Where were you when....???

[ironchop]

True Story:

So...I was like 13 or so

my parents were sick of looking at my report card and I had wanted an ATC for a few years by then

So they tell me they would buy one if I were to get straight A`s on my last three report cards that year...and I begin smelling knobby floaters and new plastic in my sleep and proceed to bust my ass in school

so the first six week report card arrives and my parents were floored to read numerous A`s and A minuses all down the columns...I think they had secretly plotted to get me to shut up about a new three-wheeler by setting a goal so high that my Slacker-Ass could not possibly achieve thus putting to bed all those days of whining for a three-wheeler and numerous annual christmas lists I submitted which simply read: "A new three-wheeler" (I got a new Redline bicycle one year that way)

being proud parents of an aspiring professional Slacker, they were so taken aback that they drove me down to Greenwood Honda to look over the inventory
(because my step-father had actually wanted a new Big Red for the farm and he wasn`t above using me and my hard work to talk my mom into it)

So I strolled into the Honda dealership full of hope and wonderment....and then I saw IT....a brand new Honda 350X...in all it`s red white and blue ass-kickin GLORY

Like the American Flag, that beauty paused me in my tracks as it occurred to me what a wonder world this planet really was...just ripe for tearing up the farm with 350ccs of rooster tail spewing knobbies...my freinds were gonna hate my guts...and I smiled thinking about it

so my stepdad gets hawk-eyed by the salesman looking at those gawd awful rack- bedecked utilitarian Big Reds complete with a whole slew of add-on goodies like a snowplow, a trailer hitch, and I think if I remember correctly several other available hunks of accessories that were bound to weigh me down and prevent me from throwing rooster tails (keep in mind I was hitting puberty about this time and "utility" was the farthest thing from my mind not to mention a waste of a good three-wheeler...and besides "utility" is foreign for "my stepdad is gonna hog this thing all the time wanting to tow little gay wagons loaded with firewood and lava rocks for mom`s flower beds and whatnot"

I was not interested.....and Walter was laying it on THICK..."did you hear that, honey? I comes with a cupholder and a snowplow attachment so I can push snow while drunk!"....."Did you hear that? He said we can buy a posthole digger so I can put up fenceposts!"...Walter wouldn`t know a fencepost if it hit him in the face...but my mom was BUYING this load of hooey!...She was talking about how he could help her landscape the yard and such!

I was friggin livid....but that All-American colored Jap trike was calling my name over and over....SO I decided to intervene...and how

I calmly but firmly interrupted that Sales Shark to inform my evil Step-nemesis that it was MY grades that were gonna get the trike and that he make his own good grades if he wanted that Big Red...Mom reminded me that she could still whip my ass right there on the showroom floor for being rude (back then parents could and would whip yer ass in the aisle at K-Mart for acting a fool...witnesses and all...hell other parents would offer to whip yer ass at K-Mart if yer mom was too shy to do it!)

So I fumed for a minute and said calmly "Excuse me, mom...but you said I could get a trike I wanted if I got my grades up and I want THAT one"....pointing with much enthusiasm at yon 350X...with pride

Sales Shark had smelled money on my stepdad for the Red, a lengthy service contract, and every Hondaline accesory in the whole darn catalog...he replies "Son, I think that might be a bit big for you" followed by "This Big Red has plenty of power and it`s much easier to ride"

friggin Sales Shark...ruined my LIFE! (I was going thru puberty so everyone was ruining my life back then)

more words were exchanged between Evil Stepdad the Schemer and the slaes person...he took home 48 or so Big Red associated pamphlets

I grabbed one for the 350X.......and the 200X (which was obviously just as sporty and mean looking but with a smaller engine (so the Sales Shark couldn`t say it was "too much for me"

and when we got home, without a word, I went nextdoor to Grandmas house

Grandma was my secret weapon...she loved me dearly and frequently stuck up for me with the parental units....and she ALWAYS won

So I break it down to Grandma and she puts me in the car and marches me right back home for The Great War....to keep this story from dragging out any further I`ll skip the details and just say....WE WON

two more report cards pass and I still got A`s....so I plead my case to my parents and when the argument of "He said it was too big a machine for you" came up, I whipped out my fancy 200X pamphlets (Honda had the coolest pamphlets with an action photo of the featured machine on front and a spec sheet and wicked-cool photos of it sitting still begging to be flogged inside the pamphlet) (and I wore that pamphlet out like a four year-old copy of Playboy)...so they relent and congratulate me and inform me the X was worth two Xmas gifts and that I deserved to have it....I was friggin STOKED...they were gonna wait till a check came in from Walt`s work to go purchase the X...and Walt was still trying to get a Big Red "while we are there"

a week or so later I`m lying in bed reading my pamphlet....again....when I overheard the TV in Mom and Walt`s room

It was like 60 Minutes or some crap and the soundbyte said something about kids getting hurt or killed on three-wheeled all terrain cycles....my heart sank like a rock...maybe they wouldn`t hear it...I shut my bedroom door and knelt down and prayed to Jesus for a 200X (I really did....cuz I thought Jesus would grant me a 200x for being a good kid)

I fell asleep confident that Jesus was gonna get me a three-wheeler

the next morning at breakfast I decide to bring the subject up

Mom told me about the show and told me I might as well ask for something else because grades or not, TV said they were dangerous and I wasn`t getting one....PERIOD

for a few weeks I was mad....Jesus must have been busy that night and my mom was being the meanest MOM ever

a couple months later I asked for a new CR80R...and Mom said "No, those are more dangerous than three-wheelers"

so I went to Grandma`s....and came home with a CR80R

fast forward to the Now:

I have a couple 200X`s an S and some 110s...I never got over the three-wheelers like they had hoped

the only difference is I would like to have that Big Red now...with every darn accesory Hondaline offered back then

Some things change and some stay the same

Nowadays local news here in KY is filled with reports of people getting killed on Quads and it won`t be long until the same media pressure is applied to them

I lost a good friend and coworker to a quad wreck a few months ago...no helmet,WFO, and on a paved road



So.....if you remember that show or what it was like back then for us kids, post up something...thanks for letting me tell the story

[SWIGIN]

i seen that show but your timeline seems off since a red 350x is a 85 and crap didnt realy hit the fan till 86.

