Wow

2000, where did the years go? This was a thought that flashed through my mind recently. So I thought that the opening article for this new project (Hypercycles.com) and seeing where we've been seemed suitable. Rewind back to 1970. The Decade of the disco, the gas crisis, Son of Sam, Bruce Springstein and the Bee Gee's. It was during these years that my passion for things with two wheels and a motor began. I grew up in Whitestone N.Y. Whitestone is located in the borough of Queens and was still within city limits. But back then there were many open lots of undeveloped land where people could still hunt pheasant. It was here where I saw my first mini bike. I remember it was a Rupp with a 5 horsepower Tecumseh lawnmower engine. I was green with envy. But since the price tag for this toy was nearly 500 dollars it was a toy my father could not afford for his son. While at the time I was crestfallen that my father did not have the money for such things. Today I look back and I am glad we couldn't just go out and buy that minibike. I quickly discovered that I was not alone and there were other kids who weren't as fortunate but that was not going to stand in their way. I really can not remember how I met Warren but this was a friendship that would only be terminated by my work and a move to a different part of the country.

Well Warren was at the age of 15 was a mechanical genius in a Rube Golberg type of way. Our answer to that Rupp minibike was a Schwinn Stingray fitted with a 5 horsepower Briggs and Straton mower engine. The drive train was nothing short of genius. The motor was attached to the frame by way of a aluminum plate ,two by fours attached to the frame by angle iron and a judicious number of hose clamps. The most troubling part was getting the power to the rear wheel. Attempts using the standard bicycle chain and sprocket was a complete disaster. After a sizeable pile of destroyed three speed hubs piled up we gave up on that idea. We also destroyed our only centrifugal clutch and could not scrounge up enough money to replace it. Well Warrens dad came to the rescue. He took a second 20 inch bicycle rim and bolted it to the one with the tire. He gave us a pulley and a fan belt from a washing machine and the drive train problem was solved. The small pulley that was mounted to the engine shaft drove the fan belt which was mounted to the second rim that acted like a giant pulley. Since the two rims on the back were bolted together we now had power to the rear wheel.

This worked splendidly..... with a few drawbacks. To start off we had no way to rig a throttle. In those days a twist grip throttle and cable arrangement that would fit on a bicycle handlebar was non existant. Second there was the issue of power delivery or better yet the inability to stop it. We had no clutch so if the motor was running the bike was moving. This made starts and stops rather exciting. So try to picture this. To get started required the stamina of a marathon runner with the coordination of a gymnast. You started off running along side of the contraption. Now this was not to easy as you had to push against the engine compression. At this time the choke lever on the engine is engaged. Hopefully within a half a block the engine would fire up, once this happened you had to hop on to the seat as the engine power kicked in and the bike would try to yank you off your feet. Next you had to reach down to the carb to flip off the choke and manually open the butterfly valve that was the throttle. So you only were able to ride this thing with one hand on the bars and the other reaching down between your legs to operate the throttle. Stopping was just as much fun. Coming to a halt needed to be a pre planned event. It consisted of pulling off the spark plug wire and a healthy application of the brakes. The brakes in our case were our sneakers. Caliper bicycle brakes were totally ineffective and we could only be attached to the front wheel. Note* Converse sneaker soles outperformed Keds in first hand trials.

Our escapades remind me of the movie Revenge of the Nerds II. There was a pack of kids from more well to do families all with their brand new minibikes. The local riding spot was this empty lot that had this paved road that was about one eighth of a mile long. Needless to say when Warren brought his contraption down to the spot he was ridiculed. In short order elevated teenage testosterone levels resulted in a challenge by the kid with the Rupp. They both wheeled their rides to the start of the strip. The kid with the Rupp started his mini bike with three pulls of the starter cord. Warren stood along side the Schwinn ready to push like mad. Well no sooner as the starter yelled go the Rupp was off and Warren started pushing like a kid possesed. We will never know just what went through the other kids mind during this event. He was clearly out in front 3/4th's of the way down the strip, and since rear view mirrors on minibikes were not popular, he couldn't see Warren quickly narrow the lead. All the kid knew was that with about 150 feet from the finish line Warren went blowing past him and hs Rupp going flat out. I must apologize for leaving out a important piece of information. Because of how we had to set up the drive train on the Schwinn and the weight of the contraption, we clocked the powered Schwinn with a car driven by a friend's older brother. The Schwinn was clocked at 57 mph. This was about a full 15 mph faster than any Rupp would ever go. In my opinion we were fortunate to come from families of modest financial means. I learned much and developed a respect for the value of things early. When you can not just run out and buy a replacement part or afford manufactured solutions you learned to make and repair things on your own. Unfortunately this is rapidly disappearing from today's society, where kids have daddy to go out and buy the go fast accessories or vehicles. They never learn the the mechanics or the physics behind it all. Nowadays I still do 90% of the work on our automobiles and motorcycles myself. Not that I cannot afford to have it done by a shop, but because when I do it myself I know that the job will be done right and I can still find it enjoyable. Besides the 800 bucks I save can go into some enhancements on the vehicles, house or on one of my other hobbies.

I hope that his little story brought back some fond memories of your own. Stay tuned for more of our escapades. Until then keep the round side down.

Pete "The Nerd" Nevai

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