I’ve had a few emails and phone calls from new riders about pocket bikes. More specifically were questions regarding the manufacture specs of the bikes compared to what the bikes are actually doing performance wise.

For one, never buy a bike off of Ebay. Always find a local dealer so that if there is any trouble with the bike they are there to help. A good dealer will stand behind their product if there are any problems.

Now we look at bike performance specifications. Most of the specs offered by the manufacturers aren’t exactly true. For example, a 49cc air cooled pocket bike on Ebay might say it has a top speed of 75 km/h, when in reality that’s not the case. Why this happens is simply to outdo the companies producing similar machinery. For more I turned to James McComber of the BC Pocket Bike Racing Association.

Obviously there is a tangible benefit to them by making it appear as thought their bikes are faster than the competition. But where did it all start? First, people must understand that there are two basic flavours: air cooled and water cooled. Water cooled bikes are far faster out of the box than air cooled bikes even though the water cooled bikes are usually smaller displacement than the air cooled. Second, there has been a industry wide acceptance of terminology used by marketers, even though they got it wrong from the start. Air cooled bikes come in two sizes (not including after market mods). They are 40cc and 49cc. But wait, "I bought a 47cc bike off eBay, what's up with that?" There is no such thing as a 47cc air cooled pocket bike! Somebody wanted a leg up on the competition so they advertised them as 47cc instead of 40cc.

How do you know from looking at your bike if the motor is 40cc or 49cc? A quick way is to look at the motor itself to give you an indication of the displacements: see photo. This applies to all Chinese engines. Of course the only way to be sure is to measure the displacement properly.



If your looking at getting into pocket bikes or mini moto racing, do your homework first. Find someone local; there will always be dealer or distributor selling pocket bikes close to you, and never buy from Ebay.