[Dammit!]

I begged and pleaded for about two or three years. I originally wanted a 110 like the one my best friend had and what I learned how to ride on. Then i saw a 185 and wanted that. Then I saw a 200s and it was the coolest thing ever. Then I saw the 200x and that was it. My begging went into overdrive. My mother was always 100% against it though. Never gave an inch.

Then one day, completely out of the blue, my father tracks me down and says "lets go to the Honda shop" which about threw me for five loops because my Dad and I have never been all that close. It was rare he asked me to do anything. Let alone my favorite thing (I went to the Honda shop a lot just to sit on the bikes and daydream). So we went. I didn't want to ask why. Kinda figured it was just one of those moments where the men needed to be out of the house for a little while. :lol:

So we get there and he asks me which one I was always begging for. I went and hopped on a 1985 200x with a couple Hondaline pieces on it (headlight and brake guards and I think a cooler rack). I pretty much went to my happy place immediately and didn't really take notice of my dad and the sales guy going over to have a seat at his desk. A little while later they come back and that's when I find out he just bought me a brand new 1985 200x (although not the one I was sitting on but I couldn't care less. I was getting a 200x!). My brother shows up in his 1978 Blazer to pick the bike up. We get it home and now it's well after dark but I had to ride the thing.

Understand now that I was only 11 years old and the only motorized vehicles I had ever ridden was my friends 110 and a lawn mower engine powered mini bike. I didn't know how to use a clutch and had no idea that a 200x would rev a lot higher than a 110. My brother tells me to let the clutch out real slow while I give it some gas but not to shift out of first gear. No problem.

You're probably thinking I stalled it or got thrown off the back. Nope. I wish actually. But no, my dumb arse takes the brand new 200x across the park WIDE FREAKIN OPEN IN FIRST GEAR! Imagine it for a second. That poor machine that isn't even broken in yet is being held completely pegged in it's lowest gear all the way across a good sized field and all the way back. My brother is freaking out thinking I just ruined the motor, I'm all embarassed and I don't get to ride it again until the next day.

Luckily, the motor was actually fine and the next day I figured out how to shift it properly. By the end of the day I was riding it like I'd been using a clutch for months but, just thinking about that first time still embarasses me. What a doofus I was. :lol:

Here's some "back in the day" pics of that machine. I think I was about 12 years old in the the earliest pics I have (the following spring, wearing a blue jacket).

http://www.3wheelerworldforums.com/showthread.php?t=64244&highlight=school

[tri-Z ripper]

AWESOME PICS wow i remember when my neighbor had a little automatic yamaha breeze we would ride around on i was about 6 or 7so 86 or 87 i loved it but then one day i heard this loud pinging like a dirtbike my father always had dirtbikes so that is what i expected to see! well i almost wet myself when i saw that 250R come ripping out of the garage and ripping around on there dirt driveway! i waited anxiously for him to come back and the first thing i asked was can i ride it he laughed his arse off for a minute then took me for a ride! we got back from going up and down the driveway a few times and went back into the garage and there was the second suprise a brand new!! {i think anyway} 350X man when that thing rumbled i really got excited! so i jumped on and went for another ride! the neighbor took me home which was only next door but a good walk. when we pulled up to the house and my mother saw that 3 wheeler she gave my neighbor an earfull!! i never want my son on that thing ever again!! etc etc.... well to see the least he was very sceptical about ever taking me for rides again but i still got the occasional rip on the 350X but never the 250R again! i always tried to get a 3 wheeler with no luck from mom or dad {divorced} always could ride a dirt bike but never a 3 wheeler. Boy i wish i took a picture of my mothers face the first time she saw my Tri-Z PRICELESSS!

[SYKO]

my neighbors had kx's and raced motorcross... I remember many times getting ridden on the small three wheelers and never really getting into them... one day I was in my fort chillin being all captin crunch.. and BBBRAAAAPPPP BRAAP BRAPPP! a lime green monster flew by!! I was like wait that wasnt a dirt bike! then they came back threw it was my first reall memory of a sic three wheeler a 1985 Kawasaki Tecate! why I know what it was? You can never mistake a radiator on the forks!! I was floored!!
Being like 6 at the time... riding one of those wasnt an option... my dad being the coolest cat on the block... made me a three wheeler!! (till this day I think no pics where ever taken) he spent about 2 weeks working on it when done (it started life as a mini bike) I had a 8hp BS motor!! and he made some atc70 fenders work on it, and I was rippin!!! that thing must have been geared for 70!! lol!! (hey 25 when 6 is haulin!) I destroyed that thing for about 3 years untill it was stollen!! (basdards!!) and we never got any thing else..
Untill I moved to GA... then it was back on trikes! 200es for a while... sold that for what? a freakin quadzilla!! yea im 12 on a 500!! I was king!! well I went through a whole bunch of four wheelers untill I made my way back to trikes.... But I will never forget the memories of tecates roosting by me!

