The Maico had them as well. Everyone else had round tanks. Maicos had the hard lines. I think that is why I just had to have one. After my Elsinore, there wasn't else out there at the time that floated my boat... Then I got married, entered the military and everything was sold. Including my sno-mobiles. Man, I had one of those old F-1 ice racers... an old cast off Ski-doo factory machine that was several years old. Talk about raw power. I took it to Milwaukee one winter thinking I was going to set the world on fire.. during one of the races, one of the machines got away from the rider and went into the crowd just a few yards from where I was standing. It killed several people... After that, I lost my appitite for speed... At least on snow. I don't think I fored it up again after that. (This was before mandatory kill tethers...

I raced my Elsinore for a couple years prior to entering the service. When I returned from basic training, ny wife presented me with the cash she got from selling the snomobile, trailer and the dirt bikes. We needed the money.., so although I missed them, it was the only thing we could do at the time. I didn't ride again until 25 years later when I bought a couple quads to ride with my older son. The rest is history. While in teh military, I moved around so much it was hard to have anything like that. Plus I couldn't afford them...

As the body got older, it became even harder as the body started falling apart. I am not complaining... I just have changed the mode of transport. I'd love to get back on a dirt bike, but I can't afford to get hurt again... You can only mend so many times. I feel lucky to be able to walk.

MWQ, I had a mini bike too. It was called a scrambler SST. A two stroke clone of the Honda mini trail. It had 4 gears and ran circles around the Honda. My brother had to outdo me, so he got a Bonanza with the Hodaka Ace 10 on it. No suspension.. that thing was a death trap. Today, they would get sued for injuries... I remember dumping it so many times, I can't count. I jumped from that to a Honda SL100 and rode that to high school... then got the maico, and shortly after graduation, I got the Elsinore.

I had wanted to race automobiles as a kid, but couldn't afford it. So Bikes and Snomobiles proved to be my field of dreams. I sure wish we could ride on the back roads and fields like we did back then. Today, you would end up in court.. Not that we probably didn't deserve to be when we were kids.. but people just accepted the fact that boys will be boys... and we got away with a lot of stuff back then. Of course we didn't have some of the amazing riding parks we have these days either. We didn't have all teh game boys, and video games etc... we spent our time outdoors raising hello... Growing up on a farm in WIsconsin... it was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Dragginbutt
I didn't ride again until 25 years later when I bought a couple quads to ride with my older son.

As the body got older, it became even harder as the body started falling apart. I am not complaining... I just have changed the mode of transport. I'd love to get back on a dirt bike, but I can't afford to get hurt again... You can only mend so many times. I feel lucky to be able to walk.

MWQ, I had a mini bike too. It was called a scrambler SST. A two stroke clone of the Honda mini trail. It had 4 gears and ran circles around the Honda. My brother had to outdo me, so he got a Bonanza with the Hodaka Ace 10 on it. No suspension.. that thing was a death trap. Today, they would get sued for injuries... I remember dumping it so many times, I can't count. I jumped from that to a Honda SL100 and rode that to high school... then got the maico, and shortly after graduation, I got the Elsinore.

I sure wish we could ride on the back roads and fields like we did back then. </end quote></div>

25 yrs without riding?? OH MY!!! Not sure if I could have done that...

Stay off the dirt bikes...nothing left for you to prove and walking is nice.

The SST was either a Gemini or a Gemini copy. Those were sweet!!! Made in Taiwan you know... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] Even the Bonanza with suspension and the Ace 100 was a death trap. No minibike was safe over about 40 mph. I almost bought one to restore a few years ago. All complete in a box for $100.00.....

Me too...it was big fun....when I was a kid no one cared if we slowly rode thru the neighborhood to the field. Ahhhh good times

 

Yeah, you are right... I think it was a Gemini... I actually beat that thing so bad I broke the frame in half and they had to replace it. They covered it under waranty though..

