Without damaging the bottom bracket

Bicycle bottom bracket repair: groove cuts for 204 balls

The bottom bracket of a road bicycle — and indeed of any other bicycle — is probably its most heavily loaded mechanism. Therefore, in bottom brackets with external tapered bearings, bearing cages often fail under heavy overloads, and the ball races on the cones of the bottom bracket spindle are frequently damaged as well. Intensive Read more…

“Bulb” instead of lungs

Mini pump for safe fuel transfer in field conditions

To refuel a car tank in field conditions — for example, from a barrel or another vehicle’s tank — drivers often use a simple hose and the so-called “suction method,” creating a vacuum by mouth, which risks getting some gasoline into it. You can avoid trouble if you make a simple mini-pump. To do this, Read more…

Snow motorcycle

Homemade motonarty: Voskhod-3M engine snowmobile build guide

In “Modelist-Konstruktor” magazine No. 11’1991 I came across a description of motonarty — a tracked snowmobile built by the Matveychuk brothers from Zavodoukovsk, Tyumen Oblast, and named by them “Mysl-2” (“Thought-2”). I liked the machine. For me, a rural resident, it looked like an indispensable means of transport in winter, and as a home builder Read more…

The third wheel of the “Tourist”

Sidecar for Tula-Tourist scooter: fiberglass body & frame

Enthusiasts build sidecars for all kinds of motorcycles and motor scooters! For Izh and Voskhod, for old Zündapps and brand-new Vyatka-Elektron. Owners of Tula-200 motor scooters are also happy to add a third wheel to their machine — especially since the engine power of the modern Tula-Tourist makes it quite feasible. Unlike many such trailers, Read more…

City car “Alezonnik-2”

Alezonnik-2: compact DIY urban two-seat car build

The two-seat car “Alezonnik-2” was built specifically for driving in urban conditions. Therefore, even before design work began, I formulated the main requirements the future vehicle had to meet: compact size, minimum curb weight, and high maneuverability combined with good road stability. Drawing on experience gained while building an off-roader (“Modelist-Konstruktor” No. 10, 1996) to Read more…

“Grasshopper” with a D-6 engine

«Kuznechik» micromotorcycle: frame, fork, paint

More and more often, the editorial mail receives bulky packages with drawings and descriptions of homemade micromotorcycles. Their principal difference from designs of earlier years is a successful combination of standard and homemade units in the construction. A second important detail is a sharply improved appearance and bold design solutions. On these pages we present Read more…