willemk - 17-4-2014 at 05:55 AM
Hello everyone,
i've decided to build my own buggy. Not for speed purposes but allround fun. that's why I wanted to base my design on the flexifoil navarro buggy,
since it's one of the best around.
So I was wondering if anyone who owns one could maybe help me out with some of the sizes of the parts since I couldn't immediately find these on the
web. for example: In which angle do I need to bend the sideframebars? what's the length of the rear axle, ..? Those are the kind of things I need to
know so if anyone could help me out, would be appreciated a lot! 
willemk - 19-4-2014 at 02:07 AM
Anyone who could help me in ANY way...?
rtz - 19-4-2014 at 02:28 AM
Considering it's $855 and hasn't been out all that long; I don't think there are but more than a couple of them out in the world.
One lead that might get you measurements:
http://forum.kitecrowd.com/buggying/who-owns-new-flexifoil-b...
AudereEng - 19-4-2014 at 10:02 AM
I have the Navarro in the US - I think I am the 3rd owner of it on this forum.
I really like it - it's very easy to load in the back of the old work pickup - I drive 5 miles (at 55) to my beach spot and have a lot of fun with it
about 1/3 of the days of the year :D
I do not understand why you would need the dimensions of this buggy unless you were building replacement or compatible parts to work with it?
It is probably easier to design your own than to copy this one especially if you are in the US as the metric tubing stock is a slight pain to get in
the US.
While I do not have a different buggy to compare it to I think the dimensions like the axil length are fairly typical.
You might check out http://popeyethewelder.com/ for info on tradeoffs like fork angles, rake etc.
IMO the things which make it cooler than some others are the quality and the details of the hollow front axil etc. but I would have done any of these
things slightly differently if I was designing it which is not to say they did not do a good job but it just always happens this way when you design
stuff...
For example, if the front forks were 10 mm wider then probably almost all midi tires would fit instead of being a pain to find the ones that worked.
But assuming you are not reverse engineering their design to knock it off etc. then I will help if you want measurements.
Measurements
willemk - 29-4-2014 at 05:08 AM
Hi,
I just want to build my own buggy for personal use and the Navaro has most of the features (almost fully detachable, freestyle/ all-round oriented,
..) I want on my Bug so..
What I still need is:
- the angles in which the side rails are bent, also thickness and diameter
- how the wheels fit on the back axle
- the exact placement, thickness, and diameter of the tubes on the back axle in which the side rails fit
- whether the down tube is perfectly square or rather a rectangular shape (seems to me this would matter in strength, or am I totally wrong in this?)
I think I can figure out the rest. But any further advice is welcome off course, probably didn't think of a lot of things.
I also wanted to add the mods in the links below, since i'm starting from scratch (i'm just buying the front fork bus and front fork to spare myself
some work that otherwise would take a lot of time) it wouldn't take much extra effort I think.
http://popeyethewelder.com/kite-buggy-projects/modding-a-fle...
http://forum.kitecrowd.com/buggying/casefile-flexifoil-buggy...
Kind regards
Oh btw, I'm from Europe so metric tubing stock won't be a problem :D
AudereEng - 29-4-2014 at 09:38 PM
Sorry - the wind was blowing today - so I was riding it not making measurements but I know a few of the details that you want
The down tube is 40mm square
The Axil is 1.5" OD - the length is 985mm of tubing.
Inside the axil is an inserts to which holds the wheel bolts (20 mm)
They are turned parts which have an outside flange the same size as the axil od which is about 5mm wide (bringing the total width to 995mm with
inserts - probably due to some shipping cost delta if you go over 1 m)
The flanges are od welded to the tube and have a profile which includes an area I suspect are for dirt falling off the bolt to go and not cause a
problem.
I remember the threaded section as being long but I do not have a measurement.
I can do a mechanical drawing the next time I pull an wheel which will be fairly soon.
About the only way to find the axil thickness is by weight - so the models for the inserts will have to be good.
The wheel bolts goes though the outside bearing, the wheel spacer sleeve, the inside bearing, into a lock nut (allowing the bearing preload to be
separated from the axil tightness), into the sleeve and the extra length sticks into the hollow axil.
The side rails are 32 mm OD.
They fit into turned UHMW sleeves with a pair of through bolts.
The are attached to the rear axil 21 cm from each end of the axil.
As I get more dimension when I have time and update this thread.
AudereEng - 4-5-2014 at 01:38 PM
I should state that any info provided is for information only.
I accept zero liability if the data is incorrect etc.
Use solely at your own risk after applying good judgment.
Having a buggy fail is dangerous...
The tubes welded on the rear axil to hold the side tubes extend 105mm from the center line and the tubing is 0.049" thick (I suspect the axil is not
this thin)
The 10mm bolt hole is at 55mm from the axil center line
This pic shows the rear axil insert and a pdf of a part drawing is attached
Attachment: flexi-real-axil-insert-drawing.pdf (56kB)
This file has been downloaded 592 times
These parts must be 316L given how little they have rusted in my environment.
I can detect no HAZ or significant distortion on the buggy which is very impressive welding...
On their video you can see the cool CNC bending making the side rails.
You might check and see if Flexi would sell you the UHMW inserts instead of turning your own.
ChrisH - 4-5-2014 at 02:07 PM
The HAZ rainbow can be bead blasted off, maybe that's why you don't see it. It does look bead/sand blasted to me. Distortion can be pressed out if
there was any from welding. Most likely, considering how much stainless moves when welded, there was. But who knows!