'87 Honda ATC 500R ??

[Maico 500]

Hello All!! I'm 35 yrs old and have rode Honda ATC's for years. I'm also new to this forum. Great forum too. Anyway...has anyone else heard the same rumor that back in '85,Factory Honda had built 5,ATC 500R 3 wheelers?? I was told by some ex-engineers that they were scary fast,handled far better than the 250's and were going to be put into production for the '87 Honda line up when the government pulled the plug on 3-wheelers. Any one else hear of this ??

[J.D.]

Dunno, but one of those would be AWESOME!

[Howdy]

I have heard the rumors of the ATC500r before. How ever not one shread of proof. Without proof it will remain a rumor.

As far as my personal opinion: if the rumor was true I would think Honda would have used the 500cc motor in the TRX chassis. Could you imagine the sales they could have gotten selling a TRX500r? They probably would have had a hard time selling the TRX250r's.
That is my 2 Cents. Good or Bad that is how I see it.

Howdy

[tony_250r]

I've never heard of that either but I'v seen more that a few custom ATC CR500's. I can't see how a 500cc will handle bettet than a 250cc.

[Maico 500]

After doing quite a few 500/ATC swaps,I feel as though the handling does improve. I believe it's due to the extra weight of the 500 power plant. The 250's are slightly twitchy. The suspension on both ends needs to be re-sprung to compensate for the extra weight and speed the 500 produces. But that's just me. God bless America and the 500 ATC !!

[200x Basket]

i loved mine but starting it was pain. i only managed to kick start it one time :rolleyes: i am planning to build a tecate 500 now :twisted:

[Maico 500]

I didn't have too much of a problem starting it as I've been riding Maico 500 and CR 500 dirt bikes for years now. Not to mention my 210# fat ass helps get the motor lit !! LOL!! Takin' the rear fenders off every time kinda sucked though. A 500 tecate will be REALLY cool !! I had a chance several years ago to pick up an '86 Tecate 250 for cheap and never did. Could kick myself in the ass a million times for not buying it.

[ATC crazy]

I would love to build a 500R. It would be sweet. I don't believe that there were any ATC500R's. There may have been a prototype or two but...come on...You can barly keep the fromt wheel down on the 250's. Ever since the 250R's died out, Honda has never really built a high performance machine again (w/ the exception of the 400ex which is wimpy now compared to the DZ400 :x )

[Maico 500]

The ATC 500R's were prototype's...I was told there were 5 total. Believe me..with the extra weight from the motor,the front end lifts LESS than the 250's. With the extra power,it just breaks the rear wheels loose. Now on pavement,it's whole different story !!

[200x Basket]

on pavment my 500 was way to scary. in the dirt it would blow paddles away. the one time we took it drag racing i would loose the hole shot from tire spin but i quickly caught up. i sold it because i never rode it and honestly i thought it had too much power. did i just say that :?:

[ATC crazy]

TOO MUCH POWER!!!....Is that what you said?...You can never have too much POWER!!! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

[Maico 500]

Too much is NEVER enough !! MSD ignitioned,Alcohol breathging,Nitrous sniffing 500cc of balls out,bugs in your grill.... FUN!!

[KASEY]

MAICO DUDEwe need to talk ,,, what did you do for a kicker on your 500r conversions!!!!!!! clearing the brake pedal makes it stick out way to far to leave on for comfortable riding ,, i need a little help on this one ,,,, here is my 500r

[200x Basket]

nice conversion. what pipe is that? what year kicker are you using? fisrt i clearanced my frame. then i bought a later style cr250r kicker. it cleared the frame but the kick was to short becasue it hit the brake pedal. i just made a new part that i think would have solved it all. i took a kicker shaft from a 500 and the bottom kicker boss of my of my old kicker. i cut the shaft ont he non spline dend until it was the right lenght and then welded the cut end to the old boss so it would receive the splines on the engine. i basically lenthened the kicker shaft about 1 1/2". if the camera was here i would take a pic. :(

[Maico 500]

Nice lookin' ATC !! On my conversions,I used the stock '85 CR 500 lever only modified it slightly. Down at the knuckle,right where it starts its upward bend.I cut it and moved it FORWARD 1". That way it's still in the same position when folded in,just 1" farther forward. When you unfold it to kick start,it's now further away from the frame. Here's another trick. It costs a couple of $$ but makes life MUCH easier in the starting department..COMPRESSION RELEASE. Have the cylinder/head modified to use a comp. release like the old Maico 490's had. Your right foot will thank you .

[ATC crazy]

Sweet trike 250RMAD! very cool. Im getting goosebumps 8)

[KASEY]

here she is with dirt setup,, there isn't a dirt tire made that will hook up with all the power it has,, you can roast the tires at any time . i think my 250r is faster in dirt trim ,, but not in the dunes!!!

