my little brother recently got interested in parakarting and asked my if i could help him build a kart.
he currently uses a friends, but he wants to make it himself instead of buy it. i cant change his mind

the problem is i am not to sure what materials to use.

i have been looking online for sites to help me but am not finding much,

basically i want to know:

what size of wheels to use,
what type of metal to use for frame(am thinking just stainless steel)
what material to use to sit on(seems that a chair wont work)

all help is extremely appreciated

sandwhale

welcome to the forum....

I take it form your handle sandwhale you live or you would be useing the buggy on the beach?

Wheels... on compack sand you can get by with 4x8 wheel barrow type of set up in the USA avg price for the tire is 16.00... 3.00 for the tubes and for the nylon wheel 15.00? maybe... OR for deeper sand the big foot tires 8x21 are a good choice more money but can fit the same nylon hubs

Stainless is the way to go for the salty beaches, steal is another choice but the metal is going to need a good power coat or a butt loads of sealer and primer then paint to keep from rusting.

seat can be made from 2"webbing like a seat belt...


Best to go and buy.. time spent chasing down material, welding making a seat, wheels bearings and spacers could be spent buggying... also yor going to have to figure out were to weld the foot pegs, rake on the front fork and bends for side rails, padding..... un-less he's in prison and has plenty of time to kill and then if all work out maybe it will ride good.....

for a couple of hundred bucks { US funds} could get your brother up and running

For seats, most PL dealers can get you either a comp ST or XR+ seat, the ST is cheap, the XR+ is a lot nicer. They are real easy to hang off pretty much any home made buggy rails. One other mistake I made was to use wheelbarrow rims, while you do want the size, standard barrow rims have really small bearings that don't like being side loaded at all. Better to spend the $$$ and buy a set of PL/Libra rims that'll take a 12mm bolt up front and a 20mm bolt on the rear. I guarantee you if you buy less you'll end up buying another set shortly. On my last homebuilt buggy I was swapping bearings at least once a month with standard barrow rims.

I've since seen the light and now love my libra buggy to bits. The abuse that things taken, hit 45mph no problem, still super stable, taken some big jumps and solid hits and still hasn't given me a speck of greif. Currently saving up for a shiny new Hardcore.