Dug out the bits I have already made and re-started the project. I can’t find suitable leaf springs for front suspension yet, I’m not willing to mail order horse buggy seat springs just yet. Will keep looking and also explore using the spring/shock combo from a Motobecane moped (2 mopeds were the source of wheels for project).
Some useful links about cyclekarts:
Steve C’s blog and cyclekart build
Pretty darn good cyclekart site
Below is gallery of the parts I have made so far for my cyclekart.
Oh a couple of notes: I have machined the moped hubs and made adapters out of aluminium, both for front and rear wheels. Rear hub adapter not keyed to axle yet, and the freewheeling rear hub adapter not shown. The metal cross bar/rod shown is an experiment, I am not sure if I will go with it in final car. Its bent to allow machined shoulders to lie flat on frame sides. But it really didn’t turn out the way I imagined. The white plastic bit in grey metal holder is potential steering rod bearing.
shooftie 
#1 by CycleKart.nl on July 26, 2010 - 11:32 pm
Hi there, thank you for posting my Dutch website. It keeps me reminding that more and more people from abroad are reading my site. It looks like a good idea to post in English next time. I really have to think about that.
Did you machine the aluminium adapters yourself? Nice work! I’m just starting to learn cnc. As a result I’m looking into making some parts for my cylekart; these kind of posts keep me inspirated.
I’m looking forward to your next post!
#2 by albell on July 27, 2010 - 5:16 am
Hi,
your site is great, keep it going please 🙂
Yup, I made the hub adapters myself. No cnc, just an old lathe. its not too bad doing it that way, but of course i am only making on kart’s worth of parts.
I seem to be stuck right now though. Apart from other projects that are taking up my time, I am stalled because I can’t find leaf springs suitable of kart. Very frustrating, almost at the point of;
a. buying buggy springs
b. re-designing front end to use the “shock absorber-like” spring units from the mopeds.
But recently I saw some steel banding material in scrapyard. You know the stuff, used to bind loads onto pallets etc. I saw some that was about 25 mm wide and 1 – 1.5 mm thick. It seemed to have good spring, I think the banding is made from spring type steel. The bit I saw in the yard was all folded up though, I need to find some that is undamaged and see if I can “laminate” a few to make springs.
Have you found any buggy spring substitutes?
cheers
alistair