[ironchop]

i seen that show but your timeline seems off since a red 350x is a 85 and crap didnt realy hit the fan till 86.


not at all...back in those days machines that didn`t sell when the next model yr. hit still sat on the floor for sale...they were new, however, they were the previous yr. models

that CR I got was purchased new in 86 (I know as that was the year my grandad died) however, it was an 85` model

Greenwood was a small town back then and the masses weren`t beating down their doors to empty the stock

the same held true for streetbikes...my friend owned a Kaw shop here in KY and told me about new machines sitting for sometimes two years before they were sold back then

[saturnthegiant]

When I was a kid, most of the Honda trikes were new, the early 80's, y'know, but we were just too poor for my parents to afford anyting like that. So as much as i beged and pleaded, it did no good, and a few years later i understood my parents were doing the best they could. Sometimes i feel ashamed remembering how much they listed as yearly income, compared to what i make now myself! But anyway, i just used to sit and watch my friends and cousins zoom by on their Honda 185's and Yamaha 225dx's, and occasionally they'd let me hop on the back. All through my youth, it was the same. Heck i was lucky to finally get a car when i was in senior high, a 1980 Pontiac LeMans! My dad paid $700 for it i think. I just never got interested in quads or anything in my 20's, i was married to a slobby ****** who wouldn't work so once again i never had the money for any toys, until I divorced her. So the 125m i bought a couple of weeks ago is the first running trike or toy i've ever had. Here i was in my 30's learning to ride a trike the first time on a little 125!!! I think i've come a long way in the two weeks i've owned it. I'm well on my way to a lifetime addiction! Besides,i have to relive my childhood somehow!

[Eric250R]

I got lucky, had never even asked for one, then in 1980, my dad brought me home a brand new ATC70 ......sweet:TrikesOwn

[ATC-Eric]

That truely is a sad story Ironchop. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time hopping you were gonna get your bike.

Anyways I was way to young, so theres no way I would remember. Just wanted to comment on your story.

[Andrew_250R]

I would have been one or maybe two years old. Not sure if I knew what a 3 wheeler was LOL. Would have been great to have lived through the trike years.

[fabiodriven]

Holy crap, guys, thems some good stories.

My first real dirt bike was an 82? Kawi KD 80. It was cool, but I never really got the feel for it. Then my brother got me an ATC 110 and I was off! I loved that thing, but it was obvious what i needed- a 350X. Somewhere in between there was an 81 IT 175, but that's neither here nor there. I ended up scoring a banged-up, smokey 85 350X that I could barely start. Unfortunately, I bought it on borrowed money and when the deadline came to pay up, I had to surrender the trike:( . After that I got another 110, a 125M, and an 85 200x. When I had the 200X I was living in an apartment building and had nowhere to keep it so I made a bracket that welded to the bed of my truck and the trike lived there. It went with me everywhere I went, which was kinda cool because if I showed up somewhere and saw someplace to ride, I'd just fire it up! Then I scored my first Tecate. It was like being reborn. I love anything with an odd number of wheels, but now my blood truly flows green.

[WaimakRydah]

Since I was about 11 I had wanted a quad or something with an engine in it that I could ride. When I turned 13 I was at my dads for the night. I was on the computer and I heard a loud engine rumbling from the garage I actually thought it was the washer or something so I went out and it was a homebuilt off road gokart powered by a honda CT125 with no suspension or brakes and it had wheel burrow tyres up front. The clutch took 2 hands to pull (I think the cable was kinda ceased) so I only used it to take off and just shifted without it.I got good enough use out of it then eventually it stopped starting we got it to start up but it kept throwing problems and I was not mechanically minded I probably could have fixed it if it happened now though. I remember it had a tiny fuel tank and cost about $2 to fill up. So I sold it to a friend of a friends for $100 and we pushed it from my house to his.

My next bike was awesome. When I turned 14 my dad sent me a pxt (aka a photo message to my phone) of a 1987 YZ80 which had pretty much been restored it was blue and white originally they are red and white it had also been powder coated and it had some real nice metallic blue handlebars (I think they were thor handlebars as it had thor bar pads). I text him back and im like "is that mine" and hes like "if you behave it is" so i text one of my mates who owned an XR100 at the time and when i told him id got it he was like "that would probably be to quick for you" I rode around on it and it was awesome. I also had always had a fascination about burnouts so when I stopped I would always floor brake pedal and slide. that was the story of my first bike (then eventually it blew up but thats another story)

When I was 15 I bought my first atv which is my 200S which I found on trademe I knew it was destined to be mine before this point I never thought much of trikes I never really liked them mainly because everytime I spoke to dad about them he always said they were real dangerous.I bought it in may of this year we dont have a ute dad does but he was away when I purchased it so the people delivered it free of charge from the next town north. I am now 16 and it is a blast to ride when it goes. All my mates rekon its quite unreliable due to small problems its been having and me drowning it and what not but no matter what I do to it or what happens to it it always ends up starting up at the end of it.

attatched are photos of my YZ80 which came I saved off trademe after my dad bought it

[WaimakRydah]

200es for a while... sold that for what? a freakin quadzilla!! yea im 12 on a 500!! I was king!!

I wouldnt have minded seeing a 12 year old on a 500cc 2 stroke could you handle it?

[Twilight]

When I was little I biked to school and always saw a 86 big Red in this guys yard, finally one day the house was for sale, and the big red stayed until the new owners came. Well after a week it was out front with a free sign, so i pushed it the whole 3 miles home. I got it running after getting a spark plug and gas and what happens... mom and dad sell it. I didnt get any of the money, and they did this when I was at school. It was for BEER money, UGH!

