Mini & Pit Bike Thread

[Wingnut]

Personally, I think all homesteaders should have an alternate means of transport... if you're far enough in the boondocks, a horse will work, but I always liked dirt bikes or Enduros as a way to get around in the country. I've ridden dirt bikes for most of my life, started with BMX bikes and graduated to minibikes, pit bikes, full-sized dirt bikes, etc. In my 50s, I went through a phase and 'relived my youth' by picking up a mini to ride in San Diego County, and once I relocated to the White Mountains (with the mini), I also bought a pit bike to ride all those trails up there. The mini began life as a Honda Z50, but when I bought it the bike had already been modified with a 72cc motor, MX bars instead of the goofy monkeybike bars, a custom seat, etc. I went on to totally trick out that bike, as you'll see in a moment, lol. When I was finished, the 'Z' had a 140cc Piranha motor, gold chain, $200 aluminum swingarm, primo aftermarket shocks, extended forks with stiffer springs, a mini desert thumper tank from Clarke Racing, a ridiculously over-the-top carbon fiber can on the exhaust, etc. It was a BEAST on the trail, and it could do a lot of stuff normally associated with full-sized dirt bikes. It was my little offroad rocket, and that bike was SO MUCH FUN!!!

After watering the yard this morning, I went online to see if I could find some more pics of the Salton Sea for Spikedriver, but I discovered another old thread which had pics of my mini and pit bike... I took a trip down 'Memory Lane' and relived some great outdoor adventures, to the point where I figured I'd share some of the pics with y'all. I have shots taken in various riding venues such as Lark Canyon, McCain Valley, Otay Mountain, places where I used to ride and have heller fun. I also have shots taken in the White Mountains, so this thread will cover riding in two states. I'll go ahead and name the specific riding area for each group of photos, in case anybody is interested in those areas, though I can't vouch for current legality in Kalifornia... I reckon dirt bikes are on the endangered species list in that leftist dump, lol. I only have a few pics of the 125cc ThumpStar pit bike, including some pretty funny assembly shots... more on that later. For now, we'll start with the modified Z50 monkeybike, a sweet mini which could tackle an amazing variety of challenging terrain & awesome dirt biking venues! When I was done tricking out that bike, guys in staging areas with big ol' KTM thumpers would gather round the bike and take turns sitting on it, saying: "I GOTS TO GET ME ONE OF THESE!!!" Lol. Here we go to Lark Canyon...

That half-shelter made a great dust blocker for prevailing westerly winds in Lark Canyon... I'd put the bike in there when it was not in use. Lark Canyon is part of the McCain Valley recreational area, campsites are almost primitive but there are picnic tables, fire rings, and vault toilets. That flag seen in the last photo was on the side of a hardware store back toward town, lol... the flag says it all!!! Nice red star in the upper left corner, lol...

 

[Wingnut]

Okay, let's see, where do we go next? Ah, yes, Otay Mountain (pronounced OH-tye), situated near the coast and overlooking Tijuana and a good chunk of Baja. Great monkeybiking here, with three 'spurs' (dirt roads) meeting at Doghouse Junction near the summit, which is over 3500' in elevation. I'd go here quite often, as it was only 20+ miles from my home in Coronado, and "green sticker OHV" riding was perfectly legal. You had a heavy BP (Border Patrol) presence, and sometimes you'd see files of illegal aliens making their way through the brush, but otherwise a very nice riding venue! Miles and miles of dirt roads with heller views the higher you rode, as you'll see in a moment. Check out the bike sitting in the back seat of 'The Mighty Camry'---the shot taken before I installed a hitch & cargo carrier on the car, lol.

Back in a flash with more pics of Otay Mountain, aren't those spur roads AWESOME?!? They go for miles too...

 

[Wingnut]

Okay, here are more shots of Otay Mountain, not a bad venue since it was relatively close to my home and it offered heller ocean views from the Western Spur...

