Howdy!
I've been browsing this forum for some time now, and I finally got around to introducing myself. I have a long-ish story.. cliffnotes are at the bottom of the page if you don't want to read it.. :smile:
I grew up around minibikes.. when I was probably about 5 years old, my brother, who is 7 years older than I, found a Trail Jet minibike in my uncle's barn. He dragged it out and my dad helped him get it cleaned up and running. Ever since then I have been hooked. I've owned a few bikes and 3 go-karts since then.
When my brother had the Trail Jet, my sister ended up crashing it and broke one of the mounts for the original handle bars. The original ones were adjustable at the triple tree, similar to a Honda Mini Trail, but by the time my brother got the bike, the adjusters were frozen. After my sister crashed it, the right side bar was just hanging there, and since the adjusters were frozen, it couldn't be tightened. So the stock bars were tossed, and some ATV/dirtbike bars were added. The original gas tank and exhaust pipe were rusted through by the time my brother found it.
When I was in about second grade, my dad found a K&S Hornet frame and gave that to my brother. I inherited the Trail Jet. My dad bought 5 HP Tecumseh engines for both bikes.
My dad took the huge stock seat (it was around 2 ft long) off of the Trail Jet, because he didn't want more than 1 person to ride on it.
Here is a picture of 2 pictures.. I don't have a scanner. I took these probably around 1995.
I don't have the Trail Jet anymore... I wish I would've kept it.
When I was in high school, one of my friends had a Manco Streaker that he didn't ride anymore.. I traded my Game Boy for it. The original 3.5 HP Tecumseh (less than 5 years old) was worn out and the piston was doing a death rattle... somehow the cylinder had worn oblong, and the piston had slack back and forth. I had the bike for a year or so, but I sold it to a friend of mine. It would pull a wheelie really easy with his stock B&S 5HP and a regular centrifugal clutch. I never took a picture of it..
Here is the K&S Hornet.. The 5 HP Tecumseh my brother had on it is long gone.. the threads in the block for the intake stripped out, and he never fixed it. This 3.5 B&S is something a friend gave me because he couldn't keep it running on his minibike.. turns out, the gas tank was building pressure, which would blow gas into the carb and flood it. I drilled a tiny vent hole in the gas cap, and now it runs fine.
Ignore the wire sticking out of the fan shroud.. that was for the original kill switch by the gas tank. I took the wire off of it because it started throwing sparks one day.. I didn't think that was too good, especially since it leaks a little. I just hold that wire to a bolt on the block to kill it.
My brother fabbed up the scrubber brake and painted it.
I got tired of the #35 chains coming off, twisting, and/or breaking, so I stuck the #40 on it. I like them because the rollers actually roll.. It's probably a bit overkill, and the narrower #41 probably would have cut back on some rotating mass, but I figured the wider #40 would compensate for any sprocket alignment issues. I have yet to throw or break a #40 chain.
I put the smaller sprocket because the larger one would always drag the ground on left turns... which would burr the chain, and make it kink. It takes a bit to get it going now, but it will scoot along pretty good once it does. :smile:
For Christmas, my brother gave me a Harbor Freight Honda GX200 clone :smile:
I took it out of the box and stripped it down. So far, I've added a billet rod, 18 pound springs, and flat top piston, removed the governer, low oil shutdown pickup, and smoothed the flashing in the head. It's still sitting on the workbench right now, waiting for my billet flywheel, 8 degree key, and some carb jets. I'm not going to run it until the billet flywheel is on it.
Once I figure out how the engine sits on the frame and what kind of size restraints I have to work with, I will buy/fab a header and UNI filter for it.
All my rambling BS aside, this forum looks like fun!
