I built an American Speedster, 2 seat pedal car several years ago. It was beautiful to look at. I never wanted the headache of a motor as the State would then want to inflict controls on it. I loved the car, however I could never get the brakes to work well nor the gear system. I pedaled it all over the place and had many flat tires, till I replaced the air filled tires with solid rubber tires, but they added weight and slowed the car down. Also it never was feasible to go up any hills as only 2 gears would work and the speed was always slow. To make one of these things really work you have to be some kind of mechanical genius, or just extremely good with mechanics or your wasting your time to build one. I spent over $500 on the kit and parts and then another $300 on accessories to try and make it a viable everyday working vehicle. It never worked and sat around wasting away till I finally sold it for $100. If I ever do the pedal bike experience again, I'll get one Professionally built by someone who knows Mechanics very well. It would have been great to build this car and have the bragging rights for a working vehicle as well, but I found out that I wasn't Mechanically savvy enough to build a real working model. So I repeat if you know very little about Mechanics, don't attempt to build an American Speedster car yourself. Again let me say that the 2 seat car that I built (the Side Kick model), was a beautiful construction! Absolutely gorgeous! Blue just like the pics on the site! However as a working vehicle it was Not! I tried to save my 2nd marriage by building this car, but my wife would have nothing to do with it, and people laughed at my far and wide, and I could get 0 help from bicycle shops on how to fix it because I didn't buy it from them. It was a wonderful yet painful experience. I wish it could have been otherwise. My Real name is Steve Nelson, and I featured my car in my eBook The Maintenance Engineer, available at Smashwords DOT com.
Very nice start! I'd take a 12v electric motor and use it as an alternator with a golf cart battery, then you can run actual lights and a safety horn. You can probably find some cheap dacron to make a light roof too.
That's pretty nice.I really like it.I've wondered about doing something like that too.Did you fill the tubes with the 'slight expanding'foam?I've hoped it would make they more rigid.Thank you.
Hey what a great little car ! It's pretty much as I had thought of plus a few that I didn't 1 Did you have plans for this or did you just start building. did you use schedle 80 pvc or ??? I would love to know more !
That's pretty badass, bro. I'd like to attempt to build something like that, figuring that I have no current transportation. So, as someone greater than me said, "Do you got any plans on sharing those plans?" Paraphrasing here. Anyways, it's badass.
Mate you have done great job on this, i just ordered two sets of plans from american speedster, one for the side kick and one for the baja,I'm yet to see if they want a bit more for postage to OZ ut thats fine , I really like your bike and hope to build something akint to it. Thanks again for the vid.
We really like your idea of the 4 cycle engine. Did you make the shaft that the chain gears are on or did you buy it somewhere? What size gears did you use?
Great looking buggy. Do you have any plans for it? There is so many places that I would like to go to but am not able to with my mobility scooter. I would be very grateful if you would share this buggy with me.
I just ordered a Side Kick. Do you have the information on which engine you used? I am considering using a horizontal lawn mower engine, but might order the same engine as yours. How did you install the engine? I am also planning on using a 4 cycle engine also to avoid mixing gas and oil. Any plans or videos of the engine should be helpful for me to install a 4 cycle engine on the side kick also. Thanks for the video!
Looks like you took RUclips up on their "Your video looks shakey, would you like us to stabilize it" option. I did the same and it made my video look like it was filmed in a fun house mirror!m. You car remove it in the edit page. Nice job on the Kart.
Nice work. Can I assume you used schedule 80 pvc? How strong do you think it is, as in, could it realistically survive a poorly approached speed bump or two? Would you reccomend any upgrades in materials anywhere? This is the kind of stuff I plan to do when I retire.
I'm not and engineer and not a mechanic welder or even a builder... But judging from the way it wobbles I'd be scared to ride in that with the engine on. I could see maybe a metal base frame with the body made of PVC. Maybe it would add to the integrety of the structures foundation and also maintain a lower weight?
The wobbling is distortion in the entire frame of the video caused by some sort of digital image stabilization or anti-shake. At 1:19 you can see the whole background moving as well as the car.
+Todd Bunn ....nobody will give you the plans for free, I am researching from the multiple videos on this project and i am just about finished with the plans....I will give them out for free. I do have the complete cut list and materials list it is available online for free....just taking some time to research where the parts go.
Don't mistake the distortion in the video caused by RUclips's stabilization with flexing of the frame. (I might be wrong about where in the video you saw flexing.)
It's not the frame, PVC pipe especially with all the short pieces and joints is highly rigid. The video quality is piss poor with distortion. There were a few times where I had to go back and rewatch to see if it was the frame or the video distortion. It was video distortion because properly glued PVC just does not flex like that, hell even dry fitted PVC shouldn't flex like that.
You should build one, VIDEO it and RUclips it. But then that's just me. How much battery weight ? How much charging power does your solar panel have ? Why would you pedal to charge when you can pedal to PROPEL !! By pedal to charge you need a dynamo/generator power by your pedal then a battery then a motor to run the bike. 1 pint of gasoline has way more energy than 200lb of battery. But That's just me !!!!!
