skyhawk in frame tank racer build

Hi everyone, ive had this baby for about half a year now and finally decided to make a build thread for it. It was a tough job building a bicycle from scratch as it gives you many choices to pick from. As If the frame wasnt crazy enough, i went ahead and put mountain biking rated forks on the front with a disc brake, and had a hayday with fitting disc brakes on the rear, but i succeded with thousanths of an inch to spare. i shoved a racing 2 stroke motor in it with porting, high compression, a mikuni carb, and a racing exhaust. Ive invested some serious bread in this build because its my hobby and my toys bring me joy. I love to talk about my bike and could all day, as ive modified and replaced every part on the bike, even in the motor. Please ask questions, ill be posting pictures as i find them

 

[crazedsmyle]

List of parts and places you ordered

Can you give a list of parts and places you ordered these parts from by any chance please. I'd like to try this build.

 

[mikemarley]

a skyhawk build? just clarifying lol

 

[crazedsmyle]

Skyhawk Builder

a skyhawk build? just clarifying lol

Yes the skyhawk build shown at the begining of this thread.

Please and thank you in advanced.

 

[mikemarley]

ok, well just a heads up this build is pretty expensive. but some dont mind, people like me who are gearheads lol.

firstly and most important is the skyhawk frame itself, there are 2 models the gt2-s the straight frame which you can drop an engine right in, and the gt2-a, my angle style frame with a front mount welded to the frame
youll have to look around as i got mine from a site that doesnt sell them anymore. be careful though as there are many cheap chinese copies, you can tell a genuine frame by the quality welds, and the serial number on the bottom of the pedal crank housing. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT CHINESE COPIES HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO SNAP AT THE WELDS, ESPECIALLY THE GT5-A.
Next is the forks, the frame comes with the cups and bearings for a 1-1/8 threadless fork. you have to pound the cups into the headtube. i went with mountain bike forks from ebay, but theres lots of choices its mostly just choice. depending on the forks you might need a headset.
and finally is the handle bars
next is the pedal crank, you can go with american 1 piece ball bearing cranks, or go with a 3 piece mountain bike crank, i got mine from sickbikeparts.com, youll need the adapter cups to be able to do it, also at sickbikeparts.com also.

ill finish the list in a bit im hungry lol

 

[Leroybrown420]

Your also going to need wheels, tires, tubes, rim strips, quill, headset shims, 27.2mm seat post, 31.8mm seat post clamps, a seat, handlebars, engine kit (2 or 4 stroke), kickstand & chain

 

[mikemarley]

ok, so continuing the list
so now that youve got your crank in the frame, you need to decide if you want a single speec or not, as you can put mountain bike gears on, or a bmx freewheel, once youve decided you need to get crank arms, and pedals as well.

finally is the wheels, you need to pick out a rim for the front and back, but you can only fit a 26" rim in the back, the front is dependent on your forks.you also need to decide if you want coaster brakes, v brakes or disc brakes, i use discsm. i had to get special rims, my front is a 29" bontrager tubeless disc rim, and my back is a 26" stattru heavy duty disc freewheel. the front is tubeless for potholes,and rolling weight. the back is heavy duty disc hub for multiple reasons. the first reason is most of the weight sits on the back wheel, and its a hardtail on top of that. the second is because of my drive gear mount, ususlly people use the "sandwich" style but i wanted reliability and strength.

 

[KCvale]

ok, well just a heads up this build is pretty expensive. but some dont mind, people like me who are gearheads lol.

Yep, a 'bare frame' build can get quite expensive if you don't have a lot bike parts on hand.

I did this custom customer requested GT2-A 4-stroke 3-speed shifter a couple of years ago.





A real pain in the butt with that frame, the S shaped 2-stroke frame would have been better even though it doesn't need the pedestal.

firstly and most important is the skyhawk frame itself
youll have to look around as i got mine from a site that doesnt sell them anymore.

be careful though as there are many cheap chinese copies, you can tell a genuine frame by the quality welds, and the serial number on the bottom of the pedal crank housing.
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT CHINESE COPIES HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO SNAP AT THE WELDS, ESPECIALLY THE GT5-A.

One easy way to spot a fake frame is the lack of back V-brake bosses.
gasbike/kings only sell fakes.

New GT2's with support for 3" wide 26" wheels and a back disc brake are nearly complete.
That will be a game changer for fat tire shifting bikes.

 

[mikemarley]

thanks kc, that is a good tip. they might be a bit pricy but i love my skyhawk

 

[Leroybrown420]

Or you can get a TV dinner. Just add engine (some assembly required).

 

[mikemarley]

ok so now youve got your wheels, and hopefully figured out what kind of gears you want mountain bike, or the single bmx gear.
so the next step is to figure out if you want gears or the single speed. this determines which side the drive chain will be on. if you decide with gears you need to get a jackshaft kit from sickbikeparts.com.
if you go with a single speed you need to decide how to mount your drive sprocket to the hub. there are 3 types of mounts.
the first type is the stock type, its garbage in my opinion but you can adjust it so its true. the second is the manic mechanic clamp on drive sprocket, its great and strong too. the third type the disc buscuit from jakebike, it mounts straight to the disc hub, the only issue is spacing of everything, theres literally just thousandths of inches between everything lol aircraft tolerances
so like i said its pricy, but you can do so much with the frame its just about what you want to do