Hey everyone

I'm new to the Power Kite Forum. I see here's some guys with a lot of experience and knowledge in traction kiting.

I want to buy buggy wheels but have no idea on what to buy. From what I find there's lots of different makes, sizes and general info that need to be taken into consideration. eg I read some buggy wheels have problems stying inflated. Can you please help me on what to buy and what not?

I live in South Africa and struggling to find wheels locally, the only option is to import it. Any suggestions of a decent site or place that will export it? Most of the sites I find is charging a fortune.

Thanx a lot

Howdy,
When you say "buggy wheels" do you mean the rims or the tires?

What buggy are you riding?
What terrain are you riding on?

What rims and tires are you using now?

Sizes, man, sizes...


Safen Up! Buggy On!

"Often wrong... Never in doubt"

the coreylama

I'm new to buggying and doesn't have nothing. I'm going to build my own buggy and want to know everything about what to look for in the wheels. Wheels being rims, tires and what else there could be. Beacause the wheel form the basis of the design. I will be buggying on grass fields most of the time and occasionally the beach.

Your right sort out your tires and rims first, whats common in your area is best, that way you can fix things easily rather than waiting for parts to come from another corner of the world, standard wheel barrow tires(4.8/4.00-8 .16" DIA) are good place to start, and 8" steel rims are pretty common too but usually don't have the best bearings, you can buy plastic rims from any Kite buggy retailer, they are fitted with 12-15-20mm bearings not too common to find bolts or axle inserts to match. you'll have to make something up for that. or change out the bearings to a common size you can work with.

How creative are you? it takes a bit to sort it all out and get it all too work together.

fancier rims can be a little more difficult to locate, try searching Ultralight aircraft sites, aluminum 2 piece AZusa rims are avilable from the US at 40$ each plus shipping how much you want to spend is the biggest question, you can rack up a lot more $ building your buggy rather than buying one, new or used. but there are a lot of other reasons to build it yourself and thats your choice.

tips,
a)bearings at least 5/8 axle or bigger for rear, front can be smaller, with dust seal.
b) install spacers between bearings
c)tubes add weight but hold air in the tire assebly the best tubeless can be a pain to deal with.
d)the outer race diameter limits what dia axle bearing you can install in the rim

Good luck
Jim

Thanx a lot Jim

This will really help me. I'm a 3rd year mechanical engineering student and want to build my own rather than buy a buggy. Buggy retailers are a bit useless in S.A, they don't stock parts and have to build the buggy from scratch. i like the ultralight aircraft idea, have been thinking about it myself. I found a place where I can go and check out all the planes and microlights they crashed. Sure I will find some wheels I can use.

I'm going to design the whole buggy in Solid Works (a 3d drawing program), this should enable me to sort everything out. But need the rimes and tires first!!

Thanx a lot for your reply

Standard wheel barrow tires 4.8/4.00-8 work pretty well on had pack. Be sure to grease them. They are not designed for the kind of speed you will get. And don’t under inflate them. Bad things happen in a hard turn. You don’t want to strip a tire of the rim while under power. With about 20 psi they work very well for me.

I have built a few homebrew buggys , they are not near as easy to build as I would of first thought. If the geometry is wrong you can have several problems. Bad geometry or CG (Center of gravity) will cause 2 problems.
First (CQ to far back) when you run into a turn and the front wheel just slide and you go straight and the back of the buggy will be pulled down wind by torque .
Second issue CQ to far forward. The buggy will tend to tip over (2 wheel) under power or make you feel you are being launched..
Take a few minutes to look at the CG of riding style you want., ie Race or Trick. If you get CG right and you have the correct rake on the fork you have it whipped.

One seat I made was out of Web stiched and used Goop “shoe glue”, It worked great. I like it better than most the production ones I have been in.
God bless
bob

err chk out this site i found from the PKF was cool and you make like this if your building http://pic7.piczo.com/Popeyethewelder/?g=15600133&cr=7

this guy is a artist on buggys a must see