PTW Playa - evolution 2

Big posts with lots of words and pictures are difficult to post from my phone without crashing. Bear with me, I'll get there with several posts.



Short story.

I wanted a big buggy. I bought the Popeye the Welder, Playa buggy and built a fork for Bigfoot lite tires.


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More to come.

Long story


Well since November I have managed to remained quiet about this...

I am the new owner of the Popeye the Welder Playa buggy. Some things have changed, so read on.

Originally Popeye made the Playa buggy and the Viper for Mike (MDK) in Idaho. When Mike sold the Viper buggy it sold with the beach racer tires and the swan neck that fit both the Viper and the Playa buggies.

Back in November Blitzhound, John ,contacted me to see if I was interested in purchasing a buggy that he recently picked up. John knew I was looking for a full sized buggy with big tires on it. John had bought the playa buggy on barrow tires from MDK in hopes that it would fit his brother. The playas width tuned out to be too narrow for his brother.

John offered it up to me but he was keeping the sysmic rims that were originally on the buggy. I would get it on standard black Peter Lynn wheels and ribbed barrow tires.

There was some miscommunication about the sizing of the buggy. John gave me the measurement of between the buggies metal rails, he measured it without the padding, and I was assuming it was with padding and the seat. After I got the buggy I also realized that a Peter lynn divine harness adds about 1.25-1.5" to the width of your hips, right where the siderails hit me.

I first realized that the buggy would need to be widened I removed the side name plates and the rear back support (added by MDK?). I moved the rear siderails to the outside of the axle mounts. This was still not enough. I ended up adding 3/8 to 1/2" at the back of the buggy and 1 to 1-1/8" at the front. I decided to do these as spacers vs cutting off the axle plates to relocate and re-weld them. I would have needed to extend the siderails at the swan neck to add to the spacing. Hopefully the spacers will work properly and still allow the buggy to be returned to its original state. The thicker front spacers are hollow rectangular stainless steel tubing to save on weight.

After I got my spacing sorted out I made a new cross bar before the axle to strap the seat too (this also needed to be wider) I adjusted the buggy so it was set up on the barrow tires. This buggy sits really low compared to my Flexifoil Navaro.


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I played with these numbers and previous buggy drawings that I had done at work on theoretical dream buggies created in Solidworks. I then designed a fork that I liked the styling of. The fork was inspired by a Libre Majestic and GT Rapide++.

I then purchased 1" sch 10 304 stainless steel pipe
(1.32x0.11 wall). I polished it out, packed it with sand and static bent it on my works Ercolina CE40 rolling bending machine. Cut it to my full sized drawing. Then I talked my employer into cutting the 7 parts I needed for my fork on the companies water jet cutter. I polished all these pieces out at my work before welding them together. The bottom of the axle plate is flat to the ground, the photo angle makes it appear to angle downward, it doesn't...

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You may notice the ETC several places on the fork. I figured that since this is a PTW buggy (Popeye The Welder) that as a semi joke I would have ETC on my fork. ETC could stand for (Eric The Copycat) or (Eric The Creator)...

I created a basic fixture/jig to fit and weld the upper crown pieces to the lower bent legs. Then I created a
fixture/jig for adding the lower axle plates and foot peg plates. I welded everything up.

I purchased one of the monster scooter MB165 front fenders. To modify it I ended up using 2" of soft foam inbetween the tire and the fender. I strapped around the circumference with a ratchet strap to compress the center ridge of the fender and flare the outer edges wider. This was not easy. It required a lot of heat with a great gun claiming a high heat of 1100 degree. And also took a bunch of time heating and clamping and re-tightening. I did over heat it in several places and I needed to re-paint the fender to get rid of some of the lighter red color spots. I used rust-olium safety red enamel. I then tried to spray lacquer clear coat over it. The combo of enamel and lacquer immediately crackled and crazed. I sanded it out with 800 grit and then decided I liked the matte look. I think it actually looks nice with the sheen of the buggy bags side rail covers. I do worry that the fender is too tight of fit and may suck up sand and propel it forward and up. Moving the axle forward a position on the fork should eliminate that problem but not look as fitted

I re-assembled the buggy to weigh it before and after the wheel swap. It weighed 92lbs on barrows and weighs 102lbs on Bigfoot lites with a fender.

I repolished everything back up and re-assembled the buggy. Many parts only got polished so much, the rear axle has many dings and pock marks from either the Alvord playa surface or traveling on a vehicle.