Few years later i was 14, and my dad got my grandpas honda pilto. I found a long travel kit in the barn and installed that with my dad and did some other upgrades to the cage and rear suspension with him for about a year. Did three races and always came in 2nd or 3rd, one time first at the last one. Then it was stolen (made a thread about that in the open forum)

Well, now I have 2 Pilot's, a 350 Odyssey, 2 250 odysseys and a 86 200x. Also a CR500. Mom and dad did repay me for the Big Red and bought me the CR500... got a few good drunken laughs watching me learning to kick start and ride..hehe

[Mosh]

Great stories!
I remember the TV clip,and at the time,I was about 12.
At that time,my family was DIRT poor.I remember mom driving me to school in a rotted out 74 Monte with the rear floorboards rusted thru to the point you, could see the road whipping by below your feet.
Some nites all we had to eat was bread and gravy or fried bologna sandwiches.
I had always wanted a dirtbike,3wheeler,mini bike,trike,ANYTHING with a engine,but we just never had the money.
I remember seeing the 60 minutes clip,and becuase I had no means to ride,it did not really hit home with me at the time.I just remeber watching it,and wishing I had the chance to ride one.
In those days,my most excitement I had was the Dukes of Hazard,and BJ and the Bear to watch on Friday nites.Thank goodness they were on Broadcast airwaves.
Those were very sucky times,and looking back,As much as I would have loved to live nicer,I think growing up in that way made me more responsible,and DETERMINED not to have to live like that.So from the time I was 14 I got my first paper route,and I have worked my ass off ever since to avoid that poor way of life.I aint rich,but my kids have solid cars to ride in and food to eat.
2 years later,we went to My cousin's in Georgia for a week.They had a 110,125,and 185 s.
They had tons of wooded land to ride on.They put me on the 125 and a helmet,filled the tank,and I rode that thing from morning till nite everyday we were there.Sadly It would be another 8 years till I acquired my very own trike.
Still dirt poor at the age of 20,I found a 84 225dx in the trash,with the rear axle bent 90 degrees.My friend lent me the money on his charge card for a new axle and battery.We fixed it and I was finally on a ATV.The rest is history.

[njeffery]

I'm 23 now and I have had about 14 motorcycles, trikes, and one sand rail. What started it all was a framer down the road that had a Honda 110 3wheeler I was 9 years old and my dad bought it for me for $150.00 ran great, but I had to sell it because my sis Amber hit a fence, and I rode it off a hill and hit a burning burn pile. Walked back home and I remember my dad yelling to my mom to call 911. My skin was falling off my leg. I had 17 shots in my leg that night to doll the pain as they used a tooth brash to get it clean. My dad made me sell it after that. I didn't get back to trikes till I was 20 years old. I love them and love that no one asks to ride my bike cause all my budies think I'm crazy for having one. My mom and dad still dont like the fact I have them again.

[fabiodriven]

[QUOTE=njeffery;650383] but I had to sell it because my sis Amber hit a fence, and I rode it off a hill and hit a burning burn pile. Walked back home and I remember my dad yelling to my mom to call 911. My skin was falling off my leg. QUOTE

Funny how the trike always gets blamed in situations like this, no offense Jeffery-

Why for the love of christ can I not get a quote in the fricken box like evrybody else!!??!!??!?!?!?? I'm losin it here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[njeffery]

Yeah I had alot more crash's on dirt bikes in later years but it was my first real crash and thats how my dad handled it. When I was racing about 15years old my name at the track was "Crash Jeffery" and my dad find out that I can crash on anything.:lol:

[Trackburger]

I know this is an old post, but thought it was worth digging up.

My first experiance with an ATV in general was when I went to visit my cousin and arrived at his house to see my uncle had bought 2 brand new 1984 Suzuki lt185 quadrunners. I was 7 at the time and had a blast riding them. I wanted one so bad!!!!

I grew up in a small town in NH..... we didnt even have a stop light, but low and behold we had a Honda dealership.... go figure!!! I always wanted to stop in and look to see what they had but my parents were doing everything they could just to make ends meet. The town I grew up in was full of "rich kids" who's parents bought them new 3 and 4 wheelers, dirt bikes, Odysseys etc you name it they had it. 1/2 of them never even rode the stuff they had!!!! It was the perfect place to grow up riding too as there were more trails than roads, along with an abaondoned railroad bed that was groomed for snowmobiles in the winter and ATV's in the summer. Anyway.... I never made it into that Honda dealer until the next year (1985) I guess my parents had a high threashhold for my nagging and begging...LOL!!! :) I remember walking in to the nice cool A/C, smelling the new rubber amungst the sea of red white and blue 3 and 4 wheelers!!! I could tell my dad wanted nothing more than to buy me one, I was a good kid (really) and he knew I was like the last kid in town to own one.... but the budget just couldnt cut it. I remember that day like it was yesterday, hence my soft spot for the 85 models..... I waled away with a few brochures to oogle over in my room......

I guess it was the next year or so with the 3 wheeler ban into effect .....My dad and I went to the dealership to ahhhh.... well I guess get some more brochures to oogle over...lol and I saw the most HORID sight I had ever seen............. Along the side of the honda dealership was a twisted mound of metal..... a heap of sawzalled ATC frames.... nice and shiney, brand new, but cut to pieces..... It was enough to make you cry....... I was pissed!!!!!! That image is still burned into my memory like it was yesterday.

A few years went by, I'd say somehwere around 1991 I was 14 and I had started working for a local constructtion company in the summer painting siding and picking up scrap wood from the framers. I saved some cash and bought my first 3 wheeler.... It was an 83 honda 185S. I rode the ever living life out of that thing....I swear I must have logged a million miles on it!!!!! I ended up saving some more cash and with the help of my parents upgraded to an 88 Suzuki 230S Quadsport. Loved that thing too, again.... rode about a million miles...LOL :) Lots of buying and selling went on, sold the quad for a sled, than traded it for my first high performance 3 wheeler.... an 85 250R!!! I was about 16 at the time. Man that thing seemed like I was riding a wild beast...I loved it!!! I had 2 stroke fever....and I had remembered it from when i was 8.... now I had one!!!!