[ATCnut]

Here is a interesting thing I found a while back. I was looking for trike owners manuals at servicehonda. Look at the very last line, there was a listing for a 85 ATC500r manual. It has a HA9 product code. seaching at partsfiche, I determined that the OM is the only part listed for that product code. I believe that Honda was thinking about it, fits in with Maico 500's data. Plus there is a OM listed for a 87 350X, and a 87 250R.

[ATC crazy]

They even have a '88 ATC250ES listed! Pretty cool. Imagine if Honda did mass produce the 500R? Hehehehehe

[Billy Golightly]

There is one magazine circa late 1986 or so that I believe Howdy has that says that Honda has been testing on a new ATC500R. Marty Hart supposedly rode it and was one of the testers and said it was the biggest power house machine that he had ever riden, and that it handled like a dream and litterly floated across the terrain. Mr ATC says that there might be one at the Honda motorcycle museum in Japan. Maybe one day I'll take a trip over there and look at it.

[Maico 500]

The info I heard stated that Marty Hart had a BIG hand in the development and design of the ATC 500. If anyone has an original copy of the '85 ATC 500R owners manual, I will pay GOOD $$ for it. Name your price.

[ATCnut]

I do not think the ATC500R Owners Manual ever actually existed. I tried to order one right after I found the listing for it, and was told that the parts listing was loaded before parts were actually available. For some reason the OM got loaded before Honda decided to cancel the model.

[SpeedyTide]

Honda did indeed build a prototype ATC 500R. It was tested by none other than Honda Factory Pro Rider Marty Hart who won numerous races & titles aboard the 250R's.

I'll have to do a search on where I'd read it, but Marty said he tested the 500R and that it was scary fast. It also had IRS....YES Independent Rear Suspension.:twisted:

Let me search...and I'll post up as soon as I find!

Look forward to chattin' with you all!

Long live the 3-wheelers'!!! :cool:

[SpeedyTide]

I do not think the ATC500R Owners Manual ever actually existed. I tried to order one right after I found the listing for it, and was told that the parts listing was loaded before parts were actually available. For some reason the OM got loaded before Honda decided to cancel the model.Correct. No owner's manual existed. The 500R was never made it to production. Not even close. Just as Marty Hart was doing R&D with it was about the time the whole "Ban 3-wheelers" started, and like others here have mentioned...Honda pulled the plug! :cry:

[voodoo1215]

I know this is an old thread, but has anyone thought of contacting marty hart and asking him personally? http://rock.off-road.com/rock/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=329459 here is an article from 06 that says hes rock crawling now! i'd be willing to bet he would like to talk bout' the days of old!

just a thought!

[4cylinders]

hey, does anyone know the location of the honda museum in japan? I have a friend there right now, that may be able to drop in and check it out.

[oldsking86]

Now Jimmy Whites back in racing too, just a crew chief though, but for Kawi and the new KFX450r's!!

Man would I love to see one of these 500r atc's!

[deathman53]

Other honda protypes extisted too, atc480r, atc200r, atc500x, who knows what else? I read from Mike Coe, that the 500r did exist, he rode it, and the result was that everything was moved forward 1" on the frame of their atc250r's. I saw pictures of the trx250r in prototype stages and read the reviews. Hondainvited a bucn of the racers to go to somewhere near mexico to test ride the atc480r(cr480 motor in 83 atc250r and other changes), they all loved it, but said it was way too fast for the general public, the atc500r, probably came to this fate also. Wasn't a atc500x that was made by nick nickolsen and used for honda to see if they liked the idea, sold not that long ago, to someone on this site???

[oldsking86]

I know the 200r exhisted someone on here owns one, and my bosses son "owns" one haha I told him to bring it around one day for an ass whipping too

As for the 500x, yea someone on here grabbed it off ebay I think, very nice bike too. Of course they loved the bikes, everybody loves honda's smooth suspension, as for to much power thank the people who banned these bikes and with more power that just made it worse!

[4cylinders]

hey, found the honda museum site. only atvs on the display list are trx70 and us90. no list of what is in storage. I'll still see if I can get my friend to stop and check it out. one of the displays is a very interesting 750 flat track racer.

[84honda200s]

tell him to get pictures and as much info as possible. this thread is nothing without pictures and more info.

[dovesprings250R]

I heard from Dave Arnold (Factory honda team manager in the Rick Johnson/Jeff Stanton days) That a 500cc 2 stroke ATC was produced as a prototype and ridden by several of their riders. Dave said that Bruce Ogilvie was in charge of the atc testing back then but he did remember them existing. I worked with Dave's son for a few years and Know dave pretty well. He still works at Honda in the R&D department. If Dave says it was so it was so. All prototype machines were sent to Japan along with notes on what worked what didn't. That's as much as I got. Dave had a prototype xr 650R long before Honda released it. Anyway....thought you might find this interesting. I bet they're still in japan somewhere in storage.