Cliffnotes:
1. Had a Trail Jet as a kid
2. Once traded a Game Boy and got a Manco Streaker
3. Have a K&S Hornet now
4. Building up a Honda clone
5. Awesome forum :thumbsup:
I've been browsing this forum for some time now, and I finally got around to introducing myself. I have a long-ish story.. cliffnotes are at the bottom of the page if you don't want to read it.. :smile:
I grew up around minibikes.. when I was probably about 5 years old, my brother, who is 7 years older than I, found a Trail Jet minibike in my uncle's barn. He dragged it out and my dad helped him get it cleaned up and running. Ever since then I have been hooked. I've owned a few bikes and 3 go-karts since then.
When my brother had the Trail Jet, my sister ended up crashing it and broke one of the mounts for the original handle bars. The original ones were adjustable at the triple tree, similar to a Honda Mini Trail, but by the time my brother got the bike, the adjusters were frozen. After my sister crashed it, the right side bar was just hanging there, and since the adjusters were frozen, it couldn't be tightened. So the stock bars were tossed, and some ATV/dirtbike bars were added. The original gas tank and exhaust pipe were rusted through by the time my brother found it.
When I was in about second grade, my dad found a K&S Hornet frame and gave that to my brother. I inherited the Trail Jet. My dad bought 5 HP Tecumseh engines for both bikes.
My dad took the huge stock seat (it was around 2 ft long) off of the Trail Jet, because he didn't want more than 1 person to ride on it.
Here is a picture of 2 pictures.. I don't have a scanner. I took these probably around 1995.
I don't have the Trail Jet anymore... I wish I would've kept it.
When I was in high school, one of my friends had a Manco Streaker that he didn't ride anymore.. I traded my Game Boy for it. The original 3.5 HP Tecumseh (less than 5 years old) was worn out and the piston was doing a death rattle... somehow the cylinder had worn oblong, and the piston had slack back and forth. I had the bike for a year or so, but I sold it to a friend of mine. It would pull a wheelie really easy with his stock B&S 5HP and a regular centrifugal clutch. I never took a picture of it..
Here is the K&S Hornet.. The 5 HP Tecumseh my brother had on it is long gone.. the threads in the block for the intake stripped out, and he never fixed it. This 3.5 B&S is something a friend gave me because he couldn't keep it running on his minibike.. turns out, the gas tank was building pressure, which would blow gas into the carb and flood it. I drilled a tiny vent hole in the gas cap, and now it runs fine.
Ignore the wire sticking out of the fan shroud.. that was for the original kill switch by the gas tank. I took the wire off of it because it started throwing sparks one day.. I didn't think that was too good, especially since it leaks a little. I just hold that wire to a bolt on the block to kill it.
My brother fabbed up the scrubber brake and painted it.
I got tired of the #35 chains coming off, twisting, and/or breaking, so I stuck the #40 on it. I like them because the rollers actually roll.. It's probably a bit overkill, and the narrower #41 probably would have cut back on some rotating mass, but I figured the wider #40 would compensate for any sprocket alignment issues. I have yet to throw or break a #40 chain.
I put the smaller sprocket because the larger one would always drag the ground on left turns... which would burr the chain, and make it kink. It takes a bit to get it going now, but it will scoot along pretty good once it does. :smile:
For Christmas, my brother gave me a Harbor Freight Honda GX200 clone :smile:
I took it out of the box and stripped it down. So far, I've added a billet rod, 18 pound springs, and flat top piston, removed the governer, low oil shutdown pickup, and smoothed the flashing in the head. It's still sitting on the workbench right now, waiting for my billet flywheel, 8 degree key, and some carb jets. I'm not going to run it until the billet flywheel is on it.
Once I figure out how the engine sits on the frame and what kind of size restraints I have to work with, I will buy/fab a header and UNI filter for it.
All my rambling BS aside, this forum looks like fun!
Cliffnotes:
1. Had a Trail Jet as a kid
2. Once traded a Game Boy and got a Manco Streaker
3. Have a K&S Hornet now
4. Building up a Honda clone
5. Awesome forum :thumbsup:
Portland, Oregon
