August 29/08. A suspension supplement is now available for the R15 Arena.

June 26/08. Announcing a new and exciting model, the R21, a single-seater with all components available for purchase.

June 12/08. I've added a Google search engine which only searches this web site.

May 01/08. I've been sent some astounding photos over the years of dubious workmanship and I thought I'd share a few of them with you in Poultry-poo Welding and Other Atrocities.

March 26/08. Today marks the first major revisions of the R11 Stiletto (now known as the Stiletto II) and the R16 Shotgun (now known as the Shotgun II).
All the custom laser-cut parts and machined parts are now offered for purchase from the one source, thus making the builds simpler and quicker. In light of the available parts, DXF files are no longer available for the R11 and R16.
Both the R11 and R16 now use Tatum front hubs and brakes. 

October 13/07. A new stadium and woods buggy design, the Arena, is now complete.

August 1/07. A new web host and a new look. Actually the colour scheme was inspired by a car I used to own that was painted in the Gulf Oil colours.
I also got around to doing a photo log of the two R16 Shotguns being built by the 'Baja Brothers'.

July 06/07. A revision of the R11 Stiletto front upright.

July 06/07. A revision of the R16 Shotgun front upright.

June 18/07. A revision of the R11 Stiletto front upright.

June 12/07. A revision of the R16 Shotgun front upright.

May 23/07. I have devised an alternative method of mounting the FNR and fitting a chain tensioner.

April 23/07. After some persuasion, I've prepared a Steering Column & Paddle Shifter Manual which is now ready for purchase.

March 30/07. A few months behind schedule, but nonetheless, the new R11 Stiletto single-seater buggy manual is now complete and ready for purchase.

March 23/07. Tripp has beaten Biklomen to the finish and has had his first run in his newly finished R82s. Check out the movie here.

March 23/07. Update available to convert the R82s rear hubs to the same ones used on the R16 Shotgun. Please note they are designed to run 930 CV joints.
For a PDF copy, please email me with your CD license number.

March 17/07. Update announced in the R16 Shotgun Updates page.

March 03/07. Addition of errata in the R16 Shotgun Updates page.

February 27/07. R16 Shotgun Updates page is for builders of the R16 Shotgun buggy to check for any additions to the Suppliers List, or updates to the Parts List, drawings and specifications.

February 21/07. The new R16 Shotgun buggy manual is finished and ready for purchase.

October 21/06. Added more pics to Brad's build.

October 7/06. Added a picture of Brad's remade headers.

October 2/06.
Release of steering update for the R82s to allow fitting of a Wright steering rack. Email me with your licence No. if you would like a copy.

September 21/06.
Added a pictorial build log of Brad Lomen's R82s.

November 05/05.
Added a Tips & Tricks page.

November 04/05.
The site needed a face lift, so I tweaked it, corrected some typos and generally tidied it up a bit and added a Downloads page.

September 30/05.
I finally digitised my old ratchet bender drawings and have written a construction manual for it. Rorty No.3 Bender Manual.

January 30/05.
I've added a page on engine cooling which includes the radiator and oil cooler.

January 09/05.
There have been a few enquiries recently about engine gaskets, and while I don't get too involved in engines around here, there are cheaper gaskets than those purchased from the bike dealers. Here's the Rorty MYO Gasket how to.

November 30/04.
It's done! The Beetle Chassis Manual is now ready. I say "ready" and not finished, because I will no doubt add other donor vehicles and parts to the list as requested.

November 16/04.
I'm slowly working through the Beetle chassis plans in the evenings and have finished the main drawings. I just have some individual parts to draw and then annotate the whole lot, so they shouldn't be too long now. Here's a quick look at the chassis drawing.

October 17/04.
I've just finished writing the manual for the 12" Disc Sander Plans. You can see them on the CAD Plans page.

October 13/04.
I'm responding to the pressure and digitising my tool and machinery plans. You can view the Tube Notcher Plans and purchase them from the CAD Plans page.

September 6/04.
Some people reported problems viewing the two photo pages, so I dumped the albums and have just created a new Buggy-Building Photos page and a Buggy-Racing Photos page.

July 12/2004.
New tech pages on Buggy Brakes and Sand-bending Exhaust Tube.

