@erratic winds...the bolt never came loose...We snapped it! We have since gone to military grade bolts. And with the help of A Wind of Change we are making some other mods. Live and learn, that is part of any building process.

Good luck Van! Your buggy looks pretty cool. Looking forward to seeing it at Ivanpah. Come visit us for the high winds in the beginning of march for the high wind. Winds are the best in the first week of March.

That's the plan. Ivanpah or el mirage. This buggy does not belong on the beach..haha

Ok, so here's the look I'm after ...

Speed Racer X !!!

Van are you and your sister gonna make you up a suit like that too? And make your little guy one to match too!

I haven't gone that far yet .. haha .. no suit yet. Designing the seat now ... in the meantime .. some buggy porn ...

congrats on another beautiful product ..... very nice ...

I hate to be bearer of bad news, but check with PTW on the orientation of your tires. If you look at his landsegler wheels/tires the "v"s in his tread point forward on all three wheels, where two of your wheels the "v"s point backwards.(the front tire and the back left tire) The back right tire has the "v"s in the tread pointing forward. I believe he had posted this info, correcting someone else that had mounted their tires backwards.

edit: actually it was danger correcting PTW in this thread.
http://www.powerkiteforum.com/viewthread.php?tid=22073

In the square dance world the caller would say "circle to the left and dosey doe." If that doesn't work its back to the cycle shop. Here's hoping it's a dosey-doe issue , looking incredably sweeeet though.

Or he could just unbolt them, rotate them 180 degrees and bolt them on again.

I would like them oriented all the same. I don't think that it would make a big difference which way they are pointed, but I suppose that if the mouth of the V were pointed forward they would dissipate water better.

I saw a motorcycle parked the other day and the tires looked to be backwards to me. However they were mounted correctly with the rotation arrow pointing the right direction. I think the point of the v should always touch the ground first. I've wondered though, on a dry lake does it matter and/or does having it backwards actually help with the sideways slip angles we generate?

Like car tires, the tip of the tread pattern should always touch the ground first.
I doubt having it backwards would benefit sidedrag on a dry surface either.

What the Arrow shaped pattern does is displace water from the under the center of the tire to the sides. If the pattern is the wrong way, you would be sending water from the sides towards the middle of the tire, making a puddle right in the center of the tire and causing it to hydroplane.

So if your riding on the a buggy with flipped tires you would probably be creating a line of splash in the ceter of your tire. It would be flinging water like a saw blade. Might look pretty cool!!!

Besides that it doesn't seem like it would change drag or speed. But I'm not a tire expert.

Danny I think the hubs have a brake flange on one side so that has to match whatever plan Van has for them, followed by the orientaion of the tires(I assume flange inside for back brakes). In regard to asthetics ,V point forward just looks faster.

It might be best to just give 'em a run the way they are, on the lake bed, it might not matter. Anyway, I forgot to say how cool this buggy is already, and when you work your seat/siderail magic, well, I can only imagine how sweet it's gonna look! Another classic, Van!

Water displacement is seldom an issue on US beaches and never on the lakebed. Just rolling along, I don't think tire rotation direction would make much difference. With the tire trying to resist sliding sideways, I've wondered if the groove aligning with the direction of the tire's slip angle might impede it's traction. Whereas with the Vs pointing backwards, the grooves would be perpendicular to the slip angle. It might take instruments to detect a difference but it's just a theory. The tires on my landseglers seem to have an X pattern with grooves pointing each way, but they do indeed have a directional arrow. I'll just point them like the arrow says. Parts are incoming so not long till I can mount them up.

I noticed that I mounted the two tires backward when we were taking pictures. I was wondering how many would catch that. Yes, I saw Popeyes thread about orientation so actually ask the motorcycle shop to make sure one of the backwheels was reversed. And yes, it's because of the brake flange. I have the brake flange facing inward. The front tires need to be swap with the back tires to make things look right. Like bobby mentioned, I don't think it really matters but looks better if they all rotate the same.

We probably won't get a chance to finish the seat this weekend. I have to replace the central AC at my mom's house this weekend.

I move the tires around so they all face the same direction. If you look carefully , there's a RED line on the right side of the tire. I guess this is to help you make sure they are facing the correct way.

I went ahead and put my old seat on the buggy to see how it fits.

What do you think about this seat design??




Or this one??

I like the first seat...

Buggy is beautiful !! Anything available to cover those axle bolts in the rear...? Looks like a shin dinger....

BTW... I know we all tease you on all the buggies in the house, but a dual player arcade machine in the foyer....? Really...? :cool2::o

Awesome bug Van, just really awesome,... I like the yellow, didn't think I would, but it really looks awesome, Congrats!!!!

And I agree with cheezy, I like the first seat design.

Racer X... awesome.

I like the first seat, too. Can you make the "bee" yellow and black like a yellow jacket? You could still write "stinger" in red.
@cheezy, you got eyes like a hawk. I never noticed the arcade game, was too caught up in the buggy pron(tires all sorted out, too!)! Thinking snowspider ought to buy this and let me give it a try!

BTW- Henry is getting big !!

Sweeeeter! I think Van will be riding this one for awhile unless someone makes him an offer he can't refuse,and I don't think I can get a loan on my house big enough to bring the yellow jacket stinger home.

I think the buggy may be a bit big for your first tester there Van. And the first pic looks better.

Looks pretty awesme Van, how does it compare to your other buggies dimensionally

I say first seat
@ cheesy-
After looking again , I noticed the fill size John Deere "gator" in the background.
Just wondering how exactly all this stuff makes its way in and out of the foyer!

Quote:

Originally posted by Beaudryjoel I say first seat @ cheesy- After looking again , I noticed the fill size John Deere "gator" in the background.

I saw that too, but I was giving the benefit of the doubt that it was Henry's...

Haha... the foyer area is small but enough to fit a buggy. The arcade is actually in the dining room. We don't use the formal dining so it became bike and arcade and crap room..haha.

The buggy is dimensionally identical to my regular stinger except for the extra length (6") that comes out behind the axle. It looks masssive because of the wheels. Like I said before, this was my fun build. No guarantee on the performance yet. Total weight came out to about 130 lbs. The 3 wheels are half of the buggy weight. It will be hard to balance it but we won't know until I can get her out to the drylake.

Btw... yellow jacket stinger it is! Yellow bee with red word as requested.