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View Full Version : building the ultimate off road trike



thehickfarmer
03-17-2004, 02:58 AM
well people.. i was wondering on this for a while now.. and finally started to look at it more closely.. i have a stock 84 200s.. but what i was planing to do was put tires of a big red or bigger.. wich would mean changing the front end.. and putting a 200x motor beacuase of the manual clutch.. remeber.. i want an off road machine not a work horse.. so since the manual clutch os their i'm in control of the machine .. FULL CONTROL... let me know what you guys think... any ideas or sugestions

rob0781
03-17-2004, 03:29 AM
why would you need to change the front end?a 25 inch tire will fit on there just the fender will need to be moved up a bit.also sounds like it will be a fun trike when your done,but thinking about what you just said you pretty much wanna turn a 200s into an X i think i'd be cheaper and easier to go buy a 200X,but anythings possible thats just my opinion.

thehickfarmer
03-17-2004, 03:32 AM
well remeber.. since their is a swing arm on a 200x it would be harder 2 put bigger tires on it.. since u never know where their gonna be...

rob0781
03-17-2004, 04:49 AM
never thought of that.

jakerush
03-17-2004, 11:29 AM
You also have to consider what you're thinking about. Ultimate off road trike and "unsuspended" aren't terms that really mix. I'm not trying to judge you or discourage. I'm in the midst of an auto x conversion and am pretty excited about the thought of suspension as I'm a pretty big guy.

I understand the fears of putting 25's on something with a swingarm but I got a feeling it wouldn't be a problem.

My 2 cents, sorry, I know they may not have been asked for.

Jake

King44
03-17-2004, 12:45 PM
Well I put 26 inch Vampires on 12 inch Big