OMG!!! FINALLY I found one...

[Taiser]

I got my first trike when I was 13, a 1980 ATC185. It was a gift from my dad after I spent the summer in the bush cutting an insane amount of wood with him. I rode and beat that thing half to death until I sold it and bought a Yamaha 200E tri-moto. I was never really happy with the Yamaha, there was usually always something going wrong with it and I missed the Honda. I've always wanted to find another one and have looked for years and YEARS! These are RARE, having been made only one year and even more rare in these parts. Yesterday I FOUND ONE!!!! :p

Got this from a local dude who bought it from the original owner about a year ago. The original owner was a farmer who used it to put around fixing his fences and cutting down firewood with it. This guy had bought it to put around his property but never really liked trikes and was nervous about driving it. Final straw was last week when he caught his 9 year old trying to start it and didn't want his kid "driving these dangerous things!" LOL.

It is in GREAT shape, plastic is perfect, runs fine, idles and all the parts are there, even the light works!!! It even has the rubbers on the chain guard!!! The tires are solid and hold air but they are not the original knobbies and the rims look like they have been painted. :( I don't remember if these had split rims, but I'll probably try and find the original type knobby tires later on. I got a spare tank for it as well, but it's from a 1982 185s. It has a few small dents as well, but does have the cap and no rust!

Only issues... has a dent on the top of the tank where a tree fell and hit it, not a bad dent, easily repaired but it's there and there is some paint wear/fading on the tank. The decompression lever has the usual leak, easy fix, and it has homemade racks. The owner also says it goes through spark plugs more often than it should, not sure what's up with that, I'll have to look into it...

Now I must say the racks are really well made, but the front one looks horrendous! It was made to haul a chainsaw in and looks a bit crazy. I'll be taking that off, but I'm quite impressed with the rear rack, looks almost stock! Unfortunately the front forks have a few drill holes in them to accommodate the front rack brackets. I can easily fix that when I do a restore, but that will wait until I finish the 200x rebuild! It's pissing rain here right now, and was getting dark, but I snapped a few pictures. I'll try and take better ones tomorrow.

I'm happy as a pig in p00p right now! Can't wait to take it for a good spin tomorrow, but it's suppose to rain here for the next two days... :(

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/taiser/ATC/185/DSC01483_zps5562de9f.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/taiser/media/ATC/185/DSC01483_zps5562de9f.jpg.html)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/taiser/ATC/185/DSC01482_zps2779304e.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/taiser/media/ATC/185/DSC01482_zps2779304e.jpg.html)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/taiser/ATC/185/DSC01481_zps14298dc8.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/taiser/media/ATC/185/DSC01481_zps14298dc8.jpg.html)

[3Queen]

Cool find.. And very nice story.. Put some pics. up of your 1st ride on her.. Would love to see them..

[Darius1502]

Thats a pretty rare year. I've seen tons of '82's, 81's and '83s... but never an 80.

[just ben]

the tires look almost new(and will for the next 20 years),why change them?

[MonroeMike]

Congrats. I have one of those also.

[Worden18]

Nice grab for sure, congrats. I agree with (just ben) the tires look good...ride it in the rain! :)

[jb2wheels]

Very cool!

[manbearpig]

trailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro trailpros!

[diesel]

PM me if you are interested in getting rid of the racks. I have been looking for some for my 200

[Taiser]

Got it out today, was pouring rain this morning but now it's gotten nice out. I took the pressure washer to it and was quite surprised at how well it cleaned up. Only rough thing on it is the tank, and even that is not too bad, it still even has the manual decompression lever instruction sticker on it!! :lol:

I love the back rack and the front one is growing on me, it's really nice riding in the brushy stuff! I'll probably keep it on.

Took it out for a good boot, man it's not the big red that's for sure! Now I know why all my buddies and me got sore backs in our later years. I forgot how much bounce a non-suspended machine has! Especially with tires this size!!! My 110 doesn't even come close to it. LOL! Absolutely loved it though!!! Has TONS of torque in first. I remember it being my favorite bird hunting trike too, nice and light, simple and easy to drive in thick bush trails with little fuss.

