Tecate question:

[EvilMooseofDoom]

Hello again....

Is there a 1986 Tecate in existence, that has the handlebar-mounted radiator (old-style 1984-1985 tecate) full disc brakes...and has red plastic? I thought ALL 1986 Tecate bikes were the updated units with the dual sidemount radiators, and green plastic....but the current owner says it is a 1986 Tecate....I thought all of the 1st-gen Tecates had drum brakes....I am going to buy this from a family friend, I am just trying to figure out which bike it is before I rush over there. I had a 1986 T3....I dearly miss it...but I am really not interested in the 1st-gen bikes, especially with the weird handlebar-mount radiator and front drum brake....

[hadar]

Yeah, if it has red plastic it's an 84-85. It can't be an 86 as far as I know.

[darrel632]

85 is a disk brake top mount rad with red plastic .----on the head will be ID should be KXT 250 A-2 for an 85

[scooterroo]

84 -85 came in red and green, 84 had drum up front, 85 had disc, both had radiators mounted on the triples. the 86 was green, with side mount radiators. dont believe they were availible in any other color then kawi green either. at least i have never seen one in another color. so your friends is more then likely an 85 wildfire red tecate.

[Meat-BoX]

Dont take the 84-85 Tecates lightly. If the price is right and its nice I would jump on it. If its Red they are more rare than Green. The 86-87 T3's look good and are sweet, but the 1st gen. T3's are unique looking and are scary fast. With AussieDuner making the old UFO Vented # Plates you can cover the radiator if you think it looks ugly. The UFO Plates are so cool. As for a headlight, once you ride it you will realize its just too fast to ride at night. At least for me and the way I ride. I just got to twist that thing:w00t:
I have one Ive owned for the last 10 years It still needs a few things finished and some polishing. Its not even the best 84-85 on the site I think, but I love my 1st gen. T3

[EvilMooseofDoom]

My brother did have an 84 with a 85 front disc brake setup.....it was set up for flat track racing, it had an extended swingarm, wider axle, and believe it or not, rear Goodyear sprint car special 13" tires set up for dirt ovals on Centerline wheels.....in 1986, I don't know what was done to the engine, but the bill was $7800 just for motor work, and when my brother bought it, there was some note from a local 3/8's mile track that this bike had been radar clocked at 113 mph at the end of the front straight...I rode it once, promptly got tossed off of the back of it, and never rode it again. I wasn't scared of the bike, it was just almost completely unridable, power either on or off, there was no easing into it. I got a 1986 T3 at the same time, and loved it....but I have never ridden an 84-85....I know they can go fast....to be honest, I think the 86 looks better. However, with the red....I think I will go get it, at least to get it out of its garage, and into the daylight, and then i can take stock of what I have to work with. The rebuilt engine was fired up maybe three times before the owner broke both his foot and ankle, and can't kick it over now, which is why I am getting it so cheap. More later after I go get it, some time in the next week or two....

[scooterroo]

post up some pics if and when you get it.

[BigGreenMachine]

113mph, wow! Thats damn fast on any trike.

[scooterroo]

yeah it is, i wanna know what kind of motor work has been done to it.

[EvilMooseofDoom]

I never found out....something about a KX 250 cylinder, severe porting, and compression bump...it always needed race gas, it pinged like hell even using premium/super...my brother traded the bike off in 1988, only owned it for a year, he got a nice big block 1971 Chevelle for it. The one time I rode it, with the way it was geared, I didn't have enough road room for 5th gear with the dirt road I was on, the only fairly straight stretch was across a major highway a few miles away, and I didn't want to get nailed for riding an illegal trike on public roads...with the Goodyear flat track tires on gravel? Zero traction, it was nothing but roost and wheelspin anything past a nudge on the twist throttle. It wasn't until he put a set of low-profile turf tamers on it that it would give some semblance of hooking up. That is how I got tossed off of it, I was being stupid, and was trying to keep it straight with the throttle wide open in 4th, in full wheelspin....it got away from me, spun around backwards into a ditch, and tossed me off of it. I got back on, rode it home, and then parked it. That was the last I paid any attention to it, unless he was in front of me on it when we went riding, as I couldn't catch him even if I tried.

[BigGreenMachine]

I hear gearing at 15/36 will put you in the 90mph range...thats flying too.

[darrel632]

here's my 84 "Red" its got a stack of mods. but not yet into the 85 MPH range, running 22 inch "claws" and a 902 on the front will push maybe 78MPH on a good day with a KX cyl, porting, 38MM flat side, 14/44 gearing -- thats to fast for a normal person.

The nicest 85 was Blazers on this site, he sold it, the nicest stock red one was/ is "Angie's" you can look both of 'em up for reference depending on what you do with yours

[BigGreenMachine]

Ange's red 84/85 hybrid is awsome! White frame with a +2 Champion, looks sweet!

[EvilMooseofDoom]

Well, having spoken to him last night about his old bike....and considering it ran way too fast for a 250, as I have been on several 250's, nothing touching his before or after....he let slip what happened, at least according to the guy he got it from....his 84 supposedly had a modified KX500 motor, instead of the "250" he said that was in it, with the engine CC-size pad "corrected' to get past tech, as he was racing it. He sandbagged with the bike, getting 1st, 2nd or 3rd....but finally got caught when he blew by the previous year's class champ....the bike and owner both were banned from the track. Freaking jerk....I busted my butt to try to get my old 86 T3 to catch him, and he would always leave me as if I was nailed to the road, no matter what I did to the bike. Oh well, only thing I could do was laugh about it...being it was almost 20 years ago....

[BigGreenMachine]

Great story!!

[Tecate250]

Im considering putting a 500 in mine. All the boys think kits ugly and allready has a huge gylinder/compared to the tri z and rs.Its nice to hear an old school tecate kicking ass.:w00t: :w00t: :w00t:
So if you had a stock tecate 3 1st gen, how would gearing change your top speed? I was always told the tecates would do 70 mph top speed with 13/42 gearing.