Any love for mini bikes?

I had a "Chibi", a way back when. Picture from web, but mine was exactly the same.1970_Chibi_by_Rockford_60_cc.jpg
 
Taco 44 then a Bonanza with a Hodaka Ace 90. My friend had a Rupp. Long time ago. Lots of fun. We'd ride along the railroad tracks a couple miles to the Norton/AJS importer in Paramount. They'd let us hang around as long as we stayed out of the way.
 
Way back in the day, friend of mine rode a moped cross country ... even had a comic book!

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The Adventures of the Moped Cowboy

He stopped over just the other day and took my eBike out for a spin and came back with that look in his eye. :idea:
 
Now your bring'n back the memories!

Early 1970's, shopping with mom at Venture Dept. store. I spotted that mini-bike a mile-away! It was an Atlas, $99.00 the cheapest one they made. Complete with a scrub rear brake and a 2 1/2 HP Tecumseh engine.
I HAD to have it, but mom said dad would be mad if she put over $100 dollars on the credit card. Latter that evening, I said something about the mini-bike at the dinner table to dad. He told me to save $50 dollars and he'd pitch-in the rest. ALRIGHT! I yelled out. That summer I bet I cut the grass 100 times more than it had ever been cut before... Dad was getting pissed, but I cut it so he had to pay me, LOL! Anything I could do to earn a buck!

The day finally came. I showed dad the $50 bucks. I said let's go! I remember coming home with that mini-bike and having the biggest smile a very young man could have on his face.


This isn't the bike, but it was pretty close to this. A real "stripper" as far as mini-bikes went.
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This is the company that made them. Based in St. Louis, MO
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back in the day had quite a few, from 2.5hp on up. an old 3.5 techumseh in a spring frame became my 'mustang gt' of minis. I cranked it up to 5Krpm, used a larger carb, larger flowing exhaust, a larger cam, thinner head gasket and ground off the compression release on the exhaust valve (stem was like .005 too long to aid starting) chewed up case gaskets but 45+mph with an adult on it. 6 shoe centrifugal clutch, #35 chain and a rear wheel with a removable driven sprocket....

then one day I noticed the camshaft case support was cracking...fun while it lasted.
 
When I was a kid, my dad and I built a couple of Heathkit minibikes. The first one was the Boonie Bike. I remember it for the 2-speed trans with T-handle shifter. The second bike we built was the Hilltopper. It has a torque converter, front & rear suspension, and folding handlebars. We also had optional front Ski accessory and I remember it didn't really work very well in the snow. Lacked traction on the rear, needed a tire chain and maybe a bit more weight on the back. Both bikes has a fairly wide rear tire.

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Riding your mini bike on the open road at age 8. Whats not to love! I had a couple when I was a kid. One was a home built job with a wind it yourself pully. Just sticking out there spinn'n around ready to eat your leg. It never did luckily. The second one had a few safety features. I learned a lot at age 8 working on it myself. Changing a clutch replacing a chain, new throttle cable, ect.
 
I never had a mini bike as a kid, although I REALLY wanted one!

My dad, RIP, did buy us a Go kart though :)

We used to load it into the trunk of his ´65 Chevy, me in the passenger seat with no seatbelt, looking at the road through the rusted through floor panel. This must have been around 1976. Hard to believe it rusted completely through in 11 years; must have been the Illinois winters...

We´d drive out to a country road and I ´d drive it, him chasing me in the car to see how fast it would go :) It went just over 30 mph.

Good memories!
 
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