That fourth pic shows my bike parked in the shade of a Tecate Cypress... beer break, lol. I'd haul a few beers up the mountain in my North Face pack, stopping here & there to pound one, lol. The Tecate Cypress grow at an elevation of 2000' to 2200', if I recall correctly, so there's a band of them as you go up or down the mountain. Here's a pic of the overlook in McCain Valley, I should've included this one in the first round...

You can see the terrain is a little drier, lol... looks like Sacatone Overlook, which is pretty dramatic, there's another overlook of the Carrizo Badlands farther north. Next we have some shots of Carveacre Road under Lawson Peak in East San Diego County: Carveacre was the ultimate test piece for offroad vehicles of any kind, the ruts were literally waist-deep, no lie, and the old abandoned fire road was absolutely brutal on riders & equipment...

Yeah, it's a gnarly road, I'd say the gnarliest road in the county, lol... it rises two miles to the foot of Lawson Peak, then runs atop a ridge leading to the north. There is good technical rock climbing on Lawson Peak, with excellent granite and some fine views... there's even a cave to pass through as you ascend the peak trail. These shots were taken lower down on Carveacre Road. I used to ride my friend's XT 350 up this road on a regular basis, as he lived a few miles away in Deerhorn Valley, and that XT made short work of the ruts, lol. On a mini with 8" rims, it's a different story, lol...

 

[Peanut]

I have a Baja motorsports mini. It's a lot of fun to ride but I had a need for it. About half of my 100acres is wooded. Cows like to hide when giving birth or hide their newborn calves. They are really good at hiding calves. I've walked within 10ft of calves and not seen them...

The minibike was perfect for the woods. Much more maneuverable than a 4wheeler in thick timber or brush. And the mini was faster than a cow. Perfect for moving cattle from pasture to pasture or going after a wayward stray.

The back tire is flat, has been for a year. I couldn't find a tube to fit it. Looks like I need a plug or a new tire/wheel. I miss riding it, handy little scooter.

The headlight is worse than worthless though, voltage from a generator. The voltage changes with rpm, idle and the light goes out. At full throttle the light is just bright enough to rob my night vision. The headlamp on my boony hat is brighter. I thought I should mount a led spot light and battery. Never got around to it. I wanted to convert it to a better clutch, never got around to that either.

 

[backlash]

My Uncle told me a story about him and his brother.
The brother was a pilot. They would put their Tote Goat bikes in the plane and fly into the back country.
The each had a 1 gallon tank and they carried spare 1 gallon gas cans. They would ride till they ran out of gas, refill and ride back to the plane. He said the occasionally had to push the little bikes the last few feet because they sometimes it took more gas going back.
This was in the 50s. I would have loved to go on one of those trips.
Unfortunately in 1965 the brother was killed in his plane. He took off on a foggy day and had been told the fog was not thick. He got disoriented and flew into some high power lines and crashed. Ironically he crashed in their back yard less than 20 feet from the house.
My Uncle told me this story again yesterday. He can remember vividly things that happened 50 years ago but he has no idea what happened today. Very sad to watch.

 

[Wingnut]

Well, Peanut, check out my little offroad rocket after I made a few more mods, lol... these shots were taken in Show Low and environs, where I bought a home in the tall pines on the NW side of town. I pulled a few shots of the subdivision too, so y'all could see how nice it is up there...

That carbon fiber can is just ridiculous, lol... but with that Piranha 140cc motor, that little bike would absolutely HAUL @$$ on trails, 10-4? Fast enough to scare ya, lol. I remember one clown saying, "Those bikes only go 40 m.p.h.!" My reply: "NOT THIS BIKE!!!" Lol, the thing would go double nickel on hard dirt roads, no problem.

P.S. I like that sticker on the shot-up sign! "The only background check is looking beyond your target!" LOL.

 

[Wingnut]

Here are some shots of my home in Show Low, it was so beautiful up there in the winter with snow on the trees! I threw in a shot of my old wood stove, that thing cranked out some heat!

