Lovin' it!!! My First Trike!!!

[northerntrike]

Ok guys and gals......how I ever survived the past 33 years of my life without a trike or quad, I'll never know. Anyways. I got my first trike a few weeks ago and so far I've only had it out at camp putting around in second gear hauling wood and taking the kids for a ride.

The trike is an '82 Honda ATC200E. It runs like a champ. All the plastics are in great shape with no cracks or fading. I replaced the tank on it already since the old one was rusted and had already been patched a few times. I plan on eventually giving the tank a paint job. The only real problem I've had with it so far is that the rear brakes don't work. I'll be working on that.

So, I took my son out yesterday for our first real maiden voyage out in the bush. I strapped a thick peice of foam on the rear rack for him to sit on for the time being. I plan on using the foam and making a nice covered seat I can remove when not in use. We covered roughly 5 miles down a bush road close to town taking a few side trails, going over a few smaller sand hills, and climbing a bigger hill. The trike never missed a beat the whole time.

The first picture is my oldest boy driving around out at camp. The second and third were taken yesterday out on our adventure.


My cost so far on this trike........$5 in gas!!!

[northerntrike]

So today, I figured I spend a bit of time getting it ready for bird hunting in two weeks. I strapped an old milk crate to the front rack to hold the birds. Then I fabricated a gun rack out of a 2x6 and a 1x6 I had in the garage. I also had some bungie cargo nets kicking around from when I used to have a motorcycle. I put them to use holding down the front milk crate and rear foam and gun rack. So far....still only $5 in gas invested in it!!! Gotta love it!!!

[whyzee]

welcome!!! you think your addicted now? just wait

[DickyDanger]

the third picture is pretty cool. looks like a fun section to rip through

[the great gazoo]

Oh yeah, just wait, this is only your first.................Nice BR, by the way!

[harryredtrike]

nice pic up for free.

[northerntrike]

the third picture is pretty cool. looks like a fun section to rip through

The whole road leading up to that hill is a sand/clay mixture. The hill itself is sand. It's a popular area in the winter where the kids go sliding. There are lots of little side trails off the road for atv's. Nice thing about this area is that there is always someplace different to go with lots of old roads on crown land. Hunting season is gonna be great this year!!!

[hublake]

I was up in that area years ago fishing. Still good fishing?

[MonroeMike]

Welcome to the site.

[northerntrike]

Thanks for all the welcomes.

Hublake....the fishing is always good in this area. Hmmmmm!!!!! Fishing!!!! You've just given me another idea. I'm going to have to fab up a rod holder for this thing now so I can get into all those small lakes in this area that are only accessible by trail.

[willrideanythin]

Let the fun begin, Congrats. I have a rod holder already made if you want PM me.

[Fungo Wizard]

Aweome pick up, wish i could find a BR that nice. Warn your wife now, and start clearing the garage for the next one, and the next one, and the next one, and so on

[northerntrike]

Aweome pick up, wish i could find a BR that nice. Warn your wife now, and start clearing the garage for the next one, and the next one, and the next one, and so on

I lucked out finding this trike. I have no worries about the wife though....I'm a single dad now. My youngest son lives with me. He just loves getting out in the bush.

Along with setting the trike up for hunting, I did clean out the garage today. I think I could fit a couple more trike in there now...:naughty:

[goump1995]

Beautiful BR man.

[Fungo Wizard]

Well, I did not mean to stir up bad memories, sorry man! it is a sweet Big Red, and you and your son will have a ton of fun on it. Trust me you are now officially going to be on the lookout in barns and behind shops and all the curses that come with this obsession. Did I miss the story on how you picked this up for free? If not, please tell us how you landed this beauty.

[UlsterATCFan]

Nice big red, theres a good chance the front tire is original

[northerntrike]

It looks like it's original. The front tire was patched at one point with a plug in the sidewall. The rear tires are new. I plan on changing the front soon. I do have a source in town who is trying to sell three brand spanking new tires for it for cheap. I may pick them up soon. If I do, I plan on fabbing up a small trailer to pull behind since I'll have a few extra wheels/tires for it.