My mom was way cool. She always gave me the green light to get stuff as long as I could earn the money myself. She took me down there to look at it, and I drooled over it. All my buddies had Hondas, and I had to have something that was faster. It had a clutch too, which was a great improvement over Honda's auto clutch. We were demons in the neighborhood. I wish kids could work and earn money these days. HEck, I was mowing grass for little old ladies, working as abottle boy at a grocery store during the school year, and hawkingpopcorn and pepsi at a loca race track up in the grandstand at 12. I didn't have much time to get in trouble then... maybe my mom was smarter than I gave her credit for... I made enough money to buy a gokart, a quarter midget, the mini bike. and all the other "Toys" . I even walked into the local ski-doo dealer one year when I was 12... asked them which one was the fastest they had... he points out the TNT 340. I asked how much, he rips off something like $1300. I tell him $1200 out the door. He laughs, and askes if I had that kind of money... His eyes opened real wide when I pulled the wad out of my pocket and start counting them out. Then he says I have to have my dad there. I think he may have thought I had stolen the money or something... So I go home, get my dad, and we go back with the trailer to bring her home. The guys walks over to my dad and starts talking to him about teh sale and my dad tells him don't talk to me... you are selling it to him (me). $1200 dollars later, I was the proud owner of a new Ski-doo 340 TNT. This was February, and we had not had a flake of snow all year. The dealers were dumping machines left and right.. and believe it or not, we got 12 inches of snow that night.. and school was cancelled... I rode all day, and night... I was in heaven.
Kids these days need to work and earn what they get. I think they appreciate it better that way. I made my older son get a job doing yard work for a guy to earn his blaster. I bought it, and he paid me back for it with the cash he earned. I used that cash to buy an old Mustang for him to work on when he turned 16. It kept him out of trouble.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Dragginbutt

Yeah, you are right... I think it was a Gemini... I actually beat that thing so bad I broke the frame in half and they had to replace it. They covered it under waranty though..

maybe my mom was smarter than I gave her credit for... I made enough money to buy a gokart, a quarter midget, the mini bike. and all the other "Toys" . I even walked into the local ski-doo dealer one year when I was 12... asked them which one was the fastest they had... he points out the TNT 340. I asked how much, he rips off something like $1300. I tell him $1200 out the door. He laughs, and askes if I had that kind of money... His eyes opened real wide when I pulled the wad out of my pocket and start counting them out. Then he says I have to have my dad there. I think he may have thought I had stolen the money or something... So I go home, get my dad, and we go back with the trailer to bring her home. The guys walks over to my dad and starts talking to him about teh sale and my dad tells him don't talk to me... you are selling it to him (me). $1200 dollars later, I was the proud owner of a new Ski-doo 340 TNT. This was February, and we had not had a flake of snow all year. The dealers were dumping machines left and right.. and believe it or not, we got 12 inches of snow that night.. and school was cancelled... I rode all day, and night... I was in heaven.

Kids these days need to work and earn what they get. I think they appreciate it better that way. I made my older son get a job doing yard work for a guy to earn his blaster. I bought it, and he paid me back for it with the cash he earned. I used that cash to buy an old Mustang for him to work on when he turned 16. It kept him out of trouble.</end quote></div>
Very cool minibike you had, it ate Hondas easily.

Absolutely Bitchin story about the snowmobile, going to get dad, discount for no snow, 12" that night.

Kids these days need to work for something thats for sure. I think I did ok with mine...oldest has been on his own 3.5 yrs...youngest is almost done with jr yr in college. He goes to Stan State which is near here so he lives at home some of the time. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] We will see how he does on his own in a year or so...much more conservative with his cash than his older brother so he will probably be ok.

