What's all the buzz about Pocket
bikes?
The concept of pocket bikes (a.k.a.. mini bikes, mini motos, mini motorcycles,
or pocket rockets) began years ago in Japan, a country known for miniaturizing
full-scale products. As crude mockups of the first pocket bikes were developed
and ridden, a brand new trend and following developed. As the sport spread into
Europe, Italian manufacturer Polini and other Pocket Bike Manufacturers began
research and development into producing high quality racing minimoto bikes.
Throughout the years, the combination of Japanese innovation and Italian craftsmanship
has produced ultra high performance pocket bikes.
Some of today's top motorcycle racers got their start in the sport of pocket bike racing. Champion riders such as Valentino Rossi started in this smaller scale sport and eventually dominated all pocket bike racing events throughout the world. He then moved on to Grand Prix Moto GP racing and is one of today's most respected riders on the pro circuit.
Until recently, quality pocket bikes were largely unavailable to the casual rider. Prices of pocket bikes reached upwards of $4000. These astronomical costs were mainly due to research and development costs to provide optimum frame geometry, motor configurations and dimensions. Today's manufacturers are able to use the information pioneered by these Italian and Japanese companies and develop pocket bikes that are essentially configured the same way including motor setup, frame geometry, braking systems, etc. Because these upfront costs were avoided, prices of these high quality pocket bikes are much less expensive today.
As with any moto sport always wear your brain- bucket (helmet). Man, the stories we could tell you about some riders that didn't wear their helmet.