How did you get into trikes?

[Zach]

My dad bought me my first machine when I was about 5 (which I still have) it was a JCPenny Scat Tracker with a 5hp briggs. He had an atc 90 with a huge big bore kit and bent front forks so I was too small for that until later. But it all started there. When I was 14 I bought my own first trike an 85 200s from my dads best friend that when I got in 97 had only been ridden about 3 times. When I was 21 someone cut the locks on our pasture gate and stole that sweet little bike. I just got back into it earlier this year when I bought an 85 200m on Craigslist for $100 new top end and she rins sweet!



how did you get to love these sweet death machines?:naughty: :twisted: :beer

[SeaBass8]

Back in '84 I wanted a CR80 but my mom said that it was too dangerous and I could get a three wheeler instead. :lol: :lol: :lol:

I've never owned a 2 wheeler since.

True story.

:beer

[i58829]

My cousin had a 225dx and thats what i grew up around. I've only ever owned 1 4 wheeler and i only rode it about 8 times in the time i had it (over a year). They are fun but not for me. Plus i like older stuff. I still run TBI chevy's, have some old mopars, and of course the 3 wheelers. It's just more interesting to have something that makes people look twice and how often does anyone ever ask the owner of the brand new trx450r how much time it took him to restore it? More often than not they are wondering how he paid for it. Oh well i like it all, but the sport 3 wheelers are definitely my favorite atv to date...

[inv3ctiv3]

My aunt owns a huge ranch in Texas and I have spent just about every summer there for my entire life. And they always have had this Yamaha 225DX and I just grew up riding that and a Honda TRX350. I loved it and always looked forward to riding it all summer even though it was thrashed haha. Fast forward to this year and I have bought 4 trikes and am finally down to one, my 350x which I hope to keep for the rest of my life.

[dcreel]

Back in 1984 my parents took me to Glamis to hang out with some of their friends with motorhomes. I was 13. My parents friends kids were there with their 3 wheelers and rail. I rode an atc 90 all weekend. I remember thinking wow look at that 185.. after riding the 90. 6 months later my parents bought me a new 85 250sx and the rest is history.
My first ride on a 3 wheeler.
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w182/dcreel/Riding%20pics/firstride.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w182/dcreel/Riding%20pics/comp.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w182/dcreel/Riding%20pics/Kelly2.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w182/dcreel/Riding%20pics/250sx2.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w182/dcreel/Riding%20pics/tecate001.jpg

[4cfed]

i went to a friends house and rode his 200x, and he rode his airfooler 250r, 2 days later i traded a street bike for the 200x and a beat up mazda protege for the 250r.... that was alittle over year ago :) i got a late start

[old-yellow]

I went over to this girl's house that I met in high school and when I was there I happened to notice that at the neighbors house siting out by the shed was a beat down YT125 sitting there and I can tell you as soon as I seen it I had to own it, so I went right over and talked to the neighbor and he told me he picked it up to go hunting with but never got around to getting it running, then he told me if I gave him a hundred bucks I can take it, I bought it and never could get it running so I showed it to my buddy to help me to get it to run and he said that he had a neighbor up north that had one just setting out in the woods since he was ten years old, so he asked the guy about it and the guy said if we could get it out the woods we could have it, so we used my buddy's 4-wheeler and shovel and pulled it out, the funny thing is that the motor was in better shape then the one I paid for so I put the two together and now I got a good trike. Alex

[dajeepman]

When i was 12 my dad got me a beatup honda 110 i used it for hunting and riding until i split the frame right behind the gas tank.. did the same thing to the 125.. Then my neighbor gave me his 200m i think Honda and rebuilt the Carb and replaced the rear bearings and chain... Drove the fire out of it. Now I have a Honda Fourtrax 200sx and Hope this weekend get a 87 or 86 Big Red 250...

[threewheelin-feelin]

i grew up on 3wheelers...my uncle owned a 83 ALT125 and a 84 200S me and my cousins rode the snot out of them from 89 to 2005 thats when i upgraded to a 350x and a 250r

[torker]

There were no 4 wheelers in 83. My neighborhood was full of trikes. Of course I didn't have 1. My neighbor of 6 houses down got a 83 ATC 250R. What an awesome machine. Long story short, I fought my parents every single day for a 70. In 1985 I got a used and very abused and beat up 85' ATC 250R. I had learn to trike in my neighbors 83' R a year earlier. After a lot of years out of trikes, but not ATV's, in 05' I decided to do a search and see what had become of them. I have 4 right now and downsizing my fleet after having 6 at one point.

