Modern cyclecars?

[Fat-Man]

Back around 1910-1925 these babies were a cheap and affordable alternative to a real car. Bodies were ultra simplistic, some even used wooden frames. Typically motorcycle powered and chain driven, mostly front engine but RWD, though some were rear engined RWD. Basically they were road legal go karts, inherently dangerous but a ton of fun.

I kinda dig them, though if I built one it'd be made to be lower than a snakes belly.

What do y'all think about these?

 

[smallfoot]

I built one on here, however it is not complete....yet! It's been beat on by bunches of kids out here both young and old. You might get a kick out of it! Link below to my build:

https://www.ratrodsrule.com/threads/cyclops.35814/

 

[bob w]

I forgot about that one Smalls. Somewhere, in a foreign land folks build something similar using a cut down steel barrel for a body. I'll search for it.

 

[Fat-Man]

I suddenly want to try one of these chain drive beauties. How heretical would it be to install a live axle and engine in the rear of my '27 RPU?

 

[smallfoot]

There are several youtube vids on putting predator motors in small pickups. They are using a fabbed bracket and pillow block with a shaft to make a gokart clutch hook up to the tranny shaft.

 

[smallfoot]

Live axle in rear would give you issues with wheel and tire size. The brake setups on those would limit your stopping power on a heavier vehicle too. Not saying it can't be done. Besides my cycle kart, I also remodeled 2 electric golf karts into predator powered, live axle rides. One of my buds had me build one on a golf kart that was aluminum framed and fairly light. A day or so after he picked it up, My buddy Jr and I were out fishing when he called me on my cell. We don't get good service out there in the woods but I heard him say "thirty seven miles an hour" before the call dropped. Ha! My little kart does 32 mph...

 

[Fat-Man]

In response to running a live axle in back and a predator engine. Why would I have problems with the wheel and tire size? It seems as if I could buy a number of 14" and 15" rims with the 4x100mm bolt pattern online. Yeah, I understand that a single inboard disc brake wouldn't be ideal but I'd be running decent brakes up front.

Initially I had planned on using a 125cc honda clone (up front) with a shaft drive conversion (also gives me a reverse gear) up front. tying that drive shaft into the shaft of a torque tube that went to a hard mounted Model A rear end.

If I attained 40mph I'd be ecstatic, I just want something fun to go down to the local shops and grab a six pack.

 

[smallfoot]

Like I said before, not saying it's not possible. All of my stuff has to be built on a budget that I feel is reasonable and working within my capabilities! I have to be confident first that my ideas will work, then it's a matter of logistics and my abilities. So far, I'm good.... Hope you make it happen!

 

[Neto]

Back when I was in HS (graduated in 74, to give an idea of when that was) a friend of mine & his brother put together a go-cart with, as I recall, an 8 horse engine. We ran it up and down the highway that passed in front of their house - I think that it might have been US 75 way back before I was born, so it was wider than most of the back roads in those days. (This was north of Tulsa. At that time what is now sometimes still called "Old US 75" went past my folks' place, about 2 miles east of where we were doing this 'test drive'. Now it's farther west, and is 4-lane.)

We clocked it at 40 MPH, running along behind with his car. At that speed the steering was so squirrelly that it was all you could do to keep it on the road, going right down the middle as much as possible. The slightest movement on the steering wheel would about put you in the ditch.

There was another guy on here who built a cycle car using motorcycle wheels and a tractor grill shell and hood. I got so interested in building one that I went to a tractor salvage near here and bought the grill shell, hood, and fuel tank from a wrecked Farm-All model M. Actually a little too big for this. (Actually, I think that tractor had been in a fire.) The tank was going to be the tail section, behind the cockpit. But that tank is way too heavy - really thick steel - but the shape is ideal, like a boat-tail racer.

The whole idea all came to a halt when I found out how expensive it would get time I bought 4 motorcycle wheels. But I like the old solid disk wheels better, and started trying to figure out how to do spin forming. Anybody ever done any of that?

