big bear mini
- Thread starter chainsaw
- Start date
Flexo's Big Bear Scrambler was my first Mini Bike way back in 1966 with a twin carb Mac 6 . I wish I had even one picture of that machine :sadcrying4:
It was so much fun and only a few years later I was buying almost all my mini bike parts for my store from Jack & Irv Levi the owners of Flexo. Good luck on your build off project. Steve
It was so much fun and only a few years later I was buying almost all my mini bike parts for my store from Jack & Irv Levi the owners of Flexo. Good luck on your build off project. Steve
Hey Steve-would you know if the Flexo's had a frame that had front Forks that where solid w/o the sprink loaded lowers like on thr Sramblers ? In the brochers on the MD site they desribe the Big Bear Version as thier off -road /TrailMini bike. I have 3 frames that are Flexo's,with straight Fork's,(no suspension) but with early TACO style triple trees ? Does that ring any Bell's ?
To that I don't remember most of the mini bikes I got in my shop were Taco , Cat and Sears . Flexo made a lot of different mini bikes but I never sold their mini bikes I sold their play go karts. When my store opened Steen's was selling Taco and I took on the Powells and then the Rupp line and sold off some of the stock that was built by Budd Berry who I bought the shop from . and the mini cycle craze hit and I started selling the Indian line of mini cycles and the Rupp mini cycles. But the Honda XR -75 was what every kid wanted. When I started the mini bike's races had classes for all the mower powered engines and the Bonanza and the Powell's were the tops. Kids we raced with were Jeff Ward, Lance King , Shawn & Kelly Moran and Brian Mierscoff all future champions I sponsored Todd Peterson and he was on the Indian Mini cycle team with Jeff Ward, Chad & Terry McQueen, Flying Mike Brown,Shawn& Kelly Moran .
Little did we know how great these riders would become . In those times the mini bike with the mower engines did not have much growth as new mini cycles came out that is what kids wanted.
I wish I had more information on the Flexo line of great products but will keep looking for more . Steve
Little did we know how great these riders would become . In those times the mini bike with the mower engines did not have much growth as new mini cycles came out that is what kids wanted.
I wish I had more information on the Flexo line of great products but will keep looking for more . Steve
Thanks for the Info Steve.I was one of those kids who wanted a XR75 so bad I could taste it. My dad bought my brother and myself a CT70H that we rode into the ground. Looking back that was a really Kool thing for my Dad to do !
But the XR75s and Yamaha mini-enduro's were still the king's of the track.
But the XR75s and Yamaha mini-enduro's were still the king's of the track.
The one thing I was always told ask a kid do you want a mini bike and they said I want a Taco . Ask the kid if he wanted a motorcycle they said I want a Honda . And every other brand sucked hind tit for a few years until the Yamaha came out with the YZ80 . But the places to ride got fewer and fewer and gas prices closed a lot of small stores like mine. But it was a lot of fun while it lasted.
We used to sell Fransisco's laboratories MOON GAS for $8.00 for 5 gallons and it was 115 octane .
Shure would put the snap in a flat head 5 HP Briggs and the smell of that fuel was exhilarating it just smelled like fun . Steve
We used to sell Fransisco's laboratories MOON GAS for $8.00 for 5 gallons and it was 115 octane .
Shure would put the snap in a flat head 5 HP Briggs and the smell of that fuel was exhilarating it just smelled like fun . Steve
The shop was up on Signal Hill right off the Long Beach freeway at Orange Ave . It was called
D&D Mini Cycle & Kart engineering.
3060 Orange Ave.
Long Beach. Calif
213 427-4444
That was a neat place to have a shop right next to the freeway but there were no houses at all on that side of the freeway just industrial businesses that were all closed at night and lots of hills around the oil fields and we could ride anything at anytime day or night.
