Dusting off my MTD project

minibikefever

Well-Known Member
#1
I picked this up a little over 3 years ago and pulled the motor and sent it to Markus to rebuild,paint and decal (glad I did ) and it's been sitting on the shelf and the bike was pulled apart and put in a tote, The weathers been brutal here with highs next week in the single digits and teens so I haven't bothered heating up the garage for some time and won't until a little higher temp, I powder coated the frame and wheels last summer and they've been sitting in a spare room, So instead of doing nothing and letting this stay behind other projects while the wife's at work I'm going to put this bike together in my living room in my shorts LOL
 

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#5
Oh what a tangled web we weave! Interesting, I just went to media to look up MTD and there is no section for MTD, only thing I can figure is youz guyz got the only onez ever made.
 
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minibikefever

Well-Known Member
#8
Mtd /Columbia ??? who the hell knows or the exact year, the motor is original which is a 72, and the only one I've seen with the orange trim on the seat and factory brake lights, all original to the bike, besides what member cfh's info there's not much else out there for info, This is my 5th MTD but the first with the motor cross handlebars and 12" front tire so it's the one I've wanted to have to keep for myself, I know there's the (The Official mtd minibike thread) but this is a project that's where I posted? I put the wheels together with new bearings and am cleaning bolts and nuts and rounding up any new parts I already purchased, come Monday when the wife leaves for work this bike will get assembled....
 

cfh

Well-Known Member
#9
the all black model is the Columbia version of the trail flite. since you have the 12" front wheel, personally i would have painted the frame yellow (the color MTD used for the 12" front wheel model.) the black on black thing is kind of drab... you could have gone with either a sliver or black motor (actually i think the 12" models all had black HS50 engines with the square top blower housing.) the 10" front wheel MTD models (orange or green frame) used a silver HS40 engine (round top blower if 1971 or 1972, square top if 1973.) i used silver on all my trail flights mostly because i just like the look better. the crossed handlebars are the way to go. those models handle better and the bars are adjustable. the early 1971 models with the fix handlebars feel weird to me, and are not adjustable.
 
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minibikefever

Well-Known Member
#10
the all black model is the Columbia version of the trail flite. since you have the 12" front wheel, personally i would have painted the frame yellow (the color MTD used for the 12" front wheel model.) the black on black thing is kind of drab... you could have gone with either a sliver or black motor (actually i think the 12" models all had black HS50 engines with the square top blower housing.) the 10" front wheel MTD models (orange or green frame) used a silver HS40 engine (round top blower if 1971 or 1972, square top if 1973.) i used silver on all my trail flights mostly because i just like the look better. the crossed handlebars are the way to go. those models handle better and the bars are adjustable. the early 1971 models with the fix handlebars feel weird to me, and are not adjustable.
Always grateful for the info you share, but as far as your comment about black on black being drab... All I can say is BLACK MINIBIKES MATTER TOO...
 
#11
My Columbia/Mtd 753-2 project is cleaning up and almost rolling, I still have a few items to wrap up but I'm happy I didn't let it stay in a box any longer, I bought the comet TC 2 years ago when I had a couple seat covers made , new shocks and tires were all here so I only needed small items and will have my brake cables tomorrow, fuel line and shutoff and plug the wire harness in and wait for spring to put gas in? I wanted to keep the brake light set up but one is end is damaged and I don't know if the complete side even works but maybe down the road I'll plug in the good one and see if I can use it on the rear brake handle, The one picture is of the lever set up the way it looked hooked up, bummer it's the only factory brake light set up I've ever seen on one of these bikes? The kickstand was missing and I can only locate them for 10" wheels not the 12" front so there short, I bought one from Blackwidow motorsports a couple years ago for another bike and never used it before I sold the bike but hisnrepops are 1/2" taller than stock so it helped a little and then I straightened it as far as I could without it hitting the rear tire and triple dipped the corners in rubber to build it up a little more and it's non slip on the surface and putting It down with your foot, now it sits flat with both tires on the ground solid, Who put's a center stand on a minibike that will be in the dirt or grass most of the time??? just a cleaned up rider that will get some use again soon.
 

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#16
My Columbia/Mtd 753-2 project is cleaning up and almost rolling, I still have a few items to wrap up but I'm happy I didn't let it stay in a box any longer, I bought the comet TC 2 years ago when I had a couple seat covers made , new shocks and tires were all here so I only needed small items and will have my brake cables tomorrow, fuel line and shutoff and plug the wire harness in and wait for spring to put gas in? I wanted to keep the brake light set up but one is end is damaged and I don't know if the complete side even works but maybe down the road I'll plug in the good one and see if I can use it on the rear brake handle, The one picture is of the lever set up the way it looked hooked up, bummer it's the only factory brake light set up I've ever seen on one of these bikes? The kickstand was missing and I can only locate them for 10" wheels not the 12" front so there short, I bought one from Blackwidow motorsports a couple years ago for another bike and never used it before I sold the bike but hisnrepops are 1/2" taller than stock so it helped a little and then I straightened it as far as I could without it hitting the rear tire and triple dipped the corners in rubber to build it up a little more and it's non slip on the surface and putting It down with your foot, now it sits flat with both tires on the ground solid, Who put's a center stand on a minibike that will be in the dirt or grass most of the time??? just a cleaned up rider that will get some use again soon.
Very nice looking minibike. I love what you did with the kickstand.
 

cfh

Well-Known Member
#18
your center stand does not work well because the front/rear shocks you are using are incorrect and too long. the stock MTD center stand is the same for both 10" and 12" wheel bikes, it works fine either way (i've converted many 10" front wheel bikes to 12", never had a problem.) but with your longer shocks now the center stand is too short. you should be using Sebec shocks...
 
#19
your center stand does not work well because the front/rear shocks you are using are incorrect and too long. the stock MTD center stand is the same for both 10" and 12" wheel bikes, it works fine either way (i've converted many 10" front wheel bikes to 12", never had a problem.) but with your longer shocks now the center stand is too short. you should be using Sebec shocks...
NOPE, instead of cleaning up the the shocks on it I opted to search for new shocks the same size, if I couldn't locate them I would clean up and reuse the old one's, after looking for awhile Jim at Blackwidow has the exact same size shock and that's what I went with , absolutely no difference in length, I have 2 other kickstands from 10" bikes and they are a 1/2 shorter than the repopped one I bought ??? Same size shocks.
 

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pomfish

Well-Known Member
#20
your center stand does not work well because the front/rear shocks you are using are incorrect and too long. the stock MTD center stand is the same for both 10" and 12" wheel bikes, it works fine either way (i've converted many 10" front wheel bikes to 12", never had a problem.) but with your longer shocks now the center stand is too short. you should be using Sebec shocks...
Being that the OP is not going for exact restoration of original specs, he indeed does have the correct shocks. Ones that work better!
I have seen people weld two small pipe sections to outward edges of the center stand and this fixes the length problem.
 
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