Newish member saying hello, happy to be here.

[Blackwater 357]

Collector, rider and resto enthusiest of the three wheeled creatures. Hailing from the great white north, central Alberta.

[ps2fixer]

Welcome to the site. I'm from just south of the great white North =)

[Blackwater 357]

Thanks. Enjoying the site. Glad to see so many people keeping these machines going and putting them back to new or tastefully modded condition

[ps2fixer]

Yea there's some real skill with the builders. I'm pretty much known as the "wire harness guy", if you have electrical problems, I probably have something to suggest or say about it lol. I also mod/sell stuff but not trying to turn this into an ad.

Anyway, what all machines do you own? I've had tons, but so many of them were parts only machines that no one else wanted. When I ride I'm on a 350x, 250es (big red), or a 250sx (the sport version of the big red).

[Blackwater 357]

I have had dozens of three wheelers. Mostly yamaha,honda and a few Suzuki's. Current inventory is 3 Yamaha dr225's, 1 honda atc350x, 3 honda atc125m's, 1 yamaha 175 tri moto, 1 tri zinger 60 in the blue, 1 four zinger in the yellow. I also have a few yamaha big wheels and other vintage honda minis. Rhino 700 and grizzly 700. Did a resto on an 83 honda fl350 few years back that just sits. Love doing resto work on just about anything with wheels and a motor.

[Blackwater 357]

And a couple of suzuki alt50's

[ps2fixer]

I have yet to own a Yamaha 3 wheeler, but I grew up on a 99 warrior 350. I've stuck with mainly Honda in my adventures of buying random parts machines with spare income I had at the time. I've probably had something like 20-25 atvs, not huge since most are parts machines, but not exactly a small pool either. Most of the market moved away from Craigslist, so I haven't bought a machine in years now. I just jumped on facebook, so I'll have to be careful because I think that's where most of the people selling went to.

What kind of restores do you do, OEM correct down to the bolts, light bulbs, etc, or like a restore that makes the machine look new but aftermarket parts are ok, or like restore the machine to nice shape, but it's still rode? Just wondering what you've done for the electronics since a pretty large % of the machines I've had normally had pretty messed up wiring. Finding NOS wiring isn't easy even though I know they exist.

[Blackwater 357]

I've done a few frame up oem correct resto jobs on some honda mini's. Way too expensive and don't want to ride when the resto is complete. Now do more clean up, make them look nice and restore the electrical and drive train back to reliable. Electrical has never been an issue for me, I'm a master electrician and an instrument mechanic. Those two trades has made this hobby alot easier. Have also picked up several machines over the years that didn't run due to electrical issues that were fairly easy fixes in the end, just took some hoist time.

[ps2fixer]

Ahh neat someone that can speak my language of electronics =). I agree, the electronics on these machines are really simple. Around the 90's Honda started doing some weird things with their CDI that I haven't quite figured out like on the 87-92 TRX250X the CDI is powered off an exciter coil (AC high voltage) like the 3 wheelers, but then the lighting coil runs through a resister and then ties into a normally open switch for the reverse detection. It seems to be a reverse safety detection, like if the machine is in reverse it won't start, but I don't get why the resister is external within the harness. I tried to wire it up onto a 350x while leaving that pin unhooked and no luck of getting a spark, so it's expecting a voltage on that pin. Both systems are AC based lighting (no rectifier), so probably just would have to add the resister and extra wiring from the lighting circuit, but it's not exactly plug and play so didn't go down the that route. I was on the search for another model or aftermarket CDI that had the same performance as the OEM CDI, but OEM has been hands down the best, second best I think was a 400ex CDI but it had a lower rev limit.

I've seen so many harnesses all pulled apart for no good reason. I really think more people should learn how to use a multi meter, since you can't just look at wires are know if they are good. Besides that it's a really useful tool for troubleshooting.

Ironically, my family's background is in auto mechanics (small engines is close enough), my career was in computers (programming, hardware, OS, repair, printers, networking, etc), but I've always been interested in circuit board level things too. Now my big thing is atv electronics since I mod OEM & aftermarket parts, or build harnesses from nothing. Recently trying to get into some of the other electronics like regulator/rectifier, lighting (LED and standard bulbs), and possibly stators. Hoping some day to dive into the world of CDI's too and build my own, even if I don't sell them.


