Pocket Bike Prices drop to record lows this year

Wow good news for anyone looking to purchase a pocket bike! Both Mini Pocket Rockets and USA Pocket Bikes dropped their pocket bike and mini quad prices dramatically this week.

The Cagllaris now start at $239 with USA Pocket Bikes offering the lower price. The Mini Quads start at $399, a drop of $50. And the Mini Dirt Bikes are now priced at $299 on both sites.

I wanted to share a short tidbit about a man who helped popularize pocket bikes in California. I got a Go-Ped from him many years ago and this is where I first found out about pocket bikes. I almost walked out of the store with a $2000 Blata Elite 11 back in the day.

Donald Sercombe, owner, Mini Motos Etc.

LA Times article about his shop and the pocket bikes he sold: http://articles.latimes.com/1999/feb/23/news/cl-10690

If you know of any pocket bike shops anywhere in the country, please comment and I will make a page with a listing for every state.

A friend forwarded me these pictures of his shop when it was stocked wall-to-wall with Balta's:

Know of any pocket bike shop still in business? Please post. This one closed around 2010 soon after the owner passed away.

Blade 43R Pocket Bike from USA Pocket Bikes

I've been on disability since April and took up a new hobby to piss off my neighbor - pocket bikes. There's nothing that exerts revenge better on someone who can't keep his Rottweiler from barking up at 3 in the morning at passing cars than firing up a pocket bike with the silencer cut off :)) I'm friends with the cop next block over and she said as long as I don't take it out of the cul-de-sac onto the big roads nobody will care -- not bad for California, but here in Mendocino we're known for that if you know what i mean :)

I first saw one on Jackass years ago, but didn't know I could pick one up online for $200, I'd seen the Euro models at a shop that closed down years ago but they were $2000 and up, I don't know about you but I got better places to put two grand, lol, and the electric ones at Walmart could maybe haul my five year old son but sure as hell won't pull me up. Besides he's got the Razor scooters and they're all busted with dead batteries.

I already had a Cag that I got from USA four years ago but the thing's been gathering dust and rust in the garage, instead of tinkering with it knowing I may give up before I get it running, I figured what the heck, I'm going to get a new 2012 bike for myself, have some fun, and maybe get my son interested in it, anything's better than kids vegetating in front of the TV all day. Now that I've had my Blade for a few weeks and my boy likes it, I'm going to start fixing up the Cag and teach him a thing or two about the two strokes. I pulled the head off tho and it's all fouled up bad so I'm getting a rebuild kit and gonna try to clean up the engine, I'll post pics of that soon.

They're cool little engines, it's just a shame there's no good place to get troubleshooting advice online for them so I'm going to make some entires hopefully someone will find this useful.

I placed an order on www.usapocketbikes.com on July 12th for the Blade 43R which I was told is the cheapest model they have in stock, but they called me 3 days later and told me that the bikes are stuck in customs or what have you and I have to wait until late August. I don't know what's going on, if they're cracking down on the pocket rockets and wanting to take away the last free rights we have, but the guys at USA said the government's been seizing shipments and costing pocket bike companies so much money that most went out of business. It breaks my heart seeing small companies selling cool gadgets like that getting all sorts of roadblocks from the enviro-nazis when i see diesels spewing black TAR for miles every time I get on the freeway. Not to mention the unemployment lines and so much for clean diesel... but I digress.

So I finally got my bike on September 8th. I can't complain, the wait was worth it. The first thing I noticed is it's a lot more snazzy than my Cag, the frame looks much better built, it's straight, not crooked, very nice sandblasted black that looks kiln treated. Tires are treaded not slicks, I don't much mind the slicks but if you're out after a light shower you'll appreciate the tread.

Interesting side note: see the chrome plate in their picture running at a 45 degree angle down the side of the bike:

It doesn't come with that. Instead it's matte black. It looks pretty sick all black, my bike is red so it really stands out. I actually asked them when I called about my parts and they said it's not real chrome but a piece of plastic that doesn't do anything so they no longer come with that. Do not let that discourage you TRUST me it looks waaay sicker without it.

The manual said to mix 5 ounces to a gallon of premium unleaded, I had some premix from my hedge trimmer already but I figured what the heck, I'm gonna do this right and bought a new gas can for $7.25 that I titled "Pre-Mix Donnie's Bike Only" followed by a big "DO NOT TOUCH MY S***" so everyone knows not to mess with my stuff, they know not to mess with my stuff when I put my name on it because they know I go crazy, lol, but seriously though, I do. People have no respect these days, and I'm not even middle aged yet to say that.

