What bike started your obsession?

[leathernun666]

Mine was a speedway my stepdad bought and restored for me back in 1976 or so.It was scary fast .I remember racing and beating all my buddies who had Honda 50's and old sears mini bikes. he repainted it a sweet copper color, and pinstriped it.I think it was at least a 5hp. But at last when he split the asshole took the minibike too, But thats ok because he forgot his 429 cobra jet racing heads from his drag car in the garage, so my mom sold them, He came back a week later looking for them , and I got to laugh in his face. You took a $200 minibike and lost some $1000 heads :thefinger::1orglaugh:

 

[440dakota]

Mine was a speedway my stepdad bought and restored for me back in 1976 or so.It was scary fast .I remember racing and beating all my buddies who had Honda 50's and old sears mini bikes. he repainted it a sweet copper color, and pinstriped it.I think it was at least a 5hp. But at last when he split the asshole took the minibike too, But thats ok because he forgot his 429 cobra jet racing heads from his drag car in the garage, so my mom sold them, He came back a week later looking for them , and I got to laugh in his face. You took a $200 minibike and lost some $1000 heads :thefinger::1orglaugh:

What a dick head.... Im sure he was P.O when your mom sold those heads lol

 

[metal man]

mine was a 71 or 72 arctic climber . a buddy and i found it in the back of the shop at his dads farm . we had to take it apart to lift it out of the pile it was in . we worked on it for weeks . got a motor from another friend of ours . his dad bought us a clutch and we road that thing all over hell and back . it took me 12 years to get it after it got sold to the guy who got us the motor ,then his cousin . i still have it wont let it go . its one of the few things i have that was my buddys . he died when we were in high school .

 

[125ccCrazy]

wild cat 500

rescued from a kid that beat it to death... will be put back to somewhat original with the exception of maybe the engine and I have a new Max Torque TC set up, as of now I have an ohv Tec that I was gonna use... The engine that was on it was a built 5hp Briggs but it was beat bad, not much was good on the engine....

This Wild Cat started the addiction all over, originally as a kid I had some bikes, not sure what they were now but I believe one was either a Lil Indian or a Wild Goose as I remember it being a very small frame with a 3hp Tec..

 

[shoe]

Dad worked at the Westinghouse so he built me a Go Kart in the 60s , it had one of those Briggs engines that you kick Started on it BUT Dad had changed it over to a lever , it was insane to start at times and then it was more of a put put put running , We went from that engine to a early Briggs you wound a rope to start atleast it started ,, it all was ok as long as I just rode in the driveway and short street ,, Not sure how I got my Dad talked into going over to the Rupp dealer But I did ,, You know just to look ,, well it was in the spring of 1971 so they still had a couple left overs from 1970 ,, The sales lady talked Dad into a 1970 Rupp Enduro since it was on sale for 200.00 .. Of course we had to approve it all with Mom , But that afternoon , We brought home a New Red 1970 Rupp as my first minibike ,, it only grew from there ,, I sold it a year or so later to get a Speedway Green Horn ,, My Brother In Law also worked at the Westinghouse also so he had comections over at Taylor Metal so I was able to buy one at cost .. I cut grass during the summer so at 3.00 a yard it took awhile but I did get it ,, I was the King of the Neighborhood with it ,, Good Times and memories :smile:

 

[boogyman]

Starting it all

This was what got me into mini's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_Yl5bgJbA8&feature=related

I love drag racing:smile:

 

[minibikedude]

I now its not the tradition minibike but I was born into the minicycle time period. I was born in 1970 and when I was 5, I a kid from my class and I would ride our bicycles to this area outside of the small town were we live. We would watch his older brother and his friends ride there old American style minibikes around, I do not remember the makes, I just wanted one and never got one. Mom and Dad always said no to that.
When I was 8 a different buddy had the 74 Honda XL70 that they got for his older brother that was like 5 years older than us, and he did use it very much. So it got handed down to my friend and we would take it out and ride it all over the place. I can't believe that the two of us use to ride 2 up on it, Know i just fit on it. We get to the woods and take turns riding the trails. I have got a Honda XL70 just like it now. I love that bike it brings back my youth every time I start it up and ride it. Nothing like your first ride. That's what has keep me into bikes my whole life.