Pretty nice place, I wish I'd never sold it, but I made good money on the flip, something like $45K, and I needed to flip it to stay afloat with all the crazy political BS going on at the time. Meh, I had two awesome years up there, living large, riding all the time, having heller BBQs with friends I met, and playing pool on my 8' table, lol. That 'Pool Room' I set up in Show Low was slightly smaller than the one in Benson, but it was still very nice! You can't see it, but there was a large TV mounted on the wall between cue racks, and we'd watch football or some other entertainment while shooting stick. Say, here's a shot of a nice Chevelle I saw by the skatepark in Show Low, might as well include it here... I'll have to toss it into the 'Car Porn' thread as well, lol.

"SWEEEEEEEET!!!"

 

[Bacpacker]

Looks like good times

 

[Wingnut]

And now, for my final post of the day (in this thread), I want to share some shots of my pit bike, which I assembled in my living room, BWAHAHAHAHA!!! "Yes, Virginia, that is brand-new carpet beneath the Mexican blanket & newspapers!!!" Why did I assemble a bike in my living room, you ask? BECAUSE I CAN, LOL. "Ah, the bachelor life! It's a $h!tty job, but SOMEBODY has to do it!!!" Check out a young Crackhead inspecting my work, lol... the blasted varmint!!! Probably stole some of my beer too, that knucklehaid!!!

Those assembly shots are like Internet porn for monkeybikers & pit bikers, lol... I like the one shot with naked rubber on the brand-new carpet. Ah, yes, those were some good times in Show Low, and both bikes were heller fun to ride on all those trails up there. Particularly on Rim Road 300, my favorite dirt road over 100 miles long, lol. Maybe one day I'll go back there and ride the whole length of that road, this big ol' thumper I have now would be just the bike to do it too...

 

[Cascadian]

I have had a few Z50s starting when I was in the 3rd grade. All I needed was to find 6 soda bottles for gas money and I could ride all day. I have had many over the years but they were always stock. I even had a pair of Elsinore 50s those were pretty cool. I still have an 80 something Z50.

 

[Wingnut]

Haha, Cascadian, I hear ya on the soda bottles... I still remember recycling bottles & cans for money back in the day. My friend from the surf shop would collect all the "tinnies" in big ol' cardboard boxes, using "The Crusher" to reduce their size, and I'd help him haul numerous boxes to the recycling company with my pickup truck. He'd walk away $200 richer, lol, but those boyz from the surf shop (and their many visitors) could drink a LOT of beer, lol.

That Z50 in your garage or shed could be worth plenty of money, you can see what I mean at the website lilhonda.com, where minis & mini enthusiasts are featured. Some of those little bikes go for thousands of dollars, no lie, but those are usually full restorations. I'll always have a warm place in my heart for Z50s, even though mine was already modded out to 72cc when I bought it. They're not bad little bikes, they sure brought enjoyment to heaps o' folks...

 

[Wingnut]

Bumping this thread so a friend can find it more easily... I also wanted to add something I remembered, Otay Mountain (a.k.a. the San Ysidro Mountains) is a long whaleback ridge, and if you ride it from east to west or vice versa, the dirt road (Eastern & Western Spurs combined) is 14 miles long, roughly 7 miles up and 7 down either way. The Northern Spur is something like 5 miles? Maybe 6 miles? It's not as long as the other spurs, as it drops from Doghouse Junction down the north side of the range. All the spur roads are fun to ride, but the Western Spur was my favorite, since they treated or sealed the graded dirt & gravel road for the Border Patrol vehicles. That made it hard and fast for a while, and the mini really flew on the downhill runs, lol. Uphill was always a slog, but the 72cc motor did alright, you just had to downshift at appropriate times to pull the steepest grades. Cheers!!!

 

[Cascadian]

I forgot to mention I still have our Xr 75 purchased new in 1978. It needs some TLC but is complete and ran last time I tried.

 

[Wingnut]

Found this video of riding my Z50/140 to the overlook seen in earlier pics. The video shows the bike after I'd already made most mods to it, with that Piranha 140cc motor the thing was a BEAST on the trail, lol.