[northerntrike]

Well, I did not mean to stir up bad memories, sorry man! it is a sweet Big Red, and you and your son will have a ton of fun on it. Trust me you are now officially going to be on the lookout in barns and behind shops and all the curses that come with this obsession. Did I miss the story on how you picked this up for free? If not, please tell us how you landed this beauty.

No worries!!! It is a sweet ride for sure. I picked this up from a backyard smalltown recreational dealer who buys and sells used stuff all the time and does horsetrade deals out of his back door. I had an old actic cat snowmobile sitting in my yard collecting dust. Had no intentions on ever getting it running again.(it needed a bunch of electircal work done on it) I even traded the guy the old sled for it. Works for me. I'd rather have a running trike sitting in my garage than a non running snowmobile that needed a bunch of money poured into it to get it running.

The guy also has 3-4 125's sitting around in his yard. He's got this weird conversion 200 he's been trying to sell for a couple years now. Someone fabbed up a new front suspension for it and turned it into a 4 wheeler.

[thestud25]

Nice score. Welcome to the site. You will need to join an addiction support group soon!

[Jaketrimoto]

Awsome find man! Its always cool to see kids getting into trikes as well. Future trike freaks like the rest of us.

[Rocketblt]

Hey guys. Just wanted to share a little bit of personal history, and pictures with you guys about my love affair for trikes and the 250R. The first pic is me Dec 24th 1984. My first 250r power wheel. The 2nd is March 17 1986. The day the obsession started when my brother brought "her" home right off the dealer's showroom floor. (Note if I look sad in the pic it's because he wouldn't actually let me take it for a spin!.) 3rd one is Sept 18th 1986. My 6th birthday. 1985 Honda ATC 70 left over from the dealer. Man I'll never forget that day either. My own three-wheeler. (Thanks Frank) The following is fall of 86 and 87. My brother and I gettin muddy and rippin it up. The only thing that sucked about riding with him was I could never keep up, much older and much FASTER. Now I have my own 250R and and am restoring another one as well for us to "Go at it" he's always been the better rider. But all in all its brotherly family fun. We' have been doing it all for years. Snowmobiles Quads, Trikes, even got all the younger kids invovled like my nieces and nephews at an early age. Hopefully one day I can do this with my kids when I have em.

[EvilkNeal]

The great gazoo is right this is only your first for now. My buddy got talking about 4-wheelers and that made me think about 3-wheelers and i bought 200m, things are tanks and pretty much go anywhere. Then i found a good deal on a 200x. Now my buddy has a 4-wheeler and another buddy bought a 4-wheeler 2 days ago. I try to convince them to go on 3. The 200m will make it through more then any of there 4-wheelers will. Have fun with your new toy and those things are pretty indestructible.

[hang&rattle]

northerntrike- Nab one of those 125's for your son. I too am a single dad raising two. Our trikes keep us pretty close and pretty entertained. 9yr. old daughter on 125m (now has 200 auto-x), and son on yt125 (now has 200x).

[northerntrike]

Nice pics guys! I spent most of today messing around in the garage with the trike. I decided to remove the front rack and headlight guard off and give them a quick spray of black paint to freshen up the look of the bike. I also painted the rear rack but got lazy and didn't take it off since the under side of the fenders were still caked in mud. I just put a rag between the rack and the fenders to avoid overspray. the headlight guard needed a good talkin' to with a hammer and pipe to straighten it since the headlight was kinda sitting crooked before. I managed to straighten it the gave it a good coat of black tremclad spray.

I have been looking around for another trike for my son to use but I want him to get used to this one first before turning him loose on his own. He's only 6 right now. I did stop and take a look at one of those mini atv's this morning. My son fits it perfectly right now but at the rate he's growing, he will outgrow that 70cc quad before next summer rolls around.

