[motorcyclistonline] - Whatever Happened To...Taco Mini Bikes?

[Ninjette Newsbot]

Whatever Happened To...Taco Mini Bikes?

Returning soon to a sidewalk near youIf you were alive in America in the 1960s, you probably had your first two-wheeled experience on a rigid-framed, lawnmower-powered mini-bike. These contraptions were as trendy as Slinkies or Sidewalk Surfer skateboards, and everyone’s big brother or uncle had one stashed in the garage. Most likely it was made by Taco, the biggest—and most randomly named—mini-bike manufacturer of that era. Taco Mini Bikes were the brainchild of John Steen, a top off-road racer (he teamed with Steve McQueen and the Ekins brothers for the 1964 International Six Days Trial) and the inventor of Steen C, the first 100-percent synthetic motor oil. Steen’s company built countless thousands of its Tacquito, Burrito and Frijole-model mini-bikes between ’63 and ’71, until more sophisticated Honda Z50 and Kawasaki Coyote mini-cycles put the mini-bike makers out of business.


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