Scooter 3spd Chainsaw Belt drive

I built a gas powered inverted push scooter using a chainsaw for a motor, two customized pulleys, and v-belt. I later added patios instead of the foot pegs and an aluminum cover for the rear end. It worked great and my son would go about thiry miles an hour, and me being almost three times his weight went about 10-15 mph. I made a few changes to make things work and will try to list all the changes as it has been a couple years past, and I no longer have it.

Step 1 Later mods added for safety and comfort

I later added patios to stand on because the foot pegs were a bit uncomfortable after awhile. Then I added the fairing from aluminum sheet and painted it red to match the scooter. The fairing helps protect the rider from getting anything like feet, or, shoestrings caught up into the rear wheel assembly.

Comments

[BIGHAIRYDUDE]

could you add a seat to that? also how did you get the 3spd biycycle thing to turn the right way?

[GadgetmanKen]

I had plans to add a pop up seat but never got that far, because the chainsaw's plug wire broke off at the magneto. There was no problem with the direction of the 3spd hub, just the chainsaw had to be hung upside down to get the drive direction I needed. That made it difficult to start , had to use starting fluid, because the carburetor was also upside down.

[BIGHAIRYDUDE]

you know you can rotate the carburator right? well so the motor was turning the wrong way? i am not sure if i am understanding you.

[GadgetmanKen]

If you look closely at the top larger picture you'll see that it's mounted upside down for two reasons. 1) because the chain/sprocket is on the back side and 2) the direction of it has to be bottom backward and top pulling forward for it to turn the sprocket in the right direction. Doing this puts the carberator also on the backside upside down too. The carberator is not capable of reversal.

[BIGHAIRYDUDE]

ohhhhhhhhh... now i get it thanks

[vv00dy]

Close, Sturmey Archer.

www.sturmey-archer.com/

[GadgetmanKen]

Thanks for the heads up.  Didn't know I misspelled it.  Didn't even know they were still made, considering it was from a 30 something year old bicycle.  Couldn't find prices on them are they real expensive now?

[GadgetmanKen]

Sorry I do not have any video, but I did add a pic of my son riding it, when he was ten, or so. I wanted to make a gas scooter for a project that my son could help me on. I wanted it to be different than any thing else out there and when we first built it I used a Poulan Weed Eater engine. But I couldn't get it started on the ground so I made a plywood block with cut outs for the pegs to sit in and would get it started that way. But everytime I set it down on the ground It would stall. It would piss me off, till I realized why. You'll laugh. It was because it did not have a clutch on it. Dooh! So, basically it would not idle on the ground it just wanted to go. So at that point a neighbor saw my dilema and gave me his old chainsaw. Wow, what a difference, a clutch makes. I was still on the learning curve. :) We rode that thing to death. Its pull cord broke and I replaced/repaired it a couple of times, and I let someone else look at it when I couldn't figure out (the last time) why it wouldn't start, and the guy broke the spark plug wire off at the magneto. Like I said it was twenty something year old chainsaw and I couldn't find any parts for it. So I built another one with a Ryan/Ryobi weed eater. This one I mounted on the front wheel. It wasn't very professional the way I mounted it. It was much different and actually quite stronger on take off than the chainsaw one, because it was friction drive, right on the front wheel. It was difficult to ride because I was having trouble trying to figure out how to get it to clamp down tight to the wheel and release to coast and stop. So what I did was kind of ride it side saddle like. One foot on the rear patio and the other pushing down on top of the motor. It was a stretch but quite fun. Well, till something happened. The way I designed that one was I mounted a stunt foot peg(the knurly kind) onto the engine shaft, but to do this I had to remove part of the housing around it. You see the blower is right behind where the shaft comes out. The housing holds the sucked air in thru there and blows it around the engine to cool it. I took out some of that housing which left the air fins exposed. Well guess what happened. I'm cruising along around twenty, or twenty-five miles an hour, going around a curve and I hadn't noticed that the fins were actually also rubbing against the side of the tire. I'm riding along and Ka-Pow the front tire blows out and I held on for dear life and managed to not wipe out. Scared the crap out of me. But it was a blast to ride too. I had the red chainsaw scooter on TSI's Scooter World for a long time and the site kept moving but I did locate it yesterday. Its still on there with many others. I haven't gotten a chance to look at the new ones since mine but as far as I know, no ones made one quite like it yet. I will check, tho. I also started another one, but with a larger scooter. Did you know that they make adult push scooters. The frames are much larger and they have 14" wheels on them. I bought one used for you guessed it $5 at a yard sale. I didn't know they existed. I don't think I have it now tho, because I moved and I didn't want to bring all that stuff with me when I moved, so I left it. I guess its all at the junk yard and gone forever now. Boo Hoo. : ) I am planning on making an electric one now with the frame inverted on another one like the red one. Will let ya know how it goes. Out