I still have the tractor sheet metal, and have collected other parts, like something for the steering sector, that sort of thing. Maybe someday --- like the guy with 25 old cars in his back field, all of which he will "someday rebuild".....

 

[gene49]

I was never much into motorcycles, I kind of figured the way I drove cars, I'd never survive motorcycles.

I was a little interested with the idea of cyclecars and thought maybe they would be fun. When my son was around 9, I built him a go cart, we lived out in the country, so he ran around the yard on it and had a ball. The motor wasn't big enough for me to have much fun and my wife was pretty dead set against putting a bigger motor on the cart. I think she thought maybe I would have gotten carried away (which probably would have been correct),

When I opened my welding shop, I rented a building a few blocks from the local creek backwater (we called it the swamp). When the water was low, during the summer, it was like a big kids playground. I threw together a few toys (read that V8 4x4) to go play in the "swamp", but my son and his buddies, that were all nearly 16 at the time, were usually breaking my swamp toys (I'm pretty sure my wife didn't know about the swamp toys), I was too distracted with dirt track racing to get too involved with the swamp toys, so that too faded pretty fast.

For a few years, when the price of gas was high, I played with custom bicycles and 3 wheel cycles (I actually built and sold a few of them), motorizing some of them crossed my mind, but that fad passed as well when the gas prices started dropping.

I think putting together a 4 cylinder low buck toy might be fun, but then I wonder where I would be able to play with it and then the story ends again. I can just put gas in my coupe, or my pickup and actually drive them.

 

[marcus]

For one of the old-style Cyclecars, you don't need to use an itty-bitty little engine. A very small 3 or 4cyl, either from a mini(micro)-car, trans too, or from a mid to large sized bike, would work well, although it'd take a bit of "imagineering" to make it look like something outta the late teens or early 20's. I suppose a light application of the retro Steam-Punk might be helpful. Haven't checked motorcycle wheels lately, but the "breakers" shouldn't be horribly priced, although it might be hard to find two sets of 2 wheels that are the same, much less 4 all the same. Tires could be Continental touring, at least they'd look sorta period, & avoid the sportbike look. Maybe use 10+/- spokers & then cover w/moon-style discs? I'd be real tempted to use discs, but it wouldn't look right, so's that'd mean old-style drums. At least most of them were aluminum. . Lots of the older style cyclecars were nothing more than what we'd call micro cars today, albeit w/WW1 aircraft-style seating arraignments. I could see using one in fine fashion that'll go ~ 80-90 on reg hiways. Long thought about it, & doodled it out a couple of times, but like other cars I covet, = *really* impractical. Not for summer use, but the rest of the 7-8 months of lousy MN winter weather. No different than a bike - other than a lot more stable in the wet & possibly icy conditions, & no, I didn't enjoy riding in freezing or below temps( 1 hr hiway ride each way, minimum). Guess I'm just not hardcore enough. Although.... now that I'm retired, & don't *have* to go/be somewhere... it does make more sense. & could be some serious fun... . Gotta re-think this again. . Seems some of you guys are thinking of the little Red-Cart powered mini-buckboards, a King car, or somesuch. Sucked bigtime even back in the 40's. Wouldn't drive one of those on a bet, except on private property, & then only once, at most. YMMV. Don't know iffen it helps any, but there is a very long Cyclecar thread on the HAMB, that is worthwhile reading, it covers a long time period, & cars on different continents - which are actually quite different. Amazingly so.

Marcus...

 

[smallfoot]

At one time this was a good source for info on early cycle cars. Unfortunately photosuckit destroyed what were really good pix that people created of those machines. Maybe some can still enjoy......
https://euclidsbridge.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/cyclecars-relics-from-the-era-of-awesomeness/

 

[bob w]

If I was considering a cyclecar, I'd scale up to a speedster. Make it roadworthy, with title and plates. Able to deal with back roads traffic.
An ex-member from Faribault, MN built a cyclecar. There is a thread here somewhere. I bought a 292 Chevy 6 from him. Nice guy.