Problems so far:

The right foot peg came busted out of the box and my tail panel had a hairline crack on it. I didn't know if I should ride it or if they'll want me to ship the whole thing back, and since it came on a Saturday I couldn't reach them until the following Monday, so it was a bummer. Called them Monday, they said they just send out the parts and I can keep my bike, and I got no problem swapping out a peg, it still works just the rubber's torn off. I didn't have to pay for anything, all they asked is I email a picture of the damage for the claim. I said I don't have a camera and my iphone is busted but they insisted that I somehow email them a picture, well, I said I would but I already got the parts and I never sent the pic, feel kinda bad. 

So I go to start it - SECOND PULL, NOT BAD! I did notice it came with no tool kit at all, so for anyone looking to buy the Blade - you're gonna need some tools! If you're a tinkerer like me you'll have these readily available, but if not, this is what you need:

Needed Tools

1. 8mm wrench or socket wrench for chain adjusting.
2. 10mm wrench or socket wrench for adjusting the brake tension. This is really important I see a lot of people riding bikes around going 35 mph with no brakes just because they trust the factory settings. NEVER TRUST A FACTORY SETTING ON A POCKET BIKE - you gotta check everything out for yourself cuz it's your ass on the line (excuse the language), quite literally, and you want to be able to stop.
3. 5mm Hex Key (the ones with T handlebars work best, but stay away from ball end, get the straight end, they will last a long longer and not strip out the bolts. You need this for just about everything from handlebars to tightening up the plastics.
4. 4mm Hex Key - you need this for anything that is not a 5mm, such as pull start, front forks, and throttle. The carb on the Blade has an automatic choke release and if you don't tighten up the throttle, it'll twist on the handlebar when you full throttle and the choke won't disengage. So you're gonna need that 4 mil.
5. If you want to have the complete run down, if you ever need to replace your tire or adjust the chain tension, you'll need two 14mm wrenches to do the axle bolts. And a 17mm if you need to adjust the tension on the neck but you can probably skip that. The only other thing you could possibly need is a spark plug deep socket - 19mm or 3/4 inch deep socket - but it's got to be deep enough to accommodate the spark plug tip. You can get away with a wrench too just got to be careful to not strip anything.

Set up tips:

• Spread out your handlebars as wide as you can. You don't need a big turning radius because you will be leaning into turns. Also my friends all have messed up plastics by the kill switch because they don't have the common sense to position it in its intended position (button down, facing the rider) and pull the throttle out just enough for it to clear the cowling.
• Tighten the handlebars good, but don't over-tighten because you can strip the bolts. Just try folding the handlebars and tighten until you can't fold them with your hands.

Gas tips:

• Make sure you don't use stale gas. Use the stale gas in your trimmer or lawnmower, something that doesn't need to push your heavy butt around, and mix up a fresh batch for your pocket bike.
• Follow the instructions that call for 25:1 for break-in and 32:1 after. The manual says for break in to take it easy on the throttle (not race it) for the first gallon and that's pretty much it. You may want to check this out too, tells you what not to do.
• DO NOT BUY YOUR OIL FROM WALMART, O'Reilly, Pep Boys, or 99 cent stores. They carry JUNK that breaks down at high temps and will melt your engine. Get good quality oil in a lawnmower section of Ace or Home Depot, or got to a real power sports store and pick up some Yamalube or Castrol.

Starting observations:

• The manual tells you to engage the choke, then start the engine, then pop the choke once started. I've actually found the engine starts better if I don't choke it at all and just give it half a twist of the throttle when starting. I don't know if it's the weather and the folks in colder climates will need to choke it, but I've had better luck without the choke even if it's been sitting in the garage for a few days.
• Make sure you adjust the idle so it sounds healthy but the wheel doesn't spin until you give it gas. The Blade has a big thumb screw for the idle screw and it's very easy to adjust without any tools unless you have very fat fingers, just make sure you know exactly where you're putting your fingers when the engine is running so you don't accidentally burn or remove any body parts you'd like to have. Hint - the idle screw is right by the choke on the RIGHT side of the bike.
• Let it warm up for 2-3 minutes before riding it so the engine doesn't get hit with heat stress.
• The cord rope gets glazed over and can rip if you let it rub around the o-ring. To prevent this, just make sure you pull at the same angle as the pull start is positioned.

I am really impressed with how fast these things are. I'm 185 lbs and I clocked it at 32 with my Garmin but I'm still on break-in and didn't open it all the way up, so we shall see ::)) To be fair my Cag seemed about the same speed but like I said I always had carb issues with it and I'm glad they've finally done something about it. I'll shut up about the foot pegs if anyone's owned or own a Cag as you know what I'm talking about!

I got the peg and tail panel last week and I haven't put them on yet but I'm going to this weekend when my back's up to it and find a way to get some pictures to share too. Thanks for reading and stay tuned. If you have any pocket bike questions I'm happy to answer, I've worked with lawnmower and light paving equipment since I was 15 so I know the basics of them pretty well.

Stay tuned for more.