What Pocket Bikes Are Not

• Pocketbikes aren’t a lawn toy for your small child.
  Get them a battery powered Fischer Price toy instead.
  

• Pocketbikes aren’t a street motorcycle - they are highly specialized, miniature GP Racing motorcycles…very fast, very sophisticated 2-stroke racing machines – a virtual ground-based missile. Pocketbikes have hair-trigger acceleration, and can hurt you very easily if you lack the fine motor skills required for very precise throttle control. WEAR A HELMET AND FULL PROTECTIVE GEAR WHEN RIDING.
  

• Pocketbikes aren’t a "putt-putt minibike". The more powerful ones aren’t made just for adult or more experienced riders, but are in fact built for adult racers, and only for the younger racer who possesses a high degree of training, skill, and dexterity. While they may look entirely physically proportional sitting on them, younger children may not be able to safely operate the full-sized hand controls.
  
  Some kids as young as 4 years old* have successfully learned to ride the less powerful models in restricted form - but racing is certainly not for everyone, and certainly pocketbike racing is not for every child. Pocketbike racing on the restricted or lower horsepower models, compares quite favorably to Pee-Wee Motocross racing, in terms of safety…but some individuals may not posses sufficient motor-skills at any age to safely engage in motorsports racing. This is a risk assessment decision that has to be made by an adult parent or guardian based on the particular capabilities of THEIR child.
  
  *As with Pee-Wee MX, the youngest of pocketbike racing classes begin at age 7
  

• Pocketbikes aren’t to be underestimated. 6.2 hp pocketbikes can and have tossed even experienced road racers like a garden salad. Starting out with a 9.5 hp or 12+ hp model is surely ill-advised, especially if you have no prior road racing experience. Pocketbikes have an incredible power-to-weight ratio, and will wheelie quite easily if provoked. More power is on tap than can be safely used in all situations. Precise throttle control isn't just crucial, it's essential.
  

• Pocketbikes aren’t a mass-produced product of infinite availability, stacked on shelves 100 high, 20 deep, and 1000 wide in a huge warehouse somewhere. They are hand-made, limited production racing motorcycles built in the finest Italian racing tradition*.
  
  East Coast Minimoto's Pocketbikes are made by a small number of skilled craftsmen in small batches, in the case of the Polini brand (the closest to what you could even call a "production" racing bike) while others, such as ATM, Pasini, and ZPF, are made entirely by hand, essentially one-by-one, by some of Italy’s finest custom machine artisans.
  *Some pocketbikes are mass-produced in the Czech Republic, and are not hand-crafted in Italy!
  

• Pocketbikes aren’t a "consumer" product.
  They are a racing product: something entirely different.They don’t come with a warranty, and they are not returnable. They don’t come with an instructional video, or a detailed shop manual (and neither do racing cars, or full-size racing motorcycles either, for that matter). They don’t have consumer grade "guards" "protectors" or "shields" installed to protect you from yourself, and your own stupidity. They are made for racing…and in motorsports racing, stupid hurts.
  
  Pocketbikes don’t come out of a bubble pack, ready to use – this is not a toaster oven, or a George Foreman grill. While they do come relatively complete, they may still require some adjustment, and fine tuning, before being race-ready. You need to have mechanical knowledge to safely operate a racing product. If all you know how to do is ride, then find a friend who knows how to wrench.
  
  Example: If you can’t properly identify an expansion-style snap-ring pliers, this sport may be beyond your ken.
  

• Pocketbikes aren’t really all that different from full-size motorcycles…they’re only smaller. Motorcycles are normally sold through dealerships, and are usually dealer-prepped. If you purchase your bike directly from us (the importers), via mail-order, instead of buying from a local dealer, you will save a considerable amount of money…BUT, your bike will arrive in a crate - IT HAS NOT BEEN DEALER PREPPED.
  
  The money you save by buying your miniature pocket racing motorcycle via mail-order, directly from the importer (AND BYPASSING A DEALER) dictates that your bike will arrive in the condition that a dealer would normally encounter the bike in, when he uncrates it at the dealership.
  
  Before a dealer would sell that motorcycle to a customer he would have set it up, adjusted everything, corrected any problems that might have occurred during shipment (such as fasteners that may have worked loose), and checked the product over carefully for any unsafe conditions. These are just some of the BASIC steps involved in the dealer prep of any STREET BIKE…and you must remember: Pocketbikes aren’t street bikes – they are RACING BIKES.
  
  Many racers will completely disassemble their bikes, and then inspect, threadlock, zip-tie, safety wire, and otherwise carefully detail their bike rather extensively to get them ready for racing. Of course, not everyone is quite this serious about racing…but some level of care and preparation will certainly be required to get your bike safe and ready for riding. A simple set of metric wrenches, and Allen keys will be required to tighten the handlebars & hand controls, and attach the footpegs.
  
  PLEASE DO NOT CONFUSE BUYING A LIMITED PRODUCTION RACING MOTORCYCLE DIRECT VIA MAIL-ORDER IN A CRATE WITH BUYING A CONSUMER BIKE, DEALER-PREPPED, READY-TO-RIDE OFF THE SHOWROOM FLOOR.
  
  

• Pocketbikes aren’t difficult to work on, and are in fact some of the most user-friendly racing products made – but if you don’t have ANY mechanical skills, starting out in pocketbike racing (or any kind of racing) may not be the smartest thing to do. It’s still racing, and in racing, you must have a basic understanding of simple mechanical concepts to be competitive, and to maintain a safe bike in proper working order.
  
  We are importers, and although we have a keen mechanical understanding of these bikes and what makes them work, we are not psychic nor telekinetic, and cannot teach you how to build and repair motorcycles over the telephone. We can offer you the best tech support in the industry – but if you are completely mechanically inept, please get yourself some Lego’s, an Erector Set, or a set of Time-Life books instead....