Wie man ein Cyclekart baut | SWR Handwerkskunst

„Ich will eigentlich nichts anderes mehr machen, als Cyclekarts bauen“, sagt Frank Bankonin. Es ist das schönste Hobby für ihn. Seit 2018 hat er sein Hobby zum Beruf gemacht. Cyclekarts sind den Rennwägen aus den 20er und 30er Jahren nachempfundene Autos. Ihre Karosserie ist aus Holz und mit Alu-Blech verkleidet. Es sind Autos voller Nostalgie und Accessoires aus einer vergangenen Autoepoche. Frank Bankonin hat eine große Fangemeinde, die Schlange seht um sich ein Auto von ihm bauen zu lassen.

Der frühere Konditor ist über Umwege zum Cyclekartbau gekommen. Autobegeistert war er schon immer. Als Kind hat er alles auseinandergebaut und hatte eine große Begeisterung für Technik. Seine große Autobegeisterung und sein großes Know How verbaut er in seinen Cyclekarts. 2011 nahm er an einem Seifenkistenrennen teil, baute sich eine Seifenkiste aus Alublech. Nach dem Rennen will er die Seifenkiste im Internet verkaufen und ist sehr überrascht über das große Interesse.

Cyclekarts haben kleine Motoren, Gas und Bremse. Der Motor ist der Unterschied zur Seifenkiste. Eine Lagerhalle in der Nähe von Augsburg ist Bankonins Kreativwerkstatt. Hier entstehen kleine Traumautos in kühnen Formen. Die Originale haben einmal viele Preise bei Autorennen abgeräumt. Das technische Innenleben der Cyclekarts kommt aus dem Gokart-Sport. Gokarts haben kleinere Räder, haben modernere Formen als Cyclekarts. Zwei Autos baut Frank Bankonin pro Monat. Ist eines fertig und verkauft, hat er schon wieder neue Ideen. In der Cyclekart-Szene ist er eine echte Koryphäe. Seine Liebe zum Detail macht seine Autos unverwechselbar.

IM VIDEO
Frank Bankonin, Cyclekartbauer

CREDITS
Autorin: Gabriele Damasko
Kamera: Dirk Schwarz
Ton: Felix Hess, Jonathan Utecht
Schnitt: Monika Agler
Grafik: Katharina Flamm
Redaktion: Carmen Lustig
Social Media Redaktion: Land und Leute RP Online
Produktion: teamWERK, Die Filmproduktion GmbH

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#Handwerkskunst #Cyclekart #Seifenkiste

Anyone who builds cycle karts has to be very versatile. I work in an area between model making, body construction, car mechanic and designer. Everything in one person, but just a little bit of everything. This is a hobby that I turned into a career. I’m totally into it, that’s my world.

The cars are of course my babies, of course. I can’t imagine doing anything else either. I absolutely live this hobby. Because such an original car is not financially feasible for me, I am now building it myself. Frank Bankonin’s obsession with cars and his extensive know-how

Flow into the construction of motorized luxury soap boxes, so-called cycle karts. I generally start with a wooden plate, onto which I then draw the outlines from the vehicle floor. Then I can measure how big I need to saw the iron and frame parts I need. They are then sawn out

And then placed on the pre-drawn plate. Then I can check whether everything fits. The special thing is that I actually work without blueprints. I build the cars according to the photo. That means I’m making it up in my head, so to speak,

And I already have the plan for the finished car in my head. This is based on a Bugatti T35. That’s what I need as a… basis. The cycle karts are about replicating racing legends from the 1920s and 1930s on a one-to-two scale. Then as now, the body is made of wood,

Which is then covered with sheet metal. The next step is to add the frame tubes. They’ll put them on here and see if everything fits. Then they are just tacked on briefly and then welded through. That’s what we’re doing now. The steel tubes are the frame for the cycle kart,

Which should have good road holding. It can only be driven on private property or in official races. Done, and now we’re going to… take all the clamps off. The wooden board gone. Now he screws the steel frame again with screw clamps onto wider, heavier tubes so that it cannot distort during welding.

