Mini Bike Mania!

I never knew anyone who had an Arctic Cat mini bike back in the days but remember seeing them in ads and thought they were cool because they had a full suspension and high ground clearance. If you notice, the top one has a 4-stroke engine and the bottom one has a 2-stroke. I always liked the 2-strokes better because they were faster back then.

That nun really looks like she's flying!
 
sanford12 said:
Me on our Honda QA-50. It was a ball.

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Just pick this up a couple of weeks ago. 125 Honda Trail, not a mini but a cool small bike and gets over 100 mpg. Tried a Honda Grom but at 71 it was too small and I never liked the sport bike riding position.
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This is what I had.

Bright green. I rode that thing everywhere around the gravel roads of rural Kentucky where we lived at the time.
You could fit two on in if the girl was up for it.
 
I actually put a second set of footpegs on my Kawasaki MT1 so girls could ride on the back. They were the cheap clamp-on type.

I bought some Kawasaki G3SS 90 NOS rear footpegs to weld onto the rear of a couple MT1/KV75s in the near future. They very-closely match the front pegs and I plan to do a nice professional-looking job of it. I don't know how many chicks I'll ever have on the back at my age but it will still look cool.
 
kirk57 said:
This is what I had.

Bright green. I rode that thing everywhere around the gravel roads of rural Kentucky where we lived at the time.
You could fit two on in if the girl was up for it.
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We did things with the Honda and it took it all. We were so rough with it we split the 2 piece rear wheel. Friends parents lived on a lake. Riding that QA50 on that frozen lake was so much dang fun. We had our feet stuck out far to the front to steer. One guy was on another mini, coming off the lake to the frozen beach, see he has his feet down. Hit the frozen beach before I could yell. Looked like a cowboy had lassoed his feet. Jerked him off the mini. I thought for sure he'd look like he slid across 60 grit.
 
Both! I'm still trying to figure out where kirk57 put his girlfriends on his QA50? Those seats barely look big enough for one.
 
MuchoReverbo said:
Both! I'm still trying to figure out where kirk57 put his girlfriends on his QA50? Those seats barely look big enough for one.
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Most of us were still approaching that certain point in life where ‘we would know what to do with that if we had it’. Maybe kirk57 like James T before him was a little farther up the curve than most. ;)
 
Back in the early 70's I had on, name long forgotten, that I bought mail order. It was a nice one. Full suspension and a motorcycle style gas tank. That was the kind of thing my parents said if you want it you've got to pay for it. I had to source an engine for it and I found a Tecumse 3 or 3-1/2HP. I only wished I had the $$ for a 5-HP engine but it was faster than a Honda QA50. In those days there were hop-up parts available. One of which was a forged connecting rod. Many guys threw a rod through the crank case by manually holding the throttle wide open against the governor. I never did because I didn't have the scratch for that fancy connecting rod. The connecting rod was the weak link on those engines and they could rev a lot higher than that stock rod could take. The big shots around had Honda Trail 70's. They were the fastest and sounded like a real, albeit small, motorcycle. Way more expensive than I could afford.
 
My favorite Honda Z50 is the 1972 model. It was the 1st year for the rear suspension and had all-steel chrome fenders. A friend of mine had one when we were kids.

I'd like to buy one some day but they seem to go for more $ than any other year.

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Man, I lusted after those as a kid. Alas, we were dirt poor and had 8 mouths to feed. Also, my dad's only tool was a crescent wrench, and I don't think he knew what end of that to use.
 
MuchoReverbo said:
My favorite Honda Z50 is the 1972 model. It was the 1st year for the rear suspension and had all-steel chrome fenders. A friend of mine had one when we were kids.

I'd like to buy one some day but they seem to go for more $ than any other year.

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Pretty sure that’s the same year and color as my little brother’s Z50. Lucky little stinker got one at 6 y/o, 10 times the minibike as my T44 at half my age. It’s good to be the baby of the family. Glad to be of service ‘lil brother.
 
We had a no name mini bike with a 3 horse engine. You could walk backwards faster than the mini bike went forward. Not sure how, but we got a Rockford Chibi, that was a big upgrade over the mini bike. I think the Chibi is up in Minnesota with my nephew.
 
My 1971 Kawasaki MT1 Parnelli Jones "Dynamite" used to roast the Z50s with ease in a drag race but the Z50s handled better in the turns.

Something that rang true for the full-size Kawsaki's in the day too. Nothing could touch the Kawasaki H2 750 Mach IV or the Z1 900 in a drag race but there were better handling bikes.

Here's a 1971 MT1 exactly like I had as a kid that I picked up a couple years ago in Allentown, PA for $350. The forks and handlebars are bent and it's a little beat up but it's mostly-intact and runs good. It's stashed away in my garage awaiting a full restoration. I have all the parts to do it up nice, just need to find the time. It's on the list of stuff to do.

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My younger brother likes to relive his youth and has made, and acquired, many mini bikes and go karts over the years. Here's his latest mini bike! The frame was an almost unused Ruttman frame in chrome. He had the chrome removed and did a great job painting it his favorite green metallic!

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Wow that is super-nice! I love Ruttmans. I think they were the best-looking mini bikes of the day. What model is that with the jack shaft?
 
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