Hello gentlemen, Just thought I would introduce myself being new to this board. Any of you on the Oldminibikes.com site would know me by the same handle “smallbore” a.k.a. Scott. My handle comes from 10 years of competitive rifle shooting in both High Power Rifle and Smallbore Rifle competition. I ran the Smallbore program at our local range for these 10 years and still hold unbroken records many years later. I am no stranger when it comes to motorcycles & minibikes. Growing up in Southern California I have been riding, repairing, and restoring since age 12, 43 years ago. In my early 20`s I attended Santa Monica College where I went to night school 5 nights a week taking Machining, Tool & Die Pattern Making, and Metal Casting. In that class I designed and built a super charger for Honda singles as well as some other cool stuff. From Santa Monica I transferred to LATT in Los Angeles where I took Motorcycle Mechanics so I could get a piece of paper that officially said: “I know what Im doing”. I have a large collection of rare motorcycles and a bunch of minibikes as well.
I see that some of you watch Craigslist and eBay as I do. Well.... I am the one that bought the Senior Sportsman recently that was in Yucaipa California. Im sure there are a few of you wondering why someone would pay so much for that bike. As you know, any of this stuff brings what ever the market will bear or what someone is willing to pay. There are several factors why I paid what I did. #1- The bike was 1-1/2 hour drive away from me = $25.00 in Gas round trip verses $300.00 to 400.00 shipping for out of state, so I had some extra wiggle room there. #2- The rarity of the bike.... (I mainly deal in only rare bikes). That bike is a 1965 model year, and there was only a few built that year before Simplex closed their doors for good. #3- I have the correct engine in my shop as well as a 1965 California “black & yellow” license plate for it which is out of the DMV system and can be reassigned to this bike with just an application for lost title. For those of you that were wondering what year it was... I cant stress enough just how important it is to do your research Not just Goggle but other search engines as well as books and magazines. I have won lots of trophies through the years for “Concourse” restorations including a George Barris trophy which are hard to come by. Concourse shows means every nut, bolt, washer, wiring, graphics, even seat material has to be 100% correct of how it left the factory. Once at the Bultaco World Championships, I got called out by the judges for a hose clamp being a Type 1 Cadmium instead of Type-2, but I still won best bike in competition with my steel rim 1976 Montesa Cota 172 (one of 500 built). I rode Observed Trials Competition for 16 years and still have several of my old Trials bikes from those days.
Well.... I think I have said more than enough for now. As time permits I will post some photos for you.
Smallbore.......
