Pocket bike

A minibike, sometimes called a minimoto or pocketbike, is a miniature motorcycle. Most minibikes use two-stroke engines and chain drive.

The Doodle Bug scooter was a very compact, small-wheeled motorscooter built from 1946-’48 in Webster City, Iowa by the Beam Manufacturing Company. Sold by the Gambles store chain, a total of 40,000 of these were built—a small number with single-cylinder Clinton engines, and most with 1.5 hp Briggs & Stratton air-cooled, single-cylinder engines. They were marketed under the “Hiawatha” brand name. Complete Doodle Bugs were to be found here and there for decades thereafter and, as well, their frames and other parts were not uncommon.

However in the 1950s, like go-karts, minibikes were made by enthusiasts from spare parts found in their garages. These were first popularly used as "pit bikes", for drag racers to travel in the pits during races in the late 1950s. They were very useful for this purpose, as they could maneuver very well in the tight pit roads, fit in about the same space as a small bicycle in a trailer or pickup. As racers brought them home and used them around their neighborhoods, many children liked the idea of having a mini motorcycle and started building their own. The June 1967 Popular Mechanics magazine had an article with plans. All you needed was an engine from a lawnmower and a neighbor with a welding torch.

A market for minibikes developed, and from the early 1960s many cottage and major industries developed to meet the demand. Most lawnmower shops began carrying a line of mini-bikes. Minibike companies include Arctic-Cat, Rupp, Taco, Heath, Gilson, and Fox, many of which also made other power toys such as go-karts, trikes and choppers. Traditional motorcycle manufacturers also began coming out with models like the Honda Z50A, inspired by aspects of minibikes. In America the peak of the minibike/go-kart era was from the late 1960s to the early 1970s. Many of the brands, foremost Rupp, have gained a cult-following of enthusiasts and owners.

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