View Full Version : what will happen when the dinosaurs die off?
mymint87
11-08-2002, 12:34 PM
BIG PROBLEM....and i can't get over it. start off with my 6 yr old daughter, she rides a atc70 w/axle extensions and she can smoke lt80's but it has no suspension and the dunes just beat her up. its like shes driving down a washboard road, she follows me to the dunes , after about 300 yards i look back and tears are coming down her face,,,,(SAD )...then theres my 9 yr old daughter, she has a cr80 and when we go dune riding i make her ride the 110...she hates it and wants to ride the 200x..my problem with that is im not going to let her get her bumps and bruises on the 200x..when i was growning up all we had was 110's perfect for the beginner and i got my lessons taught to me on it.
heres my solutions
bought my 6 yr old a trx 90 cause she knows how to shift and i didnt want her learning to go backwards and i thought a raptor 80 has trailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro
suspension, lt80 are auto and so are the eton vipers...then i had Ricly stator hook me up with a light kit
bought my 9 yr old a blaster...she begged me for one after riding a friend of mine's quad only she's into the fmf "fatty" and k&n filter thing
here's my thorn in the flesh
the quads are bought and my 86 200x is sold...i want my love of trikes to be passed on but i dont see that happening....
what will happen when the dinosaurs die off???? what can we all do to keep the sport alive or will the performance of a trike over quads in itself keep it alive?
jenndnn3
11-08-2002, 02:20 PM
Mymint how does the trx90 do in the sand?? Sorry I know this off topic but looking for a good one for my 6 year old girl...my reasons are, I simply cant trust her on a 3 wheeler. My 8 year old girl rides a 110. She is struggling with the shifter, but is still fairly new at that concept. She wanted a 3 wheeler like mommy and daddy, how can i say no. And I have atc70 basketcase for my boy who is 5.
I see exactly where you are coming from tho with the point that eventually they will die off. But I dont believe anytime in the near future. Most of the ones that are parted out are for (What I have seen in my opinion) Money, real nasty wrecks, or completly blown engine. I think these engines will last forever if properly taken care of. And if not there is always other engines. So I dont see them dieing off until the complete and total ban off all atv's or ohv's.
As far as your own children they will carry your passions and loves because who else do they learn the most from except their own parents....Unfortantly you wont see it till after the rebellion age and they have little ones of their own.
skippy
11-08-2002, 07:07 PM
wow... what a great topic... im in the same boat.. i currently have 3 atc 70's and a 60 tri zinger for my 2 sons.. and well.. they ar learning to ride them.. and will later move on to a little 4 wheeler.. and why?? because of suspension.. i feel if they can ride the 3 wheel, 4 will be no problem, just like most of us have done.. will i sell them? well probaly, execept for a sweet 70, and a trizinger,, why? space...
dirtbasher
11-08-2002, 07:28 PM
Mymint how does the trx90 do in the sand??
well my friends dauter has a trx 90 and we go to glami all the time an that little quad can climb pretty good and does real good in the sand, exept for the realy soft stuff
Dynofox
11-08-2002, 10:13 PM
You know its funny, I first started getting into threewheelers because they were much cheaper than buying a quad. But now I have a passion towards trikes. I have every dirt wheels and 3wheeling mag from the 80's and when I look through them and see all the threewheelers in action it brings a smile to my face. There' something to be said when you can take a 15 year old trike and compare it to a brand new quad and there really isn't anything special about the quad. Look at the 250r's tecates and tri z's, they are as fast or faster than any quad on the market and have suspensions that are as good or better. It's a beutiful thing! :-P
mymint87
11-09-2002, 02:07 AM
i run 18X9.50 - 8 cheng shin skat trak gliders and they work primo..... the stock tires just dont get it in the sand..i noticed a slight rub on the rear paddle to the pipe but i think thats a 180lb daddy tweaking the suspension that makes it rub cause i dont see it with her on it...that'll change cause honda offers a big gun pipe for $239.00 and i thin k im going to pull the trigger on it and buy one for xmas.. as for the 110 i HAVE to keep that one cause it was my wifes first (shes the original owner) you dont know how much money i've spent to keep the 110 alive. the 70 i'll keep...its just too fun i dont care how much i rack my knee on the handlebars ...its still fun....the ricky stator light kit works wonderful on the trx got a couple led lights for taillights, a glowstick on the whip and a shitload of tireflys makes em all lit up at night and hehe the little gals really get off on that.....but still, my heart is heavy to know that they wont be on trike any time soon.....time will tell...................sad but happy dad
MR ATC
11-11-2002, 06:04 PM
the easiest way to not let the Die is to do something about it. as long as there are quads and bikes there is the technology to build a trike. if you want one bad enough build it yourself or have someone do it for you. or you can do what most people do sell out take the easy road give in and buy a golf cart.
