It was the Fall of 2017. I was heading into my Freshmen year of college and flush with cash from a few video gigs.

“Save it,” you might be thinking. Well “spend it” is what was on my mind. On a $1500 electric longboard, to be precise. And so I did. It was awesome. Ditching the bus to ride from class to class on a jet-powered skateboard, I was living the dream. But then it started to rain. And then it got cold. And then the battery got weak. And the motors got weak.

“Electric transportation is flawed,” I thought.

At this point you might be thinking to yourself, “why not just take the bus?” or “ever heard of a bicycle?” or “what’s a Mendelow and how did I get here?” But here was my thought process: I needed better wheel traction for rainy days, and an engine that wouldn’t get weaker over time. You probably already saw where this was going due to the massive title above, but I landed on the only feasible solution being a gas minibike.

So I ordered a Coleman CT-200U Gas Minibike… off of Amazon.

It was set to arrive at my house, and I planned to mess around with it over winter break. I ordered it from my dorm and texted my mom something along the lines of, “hey, getting a package today, bring it in if you can, thanks so much.” She did not expect a 150-pound crate to show up on her doorstep, and was not pleased. I was very pleased, and thought honestly, she raised me, she should’ve seen this coming.

It’s amazing what you can accomplish (and break) diving into gas vehicle modding with nothing but a Facebook group full of minibike hicks from across the country.

My total work to the bike included:

• Engine swap from 196cc to 212cc

• Replace clutch with torque converter (top speed improved from 20mph to 50mph)

• Frame modification to accommodate engine swap (cutting some important-looking pieces off with a reciprocating saw so the bigger engine could fit)

• Electrical- headlights, tail-light, front and rear blinkers, horn, speedometer/odometer (aka cheap bike computer), all powered by onboard battery pack

• Handlebar controls for above electrical (moped hardware)

• Side-view mirrors

• Heavy duty chain tensioners

• Throttle spring upgrade

• Black paint

You might be asking yourself: was this 50mph-rocket-bike-frankensteined-together-by-an-inexperienced-kid-in-his-backyard even street legal? Well, it depends who you ask. Technically you can’t register it NJ, but you CAN register it in South Dakota to your address in NJ. That’s kosher, right? All I can say is the only times I got pulled over on the bike were from the chain popping off at 50mph and catching onto the wheel, screeching the bike to a halt. Or from running out of gas halfway to class (I contemplated carrying an emergency water bottle of gasoline with me in my backpack, but ultimately decided my peers wouldn’t appreciate it in class. It might smell bad). Never from a traffic violation.