Taco Mini Bike

mx295
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mx295
Edited Date/Time 1/27/2012 2:44pm
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/mcy/1619465255.html
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stillwelding
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stillwelding 2/26/2010 4:04pm
2/26/2010 4:04pm Edited Date/Time 4/17/2016 9:02pm
My first powered 2-wheeler was a Taco 66 with a 5HP Tecumseh in about 1968. Ahh, the good old days. Suspended front and rear with a jack shaft so you couldn't throw the chain. Also, it was a 2-smoke.




Pdub
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Pdub 2/26/2010 4:59pm
2/26/2010 4:59pm
That frame is hilarious!

The Shop

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Daystar99
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Glendale, AZ US
Daystar99 2/26/2010 5:15pm
2/26/2010 5:15pm
stillwelding wrote:
My first powered 2-wheeler was a Taco 66 with a 5HP Tecumseh in about 1968. Ahh, the good old days. Suspended front and rear with a...
My first powered 2-wheeler was a Taco 66 with a 5HP Tecumseh in about 1968. Ahh, the good old days. Suspended front and rear with a jack shaft so you couldn't throw the chain. Also, it was a 2-smoke.




I had a Taco almost exactly like that! Purple frame and about 1/2" travel front and rear - except mine was a 5hp Tecumseh four stroke. My jack shaft chain stayed on but my rear chain came off if I hit anything bigger than a no. 2 pencil. In 1967 or so and I was the shit with a 5hp mini bike - 3.5 was pretty much the standard then.
Highsider
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Highsider 2/26/2010 6:08pm
2/26/2010 6:08pm Edited Date/Time 2/27/2010 5:59am
Daystar99 wrote:
I had a Taco almost exactly like that! Purple frame and about 1/2" travel front and rear - except mine was a 5hp Tecumseh four stroke...
I had a Taco almost exactly like that! Purple frame and about 1/2" travel front and rear - except mine was a 5hp Tecumseh four stroke. My jack shaft chain stayed on but my rear chain came off if I hit anything bigger than a no. 2 pencil. In 1967 or so and I was the shit with a 5hp mini bike - 3.5 was pretty much the standard then.
Mine was the 3.5hp and I had only front springs and solid rear frame. I bought it with money from mowing yards, in '66.
I bought it as a kit and my Grandpa loaned me his Briggs lawnmower engine. Maybe a "Taco 22" was my model, with an unpainted frame.
88sdad
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88sdad 2/26/2010 6:54pm
2/26/2010 6:54pm
Daystar99 wrote:
I had a Taco almost exactly like that! Purple frame and about 1/2" travel front and rear - except mine was a 5hp Tecumseh four stroke...
I had a Taco almost exactly like that! Purple frame and about 1/2" travel front and rear - except mine was a 5hp Tecumseh four stroke. My jack shaft chain stayed on but my rear chain came off if I hit anything bigger than a no. 2 pencil. In 1967 or so and I was the shit with a 5hp mini bike - 3.5 was pretty much the standard then.
Purple frames, I remember that like it was yesterday, but I don't remember a 2 stroke.

stillwelding
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stillwelding 2/26/2010 9:16pm
2/26/2010 9:16pm
Daystar99 wrote:
I had a Taco almost exactly like that! Purple frame and about 1/2" travel front and rear - except mine was a 5hp Tecumseh four stroke...
I had a Taco almost exactly like that! Purple frame and about 1/2" travel front and rear - except mine was a 5hp Tecumseh four stroke. My jack shaft chain stayed on but my rear chain came off if I hit anything bigger than a no. 2 pencil. In 1967 or so and I was the shit with a 5hp mini bike - 3.5 was pretty much the standard then.
88sdad wrote:
Purple frames, I remember that like it was yesterday, but I don't remember a 2 stroke.

http://www.steenstacominibikes.com/Engine.html

stillwelding
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stillwelding 2/26/2010 9:18pm
2/26/2010 9:18pm
Daystar99 wrote:
I had a Taco almost exactly like that! Purple frame and about 1/2" travel front and rear - except mine was a 5hp Tecumseh four stroke...
I had a Taco almost exactly like that! Purple frame and about 1/2" travel front and rear - except mine was a 5hp Tecumseh four stroke. My jack shaft chain stayed on but my rear chain came off if I hit anything bigger than a no. 2 pencil. In 1967 or so and I was the shit with a 5hp mini bike - 3.5 was pretty much the standard then.
88sdad wrote:
Purple frames, I remember that like it was yesterday, but I don't remember a 2 stroke.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Taco Mini-bikes.

http://www.steenstacominibikes.com/Index_Home.html

jmar
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jmar 2/26/2010 9:28pm
2/26/2010 9:28pm
I started out on a taco.
CamP
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CamP 2/26/2010 9:45pm
2/26/2010 9:45pm
The kid that lived across the street from me had a Taco. I thought it was cool but I wanted an SL70, so bad.
race
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race 2/26/2010 10:31pm
2/26/2010 10:31pm
Ha!