That’s a lot of hard preparatory work. Now the weld seams are cleaned. Well, the frame is… welded so far. We’ll get him back down. Always wear gloves because: super hot. While the frame cools down, work on the exclusive interior design begins. This is the lower part of the bench.

This is where you practically sit on it and this is where the backrest goes. This is simply a wooden part made of laminated wood. I sand it a little round so that there are no shavings left. This little car was ordered as a two-seater. So, the next step is to put the…

Padding on here. Cut a little more roughly. Frank Bankonin’s customers are just as crazy about cars as he is. Big boys who fulfill a childhood dream and leave 10,000 euros on the table for it. Good. Then we take the leather. This is a cognac-colored leather.

I always have to make sure I get leather like this, with this so-called vintage look. Which is a bit… which always has a very slight shine and looks a bit old. And things that can easily be patinated, i.e. “made old”. The initial impetus to build such cars was a real race.

For me, the topic of cycle karts started with soapboxes. I have… In 2011 we had a soap box race in our town. which I took part in and then discovered cars from the 1920s. And based on this model, I built a soapbox out of aluminum sheet.

And then after the race I didn’t really know what to do with it. I thought, just put the thing on the internet. And then there were an enormous number of inquiries. It was probably relatively unique and that’s how it actually started. Since then he has been building cycle karts.

In 2018 he turned his hobby into a profession. His racing cars are based on cars from the 1920s and 1930s. They are light, have an engine, brake and accelerator pedal and can reach speeds of around 40 kilometers per hour. And if you sand this and treat it with the appropriate leather grease,

It looks as if it has been in use for 80 years. Now I’m going to insert this strip of leather here so that it covers the staple needles that I used to attach the leather beforehand. And if you then look at it from above, you can see that it stays there,

It is now clamped in place. The whole thing… is processed with an abrasive fleece . So I’m basically destroying it on purpose, so to speak. Yes. This style has become so established over the years and that’s exactly what people want. And the success proves me right, so what the heck.

Then I’ll do exactly that. Wear gloves because it gets greasy. This is a colorless leather grease. This is a bit yellowish. This is then… generously… smeared on here. And then you can just polish it off. And then it has a very slight shine and looks really rancid, just as it should.

Just like after a long life on the streets. Okay, done. We take that. And this is what it should look like. Both parts. Then the frame is placed here again and aligned. You can now touch the thing. So now the… the frame parts here… are screwed onto the plate.

To do this, he uses robust drive-in nuts that drill their teeth into the wood. So, these are the axes. One, two, three, four fat bearings… to make the whole thing stable. The cycle kart that I do actually has a continuous engine, namely a petrol engine. Of course, if someone wants it,

There is also an electric motor, I do that too, but it is rarely requested. Gasoline engines are simply more popular because they just… Yes, they make a noise and they’re nicer to drive. The location of the bearings is marked on the axle. And drilled.

Now I have drilled the holes here, four of them, where the grub screws, these ones, are sunk in so that the axle does not move sideways in the bearings and does not slip out when you drive around the curve. Now we just do a quick deburring.

The technology of cycle karts originally comes from go-kart construction. The scene is particularly large in England and the USA. Frank Bankonin recently founded a cycle kart club in Germany. Now you can see how the grub screw disappears in here. Grub screw because it screws or eats into the metal like a maggot.

And so the axle is fixed in the bearing and can no longer slip out. Sprocket and brake disc. And put the bearing back on. I’ve always been interested in cars, anything with wheels, since I was very small. He builds two cars a month in his workshop, sometimes late into the night.

He is the only one in Germany who does it so professionally. To fasten this, I now use normal nuts because I can screw them on by hand and loosen them again. For welding, for adjusting. Frank Bankonin feels at home among the welding machines, brake discs, screws and machines

. The holders that hold the brake caliper are welded here. The discs are aligned on the axle and this is a mechanical brake caliper. A cable comes in here and pulls the two arms together. This will remove the two brake pads pressed onto the disc and this causes the whole thing to brake.

