I've been trying to find pictures of the Charger mini-bikes,but all I'm finding are choppers.The Farmall dealer in town sold them,but the son said they never had a chopper there.What none of us can remember if Charger was the name of the bike,or just the model.The son said they only had one model there,it was a 5 HP,with two or three different colors.It was like the Agway stores,they sold the Sensation,but only the Mike Bike,and only in red.Same deal with the Merrimac Farmers exchange,they sold a mini,unknown brand,red only,4 HP Briggs,with a two speed in the jackshaft that you shifted by hand.You stopped,slid a knurled collar,and took off again.Never saw or heard of one since.My friend I rode with had a new Charger,we thought it got cleaned up by the scrappers a couple of years ago.Now he thinks it is in a pile of old iron I pushed over a bank with my dozer about 25 years ago.He thinks he can see it in the pile.It stands a good chance of being saved,I didn't crush anything up,I just used the dozer blade as a big rake and let everything fall 20-30 feet down the bank.
Non-chopper Chargers
- Thread starter keith true
- Start date
- Tags chargers non-chopper
Thanks very much.My friends looked like the one in Joe51's pictures.I just showed it to my friend,(he has no computer)and he got wicked excited,he said that's my bike!He just told me that it did come with a Tecumseh,but it didn't last long.It got replaced with a Briggs.The farmers and machinery dealers here seemed to have this long standing hatred for Tecumseh,and I have no idea why.I just finished up my Cat,and now my friend has gone home to start digging through the iron pile.He won't do anything with it,but he knows I will so he is giving it to me.I do remember the engine was long gone,and at some point he decided he wanted to make a chopper and sawed the forks off.He tried to stretch them with some pieces from a swing set,that didn't work out so he never rode it again.His mother said she may have pictures of him on the Charger,me on my Cat,and a third friend on his Mike Bike.
Hello, If you dig it up I could use a couple of measurements of the handlebar area. Specfically the rod welded in between the bars and it's diameter. For some reason the bike I am restoring the previous owner removed it and for the life of me I cannot see where it was originally. I would greatly appreciate it. Please let me know.
Well.I got the wheels,handlebars,and lower fork parts.They were in an old cut down truck cab they stored stuff in.When he cut the lower fork to stretch it,he cut in a bad spot and the springs no longer had a seat to ride on.The cross piece was cut out of the handlebars,and he cut those off a couple of inches above the top fork plate.Then he cut pieces out of a swing set to extend them up to make apehangers.He used hose clamps to try and hold it all together,but he said it didn't work out.He tied a wire on the governor and pulled it with his right hand as the throttle cable no longer reached the bars.With all the parts I can easily weld it all back together.
I can't get any pictures into the new computer.I did just finish my Cat that I got new,and I would like to get some pictures of that on here.I do have a couple on here of it without the engine that were taken a couple of years ago.I know of people whose lives come to a stop if there is a computer problem,but it is such an unimportant part of mine that I won't go out of my way to get things fixed.
Well the old Charger isn't going to get restored after all.My friend pulled a bunch of iron off the pile,got down to it,and found it has been laying on it's side in the dirt.There is no right side frame loop left at all,only half the motor plate,and the left loop is so punky you can break some of it up by hand.The constantly wet,high acid soil just ate it up.All the other iron in the pile looks like it did when I pushed it there.as long as it wasn't in contact with the ground.Old swingsets,wagons,lawnmowers,tractors,lawn furniture,barrels,all look pretty good.It seems like it was just a couple of years ago I pushed all that iron over the bank but my friend says it has been well over 20 years.The wheels had been stored in an old truck so they are nice,I'll use them on something someday.