I started on a Taco 22 with the Briggs thumper. A bunch of us were riding around at the Hollywood Bowl parking lot on a Sunday ( it was deserted and there were these block long islands filled with brush / trees so you could race around them like you were doing laps. )

I came around a blind corner WFO scraping the pegs and ran head on into my older brother coming the other way in his go kart. Boom! That was the end of my Taco 22 and the first of my broken bones from two wheel fun.

When I healed up, I sold my comic book collection to pay for a Taco 66 with the Power Products smoker. ( Fock! I wish I had held onto those comics!! ) The suspension was basically just for looks and didn't really do much. And the jack shaft design was a nightmare. Both bikes were from Steens in Alhambra.

I can still recall the joy of slicing up my greasy fingers trying to put the recoil spring back in on the rope pull starter. At one point, a bunch of us were sent down to Juvi Hall for being part of a hooligan mini bike" gang terrorizing the neighborhood. lol The Juvi Hall guy just chuckled and told my parents not to worry, that the person who complained was a nut job and sent us all home.

Good times!

andymoto
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andymoto 2/26/2010 10:44pm
2/26/2010 10:44pm
K-Mart use to sell minibikes; seemed like the Steen. $300 bucks thereabouts if memory serves me right.

Only knew one that had a minibike like the Taco. Everyone else either Mini Trail 50s, Trail 70s, Ace 90s, Super Rats, SL100s and one had a red '71 dual sport Suzuki 90..(TS?)...

so great to be a kid back then.

SteveS
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SteveS 2/27/2010 6:17am
2/27/2010 6:17am
First minibike I rode was one of those. Belonged to a friend. I put it (and myself) under a chain link fence when I misjudged how well it would turn on grass and slid sideways. Had to wait under there for him to get his dad to extricate me.
88sdad
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88sdad 2/27/2010 6:23am
2/27/2010 6:23am
andymoto wrote:
K-Mart use to sell minibikes; seemed like the Steen. $300 bucks thereabouts if memory serves me right. Only knew one that had a minibike like the...
K-Mart use to sell minibikes; seemed like the Steen. $300 bucks thereabouts if memory serves me right.

Only knew one that had a minibike like the Taco. Everyone else either Mini Trail 50s, Trail 70s, Ace 90s, Super Rats, SL100s and one had a red '71 dual sport Suzuki 90..(TS?)...

so great to be a kid back then.

I had a 69 mini trail 50 and it cost $350 OTD.
slowvet
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slowvet 2/27/2010 7:15am
2/27/2010 7:15am
andymoto wrote:
K-Mart use to sell minibikes; seemed like the Steen. $300 bucks thereabouts if memory serves me right. Only knew one that had a minibike like the...
K-Mart use to sell minibikes; seemed like the Steen. $300 bucks thereabouts if memory serves me right.

Only knew one that had a minibike like the Taco. Everyone else either Mini Trail 50s, Trail 70s, Ace 90s, Super Rats, SL100s and one had a red '71 dual sport Suzuki 90..(TS?)...

so great to be a kid back then.

Back alleys were our domain. You could get from one end of town to the other through alleys. Get to a street, look both ways for the fuzz.
Bill163
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Bill163 2/27/2010 8:28am
2/27/2010 8:28am
My first bike was a Taco 44 with a 5 hp Briggs and no brakes that started 38 yrs of moto sickness that I just can't shake.

Pit Row

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jmar
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jmar 2/27/2010 8:33am
2/27/2010 8:33am
andymoto wrote:
K-Mart use to sell minibikes; seemed like the Steen. $300 bucks thereabouts if memory serves me right. Only knew one that had a minibike like the...
K-Mart use to sell minibikes; seemed like the Steen. $300 bucks thereabouts if memory serves me right.

Only knew one that had a minibike like the Taco. Everyone else either Mini Trail 50s, Trail 70s, Ace 90s, Super Rats, SL100s and one had a red '71 dual sport Suzuki 90..(TS?)...

so great to be a kid back then.

The taco's were cheaper than that. I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $350 for a Yamaha mini enduro the first year they came out.
Highsider
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Highsider 2/27/2010 8:56am
2/27/2010 8:56am Edited Date/Time 2/27/2010 8:58am
andymoto wrote:
K-Mart use to sell minibikes; seemed like the Steen. $300 bucks thereabouts if memory serves me right. Only knew one that had a minibike like the...
K-Mart use to sell minibikes; seemed like the Steen. $300 bucks thereabouts if memory serves me right.

Only knew one that had a minibike like the Taco. Everyone else either Mini Trail 50s, Trail 70s, Ace 90s, Super Rats, SL100s and one had a red '71 dual sport Suzuki 90..(TS?)...

so great to be a kid back then.

jmar wrote:
The taco's were cheaper than that. I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $350 for a Yamaha mini enduro the first year they came out.
I would bet my kit 22, without motor, was around $125....maybe $99.

I will attend my 40 class reunion this May, and I will ask my friend that sold it to me. (his dad set him up with the shop)
jmar
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jmar 2/27/2010 9:14am
2/27/2010 9:14am
Those things are in mint condition.

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