Off road mini bikes

[Mac66]

Just got back from a weekend at the new house. Lots of family riding the mini bikes. Thought I would show a pic of them in the garage with the lights and mirrors on. There are a few broken LEDs on the tail light one on the right (came that way), but otherwise they work well. They continue to be lots of fun.

[Mac66]

Been riding the mini bikes every time I'm up at the woods house. Was looking at Facebook marketplace and ran across an ad for a Coleman CT200u EX. I was and am still curious/interested in the Coleman mini bikes. That's one of the ones I looked at last year before buying the Trailmasters. (Description on page 1). New price was $579 last year, they are currently running $799 new at Walmark That's over $200 more from last year. The guy was asking $500 so I went and looked at it. It has some minor issues (headlight didn't work, etc) but otherwise in good shape. I offered $350, settled on $375.

It shakes, rattles and rolls. Pretty crude next to my Trailmasters but for the price it has some value. It is still fun to ride, though it only goes about 20 mph. I rode it for about an hour. I'll be up at the house all of next weekend and all next week and will wring it out good. Thinking of taking it to my brother's house 10 miles away (all back roads and legal to drive on) just to see how that would be.

First thing is to address the throttle. These things come with the throttle screw welded in place which limits the speed. Easiest fix is to bend down the throttle stop tab. That'll get you about 5 mph more. Next is the internal governor/limiter which kicks in when you reach full throttle. There is a way to bypass the governor arm, which should get you another 5 mph. Don't want to go much more than 30 on these things without heavier valve springs but I think 30 is fast enough on a cheap chinese mini bike.





The differences between the MBs and this EX is while it has the same size engine (196cc) it is different. The EX engine seems cheaper. The EX doesn't have rear suspension, disk brake or torque converter. Rather it has a conventional centrifugal clutch. It does have a front suspension and a headlight (non working at this point). The tank is actually a storage box. Overall it is cheaper in every way than the MB. Oh, and it's camo so you can't even see it.

So the question is...do I keep it or flip it? I could haul it down state and sell it, maybe make $100 off it. If I keep it I'd want to fix the headlight and add tail/brake lights and mirrors. Maybe $30 worth of stuff to get it up to snuff. Another $50 to add a rear rack although I could probably make one.

[David]

I she’s running good keep and fix I would think. The ole ‘two is one and one is none’.

[Mac66]

Well...I had plenty of time to ride the mini bikes over the holiday. Took one of the MB200s out for a 25 mile ride. 10 miles to my brother's lake house and then took the scenic route back exploring some of the back roads. Was a great ride, perfect weather.

As for the Coleman. I started putzing around with it. The throttle was sticking so I took the linkage apart and reassembled it. I then tweaked it by bending the throttle stop tab back. That moved me from about 19 mph to 25. I then did what is called the zip tie trick. That's basically using a zip tie to retard the governor spring and lever which kicks in when the engine hits a certain RPM. It still kicks in but at a higher rev point. Old was 19/20 mph, it now does 31 mph (per my gps app on my phone).

These engines (196 cc/6.5 hp) are capable of more power/higher speed by disabling the internal governor (remove the head and take out the gov mechanism). You would also need to put in heavier valve springs or you'd burn out the valves. Seems like a lot of work to do for another 5-8 mph. 31 mph on these things feels really fast.

So anyway, I took the Coleman out on the paved road (flat and over a mile long) for some speed tests. That's how I got it up to 31 mph. Granted it was a back road with very little traffic but with no mirrors I had to constantly look back to keep fast moving cars (speed limit is 55, cars typically do 65 on it) from sneaking up on me. So mirrors with be the first order along with tail/brake light like I did to the Trailmaster MB200s.

I also ran both the MB200s, same conditions to get a base line. They did 37/38 mph respectively with nothing but backing out the throttle screw. I suppose they would go faster with the zip tie trick. People report making them go 60 by deleting the governor and a valve spring job.

When I was riding the back roads on the MB200 25-30 was about average on dirt/gravel. Went balls out on asphalt. Could use a little more speed on black top though. Technically the speed limit for all off road vehicles traveling on roads is 25 mph. IMO that's way too slow due to the discrepancy in posted speeds vs. ORV speeds.

All in all I am impressed with the Coleman. It ain't a MB200 but is still fun to ride. I can see some value in it as a cheap bug out vehicle. Perhaps I'll keep tinkering with it, add a rear rack and storage box, maybe some saddle bags and bigger tires and see what I can do to it to make it more trail/road worthy.

I got this idea of taking either the MB or EX on a long trail ride to explore the bug out potential of these things. Where my woods house is I can go hundreds of miles on just back roads and trails. Maybe I start out with a 50 mile ride and see how that goes.

[Mac66]

Back up at the house this weekend.

Installed the headlight bulb and put a mirror and tail light on the Coleman. Couldn't hook up the brake light with the current brake lever. Going to have to order a new one. But at least I have running lights.

Tweaked the throttle a little more and got it up to 33mph before the throttle cable broke. It always something. I took it apart and the twist grip was also broke.

Fortunately I had a pair of vice grips with me which I used on the cable end to get home.

Ordered a new grip and cable from Amazon. And am in the process of making a rear luggage rack...The journey continues.

[Mac66]

Now with pics!

New LED headlight bulb and tail light.



And the rack. A work in progress. Got it kind of put together. Still have to finish it off. Grind off the sharp edges, sand, paint, mount it and put it back together.





So obviously since I'm modifying it, I'm going to keep the Coleman. My wife thinks I should and she didn't have to twist my arm.

Going to paint the chrome headlight and front forks and wheel hubs matte black or brown. Maybe slap some matte black paint on the gas tank and engine cowling. Make the whole thing less shiny.

[Mac66]

And....took the wife on a 30 mile ATV ride yesterday. Lots of backroading and some trail riding. It sure is nice having a place to ride these toys. Very lucky.

One of the things we saw on our ride was this Amish farm. (Lots of Amish in the county). There is probably 10 out buildings beside a huge barn. Two additions on the house including one with at least one with 7 or 8 bedrooms. No electricity, no inside bathrooms. Didn't appear to be anyone around so my wife looked it up, no signs but it is for sale....120 acres on the Cedar river... $550K



https://www.zillow.com/homes/4197-N-Sha ... 2781_zpid/?

It's about 3 miles from our place.

[Mac66]

Fixed the throttle, broke the tail light putting on the rear rack. Still have some configuring to do to get thr rack on but will work on it tomorrow.

[Mac66]

I finished the rear rack and while painting it decided to take the shine off the headlight and front fork as well . So I painted them black as well.





I then moved the tail light from the fender to the rear rack.



I don't have the brake lights working yet, not high priority at this point..

[bdcochran]

Great workmanship!