OldSchoolin86
11-11-2002, 07:38 PM
Call it selling out if you want to but not all of us have the time, tools, resources or money to build 3 wheelers. I love them and my love for atvs started with a great 110 I bought in 8th grade. I was all motorcycles and snowmobiles untill then. The truth is I don't think I would want my kid bouncing all around on a suspensionless machine when they could be riding a nicer quad. What's the point of that?
MR ATC
11-11-2002, 07:52 PM
my point was IF you want it bad enough its possible. for the same price of a new quad i could build a trike with suspension.
Trikeaholic
11-11-2002, 08:06 PM
I agree with bill. An 83-85 200x can be rebuilt hundreds of times, modified plenty with all new parts (It IS based on the same XR engine still in use!) and probably be restored to as new for less than a used beat up blaster, all with no payments at 20% interest. I wholeheartedly agree with MR ATC on this one, trikes will only die out if people forget them. "ahh they are too hard to fix up" "man. I dont want to do all that work" "my freind picks on me cause it says 1985 model on the frame" Thats all bull. If you look at some of the pics around of dune riding, it seems all these "cool california" types put big bucks into wheelers and then are the coolest cucumbers out on the sand. (at least thats how it looks to us snowbound NE types-mabey im wrong)
OldSchoolin86
11-11-2002, 11:24 PM
Holic this has nothing to do with a 200x. Entry level machines for little kids would be like the 70, 90 or 100.
Trikeaholic
11-12-2002, 12:04 AM
bought my 9 yr old a blaster...she begged me for one after riding a friend of mine's quad only she's into the fmf "fatty" and k&n filter thing
thats what im referring to......... :?:
MR ATC
11-12-2002, 12:41 AM
O.S. for around 500.00 i could turn any of those quads into a trike with front suspension. 500.00 seems like a small price to pay to keep a sport you and the others say love so much alive. personally myself money is no object when it comes to keeping trikes alive. i will never sell out, never surender. they can have my trike when they pry my cold dead hands from around the grips. golf is for Old fat lazy scardy cats...lol
jenndnn3
11-12-2002, 01:53 AM
Bill you aint callin my 6 year a fat old lazy scardy cat are you???? :D ;) I am sorry but she wont slow down I cant trust her....yet.
OldSchoolin86
11-12-2002, 09:44 AM
$500 is a nice number but you need to pay for the quad and I wouldn't ruin it by doing that to it. You don't sound like you want to keep them alive and teach what they are, it sounds like you'll chop up anything just to say it's on three wheels. If I did make one I would start with a bike not a quad.
it would take 3times as much work to turn a bike into a trike then a quad and it would not be as good (tall narrow frames are not as good as low wide frames)
TimSr
11-12-2002, 01:39 PM
Things change, and thats just the way it is. Nobody can freeze time though sometimes we'd like to. When something is no longer produced, it will eventually die out. Thats just logic. No matter how hard we try to "bring back trikes", as long as noone is producing them, our efforts are futile. We can only try to keep them around a little longer. Right after the decree, trikes were dirt cheap and readily available. We've all seen them go from manistream, to uncommon, to being curiosities. As more die, their values go up, and eventually, like a Model A Ford, theyll get to the point that they are more like collector pieces, for shows and parades and less like something you take out and use for its original intended purpose. Maybe we are 20 years away from that, but Ill just continue to ride mine for now, and be thankful to have been active in this sport during the time they were available. I will not begrudge the new products, or blame them for the demise of trikes. I wonder what people will be riding 20 years from now. I doubt it will look a lot like today's best sellers. Will we be riding 2000 model quads and complaining about the new 2022 models, and how theyve ruined the sport? A lot of MX tracks are now running vintage bike classes, 1974 and older. Its fun to watch, and they bring back great memories, but nobody is yelling, "bring back the double shockers! These single shock rear ends suck!" Everything must be put in perspective, and we can appreciate trikes for what they are and what they have been over a pretty good span of my lifetime, and beyond the entire span of many regulars of this site. For this I am thankful, but realistically speaking, trikes are now a lot more curiosity than mainstream, and regretfully a lot more of our history than our future. I will make the best of it, and enjoy mine while it lasts.
while i agree with most of what Tim says i have to disagree about trikes dying off. if you look at the Motorcycle history as a whole you will see trikes have been a part of it since the beginning Honda was just the first to mass produce a off-road version that ended starting a new sport ATVing. even in ATC's heyday hand made trikes were popular. trikes will always be around they may never be mainstream again but they will live on weather it be restorations of mid 80's ATC's or one-off custom jobs.
