[TucsonDon]

Two questions:

1) Is the frame custom made, or from a kit?
2) What kind of engine do you have in that?

When I was a kid, lo these many years ago, many of the mini-bikes were powered by a Briggs and Stratton lawnmower engine on a tubular steel frame custom made in someone's garage. The drive mechanism to the rear wheel was often a V-belt through a torque converter clutch mechanism. Low-tech, to be sure, but fun.

 

[TucsonDon]

Yeah, the clutch (a pivoting lever with idler pulley) was a no brainer, but brakes, if any, were a challenge

Ha! That's right. Brakes were for the rich kids. Us poor kids relied on our Chuck Taylors.

 

[TucsonDon]

I had that Erector Set for years. Used to use it for "prototyping" projects Do they still make 'em?

Sure do ... Google it and stand back. Back in the old days it was really just a box of parts, and the imagination of the kid was needed to conjure up what to build. Nowadays the kits seem to be boxed around a particular kind of project -- a car, or a plane or crane -- and the kit contains pieces to make a crane look like a crane.

I used to love putting stuff together. I hated taking it apart and sorting out all the bolts and nuts and such. Usually I'd partially disassemble stuff and heap the stuff into the box. Of course, that merely deferred my need to take it apart and sort out all the bolts and nuts and such.

Update!

Check this out:

http://www.brain-builders.com/844700.html

"Builds 3 different realistically styled motorcycles. Flexible metal pieces allow for extra realism in the look of the model. Set contains 189 parts."

 

[TucsonDon]

I think there was a point in time when Erector sets came with plastic girders and plastic nuts and bolts. The blasphemy! It's like plastic Lincoln Logs.

The horror.

Kermit ... yes, there's tremendous value in toys like that. Not only learning the principles of gears and levers, but also in developing hand/eye coordination and the ability to conceive in the mind's eye something and then command the hands to put it together.

I'm an old fart ... I still think the best toys a kid can have are a set of wood building blocks and a Tonka truck. Dump trucker or grader ... doesn't matter.

 

[TucsonDon]

Oh great, now I can just see go out and get one and start building some contraptions like back in the day.

Don't ... fight ... the ... urge. Give ... in ... to ... the ... desire.

 

[TucsonDon]

Oh now you mention Lincoln Logs...
That got me started to think. I always thought of building my own log cabin...
...like I said, I THOUGHT about it.

Dude ... you'd have to buy a lot of Lincoln Log sets to build a cabin big enough.