Recently I had a need for a new buggy wheel for an Original make Flexifoil buggy. I posted here and also made a number of phone calls and emails.

Someone else had also made some arrangements for me, but being a bit stubborn and impatient to get my buggy rideable, I put out some feelers of my own to get my wheel as quickly as possible.

I was pretty discouraged at my response, as nearly everyone that I got a hold of didnt know what I was looking for, and sent me to Flexifoils website, or tried calling them themselves. The information that was going around was "They dont make that wheel anymore"... This information even came from Flexifoil distributors directly.

I finally got a hold of someone that told me what I really suspected, and other things indicated,- That the wheel for my buggy was pretty standard, so I ordered a standard Peter Lynn buggy wheel. I just put it on, and it seems to fit just fine.

The seat is a bit of a different matter... it seems to be coming up a little short, but it is an improvement over the old one (and it has some back support, too. Standard PL kite buggy seat, by the way. But I wanted to emphasize the wheel in this thread.

Anyway, I know this information is outdated a bit, but I noticed some other members of our forum have the same buggy, and I just wanted to pass on that the wheel replacement is pretty simple.

The only tidbit that I know that is crucial to replacing the wheel is the bearing size... mine is 12mm... I imagine all (emphasis on imagine) original Flexi bugs are the same in that respect.

So rest easy fellow antique buggy riders... all is well. It isnt as complicated as people would have you think to get replacements for our "ancestral" equipment.

So next is fashioning some cusioning around the frame, and a butt-pan, some grippy tape for the footpegs, too. Any tips for this stuff???

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good ride.

cushions for the side rails you can use the soft foam pipe insulation available at any hardware store or pool noodles.

Pool noodles work great. I have been using them for years.

Susan (npg goddess)

Plus the noodles come in many different colors, thicknesses, and shapes

I looked at pipe insulation today... looks a bit thinner than pool noodles. Off to the pool supply store.

Making a butt-pan right now out of two lobes of a trash can and some military-grade zip ties.

On the pool noodles... how do you guys keep them on? I was thinking tape around them... but is there another way that works better??

Thanks

all the bugs I've seen (all two of them!) used cable ties (zip ties) to secure the pool noodles....

You have a couple options for your side rails. What I would do is to get a couple pool noodles and slice them so that the fit around your rails. Then secure them with some electrical tape, usually about 6-8 wraps on a couple different ares is enough to secure the noodle to the rails. If you want more padding you can "double up" the pool noodles so that you have a double layer, use the electrical tape the same way to secure both layers to your rail.

Then, to make it look completely professional, contact the NPW Goddess (Susan in this thread) and have her make you some custom sized rail covers to fit over your pool noodles. You could make your own also if you have a good quality sewing machine, material and some skills.

What you will want to do is to use a string (any string) and wrap it all the way around your pool noodle padding on your buggy AFTER it has been assembled. Wrap the string so that it is end-to-end, then lay that string out onto a measuring tape to get the total circumferenc. Then measure the total length of your rail padding, don't measure in a straight line from end to end but run your tape completely around the outside of each bend to get the total overall length.

Once you have those two measurements, sent those to the Goddess along with a small payment and you'll have some awesome professional looking rail pads to cover up your pool noodles.

IIRC, Susan makes some very awesome durable high quality pads for less than you could make them yourself (unless you happen to have all the supplies just laying around).

Susan, I hope you don't mind me using your name here, if so then I apologize.

If your interested in making your own covers, here's a quick drawing I did to show the basics.

:o Lots of info... Thanks a lot Kent. I just attached the butt pan... looks good, but it has put a bit of a cramp in getting the foam onto the bug. I need to go get some bigger zip ties, I guess. Bigger noodles may even be in order.

It looks like I may not get to put all the stuff on that I want to... But the butt pan is high priority... It is flush with the side rails, and is preventing me from doing much in that respect. I could drill a few more holes in it to get the pads on the side... but I need to actually ride in what I have done so far, and see how it feels.

Thanks a lot for the help, guys.

I have found pool noodles in two sizes. Most of the time I have used the larger ones. And as Kent stated if you want me to I can make some covers. I slit the noodle down the middle and then use duck tape and wrap tight around the noodle. This has held up for several years now.

Susan (npw goddess)