Pipe Frame

The Pipe Frame (also formerly known simply as the Go-Kart) is the original form of Kart that appears in Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart 64, and Mario Kart: Super Circuit, and is the predecessor to the Standard Kart. Throughout the various Mario Kart games it appears in, the kart has different colors depending on the driver. In the first three installments of the Mario Kart series, the Pipe Frame acts as the one and only vehicle available. The abilities of the kart depend on the driver so the kart itself has no strong or weak points.

After a 10-year absence, the Pipe Frame returns in Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart 8, as an unlockable kart body in both and generally gave a boost in acceleration and handling while decreasing the weight and traction.

Unlike the Standard Kart, the Pipe Frame does not appear to resemble a real go-kart, though its appearance is somewhat similar to a micro kart, a type of racing kart known for its small size, but powerful engines.

Super Mario Kart
The kart makes its first appearance in Super Mario Kart, designed as simple, small go-karts with different colors for each character and various performance traits depending on the driver.

Each character's kart has different engines; some uses four-stroke and few others uses two-stroke, based on its sounds.

Mario Kart 64
The Pipe Frame is redesigned in Mario Kart 64, featuring realistic-looking wheels, new colors for every character and a cubical engine with dual exhaust pipes. It also has a different handling compared to its predecessor, and an ability to boost by drifting.

This time, all karts uses two-stroke engines, with the exception of Toad's kart, which use a softer sounding four-stroke instead.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit
The kart's design and colors for this game remain unchanged from Mario Kart 64 aside from its handling, which reverted to that of Super Mario Kart to fit the game's two-dimensional environment.

Unlike in Mario Kart 64, all the karts now uses four-stroke engines.

Mario Kart 7
After being absent in subsequent games after Mario Kart: Super Circuit, the Pipe Frame returns in Mario Kart 7 as an unlockable kart body. It inherits the Mario Kart 64 design with slightly redesigned exhaust pipes which resembles the one seen on Standard Kart, and the character's emblem is shown underneath the engine. In this game the kart offers a good boost in acceleration, drift, and off-road, but hinders top speed and weight. The Pipe Frame is one of the three kart parts to have a different color for each character. The original racers Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Toad, and Wario retain the same colored kart from Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Super Circuit. Like in Super Circuit, it has a four-stroke engine with powerful-sounding exhausts.

It is one of the lightest karts in this game, together with the Egg 1, Barrel Train, and the Bolt Buggy.

Mario Kart 8
The Pipe Frame reappears in Mario Kart 8, again as an unlockable kart body, and it's redesigned to look like the original Super Mario Kart design featuring a horizontal engine block with a single exhaust pipe, rather than a cubical engine block with dual exhaust pipes used in Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Mario Kart 7. The character emblem is now located in the front.

Unlike past installments, the colors of the Pipe Frame are now shared with multiple characters, featuring 23 unique colors used among the 36 characters (and of those, thirteen of the colors are exclusive to one character, counting alternate colors for Yoshi and Shy Guy, but excluding Miis). The original eight main characters from Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Super Circuit, retain the same color as they were in the original games, while Koopa Troopa retains its colored kart from Super Mario Kart.

In addition, all the Koopalings (except for Morton) have unique colored steering wheels for their karts, as opposed to the standard black for the secondary color. Also, all the Koopalings have unique colored exhaust pipes, as opposed to the standard yellow for the tertiary color, and their wheel hinges are uniquely colored, instead of being colored gray.

The Pipe Frame gives a good boost in acceleration, speed and handling, but hinders weight and traction. Its stats are identical to those of the Wild Wiggler, Standard Bike, Flame Rider, Varmint, W 25 Silver Arrow, and City Tripper. Unlike its predecessor, it is now has a two-stroke engine and its sound is shared with the Standard Kart, Teddy Buggy, Wild Wiggler, Biddybuggy and the Sneeker, only having a deeper sounding exhaust pipe.

Like the Standard Kart, Standard Bike, and Standard ATV, the Pipe Frame body is occasionally used by all the CPU-controlled characters. Most CPU players will always pair the Pipe Frame with the Standard tires, but a few may use the Monster tires instead.

Stats
Stat values are out of 6.

Mario Kart 7

 * Speed: -0.25
 * Sea Speed: +1
 * Air Speed: +0.5
 * Acceleration: +0.25
 * Weight: -0.25
 * Handling: 0
 * Sea Handling: +0.25
 * Air Handling: +0.25
 * Off-Road: +0.25
 * Mini-Turbo: +0.5
 * Stability: 0
 * Drift: +0.25

Mario Kart 8

 * Ground Speed: 0
 * Water Speed: +0.25
 * Air Speed: +0.25
 * Anti-Gravity Speed: -0.25
 * Acceleration: +0.25
 * Weight: -0.25
 * Ground Handling: +0.5
 * Water Handling: +0.5
 * Air Handling: +0.5
 * Anti-Gravity Handling: +0.25
 * Traction: -0.5
 * Mini-Turbo: +0.25

"Die Jagd nach dem Nintendo 64: Krawall im All"
In the Club Nintendo comic "Die Jagd nach dem Nintendo 64: Krawall im All", Mario and Luigi are seen driving karts in their mission to find a spaceship shaped like the Nintendo 64. They compete against Wario and Bowser and make another reference to the Mario Kart games by dropping Banana Peels and making them crash. The karts seen in this comic resemble those seen in the then-new Mario Kart 64. Unlike their video game equivalents, though, they can also be turned into jet skis by pushing a button on their steering-wheels.

Mario Kirby Meisaku Video
A Pipe Frame makes an apperance resembling the one in Super Mario Kart in the Mario segment of the Mario Kirby Meisaku Video where Mario drives it during his pursuit of the mysterious thief W. Eventually, after being attacked by some monsters, he spins out near a vegetable garden.

Super Mario-Kun
Pipe Frame karts are seen in the Mario Kart adaptions of Super Mario-Kun. The first time they appear, Mario races against other characters including Donkey Kong Jr. and Bowser.

Trivia

 * In Mario Kart 64, Toad and Donkey Kong are the only characters to have unique engine sounds that is not shared with any other character.
 * Mario shares the same sound with Luigi, Peach shares the same sound with Yoshi, and Bowser shares the same sound with Wario.
 * In Mario Kart 7, white is the only Mii color to receive a unique Pipe Frame color, as no other character uses a white Pipe Frame.
 * In Mario Kart 8, this trait instead applies to the color brown, unless the alternate Yoshi and Shy Guy colors are not downloaded; in that case white remains an exclusive to Miis.
 * In Mario Kart 7, its engine sound is similar to the Mach Bike from Mario Kart Wii.
 * In Mario Kart 8, Morton Koopa Jr. is the only Koopaling who uses a black steering wheel instead of a multi-colored one.