On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:10 This time on Hot Rod Unlimited, we're 12 years old again on our taco mini bike.
00:21 But this time, we've got enough horsepower to kill us.
00:23 [MUSIC]
00:30 So why is Hot Rod Unlimited talking all about mini bikes today?
00:33 Well, it's because they're little two wheeled hot rods and we all remember them
00:36 from when we were little kids and had to have one,
00:38 because we probably read about them in a car magazine.
00:41 [MUSIC]
00:44 Back in like 1960, the car magazines were all over the mini bike scene.
00:49 As a matter of fact, you saw them in Hot Rod Car Craft and especially Rod & Custom.
00:55 Lynn Wineland was a guy who was the art director of Rod & Custom and
00:58 then the second editor.
00:59 And he also worked for a guy named John Steen, who was involved in making
01:02 mini bikes.
01:03 And he was the PR guy who came up with the name mini bike.
01:07 And back then, guys were racing them.
01:08 There was go-kart raceway out in Azusa, California,
01:11 where guys were dicing it up on these things in go-karts.
01:14 It was the scene.
01:15 It was owned by Duffy Livingston.
01:17 Also, a guy named Donald Jolly was an artist who worked for Rod & Custom,
01:22 doing freelance illustrations and things.
01:24 And he came up with that little bean drawing of the taco that you know so well.
01:28 So all of these guys at the magazine really made the go-kart and
01:32 mini bike world happen.
01:33 And it's happening again, which is why we're gonna go check out today Joe's
01:37 mini bike reunion and
01:38 see the scene of these crazy hot rodded mini bikes going on these days.
01:41 [MUSIC]
01:51 Why mini bikes?
01:53 Because, like get 20 guys together.
01:57 21 of them own Harleys and 22 of them own Camaros.
02:01 Everybody's got them.
02:03 Mini bikes, one guy on the block of 10's got a mini bike.
02:06 He was smart enough to keep it.
02:08 Most of these maniacs that come here never got mini bikes out of their systems
02:12 if they were into mini bikes when they were kids.
02:15 Many of the other folks are the folks that never had them because their parents
02:17 were too smart.
02:19 1969 was the first year I went to a mini bike race.
02:25 And six months later was the first year I won a national championship.
02:29 I was a three time world, two time national mini bike champion,
02:33 starting in 1969 and my dad thought I was in church in Garden Grove.
02:37 The people who are now buying the taco mini bikes are,
02:41 it first starts with the men who had them as kids, when they were young boys.
02:46 And there's two kinds of guys, either one who had them as a boy, young boy, or
02:50 the one who wanted one and their parents wouldn't let them have them.
02:53 So they're both buying them.
02:54 But what's nice now is they're now buying them for their kids.
02:59 A whole new generation of kids are being introduced to something that is 50 years
03:02 old.
03:03 Parents like to see their kids balance their life between computer games and
03:08 getting outdoors.
03:09 They want that thing that they had.
03:12 When I was a young kid living in upstate New York, I saved and saved and begged and
03:16 cried and whined until I got my first mini bike.
03:18 And I instantly went from the skinny kid in the apartments to the cool guy,
03:22 cuz I had a mini bike gamut.
03:24 And with that mini bike, I got some really good scars.
03:27 I gained a little bit of independence.
03:29 And it got me started into mechanics, because this is where you learn trial and
03:34 error mechanics.
03:35 And this is where you learn that if you don't put the brakes on correctly,
03:39 you're not gonna stop and you're gonna get killed.
03:40 And unless the gas works, you don't go anywhere.
03:43 And unless the carburetor's clean, it don't start.
03:46 So mini bikes helped me get started on my path and my love for cars.
03:50 >> It's just hot rodding.
03:51 It's basic hot rodding at its purest, cheapest form.
03:55 You need a lot more engine, two wheels.
03:57 Doesn't have to look like this, doesn't have to do nothing.
04:00 Can be a chopper, can be high, low, whatever.