I kept that one till I graduated high school, and sold it shortly before I joined the Navy. Many years went by with no powersports to be heard of..... The bug bit me again in 2004. I bought a brand new Honda 250EX (I figured if it was easy to start and drive my wife would like riding and make it easier for me to get what I wanted so badly..... another R !!!!) Well. it worked, and within a few months of "sharing" I purchased another 85 250R. I stripped it to the frame.... replaced every bearing seal and gasket, added a +4 axel, got some low profile rears and had a blast!!!! ended up also buying a 450$ quad which was fun, but nothing like my R!!!

Oh oh..... life happened again...... baby on the way, crazy military work schedule with deployments etc....ATV's went bye bye... :(

Fast forward to a month or so ago..... My wife is the best.... lets just leave it at that... she knew I had been itching to get another trike.... so she said if i could get one cheap and work on it she would be game.... SWEET!!!!! Managed to pick up the 85 350X I now own for a feww hundred bucks... and dumped in another $1300....LOL, but now its cherry, its an 85, and its MINE!!!

A few weeks later (about 2 weeks ago) I managed to find my 3rd 250R....an 85!!! so I snagged it up as well!!! I'm a happy camper, now to scrounge up some more cash to buy my daughter an ATC 70!!!! LOL

I think these 2 will be with me for as long as I can ride them. What a great way to get some exercise, see the outdoors, have some fun, and most of all..... relive memories in a 27 year old time machine!!!! :) :) :)

[KI4UJO]

I was setting in my family room, in 2006. I was 7 at the time. (Keep in mind that I already had plenty of mechanical experience working with my grandpa to flip old mowers for cash) My dad, who was working a contract job in Louisville, called me and told me that he had bought something that we would work on, and I was supposed to guess what it was. I never figured it out, so he sent me a photo. It ended up being an 81 110, that was bought out of a guy's shed. When he boght it, he flipped it backwards and dumped out the quart of water from the block. Throughout the whole time he was working on it, everyone who know we had it was pulling the "Dangerous Illegal 3 Wheeler" card, and telling us we would be killed (these were mostly old guys my grandpa knew, thinking I would kill myself on it) He got it to run and did some cosmetic work to it, but it smoked badly and wouldn't go into high range. Within a few months, the motor lost all compression. For several years, I worked with it off and on, putting in the motor but never getting it to run. Fast forward to April of this year, and I got pissed off, joined here, and started throwing money at it. Eventually, it fired off, to begin burning a quart of oil every 2 weeks. In reality, it is an 81 that has a bunch of parts from the 83 parts unit, and it really looks weird. So, starting next week when I get off of school, it will be getting a frame off restoration as an 83, on the 83 frame simply because I like the 83 better. (Maybe after that, I can build the 81 right...) Oh, and unlike most here, I actually was scared to get on it for about the 1st 10 minutes of riding, until it realized it wasn't a posessed death machine, but it was fun!

[CRAZY70MAN]

Great stories!
I remember the TV clip,and at the time,I was about 12.
At that time,my family was DIRT poor.I remember mom driving me to school in a rotted out 74 Monte with the rear floorboards rusted thru to the point you, could see the road whipping by below your feet.
Some nites all we had to eat was bread and gravy or fried bologna sandwiches.
I had always wanted a dirtbike,3wheeler,mini bike,trike,ANYTHING with a engine,but we just never had the money.
I remember seeing the 60 minutes clip,and becuase I had no means to ride,it did not really hit home with me at the time.I just remeber watching it,and wishing I had the chance to ride one.
In those days,my most excitement I had was the Dukes of Hazard,and BJ and the Bear to watch on Friday nites.Thank goodness they were on Broadcast airwaves.
Those were very sucky times,and looking back,As much as I would have loved to live nicer,I think growing up in that way made me more responsible,and DETERMINED not to have to live like that.So from the time I was 14 I got my first paper route,and I have worked my ass off ever since to avoid that poor way of life.I aint rich,but my kids have solid cars to ride in and food to eat.
2 years later,we went to My cousin's in Georgia for a week.They had a 110,125,and 185 s.
They had tons of wooded land to ride on.They put me on the 125 and a helmet,filled the tank,and I rode that thing from morning till nite everyday we were there.Sadly It would be another 8 years till I acquired my very own trike.
Still dirt poor at the age of 20,I found a 84 225dx in the trash,with the rear axle bent 90 degrees.My friend lent me the money on his charge card for a new axle and battery.We fixed it and I was finally on a ATV.The rest is history.

That story sounds a lot like mine Rob!! I never ever thought of my parents buying me a trike or dirtbike as there were too many kids and we just got by, money was tight. My first 3 wheeler was a tri sport type or Heald type fram with no motor. I would ride it down our barnhill and dream of it having a motor! That was when I was not pushing my evil older brother on it lap after lap.......lol. I always rode the 70's,rm 80's and eventually rm250's and tm400's and such...all my friends bikes, never my own. Well..I got paid back one day when my brother bought the 86 tri z and I rode it more than he. I vowed never again to be starved of fun like my youth and beleive me as many of you know I am not!lol........ I remember the 60 minutes story well.....I was 14 years old rippin on a Tri z 250 when basically the chit hit the fan. It really pissed me off and I knew someday I would make it right to myself and I have:lol::lol: Great stuff to read from you all and it really makes you appreciate the stuff you can AFFORD as an adult!! Be happy and never forget those days of wishing and dreaming..........they made us what we are today!!

[torque]

great stories

i was 30 years old before i bought my first atv. only 3 years ago. a 1985 big red, i rode it for about a year, and started thinking i wanted something faster. so i looked around and found a 83 200x. it was in rough shape and i paid way to much for it. i couldn't help but fall in love with it. for the last 2 years i have been collecting parts for it to make it faster and prettier.

since i bought my first 2 bikes i went and bought and sold a sportsman seadoo clubcar 1550 xrt skidoo and my latest toy a banshee. i just keep going back to my good old 200x. its never made me walk home and it just seems to put a smile on my face.