[Gamer917]

wall of text

[nachobobs]

Jack Kerouac would be proud 

[GadgetmanKen]

Trebuchet03 I was wanting to build something different and had turned the frame upside down on a scooter once and put pegs on the rear wheel to stand on and just said hey I want to power this somehow. I had actually started with a weed eater, but later after much work realized it didn't have a clutch and the wheel had to be off the ground to get it started and made a frame to do that , but it still needed something else like a clutch, because as soon as I set it on the ground it would try to take off or stall. I did build another one with the frame inverted with a weed eater on the front mounted above the front wheel. It was friction power IE: my foot pushing down on the motor and the other standing on the foot peg. Side saddle if you will. Just like those other stand on platforms, but with a much wider stance. It had good get up and go, for sure with me on it at about 215. But I was riding along about twenty miles an hour or so and the front tire blew out and I almost totally wiped out on concrete. The weed eaters air fins had been rubbing against the side wall of the tire, ate through it and blew out. I hadn't realized it was doing so. Scared the crap out of me. My son now has a goped type scooter with the stand on platform and has already wiped out in gravel and broke his risk. So there's my point. I always made him wear a bicycle helmet too.

[GadgetmanKen]

He broke his wrist. Spelling error

[AirsoftGunsInstructor]

GadgetmanKen, why waste your time to build a scooter ?there are a lots of high quality & good looking gas scooters in the local hobby shops,on the internet...and most of them the price are pretty resonable,visit the page : http://www.rcplaneguide.com/Scooters.html I'm pretty sure you can find a good one with great price,save your time,and spend more time riding scooter with your son than making scooter,have more family fun !

[madtown mike]

just my opinion, but it's a lot more fun building stuff like this than buying it.

[Prometheus]

The fun is making your own! Once I have pats lined up, I will be posting an instructable for a 2.5 HP monster scooter that you can't buy at any shop. I've ridden those scooters, and while they are fun, they do not have any speed or power to speak of. The joy is in knowing that you made it yourself. If he just wanted to buy it, then why even try it? Besides, ideas like this made those scooters possible in the first place when some goofball put a weed-whacker engine on a scooter just for fun...

[GadgetmanKen]

I believe you will not find another like this one in a scooter store, or elsewhere. My son was there most the time as we built it together. I can say the way it handled, and the ease of the ride, was by far better to those stand on platforms with you ankles all twisted, and was not my idea of safe and fun. With the body of the scooter between your legs is a lot more stable and relaxing. It was not time wasted my friend, but well spent building and riding with my son at my side. Did I mention it was built for under one hundred dollars. Scooter cost 5.00 at a yard sale, chainsaw given to me, bought two pulleys, modified them myself. Bought a belt, well actually two trying to get the right size and bought two Impac low profile tires at a bicycle store for 15.00 apiece. The brakes on the scooter had to be remounted on a new plate because the frame was widened to fit the three speed hub. Now, if I started with new stuff including scooter, it would have beeen in the price range of the new fancy scooters you've mentioned. It was definately in my price range and most definately worth the effort and time I spent with my son building it. Also because It was one of a kind. Very unique. If I had the money to buy one I would still flip the frame and use better parts for sure. Could you build one similar for that price?

[GadgetmanKen]

Tzi's Scooter WorldHere's the link to Tsi's

[quesoman]

this is amazing

[GadgetmanKen]

Wow, I don't know who, or how the PDF file got added to my instructable but....... I LIKE IT. It is very nice. Kudos to who ever did it. Now to print it out into my own little book. But I got to get a new printer, it konked out this week. Thanks to whom ever.

[Airsoft_ninja]

WOW!!! very nice. I'm impressed.

[TheMadScientist]

whats wrong with using the chainsaw motor like a normal bike and just mounting the actual chain to it, without it being in the wheel.

