7/27/2023 0 Comments Pocket bike![]() ![]() That's when Chinese knockoffs priced as low as $200 began to flood the U.S. Nevertheless, pocket biking remained a cult sport in the United States until late 2003. off the ground, whipping around turns like the pod racers in "The Phantom Menace," it feels like 150. A top speed of 50 mph may sound skimpy, but when you're 4 in. Besides, pocket bikes are a kick to ride. Price is a key part of the attraction: $2000 buys a fine, Italian-built machine, while $4000 pays for the pocket equivalent of a Ducati. In the United States, cadres of enthusiasts have been riding pocket bikes for at least five years, noodling around parking lots like this one or competing at racetracks. Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to playĮuropeans have raced pocket bikes for decades Valentino Rossi, the Lance Armstrong of MotoGP, got his start on them. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Mini Grand Prix, brought to you by Shrinky Dinks. The flying monkeys theme from "The Wizard Of Oz"- da-dum, da-dum, da-dum-dum-springs to mind. Hunched over wee handlebars, their legs bowed like butterfly wings, the riders look like clowns, the evil kind. They lean hard into a 90° left turn, pop upright, then drop to the right, knees skimming asphalt. Behind the building, three large men on tiny bikes whiz by, blazing down a straightaway on a course marked by orange cones. The sound, that is, of the shin-high motorcycles whose popularity has exploded in recent months, especially here in the San Francisco Bay area. Suddenly the din is phenomenal, a concerto for remote-control airplane, weed whacker and chain saw. Stopping in front of a low-slung office building, I kill the motor and pop open the car door. Hum grows to buzz as I pull into a business park of sprawling asphalt and scrawny saplings. A faint, tinny hum tickles my ears shortly after I exit the interstate in Hercules, Calif. ![]()
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