[zeek]

Very Nice! Thanks for sharing your Find and Images

[tri-Z ripper]

Nice Find and welcome to the addiction. 3 Wheeler lovers are the real horders of the world LOL :)

[northerntrike]

Thanks! I guess I truly am bitten by the bug! I went out to the garage at 11pm to check on the racks I had removed and painted earlier today. They were dry. Before I knew it, I had them reinstalled. I also noticed a box of old motorcycle parts including a set of honda mirrors I had been hoarding for years. The brake levers on the trike had white plastic plugs in them. I figured I might as well pull them out and sure enough....threaded holes the same size as the threaded shaft on the mirrors I had. My BR now had a nice set of mirrors. (Hey....they'll come in handy so I can keep an eye on all my buddies riding quads!!!)

I also painted the homemade gun rack I had made earlier this week. It was dry. So it also got reinstalled. Next on the list is fabricating a seat base to go over the back rack for my son. I have a peice of 2" foam on it right now. I plan on using a piece of 1/2 " plywood and cutting some seat cover material to go over the peice of foam. That will be an evening project this week since I didn't get to the hardware store to pick up the seat covering today.

[northerntrike]

So, apparently I'm gonna either need a new gas cap or do something with this one. I can run around all day in first, second, or third. As soon as I pop it into fourth and get going a decent speed, the engine starts sputtering and I have to back off and shift down to third as soon as I loosen the cap, within a few seconds it starts running fine again.

Any idea where I can get a gasket set for this trike? I've got a couple small oil leaks. One on the head and the other on the left side cover. I took my new hunting buggy out for it's maiden voyage tonight and it ran great crawling along a trail in first and second. It's gonna be a good hunting season this year.:D

[three_wheelin45]

Wow this is realy cool yall are getting yalls kids started on trikes so young.... I faill in love with these things from sitting on my step brothers '86 250r (**note** sitting on it, lol) But Everytime id find one cheap and ask for it the answer was "no them are dangerous, What you need is a good four wheeler" So now that im old enough(15) and started makeing money on my own, I decided it was my money, I earned it, Ima spend it how I please.So I found a '87 200x for sale or trade for good dirtbike. I thaught "YES" because a few days before I took a transmission out of my brothers car for 200$ so i baught a CRF125 for 200$. So I called him up and he said he wanted to trade. My dad was trying to get me to get out of the deal and get a fourwheeler the whole ride to get it, my reply "no, I earned the money, let me "blow" it if I want"...Long story short I got her all fixed up and my dad has more fun on it then I do, LOL. My whole family likes to ride it and see me ride it cause it takes them back to when the were a kid. :) Thaught I would just like to tell yall how lucky yalls kids are :D KEEP ON TRIKEING!!!

[Rocketblt]

Northern Trike. It looks like your little man is all set. Glad to see your breaking him in early on these things, I think thats when i started about 5 0r 6 on someones ATC 125M, then got my own ATC 70 for my 6th birthday. You don't forget stuff like that! Especially when it's these 3 wheelers NEW WITH THE PLASTIC COVER ON THE SEAT!!!! My brother the one who got it for me also broke his daughters in on the same ATC 70 15, and almost 20 yrs later. I think he pulled the motor bout 4 years ago because of a shift fork, and he has the rest of the trike collecting mildew in the basement. I have to kick his ass and tell him to take care of things like he used to!! But yeah these things are indestructible! But the girls are on 4 wheelers now sadly, my niece is getting older, and cocky though, she can handle my other brothers blaster and a ZR580EFT Arctic Cat sled if you can believe that one! I want to give her the "supervised opportunity" to swing a leg over the 250r, I havent been able to cause I ripped both my main and spare motors down this summer for a crankcase seal leak. Motors were good n running but smoked and fouled excessively, so... But I want to give my niece a shot. Hope you and your little man have fun and keep the pics coming.

Hang and Rattle, these are some of the most beautiful rising spots I have ever seen!! Is this local for you?

[northerntrike]

Update time! Been out nearly every weekend this fall during hunting season. I estimate I've probably put close to 400 miles on it. Hasn't missed a beat yet. Aside from a flat rear tire caused by a busted valve stem, I haven't had a problem. I still want to do a bit of work to it over the winter but for now, I'm still lovin it. I was having my doubts about it the first time I brought it out in the woods due to a lack of power even in first gear. But then I decided to run it in low gear and man, that thing is a real tank. I can go pretty much anywhere I dare to go. I'll probably chicken out long before it stops moving. I'm not into hot dogging it and moto x type riding. I'd say 99% of my riding is going down old grown in side roads that haven't been used in 30-40 years.