[fishyfish777]

The risk of the chain flying off due to high stress and cutting off his/her knee

[Matt D655]

why waste a good gas chainsaw?

[GadgetmanKen]

It was a freebee from a neighbor who didn't need it anymore. Couldn't pass it up.

[TheMadScientist]

because the wisconsin seven mile fair has tooooo many.

[GadgetmanKen]

[quote]Aug 16, 2008. 1:13 PMTheMadScientistsays: because the wisconsin seven mile fair has tooooo many.[/quote] HuH? What's the Wisconsin seven mile fair? And what do they have too many of? Chainsaws? For one the chainsaw chain is not the same length or space linkage as a bike sprocket for one.

[manmelvin]

Ohhhhhh, i just realized you flipped the scooter frame over, cool very ingenious

[GadgetmanKen]

That was the easiest thing to modify. Just swapping the guts inside the gooseneck end over end.

[scooter-electric]

Awesome scooter

[scooter-electric]

I like scooter it fast and less energy comsumable.

[adamvan2000]

what if a seat was mounted on top and then the feet were on the platforms, kind of like a racing cycle and the way the racers crouch. You'd have to bring the handlebars down if you did that, though. Or put stirrups on the front wheels, add a seat, and it'd really look chopper-ish. ~adamvan2000

[GadgetmanKen]

I had thought of mounting a spring loaded flip up tube type padded foam seat that would hinge at the top and slant downward to the rear and would pop up with a clip and level out over the tail end for when you get tired of standing. One problem though with this design is that if too much weight is applied behind the rear axle it tends to lift the front end slightly making the front end loose and air born at times. Like wheelies. Thats OK, I guess if your wanting to do wheelies, but not when you are attempting to turn. I almost ran into a stop sign while turning and leaning too far back on the patios and the front end became airborn and I could not turn and almost slammed into the stop sign. I also thought about stirrups on the rear patio's for curb hopping and the like, but never got around to it. I more or less thought toe clips ( C )on the front instead of straps that way you could still get your foot out incase something happens. You could still lift with your toes instead of half your foot.

[madtown mike]

I LOVE it!!!

[Prometheus]

I love this one....the addition of the 3-speed hub is just the kind of genius I hoped to find when I saw the first image (I'd recommend using a freewheel hub instead of the coaster-brake hub to eliminate any unwanted drag). Absolutely brilliant, but I would have found a way to use a chain-drive to eliminate the resistance of a v-belt, which can really sap horsepower away.

[RiddleOfSphinx]

Chain was the first thing I thought that would be used too, being that it's a chain saw. But I guess it may be safer with a belt rather than a chain. Who knows? It's still a good idea and use of unused parts ;) I don't know how long I'd be able to go without sitting, but it's still nice...lol. I like it :D

[madtown mike]

a chain would be fine, you'd just have to make a guard to keep your bits(lol) away.

[wierd idiot]

the DOLMETTE would interesting to start.

[feelgoodlost]

aw i was hoping the blade was still attached somehow..

[GadgetmanKen]

I also just noticed that in my intro picture that I hadn't had the rear brakes included yet. I had just front brakes at the time. In the second photo in step two you can see a red L-shaped bracket going across the frame just above the rear wheel, that is what the rear brakes are attached to. The original bracket had to be cut off and lengthened to accomidate the wider 3-spd hub between the narrower frame. The frame was stretched a bit too.

[GadgetmanKen]

It was a 3spd three geared hub. The caliper brakes were on the frame clamped over the wheel. I did have a single speed coaster brake hub on there once after the bonding finally gave way on the 3 spd hub. It fit perfectly. The single speed hub came from a little childs beginner bicycle that usually come with training wheels. The sprocket fits on both by a c-ring clip. I did not know of a source to get smaller chains because the bike chain (A.) it would not match up to the rear sprocket and (B.) the bike chain would not fit or bend around the five spoke sprocket the chainsaw blade was attached to inside the housing at the motor. So I drilled a five hole pattern out of a small pulley and cut off one side and fit it over the sprocket so it would fit and bolt/ tighten on the shaft of the engine. I guess I forgot to mention this part in the instructions. Dooh! I would have like to use a shimano hub but you usually don't find one of those at a yard sale anywhere, at least at a price I can afford.