The idle is a bit wonky, idles WAY fast when cold even with no choke, then after about 5 minutes it idles normally. Fires on the first pull BUT it did die on me and would barely run on restarts, then wouldn't start at all... Checked the plug and no spark!!! Remembering what the owner said I switched the plugs to an older one I had and it sparked and fired up fine. The dead plug looks fine? :wondering Dunno what's up with that... I'll see how long this plug lasts and see what's up. So far it's run for about 30 minutes on this plug with no more problems. Anybody have a thought on why a spark plug just dies???

Here are some better shots taken after the clean up.... note the how clean the chain case is!!! NO dents or anything. I checked the chain too, it's nice and the sprocket teeth are all great! This thing really didn't get used much!

OK, everybody likes... :pics: :pics: :pics:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/taiser/ATC/185/DSC01484_zpsd39a9238.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/taiser/media/ATC/185/DSC01484_zpsd39a9238.jpg.html)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/taiser/ATC/185/DSC01485_zpsfc3c09f0.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/taiser/media/ATC/185/DSC01485_zpsfc3c09f0.jpg.html)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/taiser/ATC/185/DSC01488_zpsc9c18ff0.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/taiser/media/ATC/185/DSC01488_zpsc9c18ff0.jpg.html)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/taiser/ATC/185/DSC01489_zpsc706aa82.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/taiser/media/ATC/185/DSC01489_zpsc706aa82.jpg.html)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/taiser/ATC/185/DSC01491_zpseacd1b49.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/taiser/media/ATC/185/DSC01491_zpseacd1b49.jpg.html)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/taiser/ATC/185/DSC01492_zps49db0b4e.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/taiser/media/ATC/185/DSC01492_zps49db0b4e.jpg.html)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/taiser/ATC/185/DSC01495_zps8d822f3a.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/taiser/media/ATC/185/DSC01495_zps8d822f3a.jpg.html)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/taiser/ATC/185/DSC01496_zps5b3516e2.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/taiser/media/ATC/185/DSC01496_zps5b3516e2.jpg.html)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/taiser/ATC/185/DSC01498_zps2e1bb8af.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/taiser/media/ATC/185/DSC01498_zps2e1bb8af.jpg.html)

Nice mud hole way in the back of my yard, thanks to 3 days of steady rain!! :w00t:

[Taiser]

Here's a video of it idling... The camera mic makes it sound clunkier than it actually is. LOL

http://youtu.be/lFwGkxQsAkw

[ColtonGG33]

It's probably going to need a good carb cleaning, or maybe a rebuild kit. It didn't sound that bad to me. But what I would do is definantly clean the carb the get the tuning instructions for it( I mean like how many times to turn the air/gasflow) someone on here should be able to give you the instructions

[Taiser]

Oops, forgot the rear end shots... :)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/taiser/ATC/185/DSC01486_zpsb5f9ee40.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/taiser/media/ATC/185/DSC01486_zpsb5f9ee40.jpg.html)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/taiser/ATC/185/DSC01487_zps73a4f8ab.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/taiser/media/ATC/185/DSC01487_zps73a4f8ab.jpg.html)

[atc007]

Wow,this is awesome ! I FEEL your enthusiasm. These are a really cool bike for sure. I just love it. I have one also ,but I need to restore it someday :( Thanx for sharing !

[the great gazoo]

Very cool indeed! Thanks for the great pics & I'm glad you finally found your ol' 185!

[3Queen]

Thanks for putting the Video and pics. up.. I just love it!!!!

[kb0nly]

The plug might be a coincidence, in other words changing the plug moves around the plug wire and such. Could be a bad connection on either end of the plug wire, a bad plug cap, or even a bad plug wire thats got broken spots in it. I would start with a new plug wire and cap.

[Taiser]

The plug wire and cap look brand new...I think they were changed before and I made sure they were all tight. I'm sure I've got some laying around. I'll try another one if this plug kaffs.

