The origin of pocketbikes

The concept of pocket bikes also known as mini bikes, mini motos, or mini motorcycles) began years ago in Japan, a country known for miniaturizing full-scale products. As crude mockups of the first pocket bikes were developed and ridden, a brand new trend and following developed. As the sport spread into Europe, Italian manufacturer Polini began research and development into producing high quality racing Minimoto bikes. Throughout the years, the combination of Japanese innovation and Italian craftsmanship has produced ultra high performance pocket bikes. Some of today’s top motorcycle racers got their start in the sport of pocket bike racing. Champion riders started in this smaller scale sport and eventually dominated all pocket bike racing events throughout the world.. Until recently, quality pocket bikes were largely out of reach and unavailable to the casual rider. Prices of pocket bikes reached upwards of $4000. These astronomical costs were mainly due to research and development costs to provide optimum frame geometry, motor configurations and dimensions. Today’s manufacturers are able to use the information pioneered by these Italian and Japanese companies and develop pocket bikes that are essentially configured the same way including motor setup, frame geometry, braking systems, etc. Because these upfront costs were avoided, prices of these high quality pocket bikes are much less expensive today.