 

Well this was back in the sixties. And you know how hard it was to save $1200 bucks for a 12 year old kid. That was like 10 to 15K in today's dollars. Shoot, I bought my first brand new car for just over 2000 when I was in high school. I can remember when the minimum wage was 90 cents an hour, and gas was less than a quarter. Man I htought I was going to die when it went to 25 cents a gallon. Those were the days alright. I bought a new gas can for the ATV's the other day.. .You know one of those nifty clear jug style that don't have the stupid no leak spout on them that some idiot tree hugger designed... and nobody can figure out how to use them, let alone fill your tank with it without spilling gas all over the place... Well my new one has aclear plastic hose.. and cost me nearly 40 bucks... I figure it is worth every cent because now I can see into the jug, and into the tank as I fill it. The costs are sick... But I guess that is why we get up to go to work every day right...

 

My fondest gas station memories come from 1976... I was driving my '70 Mustang(still got it) and you could buy Union 76 Leaded Premium for $0.67 a gallon. I made $2.25 a hour working at the Shell. Boss got pissed when he saw me get gas at the 76 station. He didnt like it any better when I told him they had better gas. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]


I have 2 of those square stand up cans with the quick fill end. Very nice cans and so easy to use too. Mine were about $40.00 a piece a couple of years ago. Dont really miss Jerry cans much...you had to have 1 of those years ago....

 

We were stopped the other day, one of our ATVs isn't registered. We ride on large tract of land (110 acres) which flow into state lnd. Well we ventured on the state land and were pinched. All they did was tell us to sty off and get back on private land ASAP- no tickets. So, that was nice.

 

Welcome to the forum xjakknifex! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

That was cool of them to do. What state was that?

I ride mostly on State land in Ca. Well except for putting around my inlaws 5 acres on the smaller quads/minibikes.

 

Over the years I have found that most law enforcement guys don't really want to bust you. Especially i fyou are riding with kids etc. All I have ever done was show them respect and not try to lie my way out.. .I think they appreciate that... and act in kind. Chances are, he may also ride. It is getting hard to find someone that doesn't have a machine, or at least have a family member that has one... As long as you don't try and run... and haven't been doing anything dangerous, the chances are good that you will get a warning. But if you are acting out.. well, take it like a man because you deserve it. (Note that is easy for me to say now... if you would have asked me 30 years ago... well the outcome would have probably been much much worse.) I remember with two weeks to go to get my license, I took my Honda SL out on the road for a little spin. I did not have plates on it yet mind you... All of a sudden I found myself being followed by a county Sherriff. I panicked, took off accross a field and jumped this huge culvert. I turned around jus tin time to see the front end of the squad car drop out of sight into said culvert. Guess he wasn't up to Dukes of Hazard standards... Anyway, I rush home, park the bike in the garage, change my clothes and think I had it beat... All of a sudden, a neighbor kid comes peddling up on his bike, stops in front of my house and yells he lives right there...pointing right at me... DOH!!! In pulls the damaged squad car... Man he was meaner than a snake. I played dumb... He didn't really scare me because I knew he had nothing on me... (In Illinois, you have to identify the driver, and with a full face helmet on, that wsa impossible, and i had no plates either... so I stood there and took his tongue lashing.... Then the real trouble started... My mom pulls into the driveway, gets out and asks what happened. After the cop gets in her face, that tiny little woman unleashed a fury that had this 6 ft plus giant of a man trying to crawl into his shoes. By the time she was done with him, he was back peddling, and doing the yes maam, no maam shuffle as he was trying to get in his car and leave with his life intact. I mean she could scare down a grizzly bear when she got going.. Once the officer left, I knew it was only a matter of time when the great inquisition would begin on me.... I swear I must have lost 10 pounds that day... in fact my wife always complains that I don't have a butt to keep the pants up... and I have permanent droopy drawers as a result... but seeing my mom back that cop into his squad was worth every minute of suffering I had to endure... She was some kind of lady... Needless to day, I took my license test on my 16th birthday and passed. And Mom drug the bike along so I could take the bike test as well. I rode it home with a brand new license in the wallet... life was good.....

 

This topic is really stupid:
Check your states DMV before you go out to do anything?
Any dealer that sells your product will tell you the answers.
Most states require license fees for almost anything.

garman