Help ID enduro kart

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    • May 28, 2015 at 10:43 am #49028
      Greg Wright
      Participant

      Not sure but at first glance it looks like the Kobra kart that was available for a short time in the early 70s, particularly the fuel tanks. Never saw more than a few of them. Can’t remember right now who made them.

    • May 28, 2015 at 12:19 pm #49030
      Frank Cire
      Participant

      Hi,

      thanks, I will try and search for Kobra.  My kart has some strange design features, most notable to me are the central rails and the way the front spindles are built, they carry the “ears” that mate with a vertical cylinder of the front axle.  The closest thing I have found by searching pictures is

      http://vkakarting.com/?p=765

      fifth picture in.  The tanks are wrong but the frame geometry looks close and the front spindles look like they may be the same.

      More pics of front spindle, rails and rear end:

      http://westcoast.smugmug.com/Enduro-Kart-2/i-wKRx3bw/A

      http://westcoast.smugmug.com/Enduro-Kart-2/i-v4SMVwD/A

      http://westcoast.smugmug.com/Enduro-Kart-2/i-GZTtz6s/A

      Thanks for the tip.

    • June 2, 2015 at 5:47 pm #49239
      Robert Lawson
      Participant

      Usually all kart brands have a signature or calling card design of some part or piece. Sometimes its a small item other times it is chassis related.

       

      It may be because it is a twin that makes it so strange, the rear headrest mounting/belt guard combo is something I’ve never seen. All that might be due to the location of the rear calipers too. The tanks have a Bug Wasp look to them but it would have a wishbone front axle.

       

      I think you have a “custom”, it looks a bit mixed.

    • June 2, 2015 at 6:56 pm #49242
      Frank Cire
      Participant

      Yes, maybe.  I’ve also had an ID of a Kobra and a Bug Spider.  It has bits and pieces of all of those but not all of any of them.  It’s kind of like having a mutt, yet I want to enter him in the dog show.  I’d like to enter it into a vintage kart road race, but if I can’t prove it’s age, I won’t be able to.

    • June 3, 2015 at 12:52 pm #49275
      Robert Lawson
      Participant

      Frank,

       

      Its pretty safe to say its easily an early 80’s model for sure, if not older. The 1″ tubing dates it back at least that far. Straight front axle and threaded steering shaft make me want to lean more to the mid/late 70’s.

       

      Good Luck with it!

      • June 4, 2015 at 10:24 am #49411
        Frank Cire
        Participant

        On Vintagekarts.com, it has been decided that it is a combination between a Bug Spider (based on the axle and brake configuration) and a Caretta Works (based on the front end configuration and spindles).  The KT100s that came with the kart are very early, they are both straight shafts and I think one of them may also have sand cast casings.  The tanks are definitely Bug Wasp tanks.  Given all that, I place the kart late 70’s.

        I don’t think it is a true custom as the front end has multiple pedal locations and the quality of construction is overall very good.  I am thinking that it was project by Bug and Caretta Works to create a low cost enduro kart.  The Carettas had an axle housing with integral bearing mounts that could not have been inexpensive to build, and Bug had just transitioned to a wishbone axle which would have been more expensive to build than the Carettas straight axle.

        That being said, what to do with it?  Too old to race, too young to be vintage.  As a first step, I think I am going to restore the driveline.  There are some design details associated with the dual inboard drives that I would like to meditate upon.  Wisdom of the ancients and all.  Then I’ll put the driveline away and put a tag engine on the kart.  That way I can make a left hand mount with an inboard drive without having to provide for LH starting.  I’ll use one of my obsolete Rotaxes (Rotaxi?)  I bought the kart for the tuck and roll upholstery anyway.  Thirty years from now, someone can buy it out of my estate for $5, slap a coat of paint on it, and then put it up on ebay as a “very rare estate find, pristine condition vintage kart, possibly a Bug Spider or Caretta Works enduro.”

        Actually, as I have discovered, the Internet is very malleable.  When I started my quest for the identity of the kart, Google didn’t return any search results that were all that useful.  Now if I Google “enduro kart Bug Spider” my kart comes up in the images.  All I have to do now is continue to flood the Internet with posts associating my kart with “Bug Spider” and my kart will become one.

        Well I’m off, I’m going to associate pictures of my wrecked out ’99 Honda Prelude with the term “Jaguar XK-E” and then sell the Prelude on ebay for enough to retire on!

    • October 30, 2015 at 10:28 am #56080
      Dwain Parks
      Participant

      https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.416751415030691&type=1

      The link is to a 1971 Kobra C Open dual that I have for sale on my group on facebook.. It has a lot of the same features that your kart has,  Possibly yours could possibly be like a B-Stock Kobra?  Most of the stuff is close, just kinda lighter duty?

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