May 30/2004.
I've converted some old paper drawings of my bead roller into CAD drawings.

April 3/2004.
There are a number of new movies in Buggy Movies.

March 31/04.
A new server and a new fresher look! The new server has a much larger capacity, so look out for more articles and movies. Any suggestions are welcome.

February 12/04.
The picture of the R82s has been updated on the R82s Plans page.

February 9/04.
There's now a bend allowance calculator at the bottom of the Tube Work page to help with all those....erm....bend calculations.

January 27/04.
I've been asked to produce some roll bender plans too, so here they are.

January 8/04.
Everyone building a buggy should have a tube bender, but all the commercial ones are fairly expensive. As just about every buggy builder will have basic metal working tools and a pile of off cuts, I designed the Rorty No. 1 Tube Bender. The Rorty No. 1 Tube Bender Plans are now available at a very modest cost. Other tools and machines will follow when I have time to convert them.

December14/03.
Here's a good article on anodizing aluminium parts at home.

November 20/03.
Nothing to do with buggies, but I've just uploaded a page on my Hammerhead Trike if anyone's interested.

October 17/03.
A guide to Scheduled Maintenance has been added to the Technical Page.

October 14/03.
Updated the racing organizations on the Links page.

October 11/03.
There have been many emails asking about electrics and wiring. I, being the top bloke that I am, immediately sat down and put together a Buggy Electrics page. It's by no means comprehensive, but should get you up and running. If there are any sparkies out there who would like to comment or offer additional information, please email me.

October 3/03.
Woo-hoo! the R82s two-seater buggy plans are finished and ready for shipment.

September 14/03.
Sorry for the glitch with the movies during the past 24 hours. I'm running out of space, so I put the movies on another server, which posed a few problems. It seems to be sorted now.
I've updated the Links page again,  and categorized it.

September 13/03.
The other day, I was able to salvage some more buggy movies I had burnt to CD ages ago, and thought I'd lost forever. I've added some to the Buggy Movies.

August 26/03.
Up-dated list of international buggy racing clubs in the Links page.

August 22/03.
Technical articles on CV Joint Preparation and Measuring And Making CV Axle Shafts have been added to the Technical Page.

July 12/03.
I've added two more articles to the Technical Pages; one on Balancing Your Buggy for when your buggy's finished, and another one on the frustrating process of Designing and making your own exhaust.

March 15/03.
The R6 Manual is now available on CD at a big saving.

March 9/03.
New articles in Technical Page about stainless wire mesh screens and radiator guards, and also a guide to preparing and care of your aluminium wheels.

February 21/03.
I've added a guide to Successful Clutchless Shifting, adapted from an article by William Hewland (of Hewland gearbox fame).

February 20/03.
I've just completed a template for making a stainless steel wire mesh stone guard to prevent your head and chest being bombarded with debris during a race. There are accompanying instructions, and a list of stainless mesh suppliers.

February 20/03.
Having shelved the idea of designing a new billet cassette with reverse, I have drawn a new 18 litre fuel tank, which will sit much lower in the chassis. It is situated over the current cassette, just above the rear brake calliper. This will have the added benefit of lowering the centre of gravity.

January 3/03.
Now there's an Engine Buying Guide to help you through the process of securing all the necessary parts to motivate your R6.

October 26/02.
I've added a load of formulae, calculators and data to the Technical Page, which includes conversion charts, a torque calculator, a metals weight calculator, charts of tap drills, a guide on safety lockwiring etc. etc.
There's also a page on Bending and Jointing steel tube.

September 7/02.
ZX11 buggy wiring diagram with facility for electric shifter is now ready.

August 12/02.
Drawings for new frame joiners are now available. These will enable the rear of the chassis to "pop off" for easy engine maintenance/replacement.

July 18/02.
I have done some drawings of some new, lighter, billet, spider style front hubs, which are a direct replacement for the originals.

July 18/02.
I now have the drawings for the aluminium seat which everyone has been asking for.
It's drawn on a grid so if you can't get it laser/water cut, you can easily transfer the pattern onto a sheet, and cut it out with a jig saw.

July 16/02.
Make your own Brake Bias Valve, for infinite front/rear brake control.