 

[jeep4me]

I bought my first mini just before I joined this site, a cheeftah. I picked it up at a flea market. It had a Tecumseh H50 on it with a straight pipe, loud and fast. Boy was my wife mad. Of course, those of you who have been on this site for a while know that my wife gets mad EVERY time I bring a new one home. I really don't recall how many I've had since my first one, maybe 100. Of course of all of those only a hand full where in running condition.

Right now I'm at 4 (including my first one).

 

[jeff4298]

I used to look in the magazines in the late 60's early 70's and found my dream mini a Cat 400x Then I found that the local Kiddie City had them in stock. I promised my folks that I would be a good boy and that I would use my own money that I had saved working with my Dad. We stopped in one night after we were done working and I'll never forget my Dad telling the salesman that I was buying it and I knew what I wanted. He tried to sell me the 250 but I said no I want the gold 400x. He says ok and the stock guy brings out this huge box I think I almost cried then!!! I remember my hands shaking as I counted out 213.76 for it and my Dad asking me if I had enough money. We drove home and put it together and it was about 8:00pm and dark I drove it till about 10:30. I drove it so much that I had to rebuild the motor twice. Went through 3 rear tires and 2 front ones. Now trying to get parts for my 350 Cat.

 

[71dodge]

first bike i ever had was a gilson and that thing was awsome got it for 20 bucks and stuck a motor on it and road the hell out of it. then i got my fox sprite i n ALL ORIGINAL CONDITION!!!! and i freakin took the motor off of it and put it on the gilson when i sold it cause the carb was bad! if i would have only knew back then that original is better :doah::sadcrying4: anyways i have had that old fox for 10 years and it has been restored like 7 times and this is how it looks as of now. rides like a dream

View attachment 17246

 

[Mark G]

first bike i ever had was a gilson and that thing was awsome got it for 20 bucks and stuck a motor on it and road the hell out of it. then i got my fox sprite i n ALL ORIGINAL CONDITION!!!! and i freakin took the motor off of it and put it on the gilson when i sold it cause the carb was bad! if i would have only knew back then that original is better :doah::sadcrying4: anyways i have had that old fox for 10 years and it has been restored like 7 times and this is how it looks as of now. rides like a dream

View attachment 17246

I thought that you were only 15, and didn't you just get that Fox last year???

 

[71dodge]

I thought that you were only 15, and didn't you just get that Fox last year???

i am only 15 we had that fox for 10 years though when we first moved to inverness

 

[Austin T]

Well how I first got started in minis, is one day about 6 or so years ago, my dad was cleaning out our chicken coop thats full of bicycles and stove pipes, and i helped him out; and we came across a Fox sprite. at that time i had no idea what it even was, because i have never even heard of minibikes before. (but i remember getting yelled at because i sat on it to "try it out for size" when it still had the thick dust on it from sitting in the Chicken coop for the last 15 years.) I had to beg and beg my dad to let me fix it up. at that time it only had a little early 60s 1.5 HP Black Briggs that had a wore out recoil, so it would only grab the flywheel every 6 pulls or so. we easily got it running, but it barely had enough power to push me, so i had to push myself with my feet when going in the grass. After begging for a more powerful engine, my dad pulled one out from my grandma's pile of mowers and parts. it was a 2.5HP 1972 Briggs flathead; and it was totally seized because it has been sitting under a pine tree for the last 25 years untouched. fixing the engine took us all weekend and I remember it was my dad and I's first small engine fix that we did together. finally at like 11:00 at night in the dark, under the light of one dim flashlight, with the engine screwed to an old kitchen chair, we finally got it started for the first time in decades. after getting it on the Sprite, i loved it. it actually scared me to death the first time I rode it; I remember gritting my teeth. I of course still have that same Sprite with the same 2.5 Briggs, but now its been modified in many ways. Now i have 5 minis in total, one is a chinese POS the others are all American ones.

Heres a pic of what my sprite looked like 2 years ago:

]

 

[Putt-Putt]

