I’ve only been aware of cyclekarts for about 18 months. I was at the Malvern Kit Car Show and heard these popping engines revving and clearly having fun. I followed the sound… and there they were — cyclekarts! I was immediately hooked. I loved the hobbyist, builder, “make do” aspect, and also the huge range. Some were absolutely beautiful, but all were accepted.

Well, only a couple of months later I had bought steel, an engine, and wheels… and the build began.

The build is going OK so far — lots of thinking through all sorts of parts, but it’s all just problem solving and making things work. I’ll start a build diary soon, and all comments and advice are very welcome.

I’m based in the Notts / Derby area, so if anyone nearby has suggestions, or karts I could come and look at for ideas on how to make parts, please let me know.

Although cliché for an Englishman, my inspiration is a 1939 Aston Martin Speed Model. It was a one-off and last sold at Sotheby’s for £395k(!), so I probably won’t be owning a real one any time soon! I’m not really a car expert, but I love building things that do something.

looking forward to meeting you!

Matt

Welcome to slv.

Please reply to this post and share a little about yourself especially location (not your specific address though!), interest and experience in cycleKarts, any particular skills you might be happy to share...etc

Some tips:
Visit the club's website and read "What is a cyclekart?" and "Build your own"
Choose an inspiration car
Have a look at the Events calendar on the club website and come along to an event
Start a build journal - it’s great for others to see your progress and for you to ask for advice https://cyclekartsgb.createaforum.com/build-journals/
Join the club https://www.cyclekartsgb.com/join
Read the spec in detail https://www.cyclekartsgb.com/s/CKGB-Handbook-20240130-v03.pdf including the Power Menu
Add yourself to the Map

Hi Stefan , my Marmon wasp uses 219 sprockets throughout. Smallest size available is 60 tooth from Talon,63 tooth from everyone else. However if you’re struggling for room there are a lot of smaller split sprockets with key ways for 30 mm axle/lay shaft, these are 428 pitch. Loads of different tooth counts search on eBay.

Regards Nick

There’s quite a lot of talk about jack shafts on the forum at the moment.

I would be interested to read/see people’s experience of fitting small sprockets on jack shafts:

What size jack shaft have you used?
What’s the smallest sprocket you’ve used on the jack shaft?
How have you attached the sprocket to the jack shaft (photos)?

To illustrate, if you made a jackshaft with available TAV30 , 420 sprockets for example, you could start at the Tav on a 9, go to 12 on jackshaft input, 9 on jackshaft output and then have a smaller rear sprocket of 50 on the axle for an an overall ratio of 7.4 ish

https://www.bmikarts.com/go-kart-gear-ratio-calculator-jackshaft-setup

JimR