Minisaurus 8

Think I'll post those links of the pit bike here as well, they actually belong in this thread, but first lemme check to see if the Z50/140 video came through alright... back in a moment with the other links.

Pitbikesaurus Rex 4

Pitbikesaurus Rex 5

Pitbikesaurus Rex 2

Pitbikesaurus Rex 9

Pitbikesaurus Rex 7

Pitbikesaurus Rex 3

Pitbikesaurus Rex

Again, the numbers mean nothing, there is no particular order to the videos, the numbers were simply to distinguish one video from another when editing the Hero Cam footage. That Hero Cam (which I later donated to some BMX riders & skateboarders in Show Low, since the film editing was such a hassle) made foot-deep ruts look like wrinkles in the dirt, pfffffft... rocks the size of grapefruit look like pebbles, lol. Anytime y'all hear me say "Pegs!!!" in the videos, that means I'm standing on the pegs to negotiate some tricky section of the trail, or just to deal with some ruts without having to take a beating through the somewhat narrow saddle & Chinese suspension, lol.

Before I'd ride, I'd hang out at the trailhead and pound a few beers while listening to Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, David Allan Coe et al, CRANKED on my car stereo with nobody else around, lol. I'd eat a thumb-sized nugget o' chronic and wash it down with a swig or two of beer, lol. Ah, those were fine days, riding in glorious weather in the White Mountains of Arizona! Not a bad wilderness venue for trail riding, that's for damned sure! And no traffic, no smog, no crime, etc., the Big City has NOTHIN' on the White Mountains, lol. Alright, I'll be back in a bit to post up shots of at least one trailhead where I used to party, this one was about 3 minutes from my home in the tall pines, lol.

 

[Wingnut]

Well, I finally made it back to post shots of the trailhead near my home in Show Low, AZ... a great place to hang out and prep for my upcoming trail ride! Here it is...

Pic #5 was taken on the trail, somewhere along Rim Road 300. That last pic is of a different trailhead, but ALL of 'em were nice up there in the White Mountains, lol. Here's the pit bike at the first trailhead again, and also out on the trail...

Here are the two bikes in my carport in Show Low, I include this shot for size comparison between the 125cc pit bike and the 140cc mini, lol.

And my little offroad rocket, I miss that thing, lol... it would go fast enough to scare ya!!!

 

[Wingnut]

Let's see, I have a few odds & ends of pics to post, here are my wheeled toys in the shed on my forest property outside Show Low, AZ...

Nice little quiver of bikes, lol... I sure had fun on those bikes in the White Mountains, which are a PARADISE on earth! Great riding venue in the wilderness, with all kinds of trails too... same as here in the boondocks of New Mexico.

These two bikes are full-sized Enduros, old school bikes some guy had in a yard halfway down the hill to Scottsdale, I saw 'em as I was driving past and stopped to take pics, lol.

Classic older Enduros, lol. Here's my "Tuco Sling" for the Glock 17 while riding WAY out there in the boondocks, lol... I also carried Counter Assault Bear Spray, that's a good brand of bear spray and I have another can which I carry today in New Mexico. Usually the noise of a bike will scare away most critters, but ya never know!!!

I'm hamming it up in that last pic, lol... here's a better shot of me when I was a younger man, taken on Lunch Rock in Mission Gorge, San Diego, where my friends & I would often go rock climbing. Good times back then, and the Gorge has some decent routes too! Anyway, here I am in those days...

That overhang on the 'Main Cliff' behind me is bad@$$, there's a gnarly route there, 'The Wasp' as it is called, IIRC. That leaning & overhanging pinnacle lower down the slope also has a gnarly 'direct aid' route on it, that is 'The Thumb' and the overhanging route is short but highly technical and rather difficult. I went through a phase and climbed that route 4 times, lol... you can see one ascent in this link, fourth pic down from the top on the first page:

Random outdoor adventure shots...

