Survival and Emergency Preparedness

Oh crap!.. Now I want one of those Trailmasters... The little red ones would be fun but not for long, my back aint what it used to be. You could ride the big black ones all day tho. I also like how the Trailmaster has two places to put your feet, cause sometimes you have to make that jump or rocky river crossing.

Gnepig wrote: ↑Mon Mar 08, 2021 12:18 am Oh crap!.. Now I want one of those Trailmasters... The little red ones would be fun but not for long, my back aint what it used to be. You could ride the big black ones all day tho. I also like how the Trailmaster has two places to put your feet, cause sometimes you have to make that jump or rocky river crossing.

Didn't think of that. I thought the rear pegs were for passengers but being able to stand up is huge. Something you can't do with the forward pegs.

Money from selling the hondas is burning a hole in my pocket, must have the Trailmasters...

Another pic of a Trailmaster

I am envious! Nowhere to ride around here. I last rode a motorcycle 44 years ago and crashed it on an island in the Indian Ocean.

bdcochran wrote: ↑Mon Mar 08, 2021 10:00 am I am envious! Nowhere to ride around here. I last rode a motorcycle 44 years ago and crashed it on an island in the Indian Ocean.

I kinda picked my property for its proximity to lakes, forests and trails. In addition to my 52 acres, there is about 80 acres of state land open for hunting & riding a couple miles up the road from me. I can ride through there to get to the gas station/store. Thousands of acres of state forest land and hundreds of miles of trails another 5 miles farther out. There are 4 or 5 lakes within 5 miles, dozens within 10 miles and the largest inland lake in the state is 14 miles away.

I figure these minibikes will be low and slow and less dangerous than a real motorcycle.

Went up to the new house last weekend. Stopped at the Family Farm & Home in the little town just south of my place. I was with my wife store to look/buy the Trailmaster MB200s they said they had in stock. Wanted to make sure she fit on them. Well, they had just sold the ones in stock the night before even though they still said they were in stock online and I called the store the day before. Bummer. The manager said he had 4 more ordered but with delays in shipping from China he wasn't sure when they would come in.

After looking around all over the state I finally found 2 Trailmaster MB200s in stock. Couldn't wait for the next slow boat from China. I think these must be the last two available so I pulled the trigger. One for me, one for my wife.

Had to take a little road trip to pick them up but once home I went over every nut and bolt (found a few loose), checked the air in the tires and the oil. Once I figured out the gas, choke and on/off settings they both fired up on the first pull. There is a field behind the house so I took each for a little ride. They are pretty fun to ride, not very fast but that's ok. I can back out the throttle screw if I want to go faster and I'm old so slow is fine. I have long legs so my knees hit the handle bars. Short term, loosen and tilt the bars forward, long term, get risers.

I'll be going up to my cabin next Wednesday where these guys will permanently live. Should be pretty fun to have them up in the woods.

And....my wife and I just went for a ride behind the house. She was pretty anxious about riding it but it's low and slow and she thought it was pretty fun once she got the hang of it.

First impressions.....

1. The bikes are pretty comfortable to ride. The front and rear suspension helps as do the balloon tires. The seat however isn't very comfortable.

2. I'm guessing the top speed is probably 20 mph. That's with the throttle screw set at the factory setting. Unlike the Coleman's the MB throttle screw isn't welded in place so I can get more throttle by backing it out, which I don't want to do right away.

3. I got my wife out on one of them this evening. She's in her 60's and hasn't ridden anything in about 30 years so was pretty apprehensive. With just a hand throttle and no shifting she found it pretty easy to ride. With it being low to the ground and rather slow she had fun riding it once she got used to it.

4. I think these things could use a tail/brake light. My wife almost rear ended me, stating "I didn't know you were stopping". Going to have to look into that. I know there are battery powered brake lights for bicycles so that's a possibility. The headlight on these things run off a stator and is not very bright, there is no battery. I hear you can swap out the headlight for LEDs either just the bulb or the whole light. What some guys do is set up a 12v system with a removable, rechargable battery will have to look into that.

5. These things have a torque converter that is belt driven. I can see it wearing out. Going to have to start collecting replacement parts to use on the trails. That also means a way to carry spares (and tools) on the bikes when out and about.

6. As I said in the above post my knees hit the handle bars. Short term fix it to move them forward a bit. Long term probably means handle bar risers.

7. They are very fun to ride. Looking forward to taking them up to the cabin and riding them in the woods.

8. When I sat on one in the store a couple weeks ago it felt like real motorcycle. After riding it a couple times, it actually feels like a big, but more comfortable mini bike, not a motorcycle. It's a pretty simple machine. Just gas and go.

9. There are stops which prevent the handle bars from turning very far, thus a pretty wide turning radius. I don't want to eliminate them but perhaps grinding them down a bit on either side would make it better.

10. The fenders are cheap plastic and don't cover very much. I like some of the Colemen fenders better. Where I'm going to ride these things there is mud. Going to have to come up with mud flaps/guards for better protection.

11. Those side panels behind the engine/below the seat are made of steel. They protect empty space so not sure why they are there. But then again the top "tank" is just a empty cover as well. I'm sure both places could be used for storage. I have a couple storage tubes I had on my dual sport bike back in the day I could bolt on somewhere, like under the seat where those side covers are.

Sweet! I am glad the Missus likes hers too- can't wait for some stories of adventures on these...
Now I'm wondering if they sell those here= with the rear suspension. My current one is the hardtail.

You can buy them online shipped free. You would have to put it together however.

https://motobuys.com/products/trailmaster-mb200-2