OldSchoolin86
11-12-2002, 07:22 PM
TimSr:
Well said.
As far as a bike costing 3 times as much to convert you couldn't be any more wrong. You wouldn't have to modify the frame and you could make bolt on parts for the rest. Have you ever looked at a kids bike? They aren't exactly that high.
MR ATC
11-12-2002, 07:44 PM
but why change swingarm,axel,wheels,brakes,and such in the rear in addition to triple clamps, front wheel,ect. when you can just add a front end to a quad?
OldSchoolin86
11-12-2002, 08:29 PM
Just add? There is a little more work involved than just adding a front end. How about redoing the entire front portion of a quad frame and fabricating a place to add that front end?
TimSr
11-13-2002, 12:25 AM
Man, you guys are both wrong! If I wanted to make one, Id use one of those Fat cats or Big wheels, and slap a quad rear end from the swingarm back. Them Id put the Bike back end on the quad from the swingarm back, and Id have two three wheelers.
OldSchoolin86
11-13-2002, 09:32 AM
You know thats kinda funny. That reverse 3 wheeler would be a good pit bike.
In the near future, I look forward to building my kids a KX60 or 80 3 wheeler. and possibly a 4 wheel version too.
I think it's awesome to add a 3 wheeler front end to a 4 wheeler. It really wouldn't be all that bad, but it would be allot of work and theres no way in hell it's easier than modifying a dirt bike. I would rather just build a custom frame to bolt all the stock stuff onto. I keep hearing the argument about the dirt bike frames being too tall and narrow. This may be true but most of these new high performance 4 wheelers are pretty damn tall themselves. So if you add a 3 wheeler front end, your still setting tall. Obviously suspension needs to be lowered on both. There's a couple dirt bikes left out there that you sort of set down into instead of on top of that you can get late models and make an awesome 3 wheeler out of because they haven't changed much since the 80s. such as the XR400R or the KX500.
When high performance 3 wheelers weren't available in the early 80's people built them out of motorcycles. As long as their are motorcycles, with a little custom fabrication, or allot, people can do the same thing regardless of the existance of 3 wheelers.
:-D
ATC crazy
11-13-2002, 06:28 PM
3 wheeler front to a 4 wheeler body? Have you seen the 87 banshee that was converted to a trike? Its pretty cool and i bet it hauls trailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro Heres a pic.
It was shown in Dirt Wheels about a year ago or so.
OldSchoolin86
11-13-2002, 08:40 PM
I'll guarantee that handles like crap. It's longer than an LTD! To do that right you have to do a lot more work than they did. It's still cool though.
mymint87
11-13-2002, 09:05 PM
trying to bring it back to original post....
jenndnn3 your right! your children do sense your passions. i think that my passion for trikes AND their performance will keep em around.
as for the messiah,....... comments dont bother me .....again your passing judgement and questioning someones devotion or knowledge towards 3wheelers
"if ya REALLY want it bad enough"?????
what a freakin JOKE
this post is about a father coming to realize his kids may not like 3wheelers as much as he would like em to. and using his family as an example, questioning if its happing elsewhwere to other people. i want 3wheelers to live on...forever
as for now, my daughters like quads better
that doesnt mean ill sell their motorcycles
that doesn't mean i'll sell their 3 wheelers
it only means(this might be hard to swallow messiah) they like quads better
in no way will i FORCE my kids to ride a trike OR will i grenade ANY of my mint machines.
who knows how my daughters will feel when i complete my 110 project, (full suspension.... this is NOT one i grenaded but i found it out in the elements, suspended in a sort of time capsule... all mod, looks early eighties, awesome engine work and one inch from the scrap heep I'm restoring to make a lil pit trike.) maybe when my girls see it finished they'll say, "Ya know, daddy is right, trike are cool!" Time will tell.......
face it messiah....your posts towards me are driven by ENVY ......
LONG LIVE 3WHEELED SPORT TRIKES!!!!!!!
btw did i mention i bought a 1986 triz 250 to add to my stable?
Edit by HondaATC: Please remember attacking another member of this board is not tollerable. Personal disagreements should be settled via PM or email.
