Coleman Mini Trail Bike for Hunting?

D

dand883

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
82   0   0
I was in princess auto the other day and saw these coleman fat tire mini trail bikes. I thought they'd be a riot to drive around some time, but the more i thought about it i was thinking they could be a really good small package hunting bike.

I would always prefer to have an atv or side by side, but right now i'm limited for space and budget, so this would be easy to store, easy to get into and out of the truck, cheap to buy and operate, and would fit great down narrow trails and between trees in more open areas.

The only things that makes me question it is coleman isn't normally a brand i associate with amazing quality new products. Their old stuff is great, but new stuff misses the mark a lot of the time. And the stated weight limit is 200 pounds, which being an adult male, not is super great shape, likely to be carrying a shotgun and backpack on it, i would be over that weight limit.

Has anyone actually tried one of these? How did you find it ran, and would you recommend one to someone with a space/budget limit to dork around on and rip down some old roads looking for partridge?
Is the weight limit like the "best before" date of 6 months on salt, which is millions of years old? Or will anything over 200lbs show off the poor quality of the bike and start bending forks and breaking drive parts, or not even make it up a hill?


Lastly, is there a slightly bigger alternative? I've seen the rokon bikes, but they're pretty pricey. There's a russian knockoff of the rokons called the taurus, but not available anywhere i've seen, or an older yamaha big wheel, but they're pretty rare, and usually in quite rough shape from what i have seen.

This could be a great niche market if there was someone making something like this, but i haven't been able to find much. let me know if you know of anything.
 
I use a Baja mini bike which is pretty much the same thing as the Colman but has suspension in the front and a lot better seat.I use it to hunt an area only accessible by boat I can easily put the bike in the boat, I use a game cart that I welded a tab on and use a snowmobile trailer hitch set up on and use it as a trailer, my buddy has the Coleman ct200 he’s had some problems with it but once fixed it was good, his stock centrifugal clutch burnt out after 2 trips, carb was a little finicky and the ride was super rough due to know suspension. I put an aftermarket carb with a cold air intake and a bigger jet for the carb, put springs under the seat for a better ride and put a better centrifugal clutch in it,
I like the Baja a little better myself due to the front suspension and bigger seat, I bought mine used not running, put a princess auto 196cc engine in it, 17 tooth centrifugal clutch, aftermarket carb and cold air intake, different jackshaft sprocket size to gain torque, and removed the governor, also have a led headlight that powers off the flywheel, we both run about 4lbs of air in the tires makes it a lot better,

I weight 185 lbs plus gear and my bike rips up hills ( only after mods and removing the governor) I’ve also trailered out two blacktail bucks behind it and it did just fine except for one super tall hill I got off and walked it up, everything has its limits.....

In all I’d recommend it for places I used to have to walk now I can cover more ground a lot quicker to get their then timber cruise
Between me and my buddy they have helped us get three deer so far,
 
Those little wheels without any suspension would give you a very rough ride. The good thing is that it would be easy to lift out when stuck or to get around an obstacle.
 
TheCoachZed said:
For that money, you could buy an older Honda 3 wheeler or maybe even a Kawasaki Bayou 220. Either would be far superior.
Click to expand...

In BC 3 wheelers are useless. The government won't let you insure them, so you can't use them on anything but private property.

I wonder if these trail bikes can be insured in BC? I also saw them in the PA flyer and thought they could be fun...
 
If you get one and kill a deer/moose/bear, please post pictures of how you got it out. I think it would be priceless.

For just riding they may be okay but hunting requires a little extra carry capacity.
 
Have you considered a Honda trail 90 or CT 70? My grandfather and grandmother rode a single ct70 all l Er the woods of bc picking berries and hunting. They weigh a little over 100 lbs and can fold up and go in the trunk of your car. Parts are readily available and the bikes are incredibly durable.
There are a number of great Japanese bikes that are out there that will blow the pants off those mini bikes for durability and rideability even going back to 80s bikes.
This year, if I manage to register it, I'll be using my Honda fat cat 200. If I can't make it on that bike I should be bringing climbing gear.
 
Last edited:
Poor thought a mini bike will be useless lets say you kill something . say a mile or 2 from you truck how are you going to get it out ? plus you can fall wile driving on rough country fall break you gun in half... not for me ,, why not just walk and get a 2 wheeled cart to haul game , or a old wheel barrel
 
With a dirt bike your always gonna have the getting game out problem. None of you that are saying “ how do you get the game out”’are thinking outside the box, like I said a two wheel game cart As a trailer just welded a tab on it to make a trailer hitch, as well as a tab welded straight out from the rear seat support. Before that I used one of the little trailers you tow behind a pedal bike for kids, just gutted the top off it and added some reinforcement to the tube frame. With 19x8 quad tires on my Baja it’s super stable my old lady drives it no problem. It may not be for everyone but if your looking for something that’s cheap easy to throw in a small boat to get to areas only accessible by barges and your capable of a little fabrication you can make it work, I bought my bike used in rough shape, I’m into my bike a total of just over 500 that includes new front tire and motor plus upgrades, I really wanted another Honda trail 70’or 90 but couldn’t think to spend 1200 plus for one in decent shape
 
tbrwlf said:
If you get one and kill a deer/moose/bear, please post pictures of how you got it out. I think it would be priceless.

