Skatebikes

A Skatebike (some prefer Skate Bike) is a cross between a bicycle drive back wheel and a skateboard truck up front. We've got it all skatebike: Minson, Roller Shuttle, Twisties Edition, Garel Monocycle, LeRun and Max. A large collection of commercials, ads and video of riders and their skatebikes. And lots of technical articles on restoring a skatebike including diagrams, dimensions and part numbers.

There was two main skatebike families: Minson and Garel/LeRun/Max. Two patents filed in 1981 started things off, US4523770 for Minson and US4417743 for Garel. In 2007 a third family was introduced, the SQRL (say “squirrel”).

Minson Skate Bike was made in Taiwan and sold mostly in North America but were also marketed as the Minson Roller Shuttle in the UK and a special edition was marketed as the Minson Twisties Edition in Australia.

There were four versions of the Garel skatebikes. The Motobécane Rodeocycle made in France and the Garel Monocycle was made in Italy. Two licensees were LeRun, made in Malaysia, and Max Skatebike and AXL made in Holland. Later followed a licensing agreement creating the MTV LeRun. The most recent entry is the QU-AX Balance Trainer.

Have you got an interesting skatebike, modified, electrified or home grown. Email me about your ride. I love adding articles on how fans are enjoying their skatebikes.

Want to Help?

I am looking for people who own specific models of skatebikes, such as AXL Skatebike and SQRL Skatebike (any model). I would appreciate photos of labels and stickers, especially those that tell where they were made.

Rich Helms - Canada Rich@RichHelms.ca