Astro Tri-Z.......questions

[KingNothing]

You may or may not have spotted the 1985 Tri-Z with the Astro kit on E-bay. I am the proud winning bidder and plan on leaving tommarow to pick it up. I dont know anything about these. I did come acrossed an old ASTRO flyer that said the kit is chormoly tubing with Fox shocks. The one I bought apears to look just like the one in the flyer. Does anyone know anything about thise ASTRO kits or where to get parts or information. Any help will be awsome. The bike needs the top end done and some odds and ends. He did mention that the frame is tweaked a little on the one side. So I guess ill see what I have when i get there. Thanks Fellas.......

[team-red-rider]

well if personaly id convert it back to 3 wheels....the astro kits handle horribbly

[KingNothing]

I am not converting it back. I bought this Astro for a specific reason. I currently drag race with my 85 power vavle tri z........and some drag tracks around here will not let 3 wheelers in. So it was eith scab a Z engine into a blaster frame....or take this route. This will allow me to run anywhere and i dont think its gonna be any heavier than a blaster. So this is just what im looking for.

[4cylinders]

hey, go to the quad part of the forum, there's info in the stickies.

[Yamahondaman]

iv'e raced among Blaster "TRI-Z--- 250-R" Motored Things...

[TimSr]

well if personaly id convert it back to 3 wheels....the astro kits handle horribbly

Yes, I hear that crap all the time, but always seems to be from people talking out their anal orifice who have never ridden one. How many have you actually ridden?????????

[Black86tri-z]

i was watching that 1,was it the 1 from nh,it was near my nh cabin, what are you going to use for calipers because i think there missing?

[team-red-rider]

i personaly never rode one but come on a trike frame wasnt designed to have 4 wheels. the geometry was designed and tested for 3 wheels..

[TimSr]

I did come acrossed an old ASTRO flyer that said the kit is chormoly tubing with Fox shocks. The one I bought apears to look just like the one in the flyer. Does anyone know anything about thise ASTRO kits or where to get parts or information.

Youll find that parts are near impossible to find for these kits. The phone number is no longer in service. I have the original installation manual. The kits are all the same. The parts are all custom made other than the Douglas rims. TRX250R tie rod ends fit. The brakes on these are a joke, and very tiny brake shoes that you cant find anywhere. I fabbed up different brakes first thing. I ended up redoing most of the front end and I noew have a decent MXer. The kit suspension has poor travel, but should not be a problem on a drag strip or trail riding. I have a lot of parts from my kits, as I replaced most of it.

Do a search in the quads forum for picture and details of what I did to mine.

250R comparision link http://www.3wheelerworldforums.com/showthread.php?t=14643&highlight=quad-z

Upgrade link http://www.3wheelerworldforums.com/showthread.php?t=25534&highlight=quad-z

[TimSr]

i personaly never rode one but come on a trike frame wasnt designed to have 4 wheels. the geometry was designed and tested for 3 wheels..

Ive got some news for you. Its also been thoroughly tested with 4 wheels in real world motocross and cross country harescramble competition, and it passed the tests with flying colors. Its no 450 thumper, but can hold its own against any of the old school race quads on the MX track, and against any of the new ones as well in cross country.

[tecat-z]

I think Kingnothings reasons are perfectly clear for buying this conversion. GOING FAST IN A STRAIGHT LINE! He obviously loves tri-z's and knows how to make them fast. He just needs a LEGAL one to race since the idiots wont let him race on 3.

[ATC-Eric]

Heck, even if he wasnt getting it to qualify for some races, its still a neat peice of history. Homeboy already has 4 Tri-Z's, why not add a cool conversion to his collection!

Good for you KingNothing.

[KingNothing]

Not sure how to do that qoute thing like you guys are doing, but yea Thanks ATC-Eric for understanding. Seems weird, one day i just stopped.......looked and said damn i have 4 of these things and once I saw that Quad kit it was something i really wanted. It will look good setting next to its brothers down stairs. Thanks for the help guys.

[ATC-Eric]

You hit the quote button at the bottom right of the persons post you want to quote. Then you can chop out what you want, and make them say funny stuff they didnt.

And Ive always thought of my Z as a male too. :lol:

[IrvSLedman]

sweet, post some pics man! i would like to see that thing!

[jason85atc250r]

i was watching that 1,was it the 1 from nh,it was near my nh cabin, what are you going to use for calipers because i think there missing?

my buddy had a astro kit that we cut off a 86 250r and put it on a 350x.

we used the front brake calipers from a suzuki quadracer. if i remember rite it was a direct bolt on.

