Picked up a vintage Tri-Z 200 Flat Track race trike!

[Nick_R_23]

So I just got back home from picking this thing up, and I think I SCORED. From what I was told by the seller and from looking it over briefly, it’s a 1985 Yamaha Tri-Z 250 Limited Edition that was converted into a 200cc flat track racer, and apparently was even a championship bike back in the day. I was told it was raced in Anchorage, which would have likely been in the Sullivan Arena. It’s been converted to an air cooled Yamaha motor, which they did a very clean job installing, and from my limited research appears to be an ‘84-‘86 Yamaha IT200 engine. It’s very light weight, has an Answer Racing silencer, flat track handlebars, forks lowered 1”, solid rear shock, and runs an 11x6” tire on the left rear and a 12x6” tire on the right rear with a very custom hub/spacer/rim setup. It appears to have a wide axle, but I’m not familiar enough with Z’s to positively identify. The RH side foot peg is also custom. It’s missing the seat, tank, and LH shroud assembly, as well as the stator, flywheel, and all electronics for the engine. Appears to be otherwise complete. The engine is seized, but appears to be crank only and I have it soaking in ATF. The seller gave me a lead on someone who may have some history and information on it, so I’ve tried reaching out to them. If I find any other information or history, I’ll post it up. Best part, I snagged the whole thing for $100!

[Red Rider]

Nice score. I was hoping it was a sleeved-down Tri-Z 250 motor.

[Nick_R_23]

Same. I originally noticed the air cooled motor and immediately thought about tossing it before I went out to get it and realized what it was. It’s very unique and I plan on keeping it as it was built to the best of my ability.

Other things I’ve noticed is that it appears to have a rear wheel on the front, it’s very wide. The front caliper has some sort of adaptor, not sure if that’s for clearance or a non stock brake setup. I’m still learning Z’s, but the triple clamps are a different color top and bottom, and I’m not sure if one is swapped or off something else. The rear axle carrier appears to be flipped, since the chain sprocket is now on the RH side compared to the stock LH side. I’m not sure what the exhaust pipe is from, it does have a Yamaha stamping (seen if you zoom in on the shiny rub spot), that I will try to get some numbers from, but it does not appear to be Z or IT200 (which had a RH pipe routing), but it does have a Z heat shield that’s been cut down. Both the airbox and fuel tank are missing, and I’m not sure yet if they utilized the stock parts or if a top mount tank was used. I also found a reference in the Driscoll Q&A thread that Missile Engineering made a go kart wheel kit for the Z at one point, which may be what this has.

[Nick_R_23]

Upon further inspection, the exhaust pipe is definitely a custom job. It’s a stock Yamaha pipe of unknown origin, but it’s been cut and reshaped in several places, as the Yamaha stamping is cut off and isn’t fully intact. This is also the routing through the rear section and the modifications to the rear fender to clear. I’m led to believe that this would interfere with a stock Z tank, so it’s highly likely that a top mount tank was used.



I also ran across this thread, which contains vintage Missile Kit information. I believe now that this Z has a full Missile Engineering flat track kit installed. All parts seem to closely match what I have. The nerf bars are missing but show evidence of being present at one point - the footpeg is still attached and a tube mount off the lower shock bolt is present.

https://www.3wheelerworld.com/showth...62#post1090562

[6spdls1z28]

Man I hope you track down the guy who rode this thing. Very interesting trike!


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[Footy]

Awesome find. Looking forward to the rest of the story.

[Nick_R_23]

So, I was able to get some very interesting preliminary information about this! I also got the contact info of the owner/racer.

It used to race in the Sullivan Area in Anchorage. It ran on Alcohol. The trike was over $8000 to build ($23,618 in today’s money from 1985). I was told it was also built by Yamaha - whether that means by a local dealer or the Yamaha factory/race team themselves I haven’t gotten clarification yet - but if it was indeed by factory Yamaha, that would mean this would be Yamaha’s equivalent of Honda’s 200R! And potentially one of the only factory built air cooled/200cc Tri-Z’s.

More information to come!

[Nick_R_23]

I received confirmation that this was built by factory Yamaha.