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w412/EyeCandyPowderCoating/forsale003.jpg

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w412/EyeCandyPowderCoating/planted006.jpg

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w412/EyeCandyPowderCoating/DSC00928.jpg

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w412/EyeCandyPowderCoating/seadoo003.jpg

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w412/EyeCandyPowderCoating/035.jpg

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w412/EyeCandyPowderCoating/polaris001.jpg

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w412/EyeCandyPowderCoating/skidoo023.jpg

ive sold a lot of these machines now i guess im just making up for lost time no amount of crying and bugging my parents would convince my parents ot buy me any kinda motorized death trap

[jrwebb8324]

Great stories. A lot of them hit home with me also. I come from the poorer side of town growing up myself, so I didn't get to have my first atc or atv until I was about 21-22 years old. but now I have been making up for lost time. :) but like Mosh said, it has made me who I am today and appreciate what I have now.

[threewheelin-feelin]

man i was born in 87 and grew up in the 90's when 3wheelers were a dime a dozen...my uncle had picked up a alt125 and a 84 200s when i was probly 2 years old...so as long as i can remember i had always wanted a 3 wheeler but never saw them in the dealerships...i finally asked my uncle one day why they are never in the stores and he said all they make now is 4wheelers...so i begged and begged for a new 4wheeler for years(at this age i didnt know how to find things used lol)...i never ever got one..wich is problya good thing.. finally my cousins decide they want dirtbikes...so they were going to sell the 200s(he had sold the alt125 a few years earlier because it was a suzuki lol) anyway i wasnt having it so i worked out a deal with him for some bday money i had and to mow some lawns with him...and thats how i ended up with a my first 3wheeler...the thing about it was i bought that 200s in 2002 but had been riding it since 1989...i just couldnt give it up...and my cousins ended up spending more time on the 200s then the dirtbikes they got lol

[ironchop]

Only an ass would bump his own thread.......well if the shoe fits..........hahaha


bump for more stories of BITD

and I still haven`t heard back from Jesus on that 200X

[barnett468]

...a week or so later I`m lying in bed reading my pamphlet....again....when I overheard the TV in Mom and Walt`s room

It was like 60 Minutes or some crap and the soundbyte said something about kids getting hurt or killed on three-wheeled all terrain cycles....my heart sank like a rock...maybe they wouldn`t hear it...I shut my bedroom door and knelt down and prayed to Jesus for a 200X (I really did....cuz I thought Jesus would grant me a 200x for being a good kid)

I fell asleep confident that Jesus was gonna get me a three-wheeler

the next morning at breakfast I decide to bring the subject up

Mom told me about the show and told me I might as well ask for something else because grades or not, TV said they were dangerous and I wasn`t getting one....PERIOD

So.....if you remember that show or what it was like back then for us kids, post up something...thanks for letting me tell the storyhello ironchop;

That is a hilarious and well written story. Please don't expect mine to be so, lol. I love this topic.

I was the test supervisor of the ATV R and D department at Kawasaki at the time that show came out. The government was on a witch hunt and made an appointment to come in and interview whoever was in charge of the ATV dept. Well, Kawi told me to go on vacation that day and they took the watercraft supervisor [Gary B.] who was actually an electrical engineer that originally worked in the snow mobile dept in Kawi’s Nebraska plant before it closed down, and who knew nothing about watercraft, much less ATV’s, and threw him under the bus. Our legal dept prepped him for several days on what, and what not to say, and to never mention my name and just play stupid.


The grossly misleading, one sided, TV program in the link below which was on worldwide TV, was the first time any of us at Kawi had heard publicly about any sort of big brew ha ha over injuries incurred while riding 3 wheelers, and the show was the beginning of the end for 3 wheelers. If my old brain remembers correctly, there was no interest by the gov to do anything about 3 wheelers prior to the show, but the show brought the issue to their attention and they pursued it only after the show was aired.

60 MINUTES, part 1.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1I5DweHlnQ


60 MINUTES part 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbptQDcLo-E


Enjoy hearing comments on the show from people that want to blame everyone and everything other then themselves, for injuries they or others might have incurred while riding a 3 wheeler.


Hear grown people [adults if you want to call them that] NOT assume responsibility for their own actions and imply things like, “Hey, even though I was required to be at least 16 years old [18 in some places now], and take 6 months of driving lessons in High School, then a written and driving test at DMV before they felt I was competent enough to drive a car on a SMOOTH flat road, and which is extremely UNLIKELY to tip over in a turn at ANY speed, and where I can see for MILES around AND which I "shouldn't" be suckin back a pint of Jack Daniels Blue Label or E85 corn gas while I drive it, I still don’t think I, or even my kids, need any training to ride an ATV. This is simply because I and they can ride a bicycle, and an ATV has 3 wheels which is one more than a bicycle...I think, and I used to have a tricycle when I was 12…uh…I mean 5, that I rode with no problem, and even though this new ATC250R model tricycle has a 40 hp engine attached to it, it still couldn’t be that hard to run it wide open in a turn or blindly over a dune not knowing what is on the other side like maybe a cliff or another happy rider heading right at me at full throttle, or maybe a truck or an ambulance that is picking up a rider that that used to think the same way I do before he went into a coma after smashing his head on his handlebars landing off a 30 foot jump while not wearing a helmet, and, because it is an off highway vehicle with no drivers license required to operate it I can pound back all the Jack I want before and during my ride.".


My favorite part of the program is where dad [who looks a bit unstable on his feet imo], while holding a beverage of some kind [must be a soda because goodness knows he is WAY to responsible to be getting H A M M A R E D in front of his kids, ESPECIALLY when he has to drive back home with them in the car in a few hours], sends his tiny kid out for what I think was their FIRST ride, UNSUPERVISED, with no USEFUL instructions whatsoever, BLINDLY, from the side of his van into oncoming traffic WITHOUT A HELMET, where the kid INSTANTLY gets mowed down by another rider. Then you hear the announcer say how dangerous 3 wheelers are and NOT that dad is a blithering idiot. It’s absolutely hilarious…I think. I must have replayed that part a dozen times in total disbelief.


