«Previous    Next»
Oversized Scooter Is Fun To Ride
"It's a lot of fun to ride and a real attention getter. And, it's good exercise," says Murray Wells, Fullerton, Calif., about the home-built, oversized scooters he builds from old bicycle parts. He makes them with either 12, 18, or 26-in. dia. wheels.
  The scooter's rear wheel has an off center axle with a series of homemade, uneven spokes welded to it. The axle is connected to a metal frame that the rider stands on and, as the wheel rotates, the axle moves up and down a total of about 6 in. The rider holds onto the handlebars and bends his knees to absorb the up-and-down motion.
  To assemble the "eccentric" rear wheel, Wells built a jig to mount the axle in, then made each spoke individually and silver soddered them between the axle and rim.
  "It provides great exercise and is quite a workout," says Wells. "After I started riding mine in parades, people started asking me to build scooters for them. So far I've made nine. They ride great on level ground, but it takes a lot of effort to go uphill. The bigger models work a lot better than the smaller models because they go farther with every revolution of the wheel. As a result you don't have to work as hard. The speed also depends on the wheel size. The 12-in. model goes about 15 mph and the larger models a little faster. There are brakes on the front wheel.
  "On some models I build vertical brackets onto the back part of the frame to keep it rigid. On other models I simply extend the frame all the way back behind the rear wheel," notes Wells.
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Murray H. Wells, 2411 Nicolas Dr., Fullerton, Calif. 92833 (ph 714 879-1278).


  Click here to download page story appeared in.



  Click here to read entire issue




To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.
Order the Issue Containing This Story
2004 - Volume #28, Issue #4