I found two shots of the very first 'motorbike' I ever actually owned: an N-V-T or Norton-Villiers-Triumph 'Easy-Rider' Moped, 49cc with four gears, it was the fastest moped in Coronado for awhile. Some rich kids in that seaside ghetto had 2-speed automatic Puch mopeds---I called 'em Pukes, lol---and those kids would brag about how their bikes would go over 50 m.p.h., pffffft, this geared N-V-T with manual clutch went 57 m.p.h., easy. And look at all that chrome!!!

Those shots were taken during a visit to London, hence the 'L' or Learner's Permit, lol. That 'gas tank' is fake, the real tank was incorporated into the hollow frame, the phony plastic tank was just for "show." Fun bike to ride though, and I learned a lot about riding geared bikes on this one. Well, I'd better move on here, I have just a few more pics I'd like to post, then I'm gonna make my late brunch, lol. That beer made me hungry, don'tcha know? So lemme finish this...

 

[Aerindel]

I use this almost everyday until it snows:

 

[Wingnut]

Got a few pics of sailing on Show Low Lake in AZ, dunno where else to put 'em and I don't wanna start another thread, so here they are...

Nice old Chevy on the boat ramp, I helped that guy load his fishing skiff on that trailer and then snapped a pic of the truck, lol. Pic #3 shows my by-then-rather-tired mainsail with its distinctive crossed & blazing six-shooters & four aces, lol. Despite what looks like a calm surface on the lake, it was actually windy that day, so the halyard stretched & loosened up a bit, normally you'd see no line between the mast & upper boom of the lateen rig aboard that 12' Minifish (smaller cousin to the 14' Sunfish). Pic #1 shows how I'd cartop the 'Fish, thereby saving on trailer maintenance and registration fees, lol... did I ever mention that I'm a CHEAP B@STARD? No money to the gubmint if I can help it, lol... certainly NOT in this era of FRAUDULENT GUBMINT!!! Alright, I'm off to make my brunch, done posting for awhile, lol... CHEERS!!!

 

[hashbrown]

Motorcycles have always been a big part of my life. I currently have a couple on the place. The gray 1976 Electraglide is my favorite of all the bikes I’ve ever owned. The red chopper is a retired Budweiser bike. It’s a lot of fun to rip around town on and take to shows. I have had at least on motorcycle for the last 47 years. I will keep the 76 until the day I die no matter what.

 

[Sourdough]

My caption for the last photo is: "Well Big'boy, which do you desire the ride HARD".....???

 

[hashbrown]

My caption for the last photo is: "Well Big'boy, which do you desire the ride HARD".....???

That’s Big Al my pretty wife.

 

[Wingnut]

Damn, those are nice bikes! Dunno if I ever mentioned this here at H&CL, but I once hauled a load of Arlen Ness cycles from the Harley-Davidson Centennial (or 100-year anniversary) in Milwaukee out to Kalifornia. Arlen Ness makes fancy airbrushed cycles for rock stars, pro athletes, celebrities, etc., and some of the bikes are rolling works of art, similar to that Budweiser bike there... I remember meeting another truck driver at a truck stop, a hand I had met before as we had both worked for the same company a year before or whatever, and I told him, "Yo, come look at these motorcycles!" He walked over to my 53' wagon and literally gasped as I opened the trailer doors, lol. We climbed up into the wagon and I told him, "Go ahead, man, sit on any bike ya want!" He was like a kid in a candy store, trying out all those high-dollar bikes (which neither one of us could probably ever afford, lol). Just another incident from my 'trucking daze'---but that driver sure enjoyed the surprise tour, lol. The bikes were all secured crosswise (or at slight angles for some of the choppers) in the wagon, so it took us a little while to work our way up to the nose of the wagon & back, lol.

Funny related incident concerning the H-D Centennial festival or celebration in Milwaukee, the crowd drank a lot of beer and kegs ran dry, which left some riders (or attendees) thirsty... at the same time, Elton John was performing on stage and a chorus of negative comments ensued. At one point, a chant arose: "MORE BEER, LESS F@G!!!" No lie, this actually happened... maybe it was just where I was hanging out, lol. If I had been the planner or director of that festival or 100th anniversary celebration, I would've booked a different act, something along the lines of Steppenwolf, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, anybody but some ridiculous self-centered flamer who doesn't really have any REAL association with motorcycles, AYE? Just sayin'... but then again, it wasn't my problem, I was just there to pick up the bikes after the celebration and take 'em to Kalifornia.

