Micro ATV- Dune BUggy Designs Manufactured in China
Discussion
While doing research on google for a personal dune buggy design project, I was shocked at the number of these micro Atv dune buggies manufactured in China.
This company manufactures clones.........
http://www.rccarsfactory.com/Product/ProductList.a...
I was wondering why the kitcar industry hasn't come up with a similar project yet ? using exhisting car technology instead of motorcycles and being an exo-skeleton design, it shouldn't be that difficult to manufacture in Europe at decent prices...
They do look pretty crude in their engineering sometimes, but they're gaining momentum in mainland Europe and in some cases they're replacing Microcars as a daily transport....
I'd like to have an affordable kit version form myself, with a small car engine, instead of a motorcycle or scooter engine.
A few images :
This company manufactures clones.........
http://www.rccarsfactory.com/Product/ProductList.a...
I was wondering why the kitcar industry hasn't come up with a similar project yet ? using exhisting car technology instead of motorcycles and being an exo-skeleton design, it shouldn't be that difficult to manufacture in Europe at decent prices...
They do look pretty crude in their engineering sometimes, but they're gaining momentum in mainland Europe and in some cases they're replacing Microcars as a daily transport....
I'd like to have an affordable kit version form myself, with a small car engine, instead of a motorcycle or scooter engine.
A few images :
I recently came back from Cyprus and these style of Dune buggys were every where!
Obviously they have the climate for it there but they have replaced the moped hire that all the tourists used to have.
They look fantatsic but most of the ones I looked at had small bike engines with CVT gearing and didn't seem to have the performance to match the looks.
When I got back to the UK I looked into costs and they were suprsingly expensive for the bigger ones ($10K +) and I was very suprised.
I would think there would be a market for a good road legal kit...
Obviously they have the climate for it there but they have replaced the moped hire that all the tourists used to have.
They look fantatsic but most of the ones I looked at had small bike engines with CVT gearing and didn't seem to have the performance to match the looks.
When I got back to the UK I looked into costs and they were suprsingly expensive for the bigger ones ($10K +) and I was very suprised.
I would think there would be a market for a good road legal kit...
http://www.diytrade.com/china/4/products/4871154/B...
it seems like you could get them direct from the manufacturer for 2500 Dollars.........I guess you would have to buy a container's worth for that price.....
it seems like you could get them direct from the manufacturer for 2500 Dollars.........I guess you would have to buy a container's worth for that price.....
Look at this :
http://italian.alibaba.com/product-gs/jeep-four-wh...
and the original Jeep concept car.......these guys have no problems with design infringement or other......
http://www.autoblog.com/gallery/2008-detroit-chrys...
http://italian.alibaba.com/product-gs/jeep-four-wh...
and the original Jeep concept car.......these guys have no problems with design infringement or other......
http://www.autoblog.com/gallery/2008-detroit-chrys...
How about this one?
http://www.smartmotorcycle.com/page/utv/k12b.htm
I was doing the same sort of exercise with a view to using up an old Austin Mini engine I have lying around and found the above site.
http://www.smartmotorcycle.com/page/utv/k12b.htm
I was doing the same sort of exercise with a view to using up an old Austin Mini engine I have lying around and found the above site.
I think one of the threads Italo put me onto mentioned an enclosed quad as a product idea, which I did mean to add to the non-traditional possibility on the design thread. Might it be possible to design a buggy chassis and plan to offer in two versions from the outset? One as buggy for the fun / holiday rental market, the other as a farm workhorse quad replacement (after all, they have been involved in a few high profile accidents).
The former would have baja / beach buggy swoopy bodywork, the latter would have flatter front / rear decks for hay bales etc. The major problem with this is quads are generally smaller than buggies...
The former would have baja / beach buggy swoopy bodywork, the latter would have flatter front / rear decks for hay bales etc. The major problem with this is quads are generally smaller than buggies...
A friend of mine exported a load of Renli (that's the manufacturer's company name) 500CC dune buggies to Dubai in late 2007. He made an absolute killing on them, purchasing for $4000 and selling to rich Arabs and ex-pats (wealthy Russians and Iranians mostly) for close t $10,000 per buggy. At the time there weren't any in Dubai - mostly rubbish quads or VW Beetle converted beach buggies - so he could charge what he liked. Now they're everywhere out there and popular with dune bashers.
I don't know if they're road legal in the UK and with China's questionable quality control on products, I wouldn't want to get involved.
I don't know if they're road legal in the UK and with China's questionable quality control on products, I wouldn't want to get involved.
drgoatboy said:
I recently came back from Cyprus and these style of Dune buggys were every where!
Obviously they have the climate for it there but they have replaced the moped hire that all the tourists used to have.
They look fantastic but most of the ones I looked at had small bike engines with CVT gearing and didn't seem to have the performance to match the looks.
When I got back to the UK I looked into costs and they were surprisingly expensive for the bigger ones ($10K +) and I was very surprised.
I would think there would be a market for a good road legal kit...
I did the same....and thankfully hired the 500cc and not the 250cc version! God was it slow!! It was a PGO buggy....similar to the ones you are looking at.Obviously they have the climate for it there but they have replaced the moped hire that all the tourists used to have.
They look fantastic but most of the ones I looked at had small bike engines with CVT gearing and didn't seem to have the performance to match the looks.
When I got back to the UK I looked into costs and they were surprisingly expensive for the bigger ones ($10K +) and I was very surprised.
I would think there would be a market for a good road legal kit...
In my opinion:
the brakes are awful
the engine is gutless, which is luck as you wouldn't stop otherwise!
the suspension was OK
the chassis flexed a lot!
The CVT was a pain in the butt, and you had to go through a weird ritual to get it from reverse into high!
As a plus point I got really really muddy! And it went places the Amazon was reluctant to go! Oh and it did about 2,000,000 mpg!
All in all there are better versions out there that have some off road pedigree with them, and not churned out in a far eastern line.
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