Mini bikes?

[clearconscience]

I was wanting to buy a mini bike and wrench on it for a project (fun) and use it for some woods travel eventually.

There's several brands
But I was looking at Coleman TR200U mini bike that costs about $500.

My thought is using it for exploring the woods, trails, etc for the low fuel consumption.
And possibly for hooking a cart up to and hauling game out.

Anyone here have one of these, or have off road go karts?

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[Mark W.]

Does it have a centrifical clutch? Looks just like the lil Indian mini bike I had when I was 13. Great little bike got so so mileage and had no torque to pull hills and certainly wouldnt have been able to pull a trailer.

I could out run a Honda minitrail 50 easy but first hill and if it was to steep or tall to get a run at and my friends Honda would walk right past me.

A jack shaft and lower gears would help with the clutch slipping under load.

When I had mine I only weighed in at 110-120lbs. Whatdo you weigh?

 

[jbett98]

I traded an Ar-15 to a neighbor for one of his vintage Honda Trail 90's.
It's bigger then a mini bike, but the 2 speed auto transmission and shocks makes it very easy to handle and it gets almost 100 miles a gallon when I'm just cruising along.

 

[ThemGunsThough]

I love the green on the first picture. I know it's not a mini bike but man I miss my Honda Ruckus. That thing was fun a money saver.

 

[notazombie]

Looks fun.

 

[clearconscience]

I've been reading mini bike forums and from what I've read it would be worth it to buy a predator 212cc motor from harbor freight for $100 and then a torque converter to give you the torque needed to haul myself and some meat.

Guys are getting these smoking 30-50mph!
I'm not worried about speed, I'd rather have more torque.

 

[clearconscience]

Even if it didn't haul game it would be fun for exploring.
It could haul a deer fine, but probably no elk without quartering it.

There's a company called Rokon that makes a mini bike built like a brick ish house, but they are $5-9Gs

 

[jbett98]

A jack shaft with the right gearing would work wonders and require less horsepower.

 

[Stomper]

Fire Mountain Outdoors has a few videos on the Rokon.... Mark & Bob (BTW- works at Aero Precision) are local guys and on this forum too!

 

[that guy]

Where would you ride one of these things? They're (mostly) not street legal. Seems like a dirt bike would be better for moto trails and they're banned on hiking trails.

 

[308]

I traded an Ar-15 to a neighbor for one of his vintage Honda Trail 90's.
It's bigger then a mini bike, but the 2 speed auto transmission and shocks makes it very easy to handle and it gets almost 100 miles a gallon when I'm just cruising along.


View attachment 318215

That Trail 90 is kind of fugly in comparison nowadays, but it was the first MC I rode when I was a kid, and then it was a thing of beauty. A super nice and easy bike for the beginner...if one cannot ride the Trail 90, it's time to go find something else to do.

 

[etrain16]

Wow, that brings back some memories. We had a bike very similar to that back in my youth, just before we started riding bigger bikes. I loved that little mini bike - no power, no torque, a ton of fun I didn't even know they still built mini bikes like those, but then, I haven't been looking - at $500, I may have to think about it

 

[clearconscience]

Well that'/ the appeal. Obviously a dirtbike would be better, but it would also cost at minimum a few thousand dollars for a beat up used bike.

For less than a grand you could get a mini bike that suped up, small enough I can throw it in the SUV cargo space, and would be a lot of fun.

Hard part is finding some where in the woods you could take it these days. But there is still a ton of places.

 

[etrain16]

Hmmm, that Coleman CT200U doesn't look too bad - moves an adult right up a decent hill. The old one we had probably wouldn't have made it up that hill.

 

[notazombie]

Oh, thanks a lot. I watched the vid and now I want one -- maybe a pair.

 

[Mikej]

Grew up with a mid '60s Honda 55. That was a hand me down when Dad up-graded to the Honda 90. Then I got the 1968 90 when Dad got the "New" model 90. I put hundreds of miles on the Honda 90. Wore out the motor and rebuilt it at small engine school right out of high school.....Many more 100s of miles...

Those Honda 90s are still out there, and from my experience would be the best bang for the buck you could find. You're probably looking at $500.00 for one that needs work, to a little over a grand for ready to roll.

 

[Mikej]

Even if it didn't haul game it would be fun for exploring.
It could haul a deer fine, but probably no elk without quartering it.

There's a company called Rokon that makes a mini bike built like a brick ish house, but they are $5-9Gs

View attachment 318220

Always wanted to have a ride from one of them "Rokon's"! There's plugs in those wheel rims so you can fill them with water for extra weight/traction. Going up those hills, lean forward!

 

[wired]

Where would you ride one of these things? They're (mostly) not street legal. Seems like a dirt bike would be better for moto trails and they're banned on hiking trails.

They run fine on logging trails and such. Kid down the street has one and my son races him around the neighborhood in his go cart. Drives the "angry old guy " down the street nuts. He's shown up on my doorstep before complaining before I told him to piss up a rope.

Those Colemans will run about 35 MPH and even faster with a swap to a $100 6.5 HP Harbor Freight engine. Ive got one on my sons go cart and it will hit 50 MPH

 

[mjbskwim]

I traded an Ar-15 to a neighbor for one of his vintage Honda Trail 90's.
It's bigger then a mini bike, but the 2 speed auto transmission and shocks makes it very easy to handle and it gets almost 100 miles a gallon when I'm just cruising along.


View attachment 318215

A guy did a review a few years back. He *lived* about 50 miles from Pikes peak and he and his buddy were betting what would cost less to get there,his Honda or his buddy on a road bicycle.
Since he only used about a gallon of gas his buddy spent more on cliff bar stuff.
The Honda was the cheaper ride
BTW I'll take my quad any day

 

[bigezfosheez]

Get a China quad or dirtbike. Quality has recently gone up a bit and the engine platform is pretty reliable.

You have to take off every bolt and reinstall them with threadlock and upgrade the carbs to ones with more adjustments to make them reliable. For $1,000-1,300 you can have a nice new ride. $90 bucks for a package of every replacement part possibly needed, and it all fits on the back of the bike in an ammo can for emergencies.

I got 2 200cc taotao quads and had enough money left over to buy them both 2500# winches, alarm system, radio, digital speedo, and upgraded carbs, exhaust, and airfilter.