I've been playing with a Buddy 125 theft recovery for a while, with the plan of it going to my better half. The poor guy was completely trashed, missing body panels, a slightly tweaked frame and a bent fork leg.
After an overhaul I started riding it. I forgot how buttery the frames are on 10'' wheels! Unsatisfied, I tore it back down and planned on starting with a new frame. Alas, Genuine is fresh out. Then came plan b - welding in a frame brace or "drag brace" if you're from Thailand. I'm pretty excited to feel the difference this makes with NCY forks and balanced wheels. Stay tuned!
"I've been playing with a Buddy 125 theft recovery for a while, with the plan of it going to my better half. The poor guy was completely trashed, missing body panels, a slightly tweaked frame and a bent fork leg."
For a moment, I thought you were referring to your better half...
Sounds like a cool project. So you're basically triangulating the frame to make it stiffer. Gonna lose the "step-through" feature though, if it matters to you. Keep us updated on your results. Would love to see the what kind of difference it makes.
Cool. I'll be watching this build.
Someone on here put on a shock absorber frame brace on a Buddy, sort of like the Italjet has. I searched a bit but couldn't find the thread.
.::I know the voices in my head aren't real, but man do they come up with some great ideas::.
Test ride went very well. The best improvement so far is high speed braking. Now for some paint work on the panels and reassembly to see how she really performs.
Sweet! And you still have use of the floorboard for pizza and other important stuff. Is that Jeremy Clarkson on the hind quarters?:) He got sacked by the BBC from Top Gear recently. Sad.
babblefish wrote:Sweet! And you still have use of the floorboard for pizza and other important stuff. Is that Jeremy Clarkson on the hind quarters?:) He got sacked by the BBC from Top Gear recently. Sad.
Meh. Actions can have consequences. Being a dick can come back to bite you on the ass. Ask me how I know.
First, let me say, Congratulations! That is awesome. Thank you for posting that.
As a second thought, I wonder if it might be possible to design a way to make that crossbrace pivot so the scooter could still be a step-through. If all the forces are transmitted longitudinally, a metal bushing at the pivot end would be okay, and the only thing you'd have to figure out is a strong latch mechanism for the swinging end. Maybe a bushing similar to the pivot end could be machined to receive a post and trigger a capture mechanism to hold the swinging end captive when it closes?
,
First, let me say, Congratulations! That is awesome. Thank you for posting that.
As a second thought, I wonder if it might be possible to design a way to make that crossbrace pivot so the scooter could still be a step-through. If all the forces are transmitted longitudinally, a metal bushing at the pivot end would be okay, and the only thing you'd have to figure out is a strong latch mechanism for the swinging end. Maybe a bushing similar to the pivot end could be machined to receive a post and trigger a capture mechanism to hold the swinging end captive when it closes?
,
The brace could have attachable connections on both ends and be totally removable. It MIGHT fit in the pet carrier.
babblefish wrote:Sweet! And you still have use of the floorboard for pizza and other important stuff. Is that Jeremy Clarkson on the hind quarters?:) He got sacked by the BBC from Top Gear recently. Sad.
Meh. Actions can have consequences. Being a dick can come back to bite you on the ass. Ask me how I know.
babblefish wrote:Sweet! And you still have use of the floorboard for pizza and other important stuff. Is that Jeremy Clarkson on the hind quarters?:) He got sacked by the BBC from Top Gear recently. Sad.
Meh. Actions can have consequences. Being a dick can come back to bite you on the ass. Ask me how I know.
frak you! Didn't look at it like that. If you can tell what my MV name is, you win the race.
Just for general knowledge, similar bracing is commonly used in scooter racing. In this race in Taiwan, notice the scooters in first and second place. FWIW, the majority of the scooters in the race are Yamaha Cygnus, which unfortunately, we don't get here in the the US. I rode a Yamaha 125 scooter back in the 90's when I was working/living there. It was a 2-stroke and was fast and handled great. I wanted to import one back to the states and a person at the DMV actually told me how to do it legally, but regretfully, didn't get around to actually doing it.