I still need to add the side plates, carbon belly pan and under rod for my AQR system.


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I am pleased with how the buggy came out visually. I still need to take it out for my maiden voyage on it. Hopefully it will ride reasonably. I also hope that Carlos "Popeye" finds my modifications acceptable.

Your posts read like the lyrics to Johnny Cash' "one piece at a time", except yours turned out to be a stunner! Nice work, truly nice work.
Popeye will approve for sure. LOve that sand guard. Kinda jealous. I'd like that for my bug. You're forgiven for keeping this hidden from us these past few months. Welcome to the exclusive PTW club.

PS: Carl is of a slender build. I had to remove the padding on mine just to squeeze in, but using depower meant they weren't needed anyway...and as a consequence, there's more chrome on display. :D

LOve it

yea nice bug
forks great,,matte really works
all in on the ETC

Looks great, very well done.

I always like a low CofG (seat height) so I can hold down more kite.

Quote: Originally posted by eric67m

Also some "bling" may be in my future.

That's what I'm talking about!

I added the side name plates and the carbon belly pan. I still need to trim my zip ties.

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really great plate
scuff marks already?

Quote: Originally posted by abkayak

scuff marks already?

Both the buggy and the Dragonfly carbon products, carbon fiber belly pans are used. I put the previously scratched side down again.

Well done Eric

Quote: Originally posted by Windstruck

Van's got a few sets of 4x8 Sysmics. Just sayin.... http://www.powerkiteforum.com/viewthread.php?tid=34110#pid32... :evil:

Yah, yah. I hear you.

I finally got out for a short run between yesterday's no wind and today's wind storm. Yesterday I couldn't keep my 12M peak in the air. Today my 1.5m was enough to get moving and at times was too much. I got about 45 minutes in before it started to rain. The buggy handled really well. The back end would break loose before the front. I could possibly move my seat back a bit.

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My daughter took some pictures from a ways away. This is one of the better ones.

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I am pleased with my rear rack. It's super stable on the freeway and bumpy ocean access roads.

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Here are a few of my favorite pictures so far this summer of my buggy. Im looking forward to another SOBB in a few weeks.

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A point of view of me trying to chase down wind_dog. That pink kite makes him fast...

Quote: Originally posted by ColinW

I see (I think?) that you have some spacers in between your down tube and the clamping plates on your side rails. Could you tell me what they are made of?

Colin, sorry to keep you waiting for 3 months...

My spacers at the front are made from 1"x0.5"x0.065" stainless rectangular tubing. You are seeing the wider 1" side. They are mitered and welded into a rectangular frame. There is also another piece of 11ga (0.125") stainless steel in addition on each side.

Keeping in my style of Johnny cash "one piece at a time" instructional how too...

When I first built my bigfoot sized fork for my buggy I built it around one of my three wheels. Eventually I cut the polished and bent material for my fork legs. It was at this time that I realized that one of my three tires was 9/16" shorter than the other two tires. Guess what one i was building it around. Oops.
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At the point that everything was bolted together the neck bolt and nut just barely cleared the tire. I decided to ride it this way through the summer with the plans to fix the fork so it will clear any bigfoot tire during the winter when I had more time.

Recently I cut my fork to extend it. I consulted a friend that has built and modified custom motorcycles throughout his life. He suggested that I machined a insert/slug to go tightly into the fork leg to support where the cut was. I machined thick wall stainless pipe down so it would fit into my fork leg. I made the insert/slug longer at first. It inserts just over 1" into each end of the fork leg adjacent to the cuts.
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I drilled and tapped (6) 8-32 holes to hold everything in place so I could mock it up for length and check for square. Once everything fit and cleared to my liking I pulled out the screws, countersunk the outer leg.
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I then fuse welded the countersunk outer leg to the inner insert/slug.
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These six welds would keep the insert/slug in place which supports the welds near the extension from behind. After all bolts were removed and replaced with welds I cut a short section of the original tubing that was extra from building the fork to fill the gap. These pieces ware split in half (so it could get into the extended section and around the insert/slug).
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This little piece also got beveled on the edges so the weld would penetrate to the full thickness of the original fork tube. I welded everything up and then sanded and polished all the welds flush to blend in with the rest of the fork.
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Now my fork clears all of my wheels and tires.

Black magic, I say... fine craftsmanship