Minibikes have come a long way
 

Saw this at the dealer today. Holy balls, this is a long ways from the Trail 90 I first rode. :eek:
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1407551168.jpg

A trail 90 was a cadillac compared to my first mini bike. I think it was called a Rupp , with a lawnmower engine, and no suspension .
Simpler times. That little minibike is pretty sweet.

Looks like the motor has not changed a whole lot from the early honda days however.

I was riding a Taco 100 I bought used around 1970...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1407559102.jpg

The first motorized bike I ever road was a Honda Trail 90 but it wasn't mine. My first mini-bike was a tube frame deal like above with a lawn mower engine of some sort.

I had one of them but it only had sneaker brakes or you just layed it down in the grass!!!

I had my dad's Rupp with a 5HP Briggs. Brake pedal was a steel plate against the tire.

That's how I learned to weld. Id go out, jump it off curbs and break the frame. My dad got sick of doing it and showed me how.

Back when I was a kid it was tube framed/lawnmower engine powered to start with. Then if you were lucky you moved up to a Honda 50 cc minitrail or the 70cc. You were living large with 90 cc or higher ! Man we had a blast with those little machines.

Yes they have
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1407588924.jpg

My first bike was a Trail Horse....I couldn't have been any happier until I upgraded to my first real bike in 1974---a Honda SL70. One down, three up. My mother was so mad at my dad for starting me on that path!

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I had the same minibike but mine was red !

I was online searching for a cheap little bike for around town and saw these...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1407594862.jpg

My older brother had the same thing, but it was made by Bonanza.

To my way of thinking the yellow SL70 that Kevin Todd posted is a cooler minibike than the Grom in the OP, but I think that's just my latent desire for the Mini Enduro that I never had when I was a kid..

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1407596994.jpg

I have an old Rupp out in the chicken house that my son and I restored when he was a little guy. I think it will be my winter project to re-restore it.

grom racing
 

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^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^

I grew up on a farm in a (then) rural area of northern Va. My Dad took me to Western Auto in the town nearby and bought me a mini-bike in 1969; I was 10 years old. It was very similar to the "Taco" above but was black, had cast aluminum 'mag' wheels, 3.5 Tecumseh engine and had 'actual' rear brakes.

That was a very extravagant purchase at the time for my parents. I think the price was @ $150? I was so surprised because all the mini-bikes were displayed in the window and I would just drool every time we went there.

Funny thing is they had about 5-6 different models of mini-bikes on the floor and this one was not the best or most expensive, but it was cool. Also there was a Honda / Yamaha dealer with-in eye sight of the store , but somehow I just knew that they could not afford anything other than what I was looking at in Western Auto. And, even at that age I felt very fortunate that I was getting a mini-bike at all;)

Also Rupp mini bikes were the real 'affordable' hot-rods. They were the next step above a Taco with bigger engines and suspension. More motorcycle-like than lawnmower. Plus they had a good side business selling performance parts for the Briggs or Tecumseh engines. Stuff like cams, shaved cylinder heads, bigger valves, carburetors, chrome exhaust, clutches and CV belt drive conversions. I had their catalog at age 11. It was the Summit racing catalog......... for kids

I think at the time there was an actual mini bike magazine

Same here. My buddy's dad was an Oakland motorcycle cop who taught both to ride out in Wildcat Canyon. Hodaka Ace 100 was my first bike. What fun adventures.

THAT'S a mini bike!
I lusted after one of these when I was a kid. Most of us made our own. There was a guy in town named "Baggy" Bagford who sold frames, wheels, and axles. You could order parts from the Sears catalog too. We used all kinds of engines, from dual McCollough chainsaw motors to old 1930s 1 1/2 hp Briggs and Strattons. I had a Porter Cable saw engine on mine.