Most of you here have probably gotten your foot off the peg at one time or another for some reason or another and ran your foot over and possibly got sucked off the bike in the process. Well the same thing happens with a quad also, and imo, this is one of the most common occurrences and causes of injuries on either of these bikes, at least for beginner riders, yet they still make quads. Last time I looked there seemed to be plenty of injuries from motorcycles too but they still make those too, hmmm.


I’m sure no one has EVER seen a quad or any kind of motorcycle on it’s side or upside down or has crashed on one themselves, yet I don’t remember if there is even any mention or footage of a quad or a motorcycle in the program.


Obviously riding a 3 wheeler is not as safe as sitting on ones couch, but at some point, imo, at least SOME of the responsibility for ANYTHING that happens to someone while riding, driving, flying, fishing, walking, drinking and so on, should be assumed by the person performing that particular activity.

:beer

[badandy]

True Story:

So...I was like 13 or so

my parents were sick of looking at my report card and I had wanted an ATC for a few years by then

So they tell me they would buy one if I were to get straight A`s on my last three report cards that year...and I begin smelling knobby floaters and new plastic in my sleep and proceed to bust my ass in school

so the first six week report card arrives and my parents were floored to read numerous A`s and A minuses all down the columns...I think they had secretly plotted to get me to shut up about a new three-wheeler by setting a goal so high that my Slacker-Ass could not possibly achieve thus putting to bed all those days of whining for a three-wheeler and numerous annual christmas lists I submitted which simply read: "A new three-wheeler" (I got a new Redline bicycle one year that way)

being proud parents of an aspiring professional Slacker, they were so taken aback that they drove me down to Greenwood Honda to look over the inventory
(because my step-father had actually wanted a new Big Red for the farm and he wasn`t above using me and my hard work to talk my mom into it)

So I strolled into the Honda dealership full of hope and wonderment....and then I saw IT....a brand new Honda 350X...in all it`s red white and blue ass-kickin GLORY

Like the American Flag, that beauty paused me in my tracks as it occurred to me what a wonder world this planet really was...just ripe for tearing up the farm with 350ccs of rooster tail spewing knobbies...my freinds were gonna hate my guts...and I smiled thinking about it

so my stepdad gets hawk-eyed by the salesman looking at those gawd awful rack- bedecked utilitarian Big Reds complete with a whole slew of add-on goodies like a snowplow, a trailer hitch, and I think if I remember correctly several other available hunks of accessories that were bound to weigh me down and prevent me from throwing rooster tails (keep in mind I was hitting puberty about this time and "utility" was the farthest thing from my mind not to mention a waste of a good three-wheeler...and besides "utility" is foreign for "my stepdad is gonna hog this thing all the time wanting to tow little gay wagons loaded with firewood and lava rocks for mom`s flower beds and whatnot"

I was not interested.....and Walter was laying it on THICK..."did you hear that, honey? I comes with a cupholder and a snowplow attachment so I can push snow while drunk!"....."Did you hear that? He said we can buy a posthole digger so I can put up fenceposts!"...Walter wouldn`t know a fencepost if it hit him in the face...but my mom was BUYING this load of hooey!...She was talking about how he could help her landscape the yard and such!

I was friggin livid....but that All-American colored Jap trike was calling my name over and over....SO I decided to intervene...and how

I calmly but firmly interrupted that Sales Shark to inform my evil Step-nemesis that it was MY grades that were gonna get the trike and that he make his own good grades if he wanted that Big Red...Mom reminded me that she could still whip my ass right there on the showroom floor for being rude (back then parents could and would whip yer ass in the aisle at K-Mart for acting a fool...witnesses and all...hell other parents would offer to whip yer ass at K-Mart if yer mom was too shy to do it!)

So I fumed for a minute and said calmly "Excuse me, mom...but you said I could get a trike I wanted if I got my grades up and I want THAT one"....pointing with much enthusiasm at yon 350X...with pride

Sales Shark had smelled money on my stepdad for the Red, a lengthy service contract, and every Hondaline accesory in the whole darn catalog...he replies "Son, I think that might be a bit big for you" followed by "This Big Red has plenty of power and it`s much easier to ride"

friggin Sales Shark...ruined my LIFE! (I was going thru puberty so everyone was ruining my life back then)

more words were exchanged between Evil Stepdad the Schemer and the slaes person...he took home 48 or so Big Red associated pamphlets

I grabbed one for the 350X.......and the 200X (which was obviously just as sporty and mean looking but with a smaller engine (so the Sales Shark couldn`t say it was "too much for me"

and when we got home, without a word, I went nextdoor to Grandmas house

Grandma was my secret weapon...she loved me dearly and frequently stuck up for me with the parental units....and she ALWAYS won

So I break it down to Grandma and she puts me in the car and marches me right back home for The Great War....to keep this story from dragging out any further I`ll skip the details and just say....WE WON

two more report cards pass and I still got A`s....so I plead my case to my parents and when the argument of "He said it was too big a machine for you" came up, I whipped out my fancy 200X pamphlets (Honda had the coolest pamphlets with an action photo of the featured machine on front and a spec sheet and wicked-cool photos of it sitting still begging to be flogged inside the pamphlet) (and I wore that pamphlet out like a four year-old copy of Playboy)...so they relent and congratulate me and inform me the X was worth two Xmas gifts and that I deserved to have it....I was friggin STOKED...they were gonna wait till a check came in from Walt`s work to go purchase the X...and Walt was still trying to get a Big Red "while we are there"

a week or so later I`m lying in bed reading my pamphlet....again....when I overheard the TV in Mom and Walt`s room

