[riceburner]

now if you have a side and top view of the bike you can take the 7.750 and scale it out. How many wheels is the wheel base long? divide that by 7.750 and you should have the number in inches.

Use grid paper and have one grid be one inch, what more do you need to know? .

 

[forhire]

I'm sure you have seen this site... I know it's not the scooter style... but he built a "Notta Cushman" (Not A Cushman?) from scratch and has a bunch of links and a bunch of build photos that may be inspiring.
http://dandewebs.tripod.com/index.htm
http://dandewebs.tripod.com/photoalbum/frame/frame.htm

Because Cushman made so many models... is anything really authentic?

Now I have to add a Cushman to my build list... but when I do it will be diesel

 

[mudbugone]

And the axle is how long ? Front? Rear? Diameter of axle? hub? Tire diameter? Spacing required for the Brake drum?

These ALL have to be addressed plus many more if you wing it and start from scratch with no concept of how it all fits together. ALL those issues become non issues IF you use logic and measure a real scooter and replicate a Cushman frame....then Cushman parts will fit that replicated frame and any subsequent repair parts that might be required don't require a machine shop to fabricate them in a one off situation which can get expensive.

It's rather silly to attempt to re-invent the wheel when it's far simpler and more logical to just obtain the required measurements and build something that only requires the correct parts to be functional.

I could have already just built a frame & forks from pictures and the set of homebuilt scooter plans I have. I could buy the Cushman parts and come close guessing while back engineering the entire scooter,but don't you guys think that's a rather more difficult approach to doing this. :laugh:

I've got plenty of things to do without generating many hours of excess development time into back engineering a scooter...that with the measurements ought to be buildable in a day or two...but might require a week or two otherwise.:laugh:

Sweat equity in 100* plus temps is far harder to justify than intellectual equity spent compiling the required information prior to jumping into a hobby project. I'll eventually find this information if I have to buy a frame and generate plans myself...(then I'll have two!)

I really thought someone might have one or have a friend that owned one and be helpfull enough to spend 30 min. measuring and sharing some information. I'm fairly confident this isn't rocket science or a major expenditure of sweat equity ....just a few overall measurements.

BTW... I already have everything except the frame and axles & brakes.... I even have several types & sizes of wheels & tires and several motor options...

Here's a general fabrication question about this... The rear portion as well as the rear swingarm are both curved and I want to use 2" channel iron for their fabrication.... If I find the correct width these need to be I'm thinking of bending these parts around a large pipe the correct diameter to shape them.

Has anyone bent 2"x 3/4" channel iron around (I'm guessing) about 8-10" radius to shape these parts and if so what would you suggest to form these parts ?

 

[mudbugone]

I'm sure you have seen this site... I know it's not the scooter style... but he built a "Notta Cushman" (Not A Cushman?) from scratch and has a bunch of links and a bunch of build photos that may be inspiring.
http://dandewebs.tripod.com/index.htm
http://dandewebs.tripod.com/photoalbum/frame/frame.htm

Because Cushman made so many models... is anything really authentic?

Now I have to add a Cushman to my build list... but when I do it will be diesel

:laugh: Too many Toys..So little time (& money) :laugh:

Yeah..I've seen his site he did real well on those.

Riceburner... I could do as you suggest,but that's time consuming and not real accurate and I've got dozens of examples to draw from... Seriously if I can't obtain the measurements I'll buy a frame and replicate it as well as draw out the measurements. I took enough shop & architectural drafting courses back when schools actually taught something that drafting the plans isn't the issue accuracy is.

I've got measured plans already,but they are just a bit off the size of a real scooter and I want to be as close as possible to an actual Cushman....not kinda close.

 

[mudbugone]

forhire you might enjoy this it's a two wheel drive hydrostatic drive offroad scooter...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csheFaxdSgI[/ame]

The guy that built is has built several "unusual" vehicles including one of the first Diesel motorcycles ...his site is interesting

 

[forhire]

forhire you might enjoy this it's a two wheel drive hydrostatic drive offroad scooter...

The guy that built is has built several "unusual" vehicles including one of the first Diesel motorcycles ...his site is interesting

Great... now I'll have to make it two wheel drive... maybe with some floating wheels like the Rokon Cool stuff!!!

This is a frame listed forsale $230 on cushmanclubofamerica.com.
http://www.cushmanclubofamerica.com/buyselltrade/cforsale.html

riceburner... maybe this side profile picture will work for getting the basic dimension

 

[mudbugone]

If you look closer you'll notice that was listed in May of 2010 ....long time ago...I looked at that a month ago.

The problem is if it's any distance away from your location you're talking a bunch of bucks to ship a frame that's 6' to 7' long...more than the purchase price. I've found several...the owners were unwilling to ship or I was unwilling to pay the freight.

hydraulicinnovations is a pretty interesting place...those guys think way outside the box. I've been an email friend of Jeff's since before he started the website. Right after he designed & built that outrageous hydrostatic drive diesel powered big bike he rides.. If it wasn't the very first one it was one of the very first bikes of that type...

There are some really interesting machines being built around there for those that are into innovation. Personally I like his Reverse Trike project..