If I do this by hand and turn the disc, it runs freely. And as soon as I pull here, it slows down and then nothing works anymore. Same over here. And the two are then connected with two cables to the brake pedal and the accelerator pedal, which is one unit.

When the bridge is finished, the motor can be installed. The heart of the cycle kart. Without a motor it would just be a soapbox. Now the engine is filled with oil. 550 milliliters of engine oil now come in. And put the… here. This is a universal motor

For water pumps, for mixing machines, for everything. And it is also used in karting, among other things. It is a 200cc, single cylinder engine with approximately 6.5 horsepower. Which is completely sufficient for such a small car. Here he assembles the Variomatic drive belt. Now let’s put the chain on it.

You first have to adjust it because it’s a bit too long, a bit messy. Frank Bankonin knows how to deal with all problems, having already built around 100 such cars. The technical inner workings are usually identical. Only the bodies are different, and his imagination is limitless. And done. Excellent.

Now the wooden body is built. Frank Bankonin attached the side panels of the 1920s model to the base plate and to the round radiator construction. Everything will later be covered with thin sheet metal. He sees himself as an artist and designer. This is a 0.6 millimeter aluminum sheet.

This is very easy to process. Can even be cut with standard household scissors. Many details on the cars are significantly smaller than on the original. It’s really helpful if you have a sheet of metal that’s easy to process. The dashboard should be a flashing piece of jewelry. Four instruments come in here.

Tachometer, clock, oil pressure and water temperature. A small brush attachment gives it that 1920s charm. Et voilà. Now we can make the instruments. I’ll get them quickly. They are otherwise installed on motorcycles. Frank Bankonin has already brushed and hammered them old. This is the fuel gauge and oil pressure. Tank, oil.

Here we only build for looks. The plaque from a race in which the original vehicle regularly won prizes is just a nostalgic look. These details are always very important for the clients. And the cycle kart designer spends a lot of time and skill on this.

So you can simply put the ignition key in here, turn it over and then start it. Sounds good. The remaining side parts still need to be screwed and stapled. And then the boundary to the engine has to be adjusted. The backrest of the leather bench will go here later. Frank Bankonin perfected the work processes. For him, every new car always has to be better than the last.

Cycle karts are fun vehicles. The replica is significantly smaller, usually only half the size of the original. The car has no doors. You practically jump over the railing in a sporty way. Wooden reinforcement gives the car stability. Every car that leaves its workshop is special. The cars I have built have my autograph under the floorboard. I would also recognize a car that I built. Absolutely everyone.

The aluminum sheet parts are measured and cut to size again and again. Over the years, Frank Bankonin has bought many machines in order to be able to work optimally. On this folding bench he can bend the floor panels to fit precisely. This is now folded on both sides

And then pushed into the car like this. Good. This is now also fixed with screws. He then assembles sheet by sheet onto the wooden body and hammers the ends to create a beautiful, elegant finish. The front axles are connected to the steering wheel here. I’m now going to insert the handlebar here and…

Then there’s a holder up here that will ensure that the handlebar is guided. For the next work step, Frank Bankonin needs another machine. He can use it to punch slots or louvers into the sheets. Louvers, that’s a French name for gills, because they look like gills. These pressed slots here.

These are basically like the gills of a fish. And that’s where the air should flow through, the hot air that comes from the engine, which should then go out. The side sheet metal parts all have this gill look. In the 1920s the hot air actually escaped, but today it just looks good.

The panels for the hood need to be slightly bent with a roller. The roller then moves up, and as it rolls, the roller pushes the sheet in the upward direction. This gives it a very even curve. You can now see that this is one half of the hood

And you can then open it like this. And here the gills are punched in, the louvers. The paneling between the seat and the engine cover is also a rounded sheet metal and covers the unsightly gap. The excess sheet metal comes away. With this thin aluminum sheet, Frank Bankonin can also model the edges

And create dynamic curves, for example in the small windbreak. I just like cars with corners and edges, where you can actually see something, feel something, feel something when you touch it, when you reach over it. You notice, okay, this isn’t just a smooth bar of soap and wind tunnel optimized.