I was out earlier today down a winter snowmobile trail checking out a few beaver dams/homemade bridges we use in the winter to cross creeks. I had no problems getting across them the first time but on the way back, the front tire broke through a log and I found myself staring straight down a short bank with the rear tires still on shore and the front tire broke through the bridge and hanging into a 4 ft deep creek. Sorry, no pics. I managed to pull it back and get the front end back up on the bridge.107857107858107859

[D-dub]

Congrats! A 200e is the perfect first trike. Next itll be a 250r then a TriZ, then youll see a Tecate you have to have. It can get pretty bad.

[bobotech]

Love your pictures./

[Xpress]

Wait until you get a sport trike like a 200X or something, then you will be ADDICTED even more :D

Before you know it, you'll be wondering why you don't have any play money, and then you realize you've been spending it on more trikes :lol:

[scottp597]

Ahhh I remember my 200e.... good ol big red never let me down. Have fun, be safe out there

[factoryX]

I remember my 200es, wheelie monster.

[northerntrike]

I have no real desire to own a 2 stroke moto x style anything. That noisy BRAAAPPP sound would most likely scare away all the birds and moose when I'm out hunting. I could see myself getting a 250 BR or something similar that has reverse. It's a real pain turning around in a tight area at the end of a bush road right now with no reverse.

[bobotech]

Well the 200x is a 4 stroke. From what I hear, they are great trail machines when stock, just lighter and quite a bit faster than big reds. the 250sx is similar I think.

[Xpress]

I have no real desire to own a 2 stroke moto x style anything. That noisy BRAAAPPP sound would most likely scare away all the birds and moose when I'm out hunting.

A 4 strokes thump can carry on a further distance than a 2 strokes brap. Also, when you ride a 2 stroke, you PIN IT TO WIN IT and YAMAHONDAMAN :D :D

You'll see when you ride one why we ride them (not for hunting, for fun) :beer:

[coolpool]

I have no real desire to own a 2 stroke moto x style anything. That noisy BRAAAPPP sound would most likely scare away all the birds and moose when I'm out hunting. I could see myself getting a 250 BR or something similar that has reverse. It's a real pain turning around in a tight area at the end of a bush road right now with no reverse.

I agree with you 100% Northern. I can see the attraction of a wicked two stroke tearing up the terra firma but that's not for me anymore. I'm amazed at how quite my BR is when I'm putting around especially now that I've adjusted the valves and cam chain. I love the pic of the boy with the chicken. The smile says it all.

[Dirtcrasher]

Sounds like you need an SX or 250ES for reverse and "stealth" mode :lol:

[Xpress]

Stealth mode.... Are you going to wear a ninja costume too? :lol:

[ride-red]

the gas tank prob sounds like a non working tank vent.... just throwin that out there

[northerntrike]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I've always been the laid back, just get out there and go for a slow leisurely cruise kind of guy. Which is why the BR appeals more to me. Granted, I'd love to take a 2 stroke BRAP out for a spin once in a while but for the mostpart, I'm quite happy with the BR.

ride-red-that's what I figure. It's not a big deal so far. I covered roughly 30 miles yesterday and only had to crack open the gas cap a couple times for a few seconds each time when it would start to backfire. I'm thinking of going with a new plastic tank soon anyways so I'll just deal with it for now.

I also plan on tearing the rear breaks apart to see what there....or NOT there, should I say. The rear brakes a non existant right now. At least the front brakes work.

[Rjfabwerx]

Aweome pick up, wish i could find a BR that nice. Warn your wife now, and start clearing the garage for the next one, and the next one, and the next one, and so on

This is the most accurate statement I've ever read! 2 things I can't get enough of are trikes and tattoos...my wife loves it ;)

[ride-red]

just things to look out for in plastic tanks is just that plastic becomes britle id try for another metal tank first my opinoin dude. or another gas cap try ebay for one or look for some parts online?