Still going...

TORKER.

[posty2100]

was about 14 and couldnt afford a quad cuz mommy and daddy wouldnt buy one for me like some people and bought my first 200x myself for $300 and rode the snot out of it and basically started from there

[harryredtrike]

when i was about 13 i used my paper route money and bought a 74 atc90,that was 1980.ive had 1 or two since.ha ha i have 5 now.

[MonroeMike]

^ It's his fault.

[this guy]

A friend (turned girlfriend, turned ex) wanted something to ride with us out in the desert, so I poked around and got a free 185 with all the trimmings and her and I would be fighting over it even tough I had a DRZ and a quadzilla. I got to keep it, and still hear about it from her.

[MudBug]

when I was in about grade 1, I was in the attic of my old shed with some friends showing off my dads moose racks. then I saw a small 3-wheeler in the corner with no plastics. I showed dad, and he had forgot about it.. it was my big brothers old tri zinger. so for the next month or so, we worked on it and got it running. we also had an 85 big red ever since I was born.

[C Kerley]

My cousin had a little 90 in about 1974 that we bounced around on, but it wasn't until about 1983 that a friend had a BLACK Yamaha 225DX (he said it was some kind of dealer special bike and good gosh that thing was hot fast), which is what got me back interested. Then in 1984 my dad bought a YTM200 for all of us, and in 1987 I bought an '85 250SX. Shortly after that dad bought an '85 Big Red and an '84 225DX, and he actually just sold the 225 and 200 a few years ago to buy a 4wheeler. I still own the 250SX and rode his Big Red last weekend while I was there for Thanksgiving (can't post the pics, I wasn't wearing a helmet!)

[200XMichigan]

Unlike some of you guys, my parents hated ATV's (don't really know why, now my dad wants to ride my 3 wheeler). When I was 5, the neighbor kid had a little electric 4 wheeler, I was so jealous. He didn't let me ride it either. And every year for Christmas/Birthdays I would ask for a 4 wheeler, they said, "Wait till your 12." So I waited 7 years, when I turned 12 they said, "We thought you would have forgotten about it by now." No I spent 7 years counting down to when I would own a 4 wheeler, only to get shot down. And its been a long time coming since I have owned a lot of street bikes by now.

So this fall I just got an itch to ride something off road, found a lot of cheap 3 wheelers around, and Honda's have always been good to me. Also found 3ww and looked at all the old ATC stuff to deicde which model I wanted. Had to be an X, manual tranny and a big mono shock. So I sold an old truck and some other stuff till I had enough to buy myself a 200X. First ATV I've owned and I love the thing. Can't wait till I have more money and I can get a 350X, and a 110 to get my fiance riding with me.

[oscarmayer]

I was in california int he Marines back in 92. I wanted someting fun to do and found on the side of the road in Monrovia a sing on a 90cc trike that read for sale. $150. I was like wow someting to do that looks fun! it didn't run but that was OK. i had meen workign on mechanics since I was 13 so not a big deal to me. I replaced the carb, changed the fluids, took the entire bike appart minus the engine and cleaned, pained, greased and re-assembled. repalced bearings where needed (most need repacking was all) and attempted to run it. the piston was trashed, so I ended up doing a top end. There was a shop in Azusa called Sam and Ed's Motorcycle and ATVs. I went there and was in heaven! they had anythijng and everything. they were an old fashioned machine shop and junkyard all in one! I hung out asking questions buying parts here and there, and later had them do the top end. we did a 90 big bore kit and tweeked the carb and BOOM she fired right up and ran! man that was fun! i went all over with it!!!
I then later sourced a 185s for $250 from an old guy. it needed carb work and brakes and cables and electrical, but I got it working and my wife and I rode around. My marines friends and I used to go mudding in the 4x4 off-road parks near the sanberdino range in Glendoria. I lived in West Covina in an appartment complex called "shadow Hills" and i would ride around there with them some too. Anyway, it brings back memorys. happy ones and fun ones. those were the days! this was before my wife and I got married and even after.
When we moved to texas in 95 we sold them to a poor mexican family so they coudl enjoy them. We had no room and woudl not be able to ride them for a while. I regret that, but we did it. Sold the 90 for $300 and the 185 for $350. that's about 450 and 500 now days in value.

anyway, i decided a few years ago to get back into them and boom! here I am. I so love my trikes and love riding them. I have ridden many a quad and they all feel strange to me. I alwyas feel like I'm riding a cow on the trails and they feel kinda loose and floaty. My ATCs are tight, responsive and feel just right!