One night I fired up a Rupp semi lay down twin engine go kart with alcohol fed Mc Culoch 101A engines and twin carbs and I had made passes back and forth on Orange Ave. a few times and then I went off to the wild side and took that kart down onto the freeway access road about a 1/3 of a mile down to Cherry Ave. and I made the exit OK and was going back down Spring street to the shop and I zipped buy an intersection where a Long Beach Police car was waiting for a stop light . I went through the light and saw the cop and lets say I put the metal to the pedal and that Rupp made it back to the shop in about 30 seconds flat and my Brother-in-Law Danny pulled down the shop door as I went in the shop sideways and hit the back wall of the shop even with 4 wheel disc brakes. Them cops went back and forth for 20 min. before they gave up looking, But we stayed in the work shop for at least an hour and all of the main stores lights were off. So we just fixed mini bikes that were in for repair. Of course that was at about 2:30 AM and them cops had to have known where that Kart came from LOL Steve
D&D Mini Cycle & Kart engineering.
3060 Orange Ave.
Long Beach. Calif
213 427-4444
That was a neat place to have a shop right next to the freeway but there were no houses at all on that side of the freeway just industrial businesses that were all closed at night and lots of hills around the oil fields and we could ride anything at anytime day or night.
One night I fired up a Rupp semi lay down twin engine go kart with alcohol fed Mc Culoch 101A engines and twin carbs and I had made passes back and forth on Orange Ave. a few times and then I went off to the wild side and took that kart down onto the freeway access road about a 1/3 of a mile down to Cherry Ave. and I made the exit OK and was going back down Spring street to the shop and I zipped buy an intersection where a Long Beach Police car was waiting for a stop light . I went through the light and saw the cop and lets say I put the metal to the pedal and that Rupp made it back to the shop in about 30 seconds flat and my Brother-in-Law Danny pulled down the shop door as I went in the shop sideways and hit the back wall of the shop even with 4 wheel disc brakes. Them cops went back and forth for 20 min. before they gave up looking, But we stayed in the work shop for at least an hour and all of the main stores lights were off. So we just fixed mini bikes that were in for repair. Of course that was at about 2:30 AM and them cops had to have known where that Kart came from LOL Steve
Wow! I use to buy parts for my bug from Flexo. Flexo on Venice Blvd. no doubt. I wanted a Big Bear Scrambler so bad I could taste it. I remember walking in and seeing some really cool kart frames also. I just built a bike which is my "Homage" to the Big Bear Scrambler, candy apple blue with a West Bend 580. Well I had to chime in.
Peace
Ralph Johnson
Peace
Ralph Johnson
Chime away Ralph!I need all the info I can get.I'm getting ready to do a restoration on a FLEXO. I picked up 3 frames in a cache of bikes that I bought. I'm in the process of doing research and gathering the correct parts. I do have a west bend820 I can use but I also have a AH52 kart/mini motor as well. I just found a nice set of original Scrambler forks in my cache as well!
Good luck with the Scrambler! That should really be a fun project. Regarding your West Bend 820, man oh man, I've got one on a mini bike frame at the garage in Inglewood and I want to tell you, I don't dare crack that throttle too quick or too hard. That's a lot of engine for a mini. My next project is to take that engine and put it on a kart because that's really where it belongs. I've got another 820 with dual carbs I haven't even started yet. Like I say "West Bends forever"
Peace
Ralph Johnson
Peace
Ralph Johnson
I had a Chrysler /West Bend 820 engine in my 1969 Rokon Trail Breaker
Mach III it was a great motor and would start real easy by rope or with the Kick Starter. If you ever get a chance to ride a real machine the Rokon is a mechanical Donkey and will climb just about anything
"West Bends Forever " I'll buy that. LOL Steve
Mach III it was a great motor and would start real easy by rope or with the Kick Starter. If you ever get a chance to ride a real machine the Rokon is a mechanical Donkey and will climb just about anything
"West Bends Forever " I'll buy that. LOL Steve
Flexo - Go-Kart mini
If you wind up with a spare frame, let me know. I love the simple design.
Terry
terryas@mindspring.com
If you wind up with a spare frame, let me know. I love the simple design.
Terry
terryas@mindspring.com