John Deere made a mini bike!

[markus]

You see homemade renditions all the time that people try and pawn off as actual john Deeres in hopes of big money. But did you know that they actually did make an attempt to produce one? Kind of a shame they they did not go through with it either because it was setup quite well and was a great sized bike.

Size was that of a heathkit Hilltopper, and would have been pretty comparable to options of the Hilltopper and also pretty spot on in size as well.

I saw this bike today at the Florida Flywheelers antique engine and tracktor show. It was a in with a very nice John Deere collection and the people that ere there told me that this was basiacally a prototype, by the time it was finished and presented to them for approval they nixed the project, I am guessing by the engine Numbers they were a little late to the game.

Too bad, I like the look of it for the most part, the seat was hinged and you could see there was a large sealed storage area and part of the molded one piece section.

it was not for sale BTW

 

[SimpleTom]

Very cool! I'm sure there are lots of all terrain prototype built items like that with other garden tractor manufacturers. Only thing is finding someone who knew about them or saved them from being destroyed. :thumbsup:

 

[The Restore Kid]

WOW thats crazy...

 

[Fat Boy]

Looks good , Nothing runs like a Deere :thumbsup:

 

[Hounddog]

I like it! My farmer friends out here would really like that one! Thanks for sharing.:thumbsup:

 

[buckeye]

That is a real nice looking bike. Looks like it would go anywhere.
Thanks for sharing.:thumbsup:

 

[Newoldstock]

John Deere sure did blunder about.

They had good snow machines for the era.
Not the most powerful, because they bought engines from others and usually this meant the second cut...

But simple good light machines that handled.
They may have built a decent mini 4 wheeler or side by side too if they put their mind too it and stayed in there for long haul.

Oh well....

 

[Glenn]

Cool ! Nothing Runs Like a Deer !

 

[trailramdan]

Too cool thanks for sharing

 

[Newoldstock]

In Yerp up in dem mountains they have them Row deer.

You not seen nothing run like them capriol.

Gots to be fast too, not no bigger than a good size hound and often being shot at by hungry Germanz and Itals ect ect....

( I used google translate to post this in proper John Deere English )

 

[fistfullabar]

coolimp:

 

[bikebudy]

You see homemade renditions all the time that people try and pawn off as actual john Deeres in hopes of big money. But did you know that they actually did make an attempt to produce one? Kind of a shame they they did not go through with it either because it was setup quite well and was a great sized bike.

Size was that of a heathkit Hilltopper, and would have been pretty comparable to options of the Hilltopper and also pretty spot on in size as well.

I saw this bike today at the Florida Flywheelers antique engine and tracktor show. It was a in with a very nice John Deere collection and the people that ere there told me that this was basiacally a prototype, by the time it was finished and presented to them for approval they nixed the project, I am guessing by the engine Numbers they were a little late to the game.

Too bad, I like the look of it for the most part, the seat was hinged and you could see there was a large sealed storage area and part of the molded one piece section.

it was not for sale BTW

First and Only one I've ever seen! Too bad they did not follow up with it.

As for the Sleds, The newest ones used Kawasaki engines and the were pretty fast,
they got better fuel milage than any sled built in that era.

Also they kept up to allmost any make sled with the same size engine.

I've had lots of them, Liquidfire, Sportfire and Trailfire's, 440 & 340's

Had a Kawi Invader 440 liquid and Drifter as well, faster yes.
But they had 2 more ports per cyl too.

 

[the beekeeper]

I owned a number of John Deere sleds over the years, they were well built dependable machines....................Tom.

 

[Jamie1972]

....

You see homemade renditions all the time that people try and pawn off as actual john Deeres in hopes of big money. But did you know that they actually did make an attempt to produce one? Kind of a shame they they did not go through with it either because it was setup quite well and was a great sized bike.

Size was that of a heathkit Hilltopper, and would have been pretty comparable to options of the Hilltopper and also pretty spot on in size as well.

I saw this bike today at the Florida Flywheelers antique engine and tracktor show. It was a in with a very nice John Deere collection and the people that ere there told me that this was basiacally a prototype, by the time it was finished and presented to them for approval they nixed the project, I am guessing by the engine Numbers they were a little late to the game.

Too bad, I like the look of it for the most part, the seat was hinged and you could see there was a large sealed storage area and part of the molded one piece section.

it was not for sale BTW

That bike is COOL! What a bummer on the lack of production....
I can totally invision a farmer boy cruising down a trail in the field.
(Overalls and all:thumbsup

 

[delray]

well if it is real? the bike would be a 1971 from what the date code reads and the engine is a true minibike engine. has the correct minibike linkage. i did a search on pt50 john deere and nothing comes up...:shrug: just big tractors.

 

[toomanytoys]

Looks like they almost stole the heathkit hill topper design exactly minus the forks.

I wonder what it looks like under that plastic

 

[wildman]

According to this forum, it looks like the JD enthusiasts aren’t even sure what it is… Weekend Freedom Machines: John Deere PT 50 mini bike

I am not sure that I agree with some on there that it is a prototype (PT designation). My guess is actual production, but limited run. Maybe short production run, possibly built by another company, until the bean counters at JD caught up to the program managers. :shrug:

 

[dobber]

I am going to go out on a limb and say that this thing was built when John Deere bought out Pacesetter here in Iowa, Pacesetter made the first utility viehicles for them. They are known to have fiberglass bodys on most of them.

 

[JKautoFab]

i read somewhere that it was built around the time of the AMTs. it looks like that era maybe. if it was a prototype then it was probably taken straight off another minibike

 

[OND]

Thanks for sharing !:thumbsup: Thats a nice bike.:smile: