Pocket and monkey motor bikes are variations of mini motorcycles. They are fun little machines for zipping around over short distances or inside warehouses, or courtyards. In fact mini-bikes, are said to have originally been created by biking enthusiasts for travelling around the pits at drag races. This makes sense as they’re easy to manoeuvre around small, tight spaces.
Pocket bikes look just like sports or racing bikes, they’re just the very small little brothers of superbikes. They’re smaller in size of course and much much smaller in engine capacity and power output. The average pocket bike is below 50 centimetres in height and is traditionally just shorter than one metre in length. You can expect to find 40-50cc two stroke engine on most pocket bikes, these little machines put out around 5-6 brake horse power, or less than 6kw. You can also get variations with four stroke engines and occasionally even with electric engines.
So if you’re in to pocket bikes, you’ll probably be interested in pocket bike racing. It’s also known as Minimoto or Circus racing and is popular in Japan with gaining popularity in Europe. The fun thing about these little beasts is that they usually only weigh 20-25 kilograms. This means that despite their diminutive engines they can get up to speeds up to 125 kph. The sport of minimoto is engaged in by children and adults alike, although for an outsider a fully grown adult on a 50cm motorbike is a pretty amusing one, it does also look like a whole lot of fun. If you’re going to race these mini monsters, serious knee pads and full leather protective gear is definitely the way to go. Being so low to the ground your knees are pretty much on the tar all the way, and it’s not very difficult to hit the tarmac trying to gain an advantage around the corners.
Naturally helmets are equally important. The cost of pocketbike racing makes it a lot more accessible that it’s more glamorous big brother. Being pretty low in power output you can’t expect to rip through tires like you do with a superbike or even a racing 125cc or 250cc motorbike. You also go through petrol in a way that should make the global warming activists very happy. Another bonus is that you don’t need a fancy bike trailer to transport your bike to and from races, you can just pop it in the book of any normal sized car, that’s how small they are.
Pocket and monkey motor bikes are pretty different animals though. Monkey motor bikes, commonly just called monkey bikes, are similar in size and in engine capacity, although you do often find 60-80cc engines in them too, but they’re a little more old-school in their appearance and are more just for a laugh, for popping down to the shops, for riding around farm roads or for letting the kids have fun than for racing. There are also some older monkey bikes from the 60’s and 70’s that are now collectors’ items too. You can find these bad boys for sale online through Gumtree, junkmail.co.za or on bikes-for-sale.co.za. For advice, parts, new and used bikes www.pocketbikes.co.za seems a good place to go, it’s the site for a rare Alberton based shop that only sells mini motor bikes, including pocket bikes, monkey bikes, and other small motor bikes. They also sell offroad or ATV (all terrain vehicles) mini-bikes.
So if you’re keen on racing but don’t want to incur the costs of big bike racing and/or if you don’t want to take the same risks that come with racing faster more powerful bikes, or if you’re just looking for something zippy for you and your kids to have some fun on, these mini-machines might just be the right place to look.