[plastikosmd]

My parents were against ATV's and guns back in the day. (I have more than compensated for that now!) My first 3w experience was a friend down the street. He got something (185/200 or something red..that is all that i remember. I was new to these, I was maybe 7 years old. I was wearing snowmobile pants and hopped on it. I let my rear leg drag a bit on a corner, the rear tire caught my pants and I gunned it in panic. I promptly ripped myself off the bike, somehow, and ran myself over. I still remember the stunned expression of my friend and his parents. I have been hooked ever since! (tho only got back into them after getting bored with quads a couple of years ago)

[TrailerRider]

One weekend my wife and I drove up to Susanville to visit with my wifes sister and her family. As usual I was bored as hell and walking around the yard kicking stones and what not. Her husband comes out and says hey wanna go ridin’? Till that point I had ridden only quads. I said sure. He shows me the little 125 Suzuki (I think) and explains the gears. We take off and that was it. I did not really push the machine as it was not mine. Every time we went to visit I would ride it. My wife asked me if I wanted a 3 wheeler like her sister’s husband had. I said naa, I am more of a quad guy. She said oh ok. We never spoke of it again. Till my father in law shows up one day in his f250 with 2 3 wheelers in the back that my wife had bought for me and not told me about. I walked out and said wow ya’ll bought some 3 wheelers huh? Cool. Then my wife says those aren’t theirs… I was like wtf is she talking about? Then she said they are yours. Oh sweet I said. We unloaded them and I stood back and realized something. The reason I did not want my own was because I was to nervous when riding other peoples trikes. I wasn’t able to fully enjoy them. 1 was a 84 200s and 185 (Unsure of year) parts bike. We unloaded them and took the 200s for a ride down the street. I was hooked! We went riding the same day at the local ohv park and the addiction got worse. Took it home and painted the plastics and cleaned it up. Road the hell out of it every single weekend. Went mudding, creek riding.. oh god was it fun. I used to ride my wife’s quad but ever since I got my own trikes I almost never ride the quad and to tell the truth it would not hurt my feelings to sell it. I know have 7 3wheelers. Just upgraded to my first suspension, 200x. Oh my god. What a ride difference. Then I found 3ww and found out there where junkies as bad (and worse..lol) than me. Then I learned of the torque monster 350x. That is my dream trike. Now I am constantly looking for a new project. I still have the 200s. I did my first topend on that machine and still ride it every now and than. That old girl has racks on front and back with warrior plastics in the rear (That's what it came with) But I like the way they look on thier so they will stay. I let my son try riding the 200s awhile back and he loved it. He wants it but he won't get it till I know he won't tear it up espically since it was my first trike. I will never get rid of it.

[200XMichigan]

My parents were against ATV's and guns back in the day. (I have more than compensated for that now!) My first 3w experience was a friend down the street. He got something (185/200 or something red..that is all that i remember. I was new to these, I was maybe 7 years old. I was wearing snowmobile pants and hopped on it. I let my rear leg drag a bit on a corner, the rear tire caught my pants and I gunned it in panic. I promptly ripped myself off the bike, somehow, and ran myself over. I still remember the stunned expression of my friend and his parents. I have been hooked ever since! (tho only got back into them after getting bored with quads a couple of years ago)

When I was buying my first street bike, my parents didn't even like me talking about it, told me "a 750 is too big to learn on". I told them I won't talk about it anymore but they're gonna here it as it comes down the driveway. We I brought it home and my dad says, "Nice bike, you'll have to let me ride it sometime."

Told him, "You know, I think a 750 is too big to learn on." Still haven't let him drive it. Now I have owned 9 street bikes, my 200X and a Trail 90.

And man are they gonna be mad when I get my son a little ATC70 when he's big enough.

[inv3ctiv3]

Luckily my parents never cared about ATV's or ATC's. I was allowed to ride my aunt's TRX350 and 225DX UN-suprivised all over the ranch even at a very young age. By the time I was 10 or so they bought me a used Yamaha Moto-4 which I loved.

[plastikosmd]

Trailerrider...that wife sounds like a keeper!

[69HemiGTX]

I grew up around them, because, like a few other guys here, there were no quads yet. My dad was going to buy me an 81 ATC70 for my 7th birthday, but my best friend, who had just gotten an 81 PW50 for his birthday, did a faceplant into a pile of rocks just before my dad had convinced my mom. He wanted his home life to be nice, so needless to say, I didn't get any ATVs or motorcycles until I could buy them myself. That didn't stop me from riding, though. I rode the wheels off my other friend's YT60, and I was the first kid on the block to run an 85 250R wide open through sixth gear, in cut-off shorts, a t-shirt, and flip flops no less! Those were the days. Sheesh, I kinda feel like those old dudes I listen to about their times with brand new musclecars, only I spent my time with brand new muscle ATVs.