The plastic pvc construction scares me! What happens if you hit a pot hole with a family member on that bike in traffic? I think you should have chosen a different construction material?
wow you made this out of pvc plastic i would have used a metal frame that can hold the weight and put shocks on it and put a voltswagon engine it it i just think your pvc plastic is not going to hold up to what you expect out of it being plastic
I built an American Speedster, 2 seat pedal car several years ago. It was beautiful to look at. I never wanted the headache of a motor as the State would then want to inflict controls on it. I loved the car, however I could never get the brakes to work well nor the gear system. I pedaled it all over the place and had many flat tires, till I replaced the air filled tires with solid rubber tires, but they added weight and slowed the car down. Also it never was feasible to go up any hills as only 2 gears would work and the speed was always slow. To make one of these things really work you have to be some kind of mechanical genius, or just extremely good with mechanics or your wasting your time to build one. I spent over $500 on the kit and parts and then another $300 on accessories to try and make it a viable everyday working vehicle. It never worked and sat around wasting away till I finally sold it for $100. If I ever do the pedal bike experience again, I'll get one Professionally built by someone who knows Mechanics very well. It would have been great to build this car and have the bragging rights for a working vehicle as well, but I found out that I wasn't Mechanically savvy enough to build a real working model. So I repeat if you know very little about Mechanics, don't attempt to build an American Speedster car yourself. Again let me say that the 2 seat car that I built (the Side Kick model), was a beautiful construction! Absolutely gorgeous! Blue just like the pics on the site! However as a working vehicle it was Not! I tried to save my 2nd marriage by building this car, but my wife would have nothing to do with it, and people laughed at my far and wide, and I could get 0 help from bicycle shops on how to fix it because I didn't buy it from them. It was a wonderful yet painful experience. I wish it could have been otherwise. My Real name is Steve Nelson, and I featured my car in my eBook The Maintenance Engineer, available at Smashwords DOT com.
With the frame being PVC pipe and light weight I can see where it would get such awesome gas mileage !
A cool lightweight car for sure !
I'm surprise I don't see more of these. Seems like a great do it yourself project
Good , excellent work with nice finish
Awesome. :) I don’t always tool around town, but when I do it’s in a kick ass red go cart.
Very nice start! I'd take a 12v electric motor and use it as an alternator with a golf cart battery, then you can run actual lights and a safety horn. You can probably find some cheap dacron to make a light roof too.
Great innovated use off of the shelf products, very nice job...!!
Genius! Beat the system!
That's pretty nice.I really like it.I've wondered about doing something like that too.Did you fill the tubes with the 'slight expanding'foam?I've hoped it would make they more rigid.Thank you.
Great video! Thank you for the entertainment. I do want to build one.
Hey what a great little car ! It's pretty much as I had thought of plus a few that I didn't 1 Did you have plans for this or did you just start building. did you use schedle 80 pvc or ??? I would love to know more !
That's pretty badass, bro. I'd like to attempt to build something like that, figuring that I have no current transportation. So, as someone greater than me said, "Do you got any plans on sharing those plans?" Paraphrasing here. Anyways, it's badass.
Mate you have done great job on this, i just ordered two sets of plans from american speedster, one for the side kick and one for the baja,I'm yet to see if they want a bit more for postage to OZ ut thats fine , I really like your bike and hope to build something akint to it. Thanks again for the vid.
Very amazing, sir
great project. good job!!
lol I feel like i dropped 5 hits of acid as I watch this video with all the camera distortion
I thought it was that flexible at first
We really like your idea of the 4 cycle engine. Did you make the shaft that the chain gears are on or did you buy it somewhere? What size gears did you use?
Great looking buggy. Do you have any plans for it? There is so many places that I would like to go to but am not able to with my mobility scooter. I would be very grateful if you would share this buggy with me.
In other states it may just be considered a LSV (low speed vehicle), so check your state's website and stay legal
Fantastic !! Awesome !! Brilliant !! now how do I get one my good fellow ?
I just ordered a Side Kick. Do you have the information on which engine you used? I am considering using a horizontal lawn mower engine, but might order the same engine as yours. How did you install the engine? I am also planning on using a 4 cycle engine also to avoid mixing gas and oil. Any plans or videos of the engine should be helpful for me to install a 4 cycle engine on the side kick also. Thanks for the video!
I love this! :)
That thing is brilliant!!
sir u r an artist
Very nice ❤️
That's pretty cool.
Очень интересный веломобиль))
Hay there very nice lil car you made to go to get the groceries or to the store and back
Looks like you took RUclips up on their "Your video looks shakey, would you like us to stabilize it" option. I did the same and it made my video look like it was filmed in a fun house mirror!m. You car remove it in the edit page. Nice job on the Kart.
Nice work. Can I assume you used schedule 80 pvc? How strong do you think it is, as in, could it realistically survive a poorly approached speed bump or two? Would you reccomend any upgrades in materials anywhere? This is the kind of stuff I plan to do when I retire.
pretty awesome but did the pvc start cracking yet?
