What Was Your First Mini bike ?

Jamie1972

Jamie1972

Active Member
#121
#121
KustomKart said:
well I've told this story before but here goes...

Unfortunately no picture…but I remember it like it was yesterday....

Mine was just a bare bones backyard special….green metallic rattle can paint job and a black tuck & roll Naugahyde seat…but that mini bike meant the world to me in 1972.
There was an older kid in the neighborhood, …John Runfalo was his name…big tall lanky kid…...he used to repair and sell mini-bikes out of his backyard. I remember picking this one out…he told me it was $40…which may as well have been $4000 because I didn’t have two nickels to rub together.:no:

The only way for a 12 yr old kid to make money in our neighborhood was to have a paper route…but there were so many kids already doing it the whole territory was covered for miles. So I started begging chores around the house… washing windows, cleaning the basement, …I mowed the lawn so many times it was down to the dirt…I collected the loose change from under the couch cushions…begging…. borrowing .....I just HAD to have that mini bike I couldn’t sleep until I got it.

Well the day finally came (I think my dad gave me the last $5 or $10 just so I wouldn’t completely ruin the lawn) . I had finally gathered up the princely sum of $40. Saturday morning bright and early I headed over to the Runfalo house…through the stockade fence and into the yard….there it was…parked in the sunlight….the object of my desires.....

“Well, here I am” I announced proudly….”got the $40 right here in my hand”….

“Uhhh I been thinking about it… he says….. "I gotta get $60 for the bike..”

Ughhhh…..:sad: I could hardly speak, it felt like somebody had punched me in the stomach…I started pleading with him..”but you told me $40….that’s all I have….where am I gonna get $20 more dollars…..there’s no way I can...…


Just then the back porch door of the house kicks open and there stood Mr. Runfalo…genuine greaser left over from the 50’s….slick black hair, shirt unbuttoned, cuffed up jeans with pointy black boots…..

I’m thinking “Oh crap…here comes the part where the old man blows his top and tells me to get the hell out of his yard…..”

“What’s the problem” he says………...so I proceeded to explain exactly what had happened.....

He looks at his kid….“How much did you tell him for the mini-bike ?”

Well dad, first I told him $40 but then I .. ….”

“Then the bike is $40 !!!” he booms…..now he’s pointing and he says "and make sure it starts and runs and everything works on it” !!!!

Bang!!!….back in the house he goes….he never even stepped off the porch. I could hardly believe what just happened.:blink: From that moment on that guy was like a hero to me…. I never forgot it. :bowdown:

John didn’t say a word… just put his head down started working on the bike…. did exactly what his father told him to do.

Man that thing purred like a kitten when I took off for home on it….:scooter: one of the greatest days of my life….:pimp:

Hahaha…sorry that ended up being such a long answer :doah:

…when my kids were young they would ask me to tell that story over and over they always thought it was cool…...it was a better bedtime story than Hanzel and Gretel :laugh:
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Thanks for taking me with you "Mentally" on that story! That was Awesome!
 
jrzmac

jrzmac

Active Member
#122
#122
David wulf said:
Yea i think it was a KE and yes it was all up which was weird . The hondas were 1 down and 3 up. The KAW with all up if you forgot what gear you were in it was easy to hit neterual and roll over a berm.:scooter:
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Yeah 5 up was easy to learn on, especially since I had been riding a Fox Thunderbolt growing up. I didn't even know what a gear shift was! I did know that if you wanted to move up, to say a dirt bike, you had to learn... and 5 up was pretty easy! of course I blew out the clutch!!!!!! That Kawi would rip compared to the 4 horse tecumseh! I'll tell ya what though, if I could have them back right now, I would take the Fox Thunderbolt over the KE 100 anyday....:smile:
 
rap2457

rap2457

Member
#123
#123
My mini was a arctic cat climber,my dad got it in 71 for me.I still have it,and soon it will look like new again!Thanks for all the great pictures and stories,we can't go back but with these bikes we still have fun like back in the day!
 
KustomKartKid

KustomKartKid

Administrator
#125
#125
^^^^^^^^^^:thumbsup:

