center of gravity is too high. You won't be able to hold down any power, cause as soon as you get some real side pull , your flippin'. Trust me, already got that t shirt, and it can hurt. Wear lots of impact protection. Be careful.

How much did the powder coating cost?

45 bucks.....

Dont' do it Flexi.............. You know you won't stop tinkering, even as nice as it is now.

45 bucks.....
wow, i paid a tad more than that just to get my fork PC'ed... :wow:

Sorry, quick Hijack - How'd that work getting the forks powder coated Cheesy? Did you get a clear coat on them or go black?

To ICTKITEFLYER - did the $45 cover the whole frame, axle and front end?

@ Flexi- i got a zinc undercoat/speckle silver/clear coat. :duh: and after my first outing i regret it... it's impossible to keep it from getting scratched and chipped. wish i wouldajust primed with a can of flat black.... looks great for now though
<end hi-jack>

Yeah it was 45$ for the entire frame.....

One of the problems I first encountered when building was that you are going to be constantly tinkering and changing the frame, the axle, the front end and so forth. That is one of the reasons I went modular on mine - easier to fix a part rather than deal with the thing as a whole for a simple modification. The painting thing was another consideration - easier to sandblast and repaint a part rather than the whole thing. I'm curious to see how the buggy is looking and behaving - any things you feel could be improved or things that you feel worked really well?

I will add some more pics when I get home tonight. My big issue right now that I am working out is the seat. I am going to have to figure out a better way to secure it to the frame. The other thing is the front axle in the wheel I need to add some spacers. I have shaft collars keeping the front wheel in line and I need to shorten the pipe that I am using for that part as well. The holes for the wheels are 1inch so for example my rear axle has a 1X6in bolt that was welded on the end. That works fine it's just a pain figuring out the front end. You'll see what I mean when I put the photo on here. That part looks really ghetto along with the bungy cords helping stabilize the seat.

Other than that the buggy rides smooth and it's pretty quick. I used my tracks on my phone and reached a peak speed of 19mph in a hell bent field with tall grass at least a foot high. Average was about 12mph. But I was also under powered only usuing a 2.0m Blade.

Need larger pics with closeups and more angles to really see what's going on. Welding on some side rails will take a little thought and welding time but creating a sling for the seat to sit in with seatbelt strap took me about an hour total - will hold the seat in place nicely and give you some security as you hit higher speeds.

http://s839.photobucket.com/albums/zz311/ICTKITEFLYER/

Disreguard the previous link.

http://s839.photobucket.com/albums/zz311/ICTKITEFLYER/Kite%2...

Well done Ictkiteflyer...very impressive first buggy, you are in the hall of fame, you will have gained a lot of knowledge from that build, and you will gain much more when you start pushing it harder and harder...then you will starting tinkering as the guys have suggested, or even start afresh. Welcome to the world of buggy building, and I look forward to watching your progress

Thanks that means a lot PPW. I am open to any critiques that might be out there. I am sure there are and a lot of things that I can learn and improve upon. I have already had a few and will continue to work from those. Granted it would have been easier to just buy a buggy it was a lot of fun building and designing. Plus I saved a ton of money. Grand total material wise I only spent $300 including the powder coating. I am already planning the next build.

your hooked !

Hats off to you man! I think its so awesome that you can have a vision of what you'd like to have and build it from the ground up. I wish I had that ability. All of the buggy builders here posess a talent that I know a lot of us here wish we had

I can see how you put in the PL headstock for your front end, good job on getting everything on your forks to come together so nice. I just put a fork assembly together for cheesycheese based on the measurements of his Peter Lynn headstock - it's a tricky size to work around. Have you had any problems with the nut loosening on your back wheels? I use cotter pins through a hole drilled in my axle ends. Do you have any ideas for side rails? Or are you going to focus on a seatbelt? Coming along nicely though - I like the downtube clamp - I thought you had welded it at first and then noticed the clamp in one of the photos.

Yeah I sure did use a PL headstock. Thanks for noticing the front end has been the hardest part. Along with figuring out the seat. I now see why the seats are designed the way they are. I think for now the seat belt will have to work. I havent had any problems yet. I am going to have to get use to flying with a bar. I dont think I like that part of it yet. I really like the PTW cougar and think I might build that buggy in the future. I also like the Ivanpah so we will see.

So my buggy broke today. Where the downtube connect to the head stock.

You all right? Hope you weren't holding down any speed when that happened. Did you get any pics of the aftermath? Just another reason for a rebuild.

I was flying the 14m NEo in about 15mph winds and was moving pretty good. I was seat belted in. As I was edging pretty hard hit a bump and the from tire went airborne just about a couple inches or so and then when it hit the ground pried open and then the downtube that connects to the frame dug straight into the ground and bam i get flipped over face first with the buggy still attached to my ass cause I was seat belted in. It hurt I bruised both ankles but I walked away with only a few scratches, and a sore pride.

that would be why you should not belt yourself in without a QR. And even then it is sketchy sometimes. Glad you did not get hurt. was it the weld that failed or material?

Glad you didn't get hurt that bad.

i broke my side rails off my down tube awhile back and what save me was my splash gard,could have gotten hurt like that, but i love splash gards even at nabx/sbbb.

Could have been much worse, glad to hear you are ok...when belted in you need extreme caution, and preferably fly un belted unless you are very experienced and trust your equipment 100%