Restored Minibike: 1971 Rupp Roadster/2

Having taken a few liberties with the restoration, this restored Rupp minicycle (as opposed to a minibike, as this one is street-legal) looks great overall, and the price can’t be beat. This restored 1971 Rupp Roadster 2, sometimes seen as Roadster/2, is listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Archdale, North Carolina, and they’re asking $2,950. Here is the original listing, and thanks to PRA4SNW for the tip!

There are a few things I’m noticing on this great-looking restored Rupp. First of all, the 1970 Roadster evolved into the bigger, better Roadster 2 for the 1971 model year. There wasn’t a 1970 Rupp Roadster 2. We don’t get to see any serial numbers or tags or anything, but maybe it had a build date in the late 1970s?  The biggest thing for me is that the purple is a bit darker than the official Rupp Candy Purple, one of four colors for the Roadster 2. Red, blue, and green were the others. It wouldn’t be super hard to change to the correct purple, but once you add the cost of chroming the front fender (the rear fender is tank color, the front is always chrome), and even bigger is the frame, which should be the same color as the tank and color-matched rear fender. That means disassembling the whole bike. The chain guard appears to be a little wrinkled as well, but that’s probably an easier fix than the color.

I get it, though, a lot of us take some liberties during a restoration process, and it’s impossible to argue with the overall cosmetic condition of this minicycle. Turn Signals weren’t required when this bike was made, but otherwise, it should be street legal in most communities. This was the only Rupp motorcycle made in 1971 with both a headlight and a taillight. The 1971 Roadster 2 got bigger 12″ wheels compared to the 10″ wheels on earlier models, and a new under-seat exhaust routing. The Roadster 2 was Rupp’s biggest-selling motorcycle in 1971, and the company employed 850 people! Here’s a fantastic brochure on the 1971 Rupps. The Roadster 2 is shown on pages 2 and 3, but the best page is 12, that’s where all the specs are.

As most of you know, it isn’t inexpensive to restore any vehicle, car, truck, boat, motorcycle, snowmobile, skateboard, whatever. The chrome costs alone for this one lead me to believe that may be why they didn’t do the front fender, but the rest of it looks great. The first thing I’d do on this one is to fix that wrinkled chain guard on the right side, and the engine would have been all black originally. Otherwise, this looks like a fantastic job bringing this one back, but with a few changes from what would have been original from the factory. Not that it’s a bad thing to do that if a person isn’t interested in having what everyone else has.

The engine in the Scrambler 2 would have been an all-black Tecumseh HS40, a 4-hp engine with Rupp’s TC-1 torque converter. The seller says it looks and runs amazing, and it sure looks great to me overall. Truthfully, the color being a bit darker isn’t a big deal, and I don’t even mind the black frame. It goes well with the other black bits. Have any of you owned a Rupp “minicycle,” or do you need a monster motorcycle to have fun?