Couple old rides.

[Rustyoldjunk]

A couple of my other vintage rides.
My 81 ironhead and my 82 KZ1100A.
I have a habit of dragging in vintage bikes non running and getting them going.
The ironhead needed tuning and timed to run and then a transmission. It's a strong runner and rider now.
The the 1100 came in with a grenaded flywheel and starter clutch and screwed up carbs.
I replaced the flywheel and starter clutch and went thru the carbs.
It's also a runner rider now but still has carb issues.
It has a set of incorrect and smaller carbs off of a earlier KZ900-1000 that have been hacked on way too much.
Maybe over the winter I will find a correct set of carbs for it.

 

[poncho62]

Cool....I'm not a bike guy, but a friend owed me some money, didn't have any, so offered this. I have had it running, but not for 10 years or so. It's supposed to be quite rare....1971 Bridgestone Chibi mini bike

 

[Rustyoldjunk]

That is a very cool vintage mini !
The Bridgestone motorcycle story is a very interesting one too.

 

[Cvans]

supposed to be quite rare....1971 Bridgestone Chibi mini bike

Nice monkey bike.
Any thing Bridgestone is rare. First motorcycle I ever rode was a Bridgestone 50.

 

[Rustyoldjunk]

Here is a Bridgestone 175 twin Hurricane Scrambler that I drug in a few years back.
Bridgestone bike were premium motorcycles with higher quality parts and more features than competing bikes from other manufactures.
What put their bike division out of business was a ultimatum from from the big four Japanese motorcycle manufactures.
They basically told them if they continued to build bikes that they would no longer use their tires.
Their tire business was more important than their bike business.

 

[poncho62]

That is a very cool vintage mini !
The Bridgestone motorcycle story is a very interesting one too.

My understanding is that when Bridgestone bikes went out of business a dealer in Rockford, Illinois bought all the parts and continued making the minibike and 100cc Taka until about 1974, I think. There was a group on Yahoo Groups, not sure if they are still around.

 

[Toomanytoys84]

I don't have any big bikes that are old.

69 Rupp roadster. It currently doesn't have an engine on it. This picture was when I first worked on the predator mock up, then built a predator for it. It was WAY too much motor for a small bike, moved the motor to a go kart, then sold the motor.

1970s Heathkit Hill Topper. Pre-restoration. It has a period correct NOS H50 on it now, and painted the proper bronze color. Don't have any current pictures of it on my computer.

1970(?) I can't remember CT90 that is 100% original minus some fuel lines.

The last one is a JcPennys bike that I redid for a friend of mine. That 6.5 was way too large for it, but it would at least now haul around his 250lb butt.

 

[Cvans]

For a number of years I road a Carl Heald Super Bronc at work. I would hate to guess how many miles I put on it and can't remember it ever leaving my stranded. Mine was the 10 hp.
Mini Bikes and small motor cycles are just plain cooool.

 

[Cvans]

Here is a Bridgestone 175 twin Hurricane Scrambler that I drug in a few years back.
Bridgestone bike were premium motorcycles with higher quality parts and more features than competing bikes from other manufactures.
What put their bike division out of business was a ultimatum from from the big four Japanese motorcycle manufactures.
They basically told them if they continued to build bikes that they would no longer use their tires.
Their tire business was more important than their bike business.

Bet that bike would sound really sweet if you got it running. I'd love to hear it. Did those use rotory valves?

 

[Toomanytoys84]

For a number of years I road a Carl Heald Super Bronc at work. I would hate to guess how many miles I put on it and can't remember it ever leaving my stranded. Mine was the 10 hp.
Mini Bikes and small motor cycles are just plain cooool.

If you look at the first photo you can see my vt8 super bronc identical to the ad. Also the bike with the yellow frame you can see more of it.

Also have a vt7 with with the small tire.

A guy who worked for Carl heald in the 70s purchased the whole business. He renamed it power tech. He sold a ton of nos parts for heald trikes and bikes. He did not sell new bikes. He did sell a line of utility 4 wheeled vehicles based on a heald hauler. He was selling them like crazy. 4 guys were on one of his rides and crashed it into traffic. They were all drunk. He ended up in a huge law suit and lost a lot of money. He stopped selling the rides and just sold parts.

He passed away a few years ago(I believe). A guy named rick chatten bought the rights, dies and tooling to all the heald parts. He is reproducing a lot of stuff.

Long post but I always thought it was an interesting story. The guy who owned power tech was super nice. You couldn't get off the phone with him. I bought the last of his NOS fuel tanks 5 or 6 years ago.

 

[Cvans]

A guy who worked for Carl heald in the 70s purchased the whole business.

He was the one I purchased parts from.

They were all drunk. He ended up in a huge law suit

There are times when I think law suits ought to be outlawed.

 

[Toomanytoys84]

He was the one I purchased parts from.

There are times when I think law suits ought to be outlawed.

Ron kimball was his name. Just came to me. Good man.

 

[Cvans]

Ron kimball was his name

That name does ring a bell.

 

[Rustyoldjunk]

I used to drag in quite a bit of Rupp,Alsport Tri-Sport and other brands of vintage American minibike, trike,buggy,and kart stuff but I haven't lately.
I sold a few vintage karts last year including a Rupp dart twin engine race kart.
I do have a Snowco mini scat trike in the shop and have been working on getting another Alsport Tri-Sport RTS or SL.
At one time several years back I had a balloon tire utility bike about that size but I don't believe that it was a Heald.
If you remember the old shriners parade bikes it was one of those. A ex Shriner bike. It wasn't one of the tiny ones, it was a large one.
I bought it from a farmer who was retiring and had used it on his farm.

 

[Gtractor]

I have an Indian MM5a in a glass case in my house.
Usta ride it but that was a lot of pounds ago. Not sure the spokes would hold me now. Here it is the day I bought it - which was about 2001ish.

 

[Toomanytoys84]

Little bikes are so fun.