Was it the camera or is that vehicle really flexing that much? Fun looking ride still. How much would you say the PVC-frame weights?
BRAVO
Que legal,gostei ainda é a gasolina né?
Do you share the plans to build this?
Now you can convert it to e bike hubs
You are right that thing is going to kill same one ,one day
i hop he reads this .!
very cool idea.
Good job
Actually it looks like a combination of both the camera being blown in the wind and RUclips's "stabilization" effect all put together.
sharp shock and pvc cracks
like a pothole or bump
novelty ! not safe
be careful
but nice work
looks great
Nope. The lower frame has steel tubing inside the PVC and the points of stress are reinforced. A little built in flex actually helps it in some areas.
fucken awesome!!!!
DrBill no
I would appreciate it very much I am from Spain and I would like to have one to take my son to school
I'm not and engineer and not a mechanic welder or even a builder... But judging from the way it wobbles I'd be scared to ride in that with the engine on. I could see maybe a metal base frame with the body made of PVC. Maybe it would add to the integrety of the structures foundation and also maintain a lower weight?
The wobbling is distortion in the entire frame of the video caused by some sort of digital image stabilization or anti-shake. At 1:19 you can see the whole background moving as well as the car.
Quality build...
nice you have plans on how to build it how much did it cost
Boot Man I'd like to build one too
That is way cool!!
I contacted American speedster and bought the plans
omg you are hero!!
Did you ever publish or sell you plans as a kit?
How much do you charge to build something like this what about the engine just the pedals and two more seats
How did you come up with the design, what's the weight limit,
these should be mass sold in the u.s for insane cheep processor we could all be driving
Any idea on the weight of the frame? :)
Have you tried a crash test yet
This guy never responded back to a single person on this video!
Maybe he crashed it?
I hope not.
what size are the weels "24 or 26 inch?
greetings from mexico
does it require licensing? lets say a cop sees it, is it a big deal?
Nice 👍
How much load it can carry sir? 250 kg?
انها رائعة ومتميزة حقا.
How much did it cost
Nice 👍✌️
acctualy its a plan from a website you can buy the plans
is it made 32x32 pipe ord 40 pipe?
Does it have seatbelts on it ?
Bi-Cycle = 2 cycles (wheels)
So this should technically be a called quad cycle?
Now stick a 212cc predator motor on there lol
That would be awesome but a transmission with a reverse gear would be a must.
Buenas tardes me puede desir cuanto cuesta por favor
Olá amigo me envie o projeto de fabricação e montagem deste quadriciclo
We can help you to walk the bike without fuel altogether.
I've been trying to buy the plans from American speedster but their website doesn't work, would you sell your copy or copy of copy?
+Todd Bunn ....nobody will give you the plans for free, I am researching from the multiple videos on this project and i am just about finished with the plans....I will give them out for free. I do have the complete cut list and materials list it is available online for free....just taking some time to research where the parts go.
Just bought plans
Im trying to find or get the plans for that build if you can send me a copy if possible
I would love to have a copy also????
Do u have the plans
Señol yo se que usted está lelledo esté mensaje repodame
Will it float
Do you have the designs or prices
i would go electric and charge it via the petals and a battery myself, but that's just me.
that thing is awesome!
how do you make it
COMO LO HICISTE
No welding
With a Jerry can long range bug out vehicle lol
Your frame desperately needs some triangles.
Don't mistake the distortion in the video caused by RUclips's stabilization with flexing of the frame. (I might be wrong about where in the video you saw flexing.)
It's not the frame, PVC pipe especially with all the short pieces and joints is highly rigid. The video quality is piss poor with distortion. There were a few times where I had to go back and rewatch to see if it was the frame or the video distortion. It was video distortion because properly glued PVC just does not flex like that, hell even dry fitted PVC shouldn't flex like that.
Edit vedio how engine install
Hi there, what engine did use? Thanks!
Hola como te llamas yo Pukin RD
You should build one, VIDEO it and RUclips it.
But then that's just me.
How much battery weight ? How much charging power does your solar panel have ?
Why would you pedal to charge when you can pedal to PROPEL !!
By pedal to charge you need a dynamo/generator power by your pedal then a battery then a motor to run the bike.
1 pint of gasoline has way more energy than 200lb of battery. But That's just me !!!!!
cool
that is awesome i need to build one just like it!!!
pls send me the plans for free to make it i dont have the money to buy the plans in the website
J'aime
The plastic pvc construction scares me! What happens if you hit a pot hole with a family member on that bike in traffic? I think you should have chosen a different construction material?
GoofyApeGaming that is what gou build those out of.
Ok
Put Solar panels and a electric engine
Is it street legal?
ITS TOO FAST
Bıraoo helal olsun
Drop a ktm 300 exc 2 stroke motor in it
Gasoline engine is the past...NOW its battery operated man. Nice project though.
wow you made this out of pvc plastic i would have used a metal frame that can hold the weight and put shocks on it and put a voltswagon engine it it i just think your pvc plastic is not going to hold up to what you expect out of it being plastic