[teamboaty]

Got my 1st atc for my 10th Bday. It was an 84 2oom with no brakes. WTF??? No complaints tho. I drove the crap outta that thing and Ive had 1 or 20 ever since. I also have 2 and 4 wheels but 3 wheels is the choice for me Thats been 20 years now.

[Newood71]

My grandpa had a 1980 Honda 185 that he used around his place. As kids my sister and I would ride in the 2 milkcrates he had straped to the rack. It's a memory that I will never forget. After he passed away in 1998 I inhearted that wheeler and I still have it to this day. Its in good shape yet and still runs. Since that one I've accumulated 3 other machines and wont stop till i have one of ever model. I dont even own any other kind of atv. ATC run through my blood and always will.

[stroberts22]

I live in a rural area and my 3wheeler was the main mode of getting around. Alot of my friends had them and as soon as we would get off the bus we would be riding. It wasn't a day that went by that it wasn't cranked.$2.00 would fill up the tank and ride all week. My dad bought his 1st 3wheeler in 81 and I wore it out. None of them ever had any brakes. In 85 he got a 85 big red and my brother had a 350x that he would let me ride. His friends had 250Rs that they would let me ride also. I finally got my own 3wheeler in 86 a 200x and still have it to this day. I never rode motorcycles I always been on either 3 or 4 wheels. The main reason I'm into 3wheelers is reliveing fond childhood memories every time I throw a leg over one.

[Lee350x]

when i was 3 i had a little electric quadzilla, i wanted a real 4 wheeler. my dad said he told me if i learned to ride my bike with no training wheels He would get me one. He said the next day when he got home from work i had something to show him :) So he got me a tri-zinger. and its been trikes ever since!!! besides for having to ride a dirt bike on the state trails cus in michigan you have to be 16 to drive a 3 wheeler. But at home it was always the trikes.

[TatTooL23]

They were the first offroad vehicle I owned. My friends had them and I got mine and it was our everyday after school thing to go riding. It was somethin that tied us together and we had fun and stayed out of trouble. Now we r still doing it. Theres just nothing like it....

[booblinker]

By friend had one, and then my other friend (MI500 on here) took it from him since he never rode it, he brought it back from college and left it the buddy that owned it's house, and I started riding the 185s with not brakes and no pull starter, after a few rides I fell in love and bought a 200x. Sold the 200x when I moved into an apt, got a raise and started working more o/t and decided I wanted another, found a few 200s's for decent prices, than found a 350x for super cheap, and now I have my own place and 2 200s's and a 350x, and I'm assuming more to come.

[Frankencelery]

As a kid I did have a minibike, which my dad said I could only ride in the fields, but he would never take me, so I would sneak it out and ride around the neighborhood. So he used that as an excuse to get rid of it. I think I had it two months. During the 80's I was too stoned to know what was going on around me, so I missed the original trike wave. It wasn't until I bought a house in the country in 2003, a buddy of mine bought 2 Trail 70's, and he kept them at my house, and we rode them all over the place. Then he bought an ATC185, and at 37 I rode my first trike ever. Changed my life. Soon afterwards I bought 3 junk trikes for $200 at a garage sale. I could only ever get one of them running, which was my KLT110, and that was my first trike. Today I have 7 running trikes and have to park my car outside!

[R-tifacts]

My buddy let me ride his big red and I was like "I gota get me one of these", so I did. 250r, 350x ect. ect. Ive been hooked ever since.

[HuffieVA]

I think in all honesty, I got into trikes for two reasons, first because as the boom hit many parents insisted on them as apposed to dirt bikes for their kids, I was still and always will be a motorcycle fanatic, but it got to the point that I was the only one with a bike, that accompanied with the fact that they actually used to televise racing (or at least weekly updates on "Motoworld") watching the trikes on the flat tracks amazed me, they were the poor kids version of a Sprint car in my eyes and I just had to have one... Now looking back, I understand less and less as to why they were pulled from the market as the quads grow heavier and heavier I'd much rather have a 300# Tecate pound me into the dirt than a 700# quad, even with the "alleged" stability issues I really believe they are safer than the monster quads of today...