 

[hashbrown]

Here’s a few of my 73 Electra glide guessing this was about 92. I miss that old bike the chick not so much…..

 

[Wingnut]

Was she "high maintenance?"

 

[montanabill]

Here's some mini bike action at sturgis. I was there a couple of years ago and they unloaded a truck load of coleman mini's and took the govenors off and proceeded to run around in the dark.


I retired a year ago from a shop where we sold SSR mini's. We sold them by the pallet load. We also have a pit bike track at the local motocross track.

 

[Wingnut]

That video was HILARIOUS! Like a cross between 'MAD MAX' and the 'CRUSTY DEMONS O' DIRT!' Minis are so much fun! But when ya wipe out, ya hit the ground fast because you're already low to the ground... meh, no worries. Some of that footage looked like what my friends & I did out in the desert when we were goofing around, lol. Sometimes, while camping on BLM land up in the mountains, we'd go on drunken sorties to the nearest desert overlook and fire up a bowl or whatever... crazy night rides on dirt roads, and no headlights on the minis & pit bikes, though we'd wear our own headlamps to make up for the lack. Sometimes the moon was bright enough that ya didn't need a headlamp, ya just had to watch out for the worst ruts in the road, lol.

I also remember riding full-sized dirt bikes---well, Enduros---out in the Valley of the Moon, an awesome riding venue which can also be challenging in certain areas. Like riding up Tahe Peak to the old abandoned Elliot Amethyst Mine, that was a serious climb in the daytime, let alone at night, lol. But the more level riding trails out there were cool to ride at night, not quite as dangerous, lol. Millions of stars overhead, heaps of fun with good close friends, it was ALWAYS a good time. Then 'Operation Gatekeeper' pushed illegal alien traffic eastward, and the Valley of the Moon started to get trashed... but before all THAT happened, we'd go out there and spend several days & nights just riding, climbing the rock outcrops (like a square mile of Joshua Tree set down upon the border), shooting all kinds of firearms, cooking heller breakfasts and having BBQs every night... we'd sleep in a huge boulder cave too, full-on caveman action, lol.

 

[montanabill]

Big rocks, you say.......
https://www.montanamegaliths.com/

 

[Wingnut]

Wow, I looked at some of those pics in that link, and they are pretty impressive! Makes me wonder how the heck they lifted those dolmen blocks or boulders into place---some of 'em look like they weigh 100 tons, lol. Maybe there was a race of giants back in the day, and they lifted those things as if they were made of Styrofoam or papier-mache, lol. When I was younger, we bought some fake rocks from Disneyland, kinda like those fake boulders seen at Universal Studios... they weighed next to nothing, lol. My brothers & friends & I would have 'battles' and hurl those fake rocks at one another, bouncing 'em off each other's head, lol. Meh, that's what kids do...

That one pic of the 'Bennu Birdman' reminded me of bird-like rocks in Lark Canyon and McCain Valley in East San Diego County, there are numerous boulders out there which resemble birds, lol. Parrots, ravens, hawks, you name it... amazing, really, that Mother Nature should sculpt the rocks perfectly to resemble birds. Or was it space aliens who did the work? Lol. We'd see some real birds out there too, especially ravens, red-tailed hawks, and hummingbirds... I was climbing the Lowenbrau Pinnacle one day, a 90' granite spire which juts from a hilltop, and a hummingbird magically appeared next to me high off the ground, lol. Like, "What the heck are YOU doing up here?"

 

[hashbrown]

Was she "high maintenance?"

You can tell by the damn picture!

 

[hashbrown]

The boy has a nice little Honda Crf 80. He has out grown it now, I figure we will sell it and buy parts for his Jeep we are building.