Anyone Have A Pocket Motorcycle?

[North Coast Cab]

Real curious. They're popping up everywhere and I'd love to get one.


John

[dd74]

I see them everywhere here in Los Angeles. But the little twenty-something hotties who ride them are much sweeter.

Evidentally they go about 50 mph. Hmmm...I'd bore and stroke it immediately -- the motorcycle that is...

[Doug Zielke]

Pocket motorcycle?
My pockets aren't big enough....

[ubiquity0]

No pocket rocket hotties here, just teenage Asian boys. The urge to pull out a large piece of tropical fruit (say pineapple for example) & lob it at them as they whine through the neighborhood is becoming irresistible.

[Zeke]

I wouldn't ride one at 50 mph. But the ones around here do about 25 wound out. There are already expansion chambers for them and I assume other speed parts. 20 years ago, there were some of these, but they were a bit smaller! One day at the kart track we let them have a 10 minute race. Frankly, it would be more fun to watch these. I'm sure they are already racing them at the sprint kart tracks.

Our local paper ran an article about the police chief saying he wasn't going to tolerate them. He said you can ride it if you have a helmut and a motorcycle license, EXCEPT they don't have VIN's. So, you can't register and insure them. So, in his eyes, they are illegal.

A year from now, they will be dumping these for half price just like the razor scooter.

[dd74]

Originally posted by Zeke
A year from now, they will be dumping these for half price just like the razor scooter.

No doubt...

[joehahn]

fyi John:
while driving to Fred Baker Audi, South on Warrensville by Southgate (strip) mall there was a place selling them and had lots out front. I too thought they looked kinda cool but i too picked up a razor scooter about a year ago for about $4.

joe 68 L

[campbellcj]

In SoCal they have actually been around (but not all that common) for years.

I personally don't see that much difference between these, and the unlicensed teenagers driving the Gopeds and other motorized scooters around on public roads and sidewalks.

They all look kinda fun (even to an almost-40ish guy like me), they're all fairly loud and obnoxious, and they're all illegal on the street per current CA vehicle code...

[Porsche-O-Phile]

No, but I have a pocket rocket. . .

In all seriousness though, those things are pretty fast for their size - they can legally only be sold with 49cc engines (50+ has to be registered), but you certainly get them bored & stroked to larger sizes. Considerably so, from what I've been told.

They seem fun, but $1000+ for something that you can't really drive anywhere is a bit much. Personally, I'd get a road bike - you can get a pretty nice one for that kind of money.

[yetidave]

"A year from now, they will be dumping these for half price just like the razor scooter."

Pocket bikes have been around for years and are not going away anytime soon. There are entire race leagues for those things both here and in Europe. A well tuned pocket bike can easily hit 90 mph and should not be considered a toy. I've thought about getting one for years, but the last thing I need is something else feeding my tuning addiction.

[cstreit]

We used to race them through my friends subdivision. A group of guys I rode with in the Italian Bike Club would get together at this house.

Imagine if you will, 2-3 guys in full racing leathers and helmets, etc.. riding a 12" tall motorcycle shoulder to shoulder through a road course hunched over like a constipated crew, going 25mph... It was a hilarious site, and a heckuva a lot of fun. They used to cost thousands, now PepBoys is selling an asian knockoff for $399 here. If I didn't have the minibike, I'd get one.

[Scooter]

I bought a pocket bike back in 1986-87 when they first came out. I was the first person to buy one in town. In fact the bike was never even in the show room. The bike was a blast. I was 5 foot tall and 125 pounds at the time, so I was able to get that thing moving. Matter of fact, I got a speeding ticket one morning at about 2 am for doing 50 in a 35. The cop said that he had been trying to pull me over for a couple miles, but I had my head down in a full tuck, so I did not see him. The cop also gave me a ticket for excessive smoke. I explained to him that it was a two stroke engine, but he gave me a ticket anyway. I took the ticket down to the police station the next day and explained to them that I should not have recieved the ticket for excessive smoke on a two-stroke. The officer just laughed at the ticket and signed off on it (fix-it ticket in California). Anyway, the speeding ticket was for 50 mph, but the max speed said 45 in the owners manual, guess I proved you can always get just a little more juice from any engine.

[911ctS]

I just saw an old episode of Knight Rider the other day, o wait... it could have been Chip's though, anyway the "bad guys" had some of these pocket bikes. They were stealing jewelry from a huge multi story building and using these bikes to haul ass around each floor. It was pretty cool.

[widebody911]

Some of the kids in my 'hood have them. Gotta churn the human organ black market somehow, I guess.

[Superman]

I rode a nephew's crotch rocket recently. 125 hp. Get this: 15,500 rpm redline!!!!!!!!!!!! Trust me when I tell you this thing was frightening. Its speed is electroncally governed to 160 mph. Many of my Porsche friends do not and have not ridden, and at least a couple of them seem to not understand the instant acceleration of today's two-wheelers. Some of you do understand. 'Nuff said. For those of you who do not, if you ever have a chance to ride one of those things, then when you crack the throttle open be sure to first get a good solid grip on the handle bars. You have been warned.

[North Coast Cab]

The authentic ones go for up to $2,000. There was a kid last weekend selling a used on for $1000-1300 at Beaver Run. Autozone and Pep Boys have a $399 model as Chris said. It is not as refind as the Euro models, but still looks cool. If you check eBay there are tons of new ones from about $300 and up. Anyway, as an ex-sport bike guy and part time track adict I thought one would be cool. I'd like to find a slightly used one for $200 and give it a whirl. At 45lbs I could just pick it up and put it in my Tahoe. Also, it would be small enough to hide from my wife.

John

[Jim2]

I had one of the original Dandy pocket bikes in the late 80's. Made a fun pit bike but you can't carry anything at all. It was easier to carry the bike under one arm and wheel or whatever with the other hand.

A bike racing guy I knew along with a few of his buddy's would call me up and rent a small cart track early on the weekends. It was all fine until someone would fall off and do cartwheels. Helmets and gear are a must! Same guy arranged a race inside a large nightclub as a promo event. They even built a couple ramps for areas where there were one or two stairs. Table tops at visor level, distracting skirts... The bike guys cleaned my clock, but I'll never forget the fun.

Jim

[vash]

i think pocketrocket.com sells the good ones. two stroke fun!

[slipnslide02]

Yes.. I too have been seeing alot of these mini bikes around everywhere.. My co-worker has one and its slooooowwww, i told him if you want a fast little race replica pick up a Yamaha YSR 50/80 i have one and it scoots, ive also raced it @ streets... Willow Springs.. CMRRA is runned by Al Lyons based in Lake elsinore, we also race in little go tracks like Lake Perris, Amago even Pheonix International. You Got to try it.. Lots of competition out there and its cheap... on the wallet...

[esther]

oooooh i want one !! YSR that is - we almost bought one a couple years ago but the guy didn't have a title so we decided against it and bought the pw80... now seeing this picture..... hmmmmmmmm