Minson Variations – Gen 1/2/3
Recently Jon (UK) and I were discussing variations in the LeRun/Garel skatebikes. Jon is working on an article on those. My experience is with the Minson bikes. There were several changes in the Minson design, I believe for economic reasons (ie make it cheaper to manufacture).
The Minson Users Manual that came with my Minson shows the original Gen 1 version. Gen 1 bikes are the hardest to find.
Gen 3
Straight seat stay, brake on cross frame brace and new dropout.
Like the The straight seat stay is stronger and cleaner. The small tube to hold the brake is lower cost. The new dropout is probably a stock part from standard bicycle production. Overall the change lowered cost and improved strength. Personally I think it looks nicer.
Seat Variations
Variations in the seat were cosmetic:
- With and without the stripe
- Skatebike vs Roller Shuttle (UK) on seat back
- Colour (red, black and blue common)
While all Minson bikes came with a front chainring cover, I find most restorations remove it.
Branding
The Minson skatebike was branded as the "Minson Skate Bike" except in the UK where it was called the "Minson Roller Shuttle."
In Australia there was the "Twisties edition." You had to collect 10 Twisties packets and then mail in with the money to get one. The Twisties edition came 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).