Transformation of a Chinese scooter

[jackrides]

WOW!! The obvious question is about how much $ for one without the really cool "engraving" ?

[sinfull]

If you need more room for the trees, I remember Billy lane pocketed a gas tank so his bars could still turn, don't remember the name of the bike but I do think it was one of the biker build off bikes.

Looking at your tank and it would definitely be doable to get a little extra and would not even take that much away from your fuel capacity

[rollingbender]

Got the final machining done doing the holes for the clamping bolts and slotting the clamp. Spent a little quality time with some 600 grit on the belt grinder and rubbed it against the buffing wheel for a while also.

[br4inl3ss]

this is the work quality i wish most "professional" would give.
really good job once again there.

[rollingbender]

I am so glad I did this!!!







Need to weld in a travel limiter but this is going to be so much better than the scooter’s original steering setup.

On Monday, my tail light arrives and then I will have all the purchased parts to complete the bike. I have a few more parts to make like the handlebar risers, fuel tank mounts, seat, battery box, electrical area, light mounts, trunk to fit under the fuel tank, foot pegs, sissy bar/backrest (for my daughter), maybe a sidecar???

[rollingbender]

Got the steering stem cut to length, the top threaded and the triple tree properly bolted together.

One more photo to show the rake angle (32 degrees).

[br4inl3ss]

this look way better than i tought it would.

just curious, after seeing your work..... what do you do for a living ? it has to do with metal fabrication for sure.

[rollingbender]

A pair of handlebar riser clamps emerging from aluminum blocks.

[rollingbender]

One as it comes off the machine… one tapped, split and polished.

[rollingbender]

Feb 19, 2023 23:09:02 GMT -5 br4inl3ss said:

this look way better than i tought it would.

just curious, after seeing your work..... what do you do for a living ? it has to do with metal fabrication for sure.

No… I’ve been an office person since college. Currently a department manager in city government.

Learned a lot of slam-and-bang fabrication from my father on the farm. The old man was always working but he did like to build funny bicycles with me when I was young. We built a recumbent, choppers, several with steering wheels rather than handlebars.

From that “training”, and spending the first 35 years of my life being very poor, if I wanted something, I made it. I used to be deep into hobby gunsmithing and through that I accumulated some crappy manual machines and taught myself how to use them.

Years ago, I invented a gizmo for electric guitars. I used my cobbled together prototype for years. 10 years ago, I was building myself a new guitar and decided to tweak my invention a bit since by then, I had a few machines to make it possible to build a more refined part. It turned out so well that I patented the part and started selling them. At first, I was farming out the machining to local machine shops but after a few years of seeing what I was spending on machining, I bought my own CNC and taught myself how to use it and how to use CAD/CAM software. My first mill paid for itself in 8 months. My current machine is my second mill (upgraded a couple years ago).

I can make all the guitar gizmos that I sell in 3 or 4 days of work every couple months (this machine can crank out small parts). Most of the time, the machine sits idle.

[br4inl3ss]

thats impressive.
an office person that can use his fingers... well. thats pretty rare nowadays.
really good work.

[rollingbender]

Ok… with the controls not being to any sort of scale ratio that I may accidentally have going on, to my eye, this has now taken on the badge of being a scooter. I’m ok with that at this point because I think I have achieved a look that is purposeful, reasonably balanced, an has met its function of being controllable by a very short person.







Day off today… trapped by the blizzard. I will now work my way to the rear; front lighting mounts, fuel tank mounts, seat pan and mounts, rear lighting mounts, new motor mounts, footpeg mounts. That’s a lot of mounting!!

[rollingbender]

I do love a good blizzard. No mosquitos and I can get a lot done while my wife camps on the couch watching movies.



I welded in a 16ga gusset on each side of the frame for placement of the fuel tank front mounts…



And then I welded a short section of pipe crossways through the gusset. I found some rubber bumpers that fit the pipe and the mounts on the tank. The tank mounts look like closet rod holders facing forward and they slip over the rubber bumpers.



Then I made a flat indent in the end of the tube that goes from steering stem back to the frame and welded in a mounting nut under the flat spot.



…and my cobbled washer from earlier gets used to finish up the tank mount.



I still had some time before joining the wife for a movie so I took my cardboard template and marked out for the seat pan on a piece of 3/16” HDPE sheet. I laid the blank on the seat underframe and used a heat gun to soften the plastic to make the bends.



After it cools, it holds the new shape.




I will next cut some plastic skirts for the sides and weld them to the pan. The bottom of the skirts will follow the lines of the main frame. The skirts will also give a bit more rigidity to the pan. And I will get to learn how to better use my new plastic welder!

[captincvmn]

I’m assuming as long as the VIN area is left alone imagination may be your only restraint?

[rollingbender]

Feb 23, 2023 7:05:49 GMT -5 captincvmn said:

I’m assuming as long as the VIN area is left alone imagination may be your only restraint?

That’s what the nice person at the DMV told me. As far as they are concerned, it’s a Schwinn scooter.