 

[riceburner]

For hire, yes it would.

 

[mudbugone]

Great... now I'll have to make it two wheel drive... maybe with some floating wheels like the Rokon Cool stuff!!!

This is a frame listed forsale $230 on cushmanclubofamerica.com.
http://www.cushmanclubofamerica.com/buyselltrade/cforsale.html

riceburner... maybe this side profile picture will work for getting the basic dimension

I spoke on the phone to the owner and as I suspected he sold that over a year ago... The internet never erases much and old for sale items are the worst.

Riceburner you might find this view useful....???

http://www.flickr.com/photos/howard33/4381986679/sizes/o/in/pool-35274929@N00/

 

[riceburner]

If you have a drawing like that from the side, you are downtown.

 

[mudbugone]

Well I'm still out in the woods then since that's the only line drawing I found anywhere online...:waving:

 

[forhire]

Well I'm still out in the woods then since that's the only line drawing I found anywhere online...:waving:

I fiddled with the above photo and came up with something that may be usable. I tried the 7.75 for the tires... but that only gave me a 31" wheel base... more like a pocket bike. :laugh:

The recommended tires are 4"x8" which is the width and wheel size... the tire is 12" tall (If I guessed correctly)... this gave me a 51" wheel base... which is more what I'd expect. This also raised the seat to a comfortable height :laugh:

The dimensions are in yellow, the angles are in white. All of this is approximate as photos have a little thing called perspective that messes with dimensions

Note that the front appears to be a triangle. The angles on the back are between 70 and 75 degrees... use your best guess. It appears the scooter is about 10 to 12 inches wide. The top perspective should be able to reveal that.

Also, the cross bar under the seat is 6" off the bottom rail... forgot that dimension is the photo

Does anyone know what the wheel base really is?

 

[prop-doctor]

forhire i got the -wheel numbers from a flebay auction
guess the most popular tire size today would be 4x8 wheel would have to look at new sizes
that is a good rendering Well done sir:drinkup:
there is a good start for mudbug

 

[forhire]

forhire i got the -wheel numbers from a flebay auction
guess the most popular tire size today would be 4x8 wheel would have to look at new sizes
that is a good rendering Well done sir:drinkup:
there is a good start for mudbug

Thanks. Your tire size was correct! My interpretation originally was wrong. Just look at the jack stands... there is no way the tire is only 8" tall. After scaling it out wrong the first time it dawned on me that tires are sized by wheel and width :dizzy:

I'm doing the line drawing now. I think between the two it should be time to start bending some pipe

 

[forhire]

Here is the top dimensions. It appears the drawing was 1/10 scale... this put the rear axle at 0.75" and the tire width at 3.75" (4" nominal) and the wheel base at a clean 48" At this scale all the dimensions came out as whole numbers and/or clean fractions

Now get out to the shop and start building!!!!!!!!

 

[forhire]

I rescaled the photo using a 48" wheel base. As you can see some of the dimensions changed a little. If you know what the seat height is then we'd know if these are correct.

When I blow up the wheel it measures around 7.75" so this has to be fairly close.

 

[mudbugone]

I'm throughly impressed...I wish I could manipulate a computer as well as some of you can...

Don't know if this matters,but I thought those scooter tires were about 16" in diameter (a guess) I checked they are 16.8" in diameter

These are the plans for a 1940's copy of a Cushman.... although I think the Cushman is longer (a guess too) It's difficult to determine since the tires on the plan scooter are smaller than Cushman tires.

http://www.vintageprojects.com/mini-bike/Super-Scooter.pdf

http://www.vintageprojects.com/mini-bike/Super-ScooterPart2.pdf

Numerous other projects too..

http://www.vintageprojects.com/mini-bike/gas-scooter.html

You've done an excellent supposition of measurements and if I'd known you were going to try that I'd have found an exact diameter of a scooter tire for you as a starting point...

 

[mudbugone]

I think the wheelbase is more like 54" if not longer... A Cushman Eagle is around 54" ,but the step-thru may be longer.


I'm not afraid to wing it on one ,but it's just better to have accurate measurements if at all possible. I've only been actively searching for a couple of weeks and as I stated earlier I'm supposed to be getting actual measurements. That's from asking questions on 1/2 a dozen sites ...so we'll see what happens. I'll surely share the info because I think it should be available to those that want or need it.

 

[forhire]

Using tires to establish dimensions is not a viable method. If I measure the rear wheel in the line drawing I'm getting 13.75 which is 14" nominal. It looks like there is space for a 16" tire... but it would be tight as currently scaled. I need at least one verifiable dimension... rear axle diameter, tube diameter, clutch diameter, block length, anything that is in the drawing that can be reliably scaled against. Do you know the wheel base? That would be ideal and likely found on a spec sheet.

 

[riceburner]

Yes, a tire would not be a good idea a rim would be OK, but like you say it could be anything that you know for sure, best bet might be to go with handle bar diameter which is probably 1.0", the guys at Dennis Carpenter could tell you that kind of information, the fellow there could probably tell you a whole bunch of what you want to know.