For just riding they may be okay but hunting requires a little extra carry capacity.
Click to expand...

Gordon M said:
Poor thought a mini bike will be useless lets say you kill something . say a mile or 2 from you truck how are you going to get it out ? plus you can fall wile driving on rough country fall break you gun in half... not for me ,, why not just walk and get a 2 wheeled cart to haul game , or a old wheel barrel
Click to expand...

I'd be using it more for grouse/rabbits, cruising older roads/trails than for deer/moose, etc, so the pulling ability isn't a concern, it's small size/low cost and usability.
 
For getting around and exploring a Honda CRF 230f works great. They're not very powerful, don't have great suspension, but they work amazingly well for what they are. I've got a clapped out one that was given to me, and I can ride it as fast or faster than a real dirtbike in a lot of situations. They're way more capable than a mini bike and generally go for around $1500-$2000 used. They're not real intimidating either, I put my father in law on mine and we did a roughly 30km trail ride on some relatively difficult terrain. He was slow and fell off a few times, but did great considering he'd never really ridden off road before and hadn't been on any kind of bike for 30 years or so.
Kristian
 
highbeam said:
Have you considered a Honda trail 90 or CT 70? My grandfather and grandmother rode a single ct70 all l Er the woods of bc picking berries and hunting. They weigh a little over 100 lbs and can fold up and go in the trunk of your car. Parts are readily available and the bikes are incredibly durable.
There are a number of great Japanese bikes that are out there that will blow the pants off those mini bikes for durability and rideability even going back to 80s bikes.
This year, if I manage to register it, I'll be using my Honda fat cat 200. If I can't make it on that bike I should be bringing climbing gear.
Click to expand...

I hadn't heard of the honda mini bikes before, i'll have to see if there's anything nearby available.

Do you know of any brands of similar japanese bikes that would be available? I've only really seen a few makes from the states that don't have anything in canada
 
Look at Yamaha tw200's. Any xl Honda other than the early ones is street legal. Xr's unless early don't get headlights until the 250. Browse your dirt section on Kijiji. We actually got everything the Americans had and then some. Avoid anything 2 stroke. While they can be great bikes they're typically not as sneaky and can be a little more temperamental.
The more conventional bikes tend to be more available. My fat cat is quite rare. I've owned that one for 23 years and only changed oil, batteries and a tire. Maybe bent the bars a few times and replaced the cosmetic fork boots. See if you have a buddy who knows bikes or chat with a local motorcycle shop (fair warning: the smaller and more independent the bike shop the less ego, not a hard and fast rule but it's been my experience).

I'm steering you towards used bikes as they're incredibly reliable especially if they're taken care of. Usually the worst you'll need to do is run some sea foam through the carb to get the ethanol gunk out and maybe have the valves adjusted. Even abused the bikes seem to last forever.
 
Last edited:
If you want to buy a motorcycle for hunting, look at the TW200 as said above. Made to be ridden slowly, but that's OK for your purposes. Very low seat, tons of traction.

But you can buy an 80s model 4 wheeler for the same money or less. Even a TRX125 would probably be superior for your purposes. Certainly a TRX250 or Bayou 220. Don't know about BC, but here in the east, you can always pick a bayou 220 up in the 600-1200 range, depending how hard you are looking.
 
Gordon M said:
Poor thought a mini bike will be useless lets say you kill something . say a mile or 2 from you truck how are you going to get it out ? plus you can fall wile driving on rough country fall break you gun in half... not for me ,, why not just walk and get a 2 wheeled cart to haul game , or a old wheel barrel
Click to expand...

The bike goes much faster than walking that's why not just walk...
 
TheCoachZed said:
If you want to buy a motorcycle for hunting, look at the TW200 as said above. Made to be ridden slowly, but that's OK for your purposes. Very low seat, tons of traction.

But you can buy an 80s model 4 wheeler for the same money or less. Even a TRX125 would probably be superior for your purposes. Certainly a TRX250 or Bayou 220. Don't know about BC, but here in the east, you can always pick a bayou 220 up in the 600-1200 range, depending how hard you are looking.
Click to expand...

The mini bike idea was because i don't have the space to store a full sized anything when i'm not using it, and being street legal isn't a requirement. It was just an idea that i could fit in my shed, only cost a few hundred bucks and i could throw into the back of the truck and go for a rip out in the woods looking for birds.

Believe me, i've tried to figure out how an old bayou or fourtrax would work, but the door to my shed isn't even wide enough to get it inside.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom