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Rupp Minibikes Renewal
Bob’s approach to restoring Rupp minibikes is part hobby, part obsession. (Photos by the author and Robert Gaudette)
In the early 1970s, Bob Gaudette wanted the same thing many of us wanted: a minibike. “It seemed like forever,” he recalled, “but when I was 11 years old, I finally convinced my dad to let me buy a 1970 Rupp Scrambler that a kid down the street was selling for $80. It was an incredible thrill to ride a motorcycle, and now I had one.”
Bob Gaudette with his restored 1971 Rupp Roadster/2, which came with lights front and rear for on-road use.
For the next three years, Bob lived to ride his Rupp minibike through his hometown of Wilbraham, Massachusetts. “I had more fun riding trails with my friends on that Scrambler than most anything I’ve done my whole life,” he said confidently. “Rupps were reasonably quick in the day and pretty much bulletproof. I know mine never let me down.”
In September 2022, Mickey Rupp examined a 1971 Black Widow that Bob restored. Rupp told the new owner, “Whoever put this together, my hat’s off. I’ve never seen one even close to being this nice.” The restored example shown here sold at auction in 2023.
As an adult, Bob grew to enjoy larger motor vehicles, notably first-generation Chevrolet Camaros, but eventually the Rupp bug returned. “Back in the late ’90s, the internet was becoming a thing, and I got my first computer.” Bob started surfing the ’net, discovered webpages and message boards, and joined the Rupp minibikes community. “I came across a used Scrambler for sale in New York. It was a wreck, but I decided to buy it and fix it up. When I got it running, I let the neighbor’s kid ride it around the yard. His face lit up like a Christmas tree! He loved that minibike so much that I ended up giving it to him.”
1971 Rupp Black Widow
It was Bob’s first attempt at a restoration (he called it “amateurish”), and it ignited a desire to restore these increasingly rare minibikes properly. “I always loved the brand. I still do.”
This 1970 Roadster is torn down on Bob’s workbench awaiting restoration, a painstaking process that can take 120 hours or more. He continually searches for restoration candidates and increasingly rare original parts.
Rupp Industries of Mansfield, Ohio, started making minibikes in 1960. Company founder Mickey Rupp was a serious motoring enthusiast (he finished 6th in the 1965 Indianapolis 500), and his business made a wide-ranging lineup of minibikes, ATVs, go-karts, and snowmobiles. Rupp Industries grew and flourished, employing 850 people in 1971, but after a couple of down years, Mickey Rupp was facing bankruptcy. In 1973 he sold his interest in the company, and by 1978 it went out of business for good. (Rupp died in 2023 at the age of 87.)
Bob restored these rear shocks to like-new condition.
The early-1970s vintage Rupp minibikes Bob prefers had a 4-hp, 4-stroke Tecumseh motor, like my dad’s lawnmower of that era. Speed was controlled by a twist-grip throttle (to make the motor run faster or slower) and a torque converter (an automatic, speed- and load-sensing, 2-speed transmission). Front and rear drum brakes were actuated by hand levers. The Roadster model could be titled and ridden on the street where that was legal. It came with a headlight/high beam and brake/taillight. Turnsignals were not required at the time. Trail-focused models, such as the Scrambler and Enduro, came with chunkier tires and no lights.
In 2023, this 1970 Roadster sold at the Mecum Harrisburg auction for $16,500, still the world record price for a Rupp minibike.
The Black Widow, arguably the rarest Rupp minibike, was a factory-prepared racer with a high-performance Dell’Orto carburetor from Italy, a straight pipe, and a disabled governor. “You could wind the motors right into the Twilight Zone,” Bob laughed, “and a lot of riders did just that.” Not surprisingly, neither Rupp nor Tecumseh offered any warranty for the Black Widow.
So what’s involved in restoring these 50-year-old minibikes to like-new condition? Bob starts by looking for a reasonably intact survivor, which can be difficult to find. “A lot of these minibikes were left outside, and the seat pans bubbled and rusted. But if you can find a solid frame and a good tank, and a rear fender since no one is making those anymore, you can usually find the remaining parts either used or as restoration parts.”
Like the green 1971 Roadster/2 shown here, he returns them to as-new condition (probably better!) and considers them rolling art.
Bob sends the motors to a Tecumseh specialist and the rims to a chrome plating specialist. He rebuilds the carburetors, makes mechanical repairs, and does paint work and polishing. “I do a lot of polishing,” he admitted. “Some people replace the rear shocks with something new, but I prefer to rebuild the guts and have the original coil springs re-chromed. I want everything to look and work the way it did when it left the Rupp factory. What I can restore myself has to be perfect. Whatever I can’t make perfect, I replace with used or reproduction parts that are faithful to the brand.”
Bob sweats the details, down to using correct fasteners and placing the right stickers in the right places. “A lot of these details you can determine by looking at old pictures, ads, brochures, and dealer info,” he explained. “Sometimes you have to be a detective. I think the hardest part of a restoration is putting it all together without chipping or scratching anything. It’s pretty straightforward, but it takes a lot of patience. Fortunately, I’m more patient that I used to be.”
Combining that patience with a commitment to do every job right, Bob has become one of the top Rupp restorers anywhere. In 2015, one of his ’71 Black Widows was the Rupp National Build-Off Winner. At the Mecum auction in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 2022, a buyer paid $8,800 for one of his ’70 Roadsters. “At the time, it was a new world record for the year and model,” Bob said. “And the bike on auction right after mine, a Hellbound Steel Hellion chopper with an S&S motor and custom billet wheels, sold for less than my little 4-hp minibike.”
Rupp minibikes are becoming harder to find, and their values keep climbing. In July 2023, Bob took two Rupps he’d restored, a ’71 Enduro and a ’70 Roadster, to auction at Mecum in Harrisburg. One buyer paid $9,350 for the ’71 Enduro, setting another world record. But the ’70 Roadster, a one-year-only model with 10-inch wheels and metallic dark blue paint, did even better: The winner paid $16,500.
Mickey Rupp’s signature on a custom license plate.
“That’s a lot of money for a 50-year-old minibike with a 4-hp motor, but these Rupps are rolling art and part of great memories for a lot of guys, me included,” Bob said. “When I sell cars and motorbikes at auction, I offer them with no reserve. In my experience, they sell for what they’re worth. But sometimes you get a couple guys battling with their bids until one of them finally comes to his senses.”
What happens to a Rupp minibike with a world-class restoration that sells for five figures? “The buyer is probably someone a lot like me who sees having one in essentially new condition as a way to relive the thrill of having one as a kid,” Bob decided. “It’s not likely being given to a kid to ride off-road, although that could be cool in a way. I think it will spend most of its time displayed inside someone’s nice garage.”
Rupp did a great job with marketing in its heyday.
From patches to lighted dealer signs, “Rupp-abilia” is highly sought after by collectors.
Live it Rupp!
Currently Bob has parts to restore a ’70 Roadster and a ’71 Enduro, plus an original, 99% intact ’71 Black Widow. “I know some people would want to keep a survivor as-is, but I prefer them like new. We’ll see. A full restoration involves about 120 hours, but it’s a hobby for me and I don’t really consider the time spent restoring a minibike to be money into the bike. I love them and it can be hard to let them go, but I can always make another.”
The post Rupp Minibikes Renewal appeared first on Rider Magazine.
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