Now I've got my brother into minis...sort of! ARCO EZ Riders

AJaxMini

AJaxMini

Member
#1
#1
This is my most recent acquisition. An ARCO EZ Rider. A friend of mine had this and was ready to let it go. It's basically an unrestored unmolested survivor. I'm sure there is that maybe a couple pieces that may have been replaced but for the most part all the main original items are there and in somewhat decent shape. He sent it to me this way...



after removing the crate...



These pictures were what he sent to me before sending it...





I have no current plans to restore this bike as I really like the originality of it. I basically put it back together and have been ripping up and down my alley from time to time just to keep my mind clear of trying to rush through my LiL Indian project.

Well, my brother and I ride 30 miles to work together so we have a lot of time to talk about stuff. Since I've gotten into building a mini bike he has taken an interest as well and we decided to buy this ARCO project from Truckasaurus44. My brother doesn't come onto the forums so I'm going to post the start and the finish because it should be a really cool bike when we're finished with it. Not only that but even though it seems ARCO bikes aren't that rare, I can't seem to find a lot of reference on them so a little from us might not hurt. This shouldn't get confusing because I'm only showing mine potentially twice...once as received and later when I've dissassembled and cleaned it up a bit.

Here is my brothers as received from Truckasaurus...



 
AJaxMini

AJaxMini

Member
#4
#4
zeeman...yeah, I think I'm the same way but although this bike is fun to ride it's not really the one for me so keeping it somewhat original seems like the right thing to do here.

toomanytoys...well, there is a big tear in the seat and a piece missing so keeping it on there will torment me. I can make the seat but it just wouldn't have the factory pressed pleats in the material. Mine will just have to have stitched pleats instead. The original seat is still structurally there though so I may not even mess with it other than clean it up as you said. It's just a fun bike to ride for the moment.
 
mmisterbungl

mmisterbungl

New Member
#5
#5
Nice bike there Ajax. And looking forward to seeing the progress on the blue one. I got your PM as well, take your time on that.

PM sent. j/k. :rolleyes:

Oh and props to the shipper for a good safe pack job!
 
AJaxMini

AJaxMini

Member
#6
#6
mmisterbungl said:
Nice bike there Ajax. And looking forward to seeing the progress on the blue one. I got your PM as well, take your time on that.

PM sent. j/k. :rolleyes:

Oh and props to the shipper for a good safe pack job!
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Thanks for understanding and thanks for the comments.

As for the shipping, my friend was very self conscious about making sure it'd get to me without anything happening to it. As a point of reference it was shipped through FedEx freight from Illinois to PA for 160 dollars. A little more than I wanted to spend but worth it in the end. I think if the skid had been halved and crated the same way that it would have cut the cost down a bit but I wasn't dissappointed at all.
 
AJaxMini

AJaxMini

Member
#11
#11
Unsure of the motor

KustomKartKid said:
is that motor oem....I thought the motors with the "square top" blower housing had steel flywheels :shrug:
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I'm not really sure if it is original. The friend who I got it from wasn't the original owner. However, like you had talked about the survivor you recently purchased, this one seems similar. I've sat and looked at it every night I've been in my garage (as well as start it up or ride it :wink:) and everything appears to be of the same vintage. My problem is that I just can't seem to find any information on this style of ARCO bike. What I mean is that all the ads I've found show the one piece handlebar/forks and I've seen nothing with the seperate handlebars that could lead me to more information on the specs. So I don't really know if the motor is original but maybe one of these days I'll come across something that will help me authenticate the mini a little more.

Shortly I'll have a moch up pic of my brother's bike. He did a little more last night that I wasn't expecting.
 
AJaxMini

AJaxMini

Member
#13
#13
Casey Davis said:
Nice score AJaxMini! I like the looks of all the Arco bikes.They had a very cool line.
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WoW! I missed this when I was looking over the thread to see the responses! Do you happen to know what vintage this ad is from? If it wouldn't be too much trouble I'd like to get a couple clearer pictures for reference? Either way I appreciate that you posted it as it shows me the line that comes closer to what my brother and I have.

I notice that all of these bikes have hand brakes and most have the fuel tank. Both of ours have a scrub brake and mine has the tank on the engine like the lowest model in the ad. Very cool stuff. Thank you!
 
AJaxMini

AJaxMini

Member
#14
#14
First moch up of my brother's ARCO

After gathering some pieces, doing a little rework, repair, and clean up this is the first moch up. Looks like it'll be a fun little ride.

 
oldfatguy

oldfatguy

Active Member
#15
#15
I think the bikes with the chrome handle bars were built later then the one piece handle bars. From all the ads that I have seen they all came with a tecumseh engines if you look close you can that they used 3.5 hp side exhaust engines. Your bike is an EZ rider
 
AJaxMini

AJaxMini

Member
#17
#17
Truckasaurus44 said:
Glad to see that bike is getting the attention it deserves. I can't wait to see the finished product!
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Thanks Joe, I appreciate the thought and we're enjoying it already. It definitely just needed some attention but I can understand how it is when you have several projects and no time to put on some of them.

We have some cool things to do that should entertain some of the members following this and the bike will be pretty nice when my brother is finished with it. He is just moching it up for now and getting things in place to tear down and refinish the whole thing all at once.
 
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