The Official Pimp My Buggy Thread

Well not as pimped as others but its my ride and I love it....This baby doesn't just sit in a basement or garage...IT GETS USED!

Custom seat from Van, two sets of wheels, both short and wide axles and two set up's for downtubes and forks...

Hopefully I can bang out another race plate for WW this year, a low profile back rest, some foot plates and a custom fender....

I'm kind of new at this I still have training wheels

This is my KYTBUGGY/ KYTBYK. When it's not one it's the other.

My new ride. Just got to try it out yesterday. Ready for WW

I call the buggy my VTT Stinger XR Hybrid. It is a pair of VTT Stinger rails, a Black Widow seat, a Cricket back axle, a home brew downtube, a PL front fork, and a home brew front fender.

The tandem was formerly a Big Mike's Kites Frankenbuggy, now with the tandem downtube (with adjustable foot pegs), I call it Fankentandem. It's a VTT XR rail kit with a Bigfoot back axle.

In case you can tell I'm a big fan of Van's work.











Its a bit more dirty with some rusty spots than when these pics were taken
I'm planning on reworking the downtube and giving it a slightly wider back axle soon,... We shall see.

Weldin' well done!

the XR+ SOOPA WIDE....

can you say BEEFY...



Fork and Footpegs courtesy of 'FLEXIBLADE'

VTT XR Big foot

Repimped:

Expando Buggy, good for transport

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Rims and VTT Rails and Seat!

With great thanks extended to Van for the superb rail and seat upgrade kit and to Utahtami for parting with her beautiful rim and tire set, I present to my PKF brethren my new PL BigFoot+. All dialed in for IBX in a couple of weeks!!!!


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Quote: Originally posted by soliver

Very nice Steve-o!!!... I may have to update my pics on this thread, I have repimped for a 3rd derivation!... Maybe later!

Thanks Spencer! I look forward to giving her a spin in a couple of weeks at IBX. Bring on the new pics! This is a fun thread.

And to update my aluminum buggy's status. It can now convert to kytbyk as well. Now I have a PAIR of custom buggies and kytbyks ,one in stainless and another in aluminum. Are there any other kitebikers out there in North America?:puzzled:

Quote: Originally posted by WELDNGOD

And to update my aluminum buggy's status. It can now convert to kytbyk as well. Now I have a PAIR of custom buggies and kytbyks ! Are there any other kitebikers out there in North America?:puzzled:

Those rock!

Been doing some pimping! My ride started as a humble stock PL BigFoot+ with wide axle. Van kindly sold me his awesome upgrade kit with a great seat and side rails. I've continued its evolution with Sysmic rims (two sets; one with BigFoots and the other with Trailer tires). Next I powder coated the remaining stainless steel hardware (rear axle, down down tube, and front fork assembly), choosing Raven Texture 2 for the textured black coating (matching Van's original work). Next I replaced all bearings and hardware with SS metric bolts, washers (solid and split) and nuts (standard and nylock). Lastly, I reworked my foot pegs to set up a clean simple heel strap stirrup setup using mountain bike parts.

She's done for a while (I hope!). This has been a really fun project!


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Dang, that is a mean looking buggy U made up

Stainless parts is pretty smart for longevity, I guess - congrats !!

Quote: Originally posted by Windstruck

...metric...

:eekdrull: I wouldn't have expected. Is that a remnant from your [good upbringing] days in Sweden ??

Footpegs looks awesome BTW :envy: ... no emoticon for envy I guess

Quote: Originally posted by khaakon

Dang, that is a mean looking buggy U made up Stainless parts is pretty smart for longevity, I guess - congrats !! Quote: Originally posted by Windstruck   ...metric... :eekdrull: I wouldn't have expected. Is that a remnant from your [good upbringing] days in Sweden ?? Footpegs looks awesome BTW :envy: ... no emoticon for envy I guess

Thank you kindly sir! The SS is for longevity. The powder coating of course is purely for pimp as the material I coated black was SS to start. The use of metric hardware is actually originated by PL. Axle bolts and headset bolts came metric stock. What I converted from zinc imperial to SS metric were the four bolts that clamp the side rails to the down tube. They got M10x70mm SS carriage bolts. While certainly overkill, what I've done for the side rail clamps, headset, and front axle are a stack of five SS pieces: flat washer, split washer, flat washer, standard nut, and nylock nut. So I pimped my bolts too! Back axle remains a work in progress. Right now I've got the blunt nose of the axle going right on the inner race of the bearing. The M20 SS bolt has a narrow 20mm flat washer right next to the outer bearing race. Next is my infamous flat/split/flat washer sandwich that then gets capped by the bolt head. Jeepersjoey kindly supplied me with two beautiful low profile 20mm SS nuts (from his House of Nuts) for the purpose of capturing the rear wheels between axle and bearing. We'll have to see how I ultimately use them. Still tinkering.

Yes, my fine Swedish past (not to mention a wonderful summer spent working on a farm in Moss, Norway back in 1983) set me up to embrace the inner SI in me. :saint:

Once I figured out what I wanted to do with my foot pegs they came together nicely. I got all parts from Amazon and will happily share my parts list with interest.

The Pimp


The Ride



The Price

Quote: Originally posted by soliver

Buggies look awesome guys! After some pre-JIBE inspection as well as some post-JIBE introspection, I am planning to completely disassemble and repaint ... a RE-pimping if you will... lots of rust and lots of miles make for a rough looking ride.

Spencer - that's for the props my friend! Sure wish I could join you guys for the JIBE festivities. Someday... The rust phenomenon is something us desert riders don't usually have to deal with, but I appreciate how big an issue that is for you beachcombers. My rail kit from Van was made with powder coated mild steel. I suspect he used the same material for your buggies, so... rust potential.

Stripping down to bare disassembled parts and cleaning it up would be a nice project with a high level of satisfaction return on your investment I would think. Go for it!

Just realized none of my pics above are showing because Photobucket has screwed the pooch and absolutely none of the photos I've ever posted on this forum are visible...

Yes, Van's stuff is all mild steel and it can cause a chemical reaction with the stainless and cause it to rust too, so I'd recommend regularly removing your back axle and cleaning it out and making sure the powder coat is in tact to avoid that rust from claiming the lugs on your Peter Lynn axle like it did mine.

I'm only a beach Conner during JIBE... if I had my druthers it'd be more often but alas the budget and vacation days won't allow. My stuff has just been unused and neglected unfortunately... Hopefully I can hit the fairgrounds or the other local Feild's between JIBE 2018 and JIBE 2019!!!

I did a whole thread about that repair a couple years ago.

Quote: Originally posted by soliver

Just realized none of my pics above are showing because Photobucket has screwed the pooch and absolutely none of the photos I've ever posted on this forum are visible... Yes, Van's stuff is all mild steel and it can cause a chemical reaction with the stainless and cause it to rust too, so I'd recommend regularly removing your back axle and cleaning it out and making sure the powder coat is in tact to avoid that rust from claiming the lugs on your Peter Lynn axle like it did mine. I'm only a beach Conner during JIBE... if I had my druthers it'd be more often but alas the budget and vacation days won't allow. My stuff has just been unused and neglected unfortunately... Hopefully I can hit the fairgrounds or the other local Feild's between JIBE 2018 and JIBE 2019!!! I did a whole thread about that repair a couple years ago.

I remember that thread well! I store my buggy with the back axle removed because of that thread. I think the longest time it has ever been assembled and left that way is five days at IBX three times, otherwise it's in two pieces in my garage. Last year I went an entire year from IBX to IBX without any seat time. Gonna try not to let that happen this year!