Secrets of finding 3wheelers

[swampthang]

I think I found a easy way to find people with 3wheelers simply load you trike in the bed of your truck and leave it in there for about a week or so and you will be surprised by how many people will come up to you and say, hey I got acouple of them things at the house too. Works for me always get comments at the gas stations. I had my trike in my truck at work and people would stop in and ask me about it. Even gotten a few free trikes from people that just want them out of there yard.:lol: A guy talked to me the other day and ends up he has a bunch of parts so we are gonna work a deal! How sweet is that. Anyone else have any stories about doing the same?

[200xranger]

i hear ya on that. everyone rubber necks at a nice trike. you should see the looks i get with 3 250r 2 trizs and a 250sx on one trailer when my buds and i go ride!!!!!!

[H95Shooter]

i just got nehbors that collect them haha

[captainweezy]

I am always looking and always asking. I have pulled a few from junk yards. One had near new tires on it. It makes my day when I can save a trike even if it is blown up or just for parts.

[fmnrd]

swampthing , right on with that ,I was taking a mint 200x to work to ship and guy pulls up next to me and sez hey I have one of those . we pull over and start talking , told him I buy and sell ect , he offers me a 85 200x in mint condition for 500.00

[swampthang]

The best one was when all my buddys and I had are trikes on a trailer and pulled in a Autozone to get something the guy behind the counter almost hit the floor.He was a trike lover too. Then again if the same thing happened to me and a trailer lot of sweet trikes pulled up id prolly lose it too! People always get a kick out of seeing a pack of 3wheelers riding together. We was all riding around my buddys house one day about 6 of us and people kept stopping on the side of the road to talk to us. Saying they havent seen that many 3wheelers sense 86!

[3Razors]

In ca and az you can buy them all the time for a song. I have noticed the truly mint supply is drying up though around here.

[hang&rattle]

I stopped by at a gas station/muffler shop I frequent to see about the 125m frame getting welded and got a 200 given for free, a couple of days later he offered to sell the 2nd (good running) for next to nothin'. The muffler shop, couldn't weld it so sent me to another shop and that fella knows the guy I bought my 2nd Tecate from 5 hrs. away, lol. The second shop took a load of trikes to him a few years ago he sold. One of those trikes I believe will be coming back with me this spring. But we have a serious lack of sport trikes here, ton's of utility farm rigs I'm not impressed with, but some farmers still think some rich outta-stater with a summer home here will buy it while on vacation for more than the clapped out pos went for new (?). Word gets around and folk mention what they got to me, but think it's gold, lol, 'rare collectors item' (that's been sitting outside for 20 years rotting), but is scrap.

[200xranger]

i was washing my 250sx in the driveway and a tow truck driver stopped and asked what it was, i told him. he said i got a trike in my storage unit i need to get rid of. he said its a 200x. at the time i had an 85 200x. i said i got one already but what color is it and how much. he said its white and 100 bucks. i said call me when you go pick it up!!! it was an 86 plastic was awesome!

[ironchop]

had my 200S in the back of the pickup to wash at work...fellow coworker see it and tells me he has a couple 200x`s he wants to get rid of...one an `83 and the other an 85` with blown motor....bought the pair for $400

on the flip side, i was driving to work another day when I spied an `85 125M in the back of another guys truck at the local store gas pumps...stopped to get gas (of course)...and walked right up to him and told him "don`t see many of those anymore" and he asks me if I want to buy it.............for $50......it was missing the head but otherwise all there....I told him I had four at that time and didn`t need another (a bold-faced lie...I needed another).....so he says "alright gimme $20"....I said "I got more cash at the house and I live a mile from here. Gimme ten minutes".......he looked around and said "aw hell, back yer truck up to mine and take it. My wife will be mad if I bring another one home and I got this one free about an hour ago. You can have it if you load it."

It came home with me.

I used to get stopped all the time by locals who also collect trikes when I had my pristine `85 200X in the truck. One day I pulled into my local dealership to show the sales guy what I had been buying parts for and before I got him outside, the owner of the shop and all the salespeople and two customers had swarmed the truck checking out the X. Shop owner asked me to sell it. He wanted to put it in the showroom on a shelf next to his Xmas Z50, and a restored CB350, and a couple other vintage collector bikes. I kept the X.

[coolpool]

I hit the Show'n'Shine circuit with my Blue US90 as much as I can. I post a sign asking "If you have an old three wheeler at home, talk to me". I get into some interesting conversations. I do find most folks don't know what year or model they have; just that they have a "red Honda" or "yellow Yamaha" at home. Oh and they are all in great shape:crazy: Maybe because it's usually the 60+ year old farmers that stop to talk? I am confident this tactic will pay off one day. I did get two rear US90 tires for free that are in OK shape:p.

