (Full disclosure… one 10’ piece of EMT yields two 2’ properly bent pieces and 6’ of scrap)

It looks like my seat height is going to end up at 24 or 25 inches. Should be low enough for my vertically challenged wife to flat foot both feet at stops. 

[rollingbender]

Oh… and I scored some free paint for when it’s ready to finish!  A friend of mine is the head painter at a fire truck manufacturer (I used to work there too a long time ago). It’s leftover from a truck they built with a custom color a while back. 

I’m doing this scoot with a Down syndrome awareness theme in honor of my 16 year old daughter who loves to go for scooter rides with mom and dad and just happens to have Down syndrome. The Down syndrome colors are blue and yellow. So I’ll be painting the tank, fenders and side panels blue and doing lettering and striping yellow. I also have the material for covering the seat. It’s black marine grate vinyl and I’ll be doing the stitching with yellow thread. 

Here’s the truck to show the blue color…

[aeroxbud]

That looks very good for a first go at bending tubes.
It's certainly going to be one of a kind. And stand out in those colours.

[davybondo]

Nice job it's gonna be a classic alright
your right about taking it outside and walk around it
then it will tell you how to go to the next step