Building a Motorbike

This was one of those projects I couldn’t get out of my head. I had seen, on the internet and in person, the small 2-stroke engine powered scooters which were becoming increasingly popular. Naturally I wanted one, but I’m not the type that would just buy a commercially available scooter that will work well and last for years and be happy about it: I would have to build my own.

Full FrontalThis was also a project that kept changing. The initial design worked, but not very well (or for very long.) I kept redesigning as I went along, tweaking the bike for more reliable use. In its current condition it is quite effective at moving someone around and makes for a quick and easy to build project. My initial build lasted about 8 hours over one day. When I hopped on the thing and went flying down the road at speed, I was very thrilled and surprised to have gotten that much of a result out of one day of bodging. While you view this project, please keep in mind that some major improvements could be made to my design to fix various safety and performance issues. If you plan on building a similar design, make sure check out the Lessons Learned page of this project before you build.