MR ATC
11-13-2002, 10:08 PM
you asked a question that i truthfully answered. you wanted to know what would happen when they died out. i simple said they won't die out unless you or anybody lets them. i'm sorry if you didn't like my answere. as far as all you conversion experts go how many of you have actually done any...i was converting bikes to trikes long ago let me tell you from someone thats done them its a pain in the trailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro. and they don't handle as well. cutting away the front of a quad and welding two main tubes and a steering stem is a lot easier then... machining new triple clamps and a caliper bracket to run a trike front end in addition to building a new swingarm to accept a trike/quad rear axel assembly then lets remember we have to modify the subframe to accept the rear fenders but of course you guys no all this because you've all built your own stuff. sorry if this is to harsh but i'm sick of people making comments they have no clue about.
now you guys can bash me all you want but your the ones comming to a site dedicated to keeping trikes alive yet all i've seen since i've been here is about half the people giving in and buying quads. if you like them thats fine but go to a quad site if thats your new cup of tea.
i don't cry i can't get the machine i want. all my life if i wanted something bad enough i went after it and got it. they don't make trikes anymore so f'n what i'll build them myself i'm not about to let popular opinion or some pencil pusher tell me what to do. i like the fact that everyone dislikes them i hate when things become so popular that they are over exposed and people get them just to be popular and with the in crowd.
HI BILLY :twisted:
Edit by HondaATC: Please remember attacking another member of this board is not tollerable. Personal disagreements should be settled via PM or email.
Trikeaholic
11-13-2002, 11:18 PM
oh yea, O.S. I got my son a Tri-Zinger for his second birthday, put him on it, set the limiter really low, let him gas it and go straight line until I got a little worried, and pulled the lanyard out to stall the engine. It has a front suspension, and I dont know how much more effective (if even available) the tiny "suspensions" are on any 50-60cc new chinese golf carts. If it was good enough for a kid in 1985, then its good enough for my boy, for gods sake, he is spoiled rotten already!
Hey MRATC....Regardless if the quad conversion is better or not, you know it's not just as easy as "weld two downtubes and a steering head".
Even with this quad conversion you still have the triple clamp, front hub, and front brake problem. You have to machine custom triple clamps, modify existing dirt bike clamps, or run 3 wheeler clamps. This includes set up of front brakes and the hub. It's the same problem as a dirtbike conversion with the same solutions. The simplest being build it to where you can just bolt on an existing 3 wheeler front end.
Also, how do you address the problem of the stock quad gas tank, radiator, exhaust, etc?????????? They don't exactly lend themselves to a 3 wheeler frame design?????? That's all got to be mounted up and can't interfere with new "two downtubes and steering head", or the front fork when riding the machine. Plus looks are a big thing, you want it look good too. You've got to get the plastic to look right.
With a bike conversion you've got to worry about the rear axle and sprockets running true. So you build a custom swingarm to accept a quad hub and axle setup. Or perhaps modify an existing one. You of all people should know that it's easier to build a swingarm than worry about all the angles involved in mounting up a steering head which is so critical to the handling of the trike! After the custom swingarm, with the bike you also have the triple clamps/hub/front brakes to address and some bracketry added to the sub frame to support a rear fender. Also lower the suspension. Regardless of handling or which is better, how is that HARDER than a quad to trike conversion???
MR ATC
11-14-2002, 01:21 PM
hey Jeb, maybe if you read Mymint87 post before it got edited you'd know i was not talking about you!!!
here is why the triple clamp issue is differant; with a m/c you have a longer steering neck then a trike so even if you get a trike front end the lower clamp has to be machined to use the M/C steering stem. so now your taken away material and putting more leverage on it not the best solution for strength.
a typical m/c swingarm is 1-3" narrower then a trike/quad rearend which basically puts the sprocket of the trike right in the middle of the m/c arm. also being narrower it will have less stability. even if you put a wide axel on it the swingarm will have less rigidity.
gas tank why the gas tank can sit were it normally dose look at most quad frames, they come to a point where the steering stem is just put you steering neck in that location and the gas tank is not a issue (unless its a banshee..lol)
..."You of all people should know that it's easier to build a swingarm than worry about all the angles involved in mounting up a steering head which is so critical to the handling of the trike!..."
thats exactly right i do know about both and from experiance i can tell you what one is easier. i'm trying to get a pic of some quad frames and bike frame,es so i can show you what i mean.
just last year a customer came to me wanting to turn a CR500 into a trike i showed him everthing involved including pics and blueprints from other conversions he quickly found out its not as easy as it looks. bike frames do not lend themselves to the conversion as easy as a quad frame
Alright, I edited my post MRATC! Sorry about that. Sounded like you were referring to EVERYONE who posted replies. :-D
I look forward to seeing your frame illustrations. I only debate this not because I think a dirtbike conversion is better than a quad-to-trike conversion but because I'm having trouble seeing that chopping a quad frame and welding up a custom steering head and getting the handling dialed in right is easier than making some triple clamps and a swingarm.
There are more geometric issues to deal with on the steering head than a swingarm would have. And I'm definitely not saying you don't know what your talking about.
Also, I see your point about the gas tank. But I see lots of issues with the plastic body work and what do you do about the radiator? most quads have a large single radiator mounted forward in the frame. Do you borrow twin units from something else?
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