Well how I first got started in minis, is one day about 6 or so years ago, my dad was cleaning out our chicken coop thats full of bicycles and stove pipes, and i helped him out; and we came across a Fox sprite. at that time i had no idea what it even was, because i have never even heard of minibikes before. (but i remember getting yelled at because i sat on it to "try it out for size" when it still had the thick dust on it from sitting in the Chicken coop for the last 15 years.) I had to beg and beg my dad to let me fix it up. at that time it only had a little early 60s 1.5 HP Black Briggs that had a wore out recoil, so it would only grab the flywheel every 6 pulls or so. we easily got it running, but it barely had enough power to push me, so i had to push myself with my feet when going in the grass. After begging for a more powerful engine, my dad pulled one out from my grandma's pile of mowers and parts. it was a 2.5HP 1972 Briggs flathead; and it was totally seized because it has been sitting under a pine tree for the last 25 years untouched. fixing the engine took us all weekend and I remember it was my dad and I's first small engine fix that we did together. finally at like 11:00 at night in the dark, under the light of one dim flashlight, with the engine screwed to an old kitchen chair, we finally got it started for the first time in decades. after getting it on the Sprite, i loved it. it actually scared me to death the first time I rode it; I remember gritting my teeth. I of course still have that same Sprite with the same 2.5 Briggs, but now its been modified in many ways. Now i have 5 minis in total, one is a chinese POS the others are all American ones.

Hey Austin, that's a good story.---- Dads,Kids and Mini Bikes.......Now THAT'S the AMERICAN WAY.

 

[jeep2003]

well it started off with the lawn mower that evolved into a fast gocart. then we wanted a minibike so we can have both. we asked my unkle since he collects junk and he came up with the super bronc. hardly a minibike but we took it. Those were pretty much our two main rides till i started building them at the end of high school.
im in the wagon. this is before we made it fast

this is nearing the end of the gocats life when it just couldnt take the beating offroad at out new house. and me on the bronc that we converted to a trike for a short while. I still use the engine and tc from the kart on my cat and the engine that was on the bronc and the wheels from the cart ae on my wheelie wagon lol

 

[Kenny1]

I had picked up a go kart from a neighbor down the street and my daughter and I were really starting to enjoy runnign the hood on it. One day her and I were heading down the block to the park when she spotted something on the driveway at a garage sale. She said to me, "dad...I think something over there has an engine on it like the kart does". So we walk over and sure enough, it's a mini bike. Now I had never had one as a kid cause my parents wouldn't let me and once I grew up it just kinda faded away into the past. So anyway...the guy at the garage sale saw us looking at it and said, "it runs great but I'm moving and can't take it with me. My parents bought it for me new back in the early 60's". There was a sign taped to it that said $50. Asked the guy if he would take $35 for it and he said sure. We fired it up and rode it home. That night I was gung-ho to figure out what it was and found OldMiniBikes. Turned out to be a 1962 Falcon Caper Cycle. That was about 3 years ago and now I couldn't even begin to know how many mini bikes I have now. They are all unique and special in their own way but the Caper is for sure my favorite. The little girl now has her own Ruttman with a Clinton engine on it.

 

[adarter]

It was the summer of 1977, My big sister had a boyfreind (now my in-law) he brought a gift it was red white and blue, no suspension, and ran well. I dont remember what happened to it, maybe ill ask him?!! time warp to 3 years ago when i spotted a frame in the trash next day a snow blower.... 8 horse on an arco bushwacker frame. now there are 8.

 

[dandy lion]

I've told this story before, but I started in 1962 in Jacksonville Beach, Fla. I was stationed in Mayport and road a 'Gator-Gad-A-bout' that had a 3 or 4 hp Briggs. It was my main transportation when ashore. What was unique was that it used a full shoe- sized foot plate, mounted on the left foot peg as a rocker, for a gas petal- gas forward & back for the clutch brake band. Worked great. It would lock up the brake to a skid and full throttle would get me to 35 mph. It was about the size of my vintage Fox Sprite (early 60ty's) and my Navy buddy & I used to ride double. The guy in front used his toe to touch the front of the gas petal, while the guy in back used his toe to work the back for the brake. The only threat was that the guy in front had the fork pretty close the jewel case. Youth has no fear. We were nineteen then. Been in love with mini's ever since. Love small engines and presently playing with the grandkids on the following:
(Vintage Fox Sprite- Vintage Fox Thunderbolt [mid 60's]-Custom Grass Gruber-Custom Bronco)

 

[korndog]

The back pages of Boy's Life magazine (boy scouts) was full of mini bike ads when i was a kid in the late 60's. I stared at them over and over again. Bonanzas stand out in my mind, but so many.

 

[Tom S.]

The back pages of Boy's Life magazine (boy scouts) was full of mini bike ads when i was a kid in the late 60's. I stared at them over and over again. Bonanzas stand out in my mind, but so many.

I loved that magazine. Pee Wee Harris! Pedro! Google's only got 'em back to 1980, but there are still mini ads in the back.

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