Posts in Category: Project
The Best Minson Skate Bike Restoration Updated – Eric Alley – California
In Aug 2019, Eric Alley of Walnut California contacted me about an old skatebike he bought and wanted to restore. For months we emailed back and forth with questions and answers. One of his biggest challenges was his bike was missing the under-seat brake handle. I sent many measurements and detailed photos. Eric bought a similar handle and a friend made a bracket to hold it on. Eric used the same skate truck as I did also replacing the stock bushing with a hard downhill one.
This week Eric sent me the finished picture and to put it mildly I was blown away. I took my restoration pretty far but Eric went the whole nine yards. This is by far the best skate bike restoration I have ever seen.
My DI-WHY Electrified MTV LeRun Skatebike
Here is something interesting. wer2000 on Reddit electrified an MTV LeRun. As the bottom bracket, cranks and pedals were replaced with stationary pegs, there are no brakes. One solution could be to add a brake like Minson uses with a brake handle under the seat. The speed control is mounted on the seat handle.
In his words
I had a geared 350-watt motor laying around and a 500 watt-hour battery used on a different project and decided to have some fun with them since they were just sitting around. It started out as more of a joke but its honestly quite fun to ride. It rides relatively stable and the max speed (~13 mph) is more than enough given the circumstances. As far as I know, no one else has done something like this so I guess I can at least say that I’ve done something unique?
How do you control the speed?
Leaning for turning and I’ve got a little vertical thumb throttle cleverly attached to the little hand grip in the front of the bike.
Motor mount is the only frame addition. Motor and controller were just laying around and the battery is from a different ebike I built awhile ago.
Most of it is in part to 3D printed parts. Exterior of the battery module is printed and even the foot pegs (with a super high density that is). The black coat also helps in cleaning up the welding motor mount though as my welding is certainly not top tier.
Max Skatebike Photos – Joimson – UK
Here are photos of a Max Skatebike that Joimson from Wimborne, UK took some years ago. He no longer owns the bike but used to work at Dorset UK recycling centres and used Flickr to document unusual finds.
Ever Seen a Chrome Skate Bike? – Jason S – UK
Jason S. from the UK recently bought on eBay a chrome Roller Shuttle, the UK branding of the Minson Skate Bike. While I have seen Roller Shuttles before, like Brent’s Brand New Unridden Roller Shuttle, I have never seen a chrome skate bike anywhere. Jason restores old Raleigh BMX Burner Cycles so he has the experience to do a wonderful restoration on the chrome skate bike.
Garel Monocycle – Jon N – UK
Jon N. from Manchester, England recently bought two skatebikes on eBay. The first I had never heard of before, a Garel Monocycle. Garel Monocycles were made in Italy.
Yves Garel patented his skatebike on June 18, 1981. He licensed his patent to LeRun which is why there is such a similarity. This agreement was dissolved later and fell into litigation.
Garel Monocycle “Run” Seat
Garel Monocycle Label
Jon’s words.
I purchased the Garel Skatebike from eBay thinking it was a LeRun Skatebike and had the intention of restoring it as the previous owner had changed the front truck to that of a skateboard truck. When I received the Skatebike I tried it out in my local park and the skateboard truck was far too flexible and made it unusable so I tightened it as much as I could and managed to get some straight runs and a few wide corners before one of the front wheel coverings peeled off as it had become brittle and cracked over the years, so they will be on the list to be changed as part of the restoration. You can see that the hole spacing on the skateboard truck is larger than the Skatebike mounting holes and additional holes have been added to the skateboard truck in order to fit correctly.
The pedals are not really to my taste so I will probably change them too, I’m not sure if they are original or have been changed over the years like the skateboard truck. I took the rear wheel to a local bike shop for them to true the wheel which did improve the stability, however I may try and have some of the spokes changed as some are bent.
It has a 12 inch rear wheel, a 32 tooth crank, pedal backwards to brake and skid, 25.4mm diameter seat post that is 350mm long, the saddle has ‘run’ printed on the sides and back. At first I thought it was a faded and partially rubbed off ‘Lerun’ however Wiki shows that the Garel Skatebike was also called the ‘Run’ which would suggest the saddle is original.
I was considering sanding off the green and respraying it a different colour however as I’ve not been able to find any pictures of other Garel Skatebikes I am tempted to leave it green and try to remove as much of the rust and weathering as possible, change the trucks, tighten or replace some of the rear spokes and take it for a ride!
Aussie Minson Skatebike Restoration – Anthony – Australia
Andrew’s Minson Skatebike Rebuild – Australia
Andrew C. from Australia’s skatebike restoration is done. Here are Andrew’s comments on the restoration.
Well the re-build is complete and I have been out on the street riding my Skate Bike and reliving memories from many years ago. Of course I am much older and bigger now plus I rarely ride even a normal push bike but was still able to do a couple of laps of the street.
I will visit the local skate shop at some stage to replace the bushes as the ones that came with the truck are too soft (I think you previously mentioned this) as I remember the old ones were quite stiff which would give more stability.
Overall pretty happy with the build and looking forward to my son being able to ride it. I am looking to organise a new sticker for the little plate at the back “Life’s pretty straight without a Twistie” to finish it off.
After Pictures
Twisties edition of Minson Skate Bike – Joel Leek – Australia
Joel Leek of Australia has a Twisties promotion edition 1983 Minson Skate Bike. You had to collect 10 Twisties packets and then mail in with the money to get one. Joel has never found another Twisties edition with the rear sticker – life’s pretty straight without a Twistie and also the red frame with yellow wheels and tyre (red and yellow Twisties packet colors).
Minson Restoration – Rich Helms – Canada
My old Minson skatebike before I restored it.
In the mid 1980’s while shopping in Eaton Centre in Toronto, Canada I spotted this SkateBike in Collegiate Sports. It was love at first sight and I bought it. After we moved to the country it got little use as we lived on a dirt road. For years it sat in my barn rusting. In June 2013 I pulled it out and restored it.
My bike is badly rusted and the tire cracked. I have been collecting up measurements to replace parts. Fortunately most of them are common. As I intend to actually use it I want to replace the wheel with a coaster brake one. The tire is 16×1.75 so finding a coaster brake unit should not pose a problem.
A longboard truck will work on the front. The included truck is an old-school mounting with 2.5″ holes front to back. Once I settle on the tire and truck/wheel I can select the appropriate riser thickness.
The biggest challenge is the cranks. The old bottom bracket is a common British/ISO unit but the cranks are only 100 mm long. The shortest unit I can find is 115 mm for BMX riding. You can see from the videos there is room for a longer crank and as I recall the short length makes for hard pedaling. This weekend I will investigate the bike parts. I may have to just restore the old BB/crank.