[TimSr]

my buddy had a astro kit that we cut off a 86 250r and put it on a 350x.

we used the front brake calipers from a suzuki quadracer. if i remember rite it was a direct bolt on.

If it was a direct bolt on, it was not an Astro kit. Everything is custom except the front rims.They even use SAE hardware instead of metric, including the brake lines.

[jason85atc250r]

If it was a direct bolt on, it was not an Astro kit. Everything is custom except the front rims.They even use SAE hardware instead of metric, including the brake lines.

i know he installed the calipers without any major modding anything. i'll call him and ask him if he rembers . now that i remeber he got hose from me also. it was close to 10 years ago. it was definitly a astro kit

i sold him the stuff off my 88 quadracer with a blaster motor in it i used to race. i sold him my stock quadracer wheels.

[clutchcargo]

You'll figure it out! Everything can be modified to work. It just takes a little time and sometimes a lot of money.

[KingNothing]

The Astro finally made it to PA yesterday around 6pm. Id have to say it was worth the 1200 mile drive. It had full answer exhaust which I didnt know about so that was a nice treat. The thing even has a good shock. Yea I know hard to beleive. The guy also has the original ASTRO service manual at his other house and he is going to ship it to me. I am happy with what I got. The front end is gonna need some work, The calipers that are missing look damn close to the ones on my 92 racer. If they dont fit maybe the old 85 and 86 quadracer will. Or they could all be the same. I dont know to much about the old quadracers. The thing is about 4 inches wider in the front than my racer and about an inch or two longer.

Well I have my work cut out for me here. Thanks for all the feedback and information about these ASTRO kits. Hopefully you all get to see this at Trikefest someday. I have never been to TF but I would really like to go this year or next.

Thanks guys.

[ATC-Eric]

Right on. good luck with the calipers.

Definently hit TF this year! and post some pics of the new toy!

[KingNothing]

I could use some ASTRO parts. I wouldnt mind finding the stock calipers but thats no biggie...............ahh

Tie Rods
Upper right A-arm (mine is tweaked) figured id ask around before i tried to straighten it out

I would be interested in anything dealing with these kits pretty much...PM me

Does anyone know if the front pastic is still out there? Mines about 85-90% I'd like to have new.......... but its definatly good and usable.

[jason85atc250r]

The Astro finally made it to PA yesterday around 6pm. Id have to say it was worth the 1200 mile drive. It had full answer exhaust which I didnt know about so that was a nice treat. The thing even has a good shock. Yea I know hard to beleive. The guy also has the original ASTRO service manual at his other house and he is going to ship it to me. I am happy with what I got. The front end is gonna need some work, The calipers that are missing look damn close to the ones on my 92 racer. If they dont fit maybe the old 85 and 86 quadracer will. Or they could all be the same. I dont know to much about the old quadracers. The thing is about 4 inches wider in the front than my racer and about an inch or two longer.

Well I have my work cut out for me here. Thanks for all the feedback and information about these ASTRO kits. Hopefully you all get to see this at Trikefest someday. I have never been to TF but I would really like to go this year or next.

Thanks guys.


we used the calipers and front hose off my 88 quadracer on the front of my buddys Astro 350x. it;s been 10 years but i remember it was a real easy install.

the front hood looks real close to a suzuki also.

[KingNothing]

I havent worked on the Astro much. But I did discover this. There was no way the calipers from my 92 quadracer were gonna fit. The spindle however is alot different but its nearly identical except where the tie rods bolt on. It will take a little modification to the spindle but I can use my Astro A-arms and ball joints. Once I had the Quadracer spindle in place I tried to use the Astro hubs that have the suzuki bolt pattern. They will not fit the suzuki spindle. Maybe the bearing are a little different.


With the suzuki spindle setting in place I happend to pick up a suzuki tie rod end and its a perfect match. Should go right on.

This thing has me baffled..... I looked every where I thought maybe it would say Built by Ford Motor Company.........cause everythings really close to something else but dont fit............Fords good for that *Edited**Edited**Edited**Edited*.

Anyway. I have my suzuki spindles, hubs, tie rods, and calipers. Just gotta get some new tie rod ends and the front end should be good as new.

Also I thought my left upper A-arm was bent, but I did notice last night that the rubber bushing pushed out of the shock and pushed the shock forward, closer to the A-arm so it looked bent.... Simply just need some new bushings.



Does anyone have any idea how many of these kits were made?

Also my Astro Z will be getting a Sprock Big Bore kit at the end of the month and in about 5 weeks Matt Shearer is gonna send me the new drag pipe. Hopefully its a screamin demon