I'm planning on at least redoing the tank...it just doesn't suit the rest of the trike the way it looks now. Anybody know a source for oem stickers or where reproductions can be had? Matching the orangy type paint on this year's model will probably be tough too... LOL

[kb0nly]

Harlan Lysne here in MN makes amazing repos of the decals. I just contact him last week about some for my project. That reminds me waiting on a reply from him he must have got busy this weekend.

He sells on eBay as well. I forget what his username is here on the forum.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/member739346/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

He doesn't have any listed for that model but he probably makes them, just drop him an email.

[82300R]

My 1980 185 that I sold about a year ago also had plug issues. If I would let it sit for a while the plug would foul really bad. Change or clean the plug an it would fire up usually first pull. An would be fine until it would sit again. Sold it for like 600 bucks. What an dumb ass. LOL. The paint color you are looking for is TAHITIAN ORANGE. Good luck..

[Taiser]

Well having issues starting it again. Don't think it's a big deal because when it runs it runs fine. My best guess is a crappy stator, ordered a new one on the week-end, a decent "ricky stator". These things are known for bad stators anyways. That should clear things up. Picking up all my 200x parts soon as well but going out of town for a few weeks on Friday so I won't have time to do anything until I get back! :( Damn this work related stuff that always gets in the way of things... :)

[captainweezy]

Why are these so rare again? I have had a couple just never thought they were rare.

[Big G]

Nice find...looks like original seat too! That rear rack is sweet, and I'd keep the front one on (even if it is a little overkill) - especially if you're going to use it as a utility trike. Function is sometimes worth more than looks when you want to get the job done. Cool that it has an fabricated tow hitch too. I know what you mean about the 200's being light and nimble. I have an '83 200, and find myself riding it more often than my '85 250ES Big Red! Anyways, enjoy the years ahead with it...just don't sell it this time! Ha ha

[Taiser]

Why are these so rare again? I have had a couple just never thought they were rare.


In 1980 they introduced a "full sized" 200 size frame and put the "new" 185 engine in it. This was a HUGE step up from the 110's that were running around. Then in 1981 they put the updated 200cc engine in it and the 185 was "shrunk" to a smaller, more "sportier" frame and became the 185s. (I still don't know why, the 200 only had 12cc's more than the 185 and can't see it making that much more power...? Anyhoo...) So the 1980 185 was only made for 1 year in full size mode. It also has a more "orange" hue to the plastics which are nearly impossible to find anymore and when you do find them the price is insane!!! The fact that my plastics are almost mint still blows me away.

[malibulvr]

Great looking trike, too bad they didn't think of suspension when they made those things. I know my back kills me after riding on my 200m, atleast I have some cushion.

[malibulvr]

Nice Avatar, great minds think alike...


Nice find...looks like original seat too! That rear rack is sweet, and I'd keep the front one on (even if it is a little overkill) - especially if you're going to use it as a utility trike. Function is sometimes worth more than looks when you want to get the job done. Cool that it has an fabricated tow hitch too. I know what you mean about the 200's being light and nimble. I have an '83 200, and find myself riding it more often than my '85 250ES Big Red! Anyways, enjoy the years ahead with it...just don't sell it this time! Ha ha

[Big G]

Nice Avatar, great minds think alike...

Ha ha...good call! You work in law enforcement too?

[Taiser]

Never noticed the avatar there was the same, LOL, another "law enforcement" guy here.

I installed the new stator, checks out fine and puts out the volts and now it won't spark, tested and replaced the main coil and it's fine. Last resort is the CDI or pulse generator. I have a spare from my 200x auto conversion I can swap for a test. Another issue I got is a pinhole leak in the tank, oh well something for another day.

Right now I'm actually working on the 200x and installing a new swinger and man is it giving me issues!!!! Can't get the bolt out! :( had this issue with the 250R but this one is way worse. Actually to the point I'm hitting it with a 12 lbs sledge and it's not budging. I'm putting it in my 20 ton press tomorrow and trying that, failing that I'm getting the sawzall out!!! I love Honda's but this design is horrible! Thank god my spare swinger came with a bolt...