It was like 60 Minutes or some crap and the soundbyte said something about kids getting hurt or killed on three-wheeled all terrain cycles....my heart sank like a rock...maybe they wouldn`t hear it...I shut my bedroom door and knelt down and prayed to Jesus for a 200X (I really did....cuz I thought Jesus would grant me a 200x for being a good kid)

I fell asleep confident that Jesus was gonna get me a three-wheeler

the next morning at breakfast I decide to bring the subject up

Mom told me about the show and told me I might as well ask for something else because grades or not, TV said they were dangerous and I wasn`t getting one....PERIOD

for a few weeks I was mad....Jesus must have been busy that night and my mom was being the meanest MOM ever

a couple months later I asked for a new CR80R...and Mom said "No, those are more dangerous than three-wheelers"

so I went to Grandma`s....and came home with a CR80R

fast forward to the Now:

I have a couple 200X`s an S and some 110s...I never got over the three-wheelers like they had hoped

the only difference is I would like to have that Big Red now...with every darn accesory Hondaline offered back then

Some things change and some stay the same

Nowadays local news here in KY is filled with reports of people getting killed on Quads and it won`t be long until the same media pressure is applied to them

I lost a good friend and coworker to a quad wreck a few months ago...no helmet,WFO, and on a paved road



So.....if you remember that show or what it was like back then for us kids, post up something...thanks for letting me tell the story

This thread has definitely struck a chord with me as well as a few others, similar to me!

I was likely 10, in '80, when I spotted the ATC's. I think we did annual sportsman shows or something, just east of Minneapolis, MN. I saw the ' 185, and just by size alone, I figured it should be mine. My parents couldn't afford it and simply said no. I recall telling them that I was gonna get one anyway, and I would just get a job. I was a defiant little SOB. I preceded to lie about my age at 11, to get a paper route, that you had to be twelve to have... and started saving....
About a year later, the 185s, with front suspension popped up... and that had become a MUST! Mind you, I had felt that I had been Gipped out of mini bikes, dirt bikes, snow machines, etc... so I was Damn determined!
My B-day is in August, so on #12, about 1 1/2yrs after passing papers, I had $900... my dad took me to the Honda shop, I saw the Holy Grail... a shiny new '83 ATC 200x.... I think the old man already chose it for me, but he let me choose...Ha! He cosigned for a loan, and I continued to pass papers to pay $53/mo for about a year and a half... still remember the final payment. I rode that thing everywhere, even started an early life of crime by riding it on the city streets to my fav ride spot about 2mi away... they used to pull me over, make a big deal of it and make me push it up hills to get it home. as soon as they were out of sight, I would fire it up and either side saddle it home at idle, or if I thought a cop might be coming, I'd hop off and just walk it in idle... Ha Ha!

I cant type to tell the stories we had.... we rode EVERY DAY, rain or shine... Mud was soooooo FUN!

I guess I should add SNOW... Ooooh Yeeeeh! we were the early trailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotr ailpro kids, we used to pull people on car hoods behind the trikes on city streets.... and get a good run up to a cleared pond, hockey rink, etc... and "pitch it" just before loosing traction.... and count how many times we spun.... ha ha ha!

I'll never forget!

[joesouth]

Love the stories guys. Nice trip down memory lane!

[El Camexican]

Great post, thanks for bumping it!

I wanted a dirt bike so bad when I was a kid my friends and I once walked 8 miles round trip to get a set of new Yamaha brochures. I will never forget the smell of fresh rubber in that dealership and the visual impact of a dirt bike parked on a carpeted floor, heck we didn’t even have carpet in our house, let alone a dirt bike!

It seemed that every kid in the area, but me had a dirt bike, but the rule at our house was “we’ll feed, clothe and educate you (whether you like it or not), but everything else you earn”. So I started working summers and after school at the age of 12 and after a couple good winters of trapping I was able to buy the neighbors 79 YZ80 for $600 bucks. No mini-bikes, Broncos, or Z50’s, straight from a bicycle to a 2 stroke racer. I’m still not sure if that was a good idea or not, but I’ll admit that it took a few days to master the clutch/power band thing, but the bleeding and bruising came naturally.

Turned out the PO had put the air filter back on the cage in reverse, so there was a ¼” gap open all around the filter when I did my first air filter wash. Needless to say the rod bearing went soon after and at the age of 14 I was forced to pay for and rebuilt my engine with no help aside from paying the dealer to change the bearing. (Thank you Dirt Bike magazine for making that possible). 34 years later I still feel like a little kid when I walk into a dealership and they still smell the same as they did back then.

[Dave Little]

Why for the love of christ can I not get a quote in the fricken box like evrybody else!!??!!??!?!?!?? I'm losin it here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wrap the last QUOTE with [/.....]

[250rAL]

One has to wonder if the 60 Minutes hatchet job would have the same effect today. The internet would make it much easier for our voices to be heard.

[czac]

One has to wonder if the 60 Minutes hatchet job would have the same effect today. The internet would make it much easier for our voices to be heard.

yeah it would still have been bad... look at what's going on with guns. Same thing, one small group of people who don't like guns are trying their damnedest to take them away from the Millions who do like them ... the only thing different is if they were to take all the guns from us, the criminals would still have theirs and the violence would continue.
Im just wondering though, as im going through that report that someone published here about a month or two ago that listed the 2500+ injuries and deaths due to 3 wheelers, that if that was made public back then and if people actually read it, if the whole mess would have ever even gotten off the ground?
almost 90% of the reported accidents and deaths were due to either drinking, no helmet, too young and inexperienced rider or riding on a street and getting clipped by a car. in other words, hardly any mention of the machine just up and throwing the rider or being at fault as to make the rider crash on its own.