I have been looking for one of these for a while and I finally located one. This is a rare 1973 Carl Heald Super Bronc VT-8 minibike. For a brief period, the Heathkit company manufactured build-your-own bike kits, and they hired Carl Heald to design them. Later, Heathkit decided to focus on electronic equipment and dropped other departments. They sold the bike business back to Carl Heald, who started a new company that manufactured and sold a variety of simple vehicles that were powered by industrial motors. The Super Bronc line was marketed to farmers as a means of traveling off-road on large tracks of land. It’s basically a tank that can handle any terrain.
This one is mostly complete, but…
- it is missing a few key parts
- the original Tecumseh motor won’t start for reasons unknown
- there is heavy rust to deal with on some parts
- the electrical system has been cut out
- needs a new throttle, throttle cable, carburetor, muffler, chain, and probably several other things
I’m going to fully disassemble everything and rebuild it into a great trail bike. Luckily, all the original paperwork was included, including wiring diagrams and a detailed parts list, which should make getting it running easier.