[dcreel]

A little off topic but Motoworld with Dave Despain was awesome back in the day. Thanks Huffie for that blast to the past..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qEAWb7o1l8

[Auto_Demon]

i rode my friends 200x last year and i was hooked instantly :TrikesOwn

[84 r]

i got hooked because i had a ugly rusty set of banshee pipes that were in my shop gathering dust so i put them for sale and a guy said i have a 1984 250r ill trade you for them i was like ok he brought me a RUNNING 3wheeler the next day did some digging it had a pipe, little more it had a rare hondaline 300 big bore and now i love it and that was last summer but hell im 15 with 5 bikes im doin good!!

[gomer202]

When I was 10 not that long ago I'm almost 16 now my I moved to winnipeg canada and we needed something to ride around on so my dad bought me a 200m and almost 6 years later I'm still loving trikes and I had never even touched a quad I started on the 200M which I still have today then I bought a big red and now I have a 200m, 200es, 250es, 85 200x, 85 250r, 84 yamaha 200e and I ride all of them I will always be stuck to trikes now I live in British columbia Canada and I'm still buying trikes it's a great hobby

[sx250heath]

My buddy was given a SX when we were in trade school. We worked on it and my place so once it was up and running a took it for a rip. I was basically hood then. I found a cheap one i planed to ride from time to time, but after i got it my KDX did not get much use. Now i have the best of both worlds, a 2-stroke 3-wheeler.

[chuckiedog04]

well my grandpa who owns a big farm had this old honda thhree wheeler in his pole shed. i was thirteen so i asked him what the deal on it is. my birthday was two weeks later and he suprisingly gave me it. it needed some work to get it running again, new gas tank, carb, oil was OLD. but he had a polaris four wheeler so he didnt care about it. it was all original when he gave me it. sadly i drove it a lot and was pretty hard on it. now it needs rings and a gasket rebuild :(. so now its my mudder because i got a big red. im still debating on what to do with it

[three_wheelin45]

Few years back I rode my friends 84 200s it is all original and I mean CLEAN!! Then I did 2 end over end flips and was hooked :lol: :lol: I have had dirtbikes and quads but I got my first 3 wheeler 1/10/10 and I will never sell it even if the rod is sticking out of the side of the head. :TrikesOwn

[kylegrimes]

When i was 12 my uncle had 5 big reds none of them ran i was making all fs in school so he told my if i made all as o the next report card he woukld give all of them to me well i got em and my mom couldnt stop cursin him the whole way home lol me and my best bud who is now my step brother worked on tem for about a month and finally got one fired up cant rember the year but i knoe they where 250 pull starts with a squareish headlight that didnt work lol and no mufffler

now im 17 and restoring a 85 klt 110

[Remingtonsteel]

is still remember it like yesterday my ole riding mentor walked up to me an said Remmy Martin, three wheelins a good feelin! and let me ride his 350x. ive now owed about 12 diffenernt trikes in the last year.lol

[RID3R]

Honestly, because it was cheaper. My first was a 200s that needed work but it did run. I think it was like $300. I remember picking it up in a friends van. Next I decided to get a dirtbike, it was an xr80. It wasnt the same... all said and done ive had many trikes including an 86 Tecate. Which I ended up parting it out because I got in over my head with a rebuild. Im currently trying to make a deal on a very rare trike! I will say nothing more than that.. I currently have nothing.

[Jon Boy]

i've always had a thing for old 80's toys. what can i say IMO they're just too awesome and cool. i wanted a 3 wheeler growing up, but i wasn't allowed to have one (too dangerous). i had my YZ80, but as time passed i started working for myself and had to put things on hold for almost 20yrs :( . then 3 years ago the old man neighbor across the street passed away and his son had an estate sale. months before the auction i went over to ask about a riding mower the old man had offered me once. well, it was gone, but there was a couple other mowers in the garage. so we went to take a look and first thing that caught my eye was a 125M sitting in the corner. instantly yanked the mowers out. gas smelled good, oil looked good, motor turned, plastics good, and tires were holding air. asked about it and was told it had been parked a year or two before. the old man had used it for little things around his farm and had it serviced every year. i asked how much? he wasn't sure. i offered him $250 and he jumped on it. i think i could've gotten it for way less now :lol: . (the son told me that the year before there was 2 250ES's in the garage, but his dad must of sold them since then. oh well, i know there's a Big Red in my future somewhere) took the 125 home and after a min or two got it fired up. other than the YT60 that's the story sofar. :lol:

[Nubbinz]

I rode my friends tri zinger, then later on rode someone elses honda 110, so i went and got me a 185s. Cant get any spark and im clueless so I wanna sell it and buy another trike