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Posts Tagged ‘pocket bikes’

Pocket bikes may look like toys, but they aren’t. They are designed for fun, but they can also be very dangerous if not handled properly. Never allow unsafe practices to take away the fun from riding pocket bikes. You can have fun, and still be safe, by following some simple common sense rules.

• Always wear the right equipment. Dress as though you were riding a big street bike. Leather is the best type of clothing, and helmets, knee pads, and elbow pads should be worn at all times. Eyes can be protected with goggles are safety glasses. Buckle the chin strap each and every time. Leather gloves are a great idea to protect your hands.

• Always inspect your bike before riding. This should become an automatic habit to check before each ride. Make sure your air pressure in the tires is right. Check the tension of the chain. Check the fuel. Check the frame of the bike. Tighten any loose nuts or bolts. If anything looks or sounds amiss, don’t ride! Most injuries from pocket bikes occur because something is wrong with the bike, and an individual rides it, anyway.
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Pocketbike racing, which is also known in some places as Minimoto or Mini GP racing, is a racing that is doine with the use of miniature racing motorcycles, which are known most commonly as pocket bikes. These bikes are raced around kart tracks. It is an extremely popular sport in Japan and Europe, and is gaining in popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in the United States.

A typical pocket bike is roughly one quarter the size of a normal motorcycle, and is powered by an internal combustion engine of between 40-50 cubic centimetres producing somewhere between 3 and 15 horsepower, depending on the particular model. The machines have no suspension, relying on the tires to absorb bumps and handle cornering, and most weigh right about 40 pounds. The entry-level models often produce about 3 to 4 horsepower, but the more expensive racing models run with much more power. The best pocket bikes for racing are ones that provide a favorable power-to-weight ratio. Performance enhancements are sometimes added to increase speed and acceleration. Despite their tiny size, both adults and children race pocket bikes at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour in organized racing leagues.
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One of the least understood aspects of motocross racing by non-participants is the incredible level of physical fitness required of competitors. Many people unfamiliar with the sport often assume that the rider is doing nothing more strenuous than steering a motorized vehicle around a field, something that would be just as easy as driving the family car around the block. This is not the case. Racing pocket bikes, or motocross racing, has actually been found to be one of the most physically demanding sports in existence. If someone really studies a rider’s actions while racing, it becomes easy to see why.

The rider must maintain incredibly ultra-precise control of a machine that is not only traveling, but racing, over the type of terrain that most people would have difficulty walking across. They have to do this while maintaining as fast a speed as possible. The rider is astride a machine weighing a large amount of weight and, at the most elite professional level, has an engine that pushes them at almost seventy-five miles per hour at top speed. A rider’s arms and legs are constantly moving during a race, fighting for control of the motorcycle while absorbing the energy produced by high-speed landings from heights that can often exceed twenty feet, not to mention the two-foot high stutter bumps (called whoops) that beat the crap out of both the motorcycle and the rider. The G forces produced from the race test the absolute limits of a rider’s strength and endurance. Finally, a typical professional race lasts a minimum of thirty minutes, if not longer. That means for a full half an hour, the faster the rider goes, the more violently and frequently he or she is punished. Unlike Nascar, there are no pauses, breaks, time outs, or pit stops.
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One of the most appealing aspects of pocket bikes is that you can modify and upgrade them yourself. You can strip them down and rebuild them from scratch with high performance parts, modifying and customizing them until they almost flip you off the seat when you roll the throttle on! If the flipping off a bike with speed isn’t for you, there are plenty of parts made specifically for improving the design to give it that hot, unique look that sets you apart from everyone else. But before you can upgrade or switch out, or even do basic maintenance, you have to understand the basic parts of a pocket bike.

Fairings:
This is one of those parts that really is not essential to the pocket bike, but it does make your bike look really good! Fairings are the plastic covers that surround the frame of your pocket bike, and give it a “super bike” type of look. There is not much you can do with them, other than paint them, but you can put on any design you want and that is always pretty fun to do.

The Wheels and Tires
This is straight forward. Everyone knows what a wheel is. The important part is the tires. The tires on a pocket bike can make a big difference if you are racing. It’s definitely one of the main pocket bike parts you should think about upgrading. Most, if not all, pocket bikes come with pretty generic crappy tires. The rubber used in them tends to be hard and doesn’t grip the track well. Sava is a well known brand of tires that are affordable and will cut seconds of your lap times on the track!
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