04:02 >> Like so many forms of motorsports, the hobbyists, the enthusiasts,
04:07 the guys who are hot rodding the mini bikes, they were all the West Coast guys.
04:11 And that's where they were, and that's where they still are.
04:14 Guys like Dave Miller has his own shop, still to this day,
04:18 building custom mini bikes.
04:19 Stretch frame mini bikes that go 100 miles an hour.
04:22 My lawnmower shop buddy had a Kohler 800 CC V-Twin lawn tractor engine
04:27 that started out as 29 horsepower, 44 foot pounds at 5,500 RPMs.
04:35 So just with turbo charging and a little tweaking on the camshafts and
04:38 some O-rings in the heads, it's 102 horsepower, 91 foot pounds at 6,500.
04:44 I built the frame, fuel tanks, seat, and all that in true Bonanza fashion.
04:49 Cuz to me, I always loved the Bonanza mini bike thing.
04:51 I have ties to that company from racing for them as a kid, and
04:55 everybody recognizes that color scheme, those frame bands, that gas tank shape.
04:59 So yeah, that's where that came from.
05:01 That model Bonanza would be an SH 1500.
05:05 That white tank blue frame had a 100 CC engine in it originally.
05:08 I call it the TF for top fuel 1500,
05:11 because it's the same livery on the colors and badging.
05:15 But now it's just got the fuel motor in it.
05:17 I think that the simplicity of it is what's so intoxicating and so inviting for
05:22 our young kids, is we can get them started on mini bikes.
05:24 We know that they'll all be future Hot Rod magazine readers, that's for sure.
05:27 [MUSIC]
05:37 One of the things that's making the mini bike resurgence so
05:45 cool is that taco is back.
05:47 It makes you remember when you were 12 years old and your source of wrenching on
05:51 stuff and hopping stuff up was your mini bike cuz you couldn't afford a car.
05:55 And now they're making them again.
05:56 And Taco has gone and made this custom one just for Hot Rod magazine.
06:00 Originally, the Taco bikes were commonly metallic purple.
06:04 They were really well known for that.
06:06 But they mixed up a special Hot Rod candy red for this one.
06:09 And of course, it's also got a wicked little engine in it.
06:13 This is a Predator seven horse engine that you can get through Harbor Freight
06:17 tools, but it's been hopped up by Taco.
06:19 They've done all sorts of custom stuff to this thing,
06:22 some of which you can buy at tacominibikes.com.
06:25 Others currently are just a custom one off.
06:28 For example, this finned side cover,
06:31 which is sort of mimicking an old finned aluminum valve cover.
06:33 That's a custom one off.
06:35 But from Taco, you can get this gas tank mount, the special header and
06:39 muffler combo, which sounds really cool and throaty.
06:42 It's also got a McHughney carb and a special intake manifold and
06:46 trick reusable air filter.
06:48 We're thinking this thing makes almost 10 horse.
06:50 You ride it up and down the street, and
06:51 I'm telling you this thing will throw you directly off the back of the bike.
06:55 It really is just like 1964 all over again, but with more horsepower.
07:00 They're cheap to build or you can go all hanging out with them.
07:03 It's what hot rodding is all about.
07:04 [SOUND] Wow, I'm not bleeding yet, but I will be soon.
07:11 That's it for this time on Hot Rod Unlimited.
07:13 [SOUND]
07:38 I can feel the front lifting already, yeah.
07:41 >> We're getting way forward.
07:42 >> Well, after a while it goes from being a brake to, no, dude,
07:45 now I know exactly what I'm gonna do on this one.
07:47 You just get your hair.
07:48 >> The color is cool in the sun.
07:49 >> Yeah, it's really good.
07:51 It's a great color.
07:52 And I feel like I'd have more courage in dirt, you know?
07:57 >> Yeah, cuz if- >> Something softer than asphalt.
07:58 >> Yeah, if you go, you're gonna go on that.