Well, not really a catch. Those of you who follow my Pullstarter’s FB page saw the video most likely. An old friend of 30+ years calls me up and says “I have this old Minibike from when I was a kid. Are you interested?”
Duh! Took a drive to see him yesterday morning. He’s owned a local VW parts business since the 80’s called East Coast Imports. After retiring two years ago and moving to Florida, he comes back every few months to continue cleaning out the warehouse. He had hung this bike up in the rafters many years ago after it spent about 20 years in the back of his barn.
I think it’s a Sabre? Briggs powered 2 speed. It’s been ridden and ridden hard! Surprisingly the frame and forks are tight. Original caliper works. At some point he flipped the two speed around because the one way bearing was slipping on the jackshaft....[emoji23] It’s the original Briggs. He said it quit on him about 45 years ago and that’s when it went into the barn. Note, he rode it without the blower housing... The starter set up would scare mothers today...[emoji47] The kill switch is probably my favorite part. It’s a piece of spark plug wire running from the top of the plug to a lug on the handle bar. He had a piece of flat steel wrapped in electrical tape the taped to the bar. You squeeze the steel down to the lug and that grounded the spark.[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] My Dad looks at it and says “ I’d have a little more tape on it...”[emoji23] Here’s a few pics. This thing means the world to me. The stories and life it’s had and now it’s mine. Hoping I can freshen it up for my wife for Windber 2019....
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Duh! Took a drive to see him yesterday morning. He’s owned a local VW parts business since the 80’s called East Coast Imports. After retiring two years ago and moving to Florida, he comes back every few months to continue cleaning out the warehouse. He had hung this bike up in the rafters many years ago after it spent about 20 years in the back of his barn.
I think it’s a Sabre? Briggs powered 2 speed. It’s been ridden and ridden hard! Surprisingly the frame and forks are tight. Original caliper works. At some point he flipped the two speed around because the one way bearing was slipping on the jackshaft....[emoji23] It’s the original Briggs. He said it quit on him about 45 years ago and that’s when it went into the barn. Note, he rode it without the blower housing... The starter set up would scare mothers today...[emoji47] The kill switch is probably my favorite part. It’s a piece of spark plug wire running from the top of the plug to a lug on the handle bar. He had a piece of flat steel wrapped in electrical tape the taped to the bar. You squeeze the steel down to the lug and that grounded the spark.[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] My Dad looks at it and says “ I’d have a little more tape on it...”[emoji23] Here’s a few pics. This thing means the world to me. The stories and life it’s had and now it’s mine. Hoping I can freshen it up for my wife for Windber 2019....
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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