What got you hooked on Mini bikes?
- Thread starter Iron Honky
- Start date
- Tags bikes? hooked mini
Awesome. Great story!!! Growing up my parents didnt have much so it wasnt til about two years ago when I was 32 when I bought a cheap chinese harley look a like scooter that I rode around with my daughter. Then I built a custom doodle bug which lead me to this forum. Quickly got hooked with vintage finds and talking to members. Met and talked to tons of great guys/girls like Minibikin, Trailhopper, Rokko who were super helpful.
I remember my first mini bike. I can remember the time my father bent a rod welded on a flat piece of metal for the scrub and welding on washers to the frame to mount it. I remember the time it caught fire while I was riding it. I remember I was on the back and my neighbor was driving and the throttle got stuck. I had to bail and he went up on the neighbors yard after getting launched off the sidewalk. I remember the chain always falling off and then the clutch slipping. I cant remember what happened to it after that..... Fast forward 35+ years later. I had an electric golf cart. My brother in law who lives across the street also bought one. Well his father lives down the street and they do a lot of carpentry in the neighborhood. Well due to a gunshot wound he has no peripheral vision so he doesn't drive. But he uses the golfcart to back and forth to his dad house and the jobs. Then one day I was sitting on my golfcart in front of his house and a cop pulls up. Said someone called on me for riding around the neighborhood. I said "really!!! Its electric and it doesn't make any noise and the tires are designed not to tear up lawns,you know its a golf cart!!!!" .... So I was a little pissed. And not wanting to do anything that would have given my brother in law any issues with him riding his around the neighborhood. I figured" I would give them something to call the cops about"...lol Well my other buddy had a trike. I figured if I bought one it might annoy him too so I did..... Then the rest is history....
I bought my first and only mini bike from bjs.com :doah: I don't have a beard or memories of the good old days yet :laugh:
But what actually started it? I would say after buying a Manco Deuce and driving that for a while, I wanted to try something else too. I figured I could have a lot of fun on two wheels and I was right :thumbsup: Also, I have no family that has a mini bike or encouraged me to buy one. It went more like this, it's my money and I'm ordering a mini bike :hammer:
But what actually started it? I would say after buying a Manco Deuce and driving that for a while, I wanted to try something else too. I figured I could have a lot of fun on two wheels and I was right :thumbsup: Also, I have no family that has a mini bike or encouraged me to buy one. It went more like this, it's my money and I'm ordering a mini bike :hammer:
i got hooked by my chris cycle mini bike. it was given to me by my uncle as a roaling chassis. and between me and my dad we gave it an engine and got it running. i must have been 10 or 11 when i first got it and iv lerned so much since then. iv worked on it slowly improving it over the years. it looks so much different now than when i got it. i still have it and am currently working on it, improving the engine, re covering the seat and adding a motorcycle type gas tank. i still love it but its now my secondary bike due to my newest bike being so cool.
My older brother had a purple 3.5 hp mini rutman ...the girl down the ally had a green mini and her and my brother would go riding for hours on end....fast forward 30 some years....We hire a new QC manager turns out she is the girl down the ally....I told her the story and she said ....we were out smoking drinking and kissing...
This is a good thread, I'm enjoying the stories.
I can add a little about how we got our current mini.
I was with my daughter at pepboys and she put a helmet on and climbed on a Baja MB 165 and started making motorcycle noises.
I walked over to see what she was up to and the manager popped out from behind the counter and said "we are discontinuing all the minibikes, I will sell you that one for $399" My daughter said "ok we'll take it" I was loading it in the SUV 5 minutes later.
I can add a little about how we got our current mini.
I was with my daughter at pepboys and she put a helmet on and climbed on a Baja MB 165 and started making motorcycle noises.
I walked over to see what she was up to and the manager popped out from behind the counter and said "we are discontinuing all the minibikes, I will sell you that one for $399" My daughter said "ok we'll take it" I was loading it in the SUV 5 minutes later.
We couldn't afford a mini when I was a kid but I had ridden my cousins a couple times and a kid up the block had one.I wanted one so bad but as things go,you grow up and cars and girls kinda take over your life :laugh:I guess it was 2 years ago now,a neibor was getting rid of an old bird sprite that was beat to hell.I took one look at that rediculas piece of crap and knew I had to have it.Well the bird is still under construction but the sickness was implanted.The bird went on the back burner and I built my MTD(spending way more money then anyone should on what basically amounts to a toy)but after my first mini ride in more years then I can remember,I realized that I was hooked for life.(or at least til I break my neck or something):laugh::thumbsup:
As a kid, my folks wouldn't let me have anything to do with these two wheeled motorized death traps.
There was a motorcycle shop on my route to and from school.
I would stop in there everyday on2 the way home from school. I remember the smell of gas and rubber.
They sold mini bikes as well. I would look at them, set on them, and daydream of owning one.
Some years later my brother got a Fox Thunderbolt for his birthday. He lived with mt Aunt and Uncle.
I loved riding that thing. Only got to see them about once a month. So, not much riding.
Fast forward 30 years.
My Uncle still has the bike in the basement. I ask what ya gonna do with this thing? It's been sitting for thirty years.
He says, "You want it"? Yep...
Lugged that thing from move to move. Now 15 years later, it is restored as well as 7 others. Guess I am hooked.
And thanks to this site, I have learned a whole new hobby and have made some lifelong friends.
There was a motorcycle shop on my route to and from school.
I would stop in there everyday on2 the way home from school. I remember the smell of gas and rubber.
They sold mini bikes as well. I would look at them, set on them, and daydream of owning one.
Some years later my brother got a Fox Thunderbolt for his birthday. He lived with mt Aunt and Uncle.
I loved riding that thing. Only got to see them about once a month. So, not much riding.
Fast forward 30 years.
My Uncle still has the bike in the basement. I ask what ya gonna do with this thing? It's been sitting for thirty years.
He says, "You want it"? Yep...
Lugged that thing from move to move. Now 15 years later, it is restored as well as 7 others. Guess I am hooked.
And thanks to this site, I have learned a whole new hobby and have made some lifelong friends.