Wheelie Bars

[FatDog]

( hey cool!!! I go the word 'BAR' in the title of my thread )

This weekend i started cutting some steel for a wheelie-bar for the frame i made.
I have a couple different approaches i have been thinking about.
I have been using some 1/2" solid round stock i have, and am using 2 solid black wheels, with a typical ladder style side framing (for wheelie-bars).

But, i am thinking as cool as the dual wheel wheelie-bars look, it might be easier and lighter to use just one centered wheel. I could just use some 1x1" square tube stock and have it coming off the center of the BSR's rear frame. It would also have to be the typical ladder frame for strength.

Either way, I think the wheelie bar should be attached to the main frame with quick-release for ease of transport.

But by the time I was half done with messing around with making my bar with round stock, i figured I should just wait until today and just buy some 1/2" tie-rods about 16" long that have fittings on the end of them already threaded, to help with the quick-release attachment and to help with attaching the wheelie-bar axle itself. Thats just because tie-rods have so many different end attachments available for them. The end eyelets could help attach the wheelie-bar axle to.
Anyone else have input on the wheelie-BAR?

[RUBICON]

The direction you are heading is the path that I took. I started with Heim joints on tubular stainless and made a triangulated ladder...but to simplify I later welded the 1/2" stainless tubing with a small plate for the skate board wheels. The bars have stainless clevis ends where it attaches to the frame...on tabs welded to the rear of the bearing supports...mine is bolted with SHCS to the frame...it is strong enough to use to lift the rear of the stool to set it on a carrier...one point of advice on the angle of it...my bars are set to limit the front wheels to about 12" off the ground....when I hit 2nd gear I ride 10' or so in the air from torque alone..then a little less distance in 3rd and 6' or so in 4th....I see some that enjoy balancing on the wheelie bar and riding at a slow speed...If you like this then the wheels need to be higher so the ride is not a POWER wheelie...just a balancing act.....for me it is a thrill to "get it up" at speeds of 20-30mph on power alone....enjoy

[FatDog]

Rubicon
good stuff, thanks!
I thought about that a lot this weekend, what the angle of the wheelie-bar framing should be. I thought that i would try to limit the distance that i could pull the front tires off the ground just because i am only using 1/2" stock and with the approx 16" length of the wheelie-bar, i didn't want that bar being slammed with too much torque. So that is a pretty good height that you mentioned - about 12" of front tire lift.

I stopped halfway thru my bar this weekend when i decided to look into tie-rods today but then i have only welded steel with my MIG and not stainless.
I may have to see how that works just so i can use those heim ends.

If that don't work, i make the whole thing from my pile of steel scrap in my garage.

[Voodoo Barstool Racers]

Does anyone sell or have wheelie bars for sale?

[Woodchuckscustoms.com]

If you can send me a drawing or your wheelie bar idea I can custom make one for you and it should'nt cost much.

[Mike Bean]

I have decided not to go all out crazy with a wild set of wheelie bars. I am going to take some steel and fabricate a small bracket with one wheel attached to it and just use that.

There are some photos on here of a build that has the same idea I just mentioned if you are curious.. Sorry, but I do not now the link to the thread.

Mike Bean

[stool-sample]

lmolinajr , try finding caster wheels. The ones used for roll around carts. Or walmart sells inline skates. Look for replacement wheels, I think they carry them. Glenn

[FatDog]

i went to WallyWorld to get my wheelie-bar wheels,
i was going to get some of those razor skate wheels, in yellow.

I don't quite know how yellow became the theme color of my BSR when most of my projects over the years have always been black, but the Tecumseh I got has yellow sheet metal and then coincidentally the barstool i found had a yellow seat and ... well i guess thats the reason why i am using yellow everywhere on it.

so anyway, ...... i am at WalMart looking for 2 yellow razor-skate wheels, and they don't have any. But to be honest with you, i was kind of worried about the little bearings that come on those skate wheels anyway. They just might not be robust enough to take the brutal force that my POS barstool racer will put out. ( yea right )

So i drive over to the local Industrial Liquidators and get two of those shop cart wheels - solid BLACK, no bearings, tough as nails, a little more manly then the skatewheels i was originally looking for.

Now i'm maybe thinking I should repaint my entire BSR black? Is there a thread going here on reapolstering barstool seats? ahhhh,... thats too much work. At least i don't have some yellow wheelie-bar skateboard wheel that lights up when its rolling. That would have been too much.

[Mike Bean]

Fatdog,



I purchase one of those industrial wheels from Harbor Freight for about $3.00. It is not the swivel type, but just a solid rubber wheel with a steel inside.



I know a lot of the stuff at Harbor Freight is garbage, but this little wheel can take a beating.



Mike Bean

[Guy]

Dunno if you guys have a Grainger.com near you, but they sell some industrial power transmission stuff we could use, like bearings, gears, chain, wheels and casters.
I guess I mention this because we don't really have a local kart store, and grabbing off the shelf saves on shipping.