Tandam two seat mini buggy

[Mike]

Anyone see a mini buggy like this? I was just playing around the other night and thought this looked cool.

Mike

[tenaja]

I've seen pics of a tandem. One issue is that with the length, you have to add a lot of tubing, or live with the frame flex and increased likelyhood for high-centering it.

Your outline isn't too far from the ST2 frame from badlandbuggy.com

[Mike]

I sorta followed the front shape of that new buggy that Edge has in the forum section. The Barracuda or something like that. That is one BAD looking buggy. Anyhow My idea was to build this buggy for my wife and the section behind the front seat would be wide enough for somewhat of a bench seat so my kids could both fit back there. This car would not be something that would be hauling Butt around. It would be for my wife and kids to follow me around. LOL I think I stretched the overall wheel base 100" for this drawing.

Mike

[amergin]

I never could understand the desire for a tandem style buggy myself. The other one I thought was a little to weird was the three seater someone made, one of the big companies.

You could always mount a .50mm on top for the rear passenger. *

[Bugpac]

[smilie=ecstatic.gif]

[Mike]

I have a wife and two kids that will need a ride too. LOL There buggy does not have to be fast or anything like that. I just want them to be able to follow along and have fun too. I guess they could all fit in a side by side 2 seater but thats not a cool looking as a tandem.

Mike

[Gene]

Tandem mini with rear sprocket will be a lousy car for anything but a straight line.

Gene

[Mike]

What do you mean with rear sprocket? Talking about setup with Bike motor? So a buggy with a 100" wheel base and 65" track width would not handle all that well? What is the ratio that works best for trach width and wheel base?

Mike

[Gene]

When you say tandem you mean a seat in front and one in back, right?

Rorty mentioned something about track and length ratio a few days back but the length and track you mention seems reasonable but I have trouble envisioning anything but a side-by-side with that length.

On longer cars with rear sprocket your front suspension needs to be well designed. Spindle inclination to achieve little to no scrub will help steering.

My experience with my original two seater was that it had about 5 degrees negative spindle inclination. This meant that when you drew a line through spindle heims the line terminated about 5 inches from the tire contact point toward the car.

So the design had this negative scrub and steered poorly. Add a straight axle in the rear and the car couldn't turn around in a cul de sac because the front tires were getting pushed or dragged since it wanted to pivot 5 inches toward the center instead of under the tire.

On the same car made into a four seater it would be realy lousy. The 4 seat car has a 136 inch wheelbase - 24 inches more than his two seater.

That's why I think a tandem would be a poor steering car. Could be wrong though!
Gene

[Mike]

The ratio is not to far off what most single seat buggies are. I may widen it up a little more but it looked like there is enough room for 3. LOL 26" wide at the shoulder for the driver and 36" wide at the shoulder for the passenger. 100" wheel base and 66" track.

Mike