Anyway, got any photos of your projects? We love photos on this site =).

[Blackwater 357]

I am working on trying to figure out how to post pics. Will post photos soon.

[ps2fixer]

On a desktop look at the icons across the top of the quick reply box, 3 icons from the right is "insert image". Click from computer and click browse and choose the image(s) to post. Wait for them to upload (depends on your internet upload speed) and write your response.

On mobile tapatalk is normally the go to route for using the forum, but I don't browse forums on my cell so no clue what steps are involved there.

[Blackwater 357]

Ok. Here is my attempt at posting a few pics261455261456261456261456261456261456

[Blackwater 357]

Ill try again.261457261458261459261460

[ironchop]

Man those are all VERY nice machines

Welcome!

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[Blackwater 357]

Couple more.261467261468261469261470261471261472261473

[ps2fixer]

Defo some nice machines there. I'd like to take a FL250, FL350R, or FL400R for a test ride. Interesting machines even if handling isn't great as people say online atleast, can't be as bad as the budget go carts people drive around on.

[ironchop]

Defo some nice machines there. I'd like to take a FL250, FL350R, or FL400R for a test ride. Interesting machines even if handling isn't great as people say online atleast, can't be as bad as the budget go carts people drive around on.

People say three-wheelers don't handle well online too, but we both know they are all nuts [emoji23]

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[ironchop]

WOW..... Again...... More nice machines!

And not easy-to-find-resto-parts for those particular models, either

A Fatcat with all it's plastics and decals intact

And that's a BW350, right? Another dream machine of mine.... So are those FL's


You still have all this stuff?

BTW, we are all jonesing for some build threads in this place, so feel free to document and then post whatever you are doing. Doesn't need to be only trikes either. We have a category for everything. Love the Z50 too and your DR is calling my name.... Really, everything you posted pics of, I want

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[Blackwater 357]

The DR's are great machines. I grab them up just about anytime I come across them. I have a 2010 rhino and a 2015 grizzly but the DR's are still my preferred ride/hunting transportation. Light, nimble and fuel economy is unmatched. I have almost all of the machines in the pics. A few have gone. Got out of the z50 game. Way too much to resto and then don't want to ride them. The FL's are a blast. I highly recommend. The FL350's are a bit on the pricy side and parts are a pain in the butt to get but the FL250'S are cheap and all parts are readily available. Bit of a rough ride but an absolute riot in the winter. Did this one up. Original owner machine. Full engine rebuild top to bottom, punched out to 72mm bore, new plastics and the DG exhaust. An absolute riot to drive in the winter.261495261496

[ps2fixer]

Have you had the FL400R? I figured if I was going to go for one, I'd hold out for that model. I really do like suspension =).

I get the feeling on the DR. I had a 1999 Yamaha Warrior 350 growing up, then I went in with my dad to invest in 5 honda 3 wheelers non-running, all just needed carbs cleaned. I got a 76 ATC90 and 84 ATC200ES for my $1000 investment. I rode that 84 200es so much more often than the Yamaha. The Yamaha always was cold blooded, electric start only so if the battery dies, no backup, and pretty sure it's a fair bit heavier (we bought the warrior new, always had those problems, electric start was always a problem too took 2 starters (under warranty) and a couple rebuild kits before it would last).

Just wondering, was there any electrical parts hard to find for the 350R? Sadly it's an 85, so the main harness uses the out of production CDI connector so I can't really reproduce those very well. The FL250's I have the later model harness already on hand, super simple harness I just haven't listed them yet.

[Blackwater 357]

I got rid of the FL350. It was a pain to get new suspention and drive train parts as it was a one year machine. Would love to have an FL400 but one in decent shape goes for around the 10k mark around here.

[ps2fixer]

Wow and here I was thinking $5k was a lot for the FL400R. FL400R was only made 2 years, so probably not much better. Would be interesting to see the sales data on the FL models, see how many existed and what the parts pool might look like for used oem.