Help finding my first bike
- Thread starter Phoneczar
- Start date
Wow! You nailed it on the head. I’ve been searching for 6 mos and it was driving my old brain crazy. Thank you. I have a pic or two of me on it. It was a fun bike but a few of the nagging problems were the TC locking up and the timing would go out of whack every couple of months. I outgrew it after a year and traded it for a hodaka ace90 that was too much for a friends brother. The hodaka is a whole other story for another day
Yep I had a blast on the Fox. Got it for my graduation from Jr. High. I rode it for about a year then a good friend of mine's broother had the Hodaka and it was too much for him so we traded straight across. I know he got a bunch of miles on it and they were real good with maintenance and repair. The timing issues drove me crazy. Would ride great for a few months then it would get to the point of not even starting. I would run it over to the local mower repair and $20 later I was in business. The TC issue was another problem I would be riding along thand come to a stop and the TC would not release. Never figured out out to fix that issue. You said these were a big seller but I never saw another like it. Bought it in Camarrillo California and Grants does sound familiar. Again, thanks for nailing this quick. Now if I can just find one now.....
I probably should have worded that differently, Grants was a big seller of the Fox made bikes, that particular model though?? Probably not a whole lot of them sold. I've only seen that particular one in grants advertising during 1973 and it was less than some of the other models throughout the ads they ran that year.
The fox 198mc is an awesome bike. It’s really not a minibike though, more a mini cycle. I have one but with a predator style motor instead of the original Tecumseh
http://pinrepair.com/minibikes/p/fox1974thunderbolt1.jpg[/img]
Also this may help. here's the 1972 Grant/fox catalog, though it does not show the 198mc:
http://www.pinrepair.com/minibikes/fox1972grants_cat.pdf
http://www.pinrepair.com/minibikes/fox1972_cat12.pdf
Also here's the 1973 Fox catalog that does show the 198mc:
http://www.pinrepair.com/minibikes/fox1972grants_cat.pdf
http://www.pinrepair.com/minibikes/fox1972_cat12.pdf
Also here's the 1973 Fox catalog that does show the 198mc:
I have not had that problem at all. but my bike is not original in the drive train. it has a honda clone (predator style) motor with a comet 30 (china) series torque converter. i have not had any problems with it, and i ride this bike a lot. it's one of my favorites. i'm not entirely sure what the original torque converter set up was on the 198mc. Mine came without a torque converter, and i retrofitted the china clone Comet 30 on mine. it really is a monster with that set up. probably faster/more powerful that it should be, but it's an awesome trail bike.
Also i don't think the 198mc is that 'rare' of a bike. i see them for sale around here fairly often. always missing the motor/torque converter though! my buddy just bought one locally for $60. we are in the process of rebuilding it. he will probably do the predator motor thing too. though if i find another, i'll put a Tecumseh 5hp on it and see how it compares to the predator version....