Rupp 72 said:
I was 9 years old and my mom was telling me about how she had this old minibike as a kid that she and her brothers loved riding on the farm. I kept asking her for a four-wheeler but she thought a minibike would be more practical. I really didn't care what it was as long as it had a motor and it moved. We went to my uncle's asking to see if he still had the old bike and sure enough he had it. It was out in the country behind the house leaning on a tree. We took it home that day and it was in pretty bad shape. The engine wasn't running so we took it in to a shop and 100 dollars later the engine was running. Even though the engine ran it was in awful condition. The throttle was a lever under the seat, there was no brake, the jack shaft was on backwards, and the kill switch meant pulling off the spark plug cap. I didn't care though i just wanted to ride it. My dad and i were outside the house trying to start it. We weren't sure if the throttle and choke were in the correct spots or not but we gave it a pull and out of my dads hands it went. It raced across are lawn and then started climbing the neighbors house. It then fell to the side and started smoking when we finally killed the engine. We were questioning weather that bike would be salvageable or not. We set it on the side of our garage and thought about getting something different. My dad asked a friend of his who collects cars if he had something similar that we could buy. He did have an old minibike that had all the parts but needed a new engine. He said we could just have it. We got a new Tech. 4 horse engine and away i went. It wasn't the nicest looking thing at the time but it worked, so i was happy. We still had the old bike and kept both of them outside on the side of the garage. 3 years ago this man comes to are door asking if he could go look at the bikes on the side of our house. We said that would be fine and showed them to him and he asked to buy the old one. We declined because it was still my uncle's and wasn't for us to sell. Two years later the same guy is at are door again asking if we still have that bike. We never gave him an address or a phone number or even our names and remembered our house. I told him that we gave that bike to are cousin that lives 5 min. away. I said we could drive him over there if he would like so we did. He asked my cousin about it and he also declined the offer as he is going to fix it up for is children. The man left empty handed and i should have gotten his name because he was very knowledgeable but i didn't. I thought this guy was crazy coming back to our house just to see some bike. Well i soon after spent a lot of time restoring my bike, which turns out to be a 1972 Rupp scrambler. When i was done i realized how fun this hobby is and that man wasn't crazy. I got such joy when you see the bike looking like new and i still ride it all the time. So i started looking at these minibikes and found this website. I found out that the old bike of mine that my cousin now has is a Heald VT-2C. I was looking at some post and his profile pic was a Heald VT-2C. His profile also said he was from Wisconsin so i sent him a PM that said “You don’t happen to be the guy that came to my house two years ago asking about the minibike on the side of the garage and then recently came back and asked again do you?” He replied no but that is my cousin. His cousin is Delray and the person with the VT-2C is Chatten63. Small world. The people on OldMiniBikes are so knowledgeable a love what they do. To me, it doesn’t get any better.
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:scooter:







 
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Bobscooters

Bobscooters

Active Member
#126
#126
mine was from sears robuck ( bird falcon) 1969 purple with 4 hp tecumseh purple seat with a white stripe down the center and chrome fenders. i wore that thing out and when i got a 71 honda sl100 when i turned 15 i think i sold it for $10. - wish i still had it. whats more amazing my dad was always snapping picture but can't find any of it :crying:
 
Tom S.

Tom S.

#128
#128
KustomKart said:
well I've told this story before but here goes...
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KustomKart said:
...I also stopped taking rides back through the old neighborhood I grew up in...nothing looks the same, it's all gone...people would stare at me as I rode past my old house...I felt like rolling down the window and yelling what the hell are you staring at , that's my house, this is my neighborhood...!!!

I guess they're right, you can't go back :no:.
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Great story, KK. I got a well-used Lil Indian in about '67 or '68. Two or three other kids on my street had minis, too. Our street was unpaved and there were a couple of empty lots. We'd ride in our yards, the empty lots, just everywhere. Got chased (and caught) by the police a few times, but no big trouble. The mini went bye-bye not long after they paved our street, and was replaced by a well-used '65 Honda S-90. I turned 14 in 1970, and the fabulous, amazing, wonderful birthday present that year was a brand-new '71 Yamaha AT1. I still live in the same area and often drive past the house where I grew up. It used to be nice, but now it's deteriorated into a POS. Ugliest house on the block. Time marches on...

Here's a pic of me with my mini and my dog and the neighbor kid.

 
steven Durham

steven Durham

#129
#129
For me I was born in 1944 when there were scooters everywhere and the fever started around 1953 I added fuel to the fire in 1965 with a Flexo Big Bear Scrambler with a McCulloch 10 for power and in 1971 the rage turned into a blast furnace when I with my Brother-in-law and my Mother bought out the local Mini Bike shop called Keystone mini bike in Torrance, California and moved that shop to Long Beach, California and the birth
of D&D Mini Bike and Kart Engineering.
Well the gas crunches in 1974 made so many things go out of wacko. Wow could you imagine paying a whopping big $0.50 cents for a gallon of gas.
The fire cooled for a season or two but today I must live in the after glow of a life of being a mini biker and a triker and a love for the great Karts and the smells of our fuel burning, rubber chewing machines of madness.
Pull a rope have some fun it's a painless addiction

Steve :scooter:
 
KB2ROCKET

KB2ROCKET

Active Member
#130
#130
great pictures thanks

my fever started by being told I couldnt have one as a kid and finally getting a Rupp sprint at age 17 and having a blast :laugh:
 
rap2457

rap2457

Member
#132
#132
What a great story Steve you were in the mini bike years for sure.Those pics are cool thank for sharing them.My dad came home in June of 71 with an Arctic Cat climber that every kid in the neighborhood had a turn riding on.We lived on a dead end street with a horse barn around in back so we could ride back and forth from my house to the barn.What a blast we all had.Ray
 
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