Crikey I recon this buggy business is a road to death based on what has been said so far.

Thank you for your comments - I am thinking of selling on and buying a KIA Picanto with 2 airbags and A/C.

Quote from: targabuggy on January 14, 2016, 04:23:56 PM
Crikey I recon this buggy business is a road to death based on what has been said so far.

Thank you for your comments - I am thinking of selling on and buying a KIA Picanto with 2 airbags and A/C.

As a bugger with 42 years and over 300,000 miles covered sat in a plastic tub on vw running gear I would say do not worry death is the end of the road but you can enjoy yourself getting there.

Think of it this way:

How long have you been driving? Do you drive in such a fashion that you need a roll cage?

how many times have you rolled the car to date?



Nuff said   


Oh, and any more talk of buying a Kia will get you kicked off here - there is no need for that 

Seems a shame to have a roll cage fitted that's not actually much good in a roll though.

And as for no rolls, well neither have I. But I've watched more than one friend die in one. It takes surprisingly little force/speed, just the right conditions.
Anyway, back to normal service.

Hi Phillip.  I have read and watched this post with interest.

I think that most buggies on here, including mine, are just for recreational road use and the use off the term roll bar is a generic term when really all the vast majority of us on this site really have is nothing more than a hood support bar.

Very few of us do competiton off roading in our vehicles and likely never will. If we did obviously we would build a fully cross membered filleted ROLL cage. But the cages / bars we do use helps reduce body shake and provides us with somewhere to fix a seatbelt. In addition fibreglass is extremely strong in tensile (ripping) strength so if the bar / cage is also bolted through the body as well as the floor it does help.

As over 90% of all collisions on British roads occur at 30 ph or below, some rudimentary side impact protection in what most of us have, does help. Obviously in the event of a high speed massive smash you are unlikely to come out of it well.

I do have small triangle fillets on mine at the main side bar and vertical front and rear bar joints which I use as the points to bolt through my body shell.

I'm with Snoopy in that I have been in the buggy world for over 1/4 a century now and know of no incidents involving a buggy rolling when used in normal road driving.

I used to race a rail in the Scorr series years ago and saw a few rollovers then but of course these vehicles were kitted out for racing.

So Mr Tara bug, you are with the vast majority of us buggy owners and I, for one, think the hood support bar / cage you have looks great 

Well my cage is made from Stainless - it looks good, but would be about as much use as tin foil if I went over, especially as the rear half is bolted to the fibreglass tub. And you know what? I don`t really care, as it was built to look shiney and somewhere to hang the interior mirror

@targabuggy
Ignore what others think at times and build your car the way YOU want to - but for what its worth, that shape of roll cage you have there will compliment the shape of the DOON bodyshell perfectly, and I can`t wait to see it on the road.

Looking good mate - keep the pictures coming   

Ive given up on being paranoid about every thing...........................

I just do what I can, the best I can, with the budget I have available at the time, totaly enjoy the useing my cars and any comments that come my way good or bad are dealt with when I feel like it.

If I ever meet those pilloks Elf &safety Im gonna totally trash them with a large bat made of common sense and fun   

H

I accept that Chad, and I know most of you it's just some extra strength for the shell and to compliment how it looks, but my point is more that if you're having one done and you do want a rollcage, it takes very little extra time or expense to make it actually triangulated, where it would be far, far stronger.

I guess it just worries me when people go 'look at my great new rollcage' and you wonder if they do know it's not going to be much good in a roll, whether they then have a false sense of security perhaps. If it had been 'look at my new style bars!' I perhaps wouldn't have bitten so hard

I know you're not all offroading at speeds, but I see more rolls at 15-20mph where someone clips the edge of a kerb or similar than I do the high speed stuff, it is amazing how easy it is to turn a car over, especially a jacked up buggy if you go playing down the lanes a bit, a swingaxle rear has quite a bit of overturning moment up high to start with.
Anyway, wasn't meaning to ruffle too many feathers, just don't get carried away with your style bars

I have 2 motorbikes as well as a buggy. 
You learn to drive within your abilities and the condtions and treat everyone else as an idiot who will do something stupid when you don't expect it.
You can't expect not to have an accident but then you can't expect to live forever and you have to have some fun.
Poeple in cars that are the safest in the world get injured its a risk you have to decide that you willing to take.
Yes you can minimize it but you will never make it 100% safe.

Hi guys thanks for your comments - proper debate!! No one is boasting about look at this and doesn't it look great. I'm personally just looking for feedback. This whole build for me is down to a few hours each Wednesday on my day off and some rare time on Sunday's. Yes it's taking a long time and so it should but unfortunately I have no other audience to discuss this with other than on vzi and your good selves! 

Roll bars are just for mounting cameras, massive spot lamps or if you want to secure on a hard top fairly easily!

I wouldn't worry about a long time, I can't remember ever stopping work on mine 

Quote from: apmaman on January 15, 2016, 10:52:52 PM
Roll bars are just for mounting cameras, massive spot lamps or if you want to secure on a hard top fairly easily!

And for polishing, dont forget the polishing

The body is finally on the car but not yet bolted down - I still need to make some adjustments to the fit but at least it's starting to take shape!!!
[IMG]
[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/targabug1974/media/Doon%20Buggy%20Build/EF9B2346-B6E6-46BE-91B8-8002A43EB603.jpg.html