The car from another time with accessories that look completely different today in the digital world. The two parts of the hood or repair flap are connected with the piano hinge so that they can actually be folded. The pre-bent parts are given their final shape by hand so that they fit well.

So now we have a working hood. This hood now also makes the elongated shape of the classic car typical of the 1920s visible. It is attached very delicately with small screws and rivets. Frank Bankonin uses box closures so that the rounded hood with the stylish louvers can be opened and closed again

. The body is finished and has already been primed so that the paint lasts better. Now the Cyclekart gets a beautiful color full of nostalgia. This model was often delivered in various shades of blue because it is also the French racing color, which was blue at the time.

The English racing color was green and the Italian red. I painted this car baby blue because it was of course a very special customer request. The car is a limited edition, there are only two. There will only be two cars in exactly this color. That’s what makes it so exclusive.

But it is simply the attention to detail and the incredible know-how that Frank Bankonin builds into his cycle karts. After painting, he keeps coming up with new gags. However, I have now solved it so that it is just a fake. So it just looks like it is. It basically turns when you steer.

It moves when you steer, but has no function whatsoever. This is just a visual story. If I turn the steering here now, you can see how it moves nicely. Yes. This is the handbrake lever. There is now a cable pull with a spring and you can operate it, but it has no function.

The owner is happy that something is moving on the car. It’s like with small model cars, you’re happy when you can turn the steering or open the doors. And it just looks good. There are also levers and switches on the engine board that actually have no function except for the light switch.

But they are simply necessary. The wheels are of course absolutely not fake. They are actually these typical spoked wheels. Now comes the radiator grille, and the hood ornament shouldn’t be missing. This holds now. This is a special glue suitable for metal. It creates an elastic connection because the car also vibrates a bit

Because it is a single-cylinder engine. The original car had a thermometer in here, a small one where the driver could see when the mercury rose into the red zone that the radiator was boiling. This is now also without function and just modeled on the whole thing. It used to be common practice

To secure the bonnets with leather straps. Frank Bankonin is always looking for authentic materials to optimize the details on his cars. His car soul never sleeps. So I lie in bed in the evening and ultimately think about how I’m going to start the new project.

My whole life revolves around these types of cars. I’ve already checked off everything else. Children are grown and I don’t have to worry about anything else. I can devote myself entirely to my somewhat crazy hobby. This is a stone guard. So many of the streets were not paved,

And large stones were often thrown from the cars in front . That’s why a stone guard was installed so that the stones don’t hit the cooler and destroy it. The spare wheel belongs on the outside of the car. An old leather bag that people used to screw onto their cars

For tools and things they needed while driving or racing. A few wrenches, something to drink. In this case you can put a cell phone in it or a few cookies. You never know what will happen to you along the way. Very important is the rear light,

Which is supposed to work like the front headlights. These are mainly big children, some of whom have a real car like this or a similar car in real life or buy it for their grandchildren. And they are generally all car fanatics, car-loving people who simply need something like that.

A few more decorations with rivets and wire, which just look beautiful and used to hold the metal sheets together. Frank Bankonin also provides the patina. Yes, that’s just this special technique that I use, it’s ideal for making the whole thing look used. It just looks like

It has actually been in use for many years. For very extreme things, I sometimes make a few small dents with scratches right down to the aluminum sheet, depending on how the customer wants it. If he wants a car that is very competitive, i.e. with a racing history, then it can happen

That I give it a lot of battle scars. The cars are very exclusive because they are unique pieces. It’s a luxury toy, I say. The car I have now built is a homage to a French car manufacturer. The model is called T35 and is one of my favorite cars. Of course, a feeling of happiness arises. When I put the car down from the stands and then start the engine for the first time, step on the gas and hit the brakes to see if everything works. That is of course a feeling of happiness.

And it is precisely this feeling of happiness that drives him. Did you like this “craftsmanship”? Then write us your opinion about the film in the comments. And, don’t forget: subscribe to the channel! SWR 2024