Thirty years ago, Cobra Motorcycles was born out of one minicycle dad’s frustration. Today, the Michigan-based brand is widely respected as the dominant leader in youth motocross. 

WORDS: Sarah Whitmore-Smage
PHOTOS: JORDAN ROBERTS

The Cobra Motorcycles origin story reads like a true Cinderella story. The underdog Bud Maimone was tired of the lack of effort in the minicycle market after his son’s bike broke while in championship contention at the AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s. So, he decided to fight the system by building and selling his own junior motorcycle. 
    As expected, this was met with controversy, as the next year Bud and his son Brett showed up at Loretta Lynn’s on their new Cobra motorcycle and won. Questions of the homologation rule came into play, protests were made, and Brett was stripped of his title. As with any great underdog story, the Maimones fought and won their case, and in the end the AMA and Dave Coombs Sr. drove to Ohio to present Brett with his number one plate. As a thank you, Cobra named their next motorcycle the DC65, in honor of Dave and the efforts he made to set things right.