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MINIMATE MINIBIKE



At times I do get a surprise. Here is a Minimate minibike picture that was sent to me from Kevin and Lynn Berkett. So here is his story.
" I just bought a complete and relatively original (I think) Minimate mini bike. The motor is probably not original. But the decals are. It has a 5hp Briggs now. It was made by Allied Leisure. I hope you can use these. I have just started buying a few minis. There is a weekly farm auction 2 blocks from my house. I have bought 4 minis this month." Boy there are so many brand name minibikes. Check it out.

Update: 7/10/05
Thanks to steve he has oinformed me that there is more information on this. Not only that I was totally impressed with what he mentioned. Here is his comments.
"HI JAY,JUST TO LET YOU KNOW I IDENTIFIED THE LATEST MINI BIKE YOU HAVE LISTED. THE MINI MATE MADE BY ALLIED LEASEURE. THIS BIKE WAS ACTUALLY MADE BY ONE OF THE BROTHERS WHO MADE THE "LIL INDIAN" MINI BIKE "REGIS MICHRENA"!.REGIS STARTED THE COMPANY IN THE EARLY SVENTIES I THINK. ALL THE INFO ON THIS CAN BE FOUND UNDER "LIL INDIAN HISTORY" UNDER A SEARCH ENGINE!.THE DECAL'S ON THE BIKE ARE VERY SIMULAR TO THE CURRENT LIL INDIAN DECAL'S.THE COMPANY IS NOW KNOWN AS RECREATIONAL LEASURE. LIL INDIAN ORIGINALLY HAD A PATENTED 2 SPEED TRANSMISSION SETUP CALLED A "MINI-MATIC". HOPEFULLY,YOU WILL BE ABLE TO LIST THIS ON THE SITE TO HELP BOTH THE OWNER OF THE BIKE AND MAYBE OTHERS IDENTIFY IT!. THANKYOU,SINCERELY, STEVEN."
Now for the best part. I did a little search on the history and came up with a fantastic article I recommend you all read. It is the story of the LIL Indian and the founders of the company. It is a long article (16 pages) so I would print it out and save. Click here to go to the link.







Now here is another Minimate project that Tom Browning just completed. I'm very impressed with the job done to this vintage minibike. Here is Tom's story.
"Here's some pictures of my recently completed MiniMate minibike. It is different than the other MiniMate featured here in that it doesn't have any suspension. The bike was repainted in it's original  color scheme of black with white wheels. These  bikes  supposedly came with Clinton engines, so that's what I put into it. The seat is the one that came with it and  was the aftermarket seat of those days. Not sure if it's original, but I suspect it may be since Regis Michrina was getting parts wherever he could in those days. Some interesting features of this bike is the 4"  wheels, the way that the forks are crimped at the bottom where the axle goes through, the way the handlebars are shaped, and how tall the frame is. Also notable on this frame is the way the frame was 2 piece as seen by the point where the frame tubes join at  the rear axle, and then welded together at the headtube. Another thing of interest is that it seems that the late model Lil Indian frame that you can still buy new is appears to be the same as this frame only the head tube is cut in half so that the frame is actually still 2 pieces, and the footpegs pivot while still looking like the ones on this frame. "