[whipit]

good idea I guess but leaving a machine in a pickup for weeks is like hand writing a huge PLEASE STEAL ME sign and taping it on the machine

[swampthang]

Most of the time I chain mine to the bed of my truck with a padlock on it. If you have to leave your truck somewhere where someone cant watch it try to back it up against something like a building so they cant unload it out the back.

[pantera1975]

I've seen the mortician from the local funeral home 1 time with his kid walking around my trailer when I had it parked outside ace hardware I came out and he says wow them are in good shape and another time he drove around them at the grocery store and the last time he was turned around in his vehicle when I passed him. Another time a guy and his younger kid I'd say 10 was standing by them looking at them and said nice machine. And I cant even begain to count how many people say "wow them things are dangerous we had a 110 and got hurt all the time rolling it"

[briano]

I had three 70's in the back of my truck, two of mine a one of my buddy's that I was fixing up for him. A guy at the gas station came running over as I was getting out of the truck and says "my buddy has one of those in his garage, are you a collector. I will get you his phone number, there is something wrong with the wiring that he can't figure out." I get to work and tell my brother that I found him a 70, he fell in love with mine. lol He calls the guy and we went and picked it up after work for $100. The thing is in good shape, and the guy says he had two people try to figure out the wiring. We got it home and plugged in the black wire coming out of the case and it fired right up. Now I put both of my 70's in the truck once in a while and go "fishing" to see if I can get another one.

[Chris Salerno]

when i went to pick up my 200x after buying it some guy tried pulling me and my friend over tryin to to buy it off me i said no because i didnt even get to ride it yet lol and everytime i go out for sunday funday there is always some one new and they ask me all sorts of questions and no one ever wants to take it for a spin (i think there scared)

[redskinman]

wow you guys are making me jealous as hell with all your stories of these great deals.Yes it seems all the good deals are in California.Theres nothing cheap for sale on craigslist in Tx that I have found.Theres 1 250 sx for sale I saw on houston craigslist recently they wanted a thousand bucks for and its not even running!

[oscarmayer]

^ you got that right! texans seem to be too proud of their bikes. remember a lot fo them are cali transplants so they bnrougth their bikes here when they moved here. then they came w/o a job thinking they can find one, did not have are forced to sell the bike. so they are tryign to get way more than actual value of the bike.

[bcredneck]

my trick is looking in backyards when i was a roofer it seems if it dont run its free 9 times out of 10

[shortbus]

You guys find so many sweet deals! I have found about one ever since i have been buying and selling trikes/quads and parts.

[bcredneck]

another trick is not to take the crap thats usualy piled on top off before finding a price also if you say you only need it for parts you get better deals ive got 185s $50 250 bigred for a set of forks 350x for the bigred 2 mx80s free 3 xr75s free IT125 free suzuki k15 free tnt399 sled free gokart $100 pocket bike free rm 80 parts bike free cr 250 roller free cz 250 $250 guy said a dollar per cc i keep getting lucky for some reason

[dream3wheeler]

i had an ironic and lucky experience with my 185s. i was mowing a lawn for my neighbor and truck pulled up to me and says "hey kid!" i looked over, stopped the mower and walked over to talk to him. he says to me " i broke my arm recently and my dad counts on me to mow his lawn cause hes to old to mow it himself. ill give you my old 3 wheeler if you mow his lawn" i took it, needed new back tires and new carb and it was ready to roll. :D

[shortbus]

i had an ironic and lucky experience with my 185s. i was mowing a lawn for my neighbor and truck pulled up to me and says "hey kid!" i looked over, stopped the mower and walked over to talk to him. he says to me " i broke my arm recently and my dad counts on me to mow his lawn cause hes to old to mow it himself. ill give you my old 3 wheeler if you mow his lawn" i took it, needed new back tires and new carb and it was ready to roll. :D

LOL now that is awesome! You mow a lawn and get a trike!!!

[falloutboy]

The kid that works at the gas station where I usually go is a trike enthusiast. My bro and I went there once with the 250r and 350x in the trailer is how we found out. I guess he has a 200x and a T3. We always talk trikes and dunes, etc. while I stop for gas...

[bugler30]

here in oregon 200's of any breed (except 86-87 200x) are a dime a dozen. When falloutboy and I were relatively new to the site last year we scored 4 free trikes in elkton, two of which were too far gone to save but we were able to sell a few parts to cover the parts for the other two and still have a bunch we need to get rid of. Few weeks later scored a 200s and 84 200x for 400, the s was also too far gone to save so it became a donor and the x has a 12:1 wiseco piston in it and a supertrapp exhaust, I think with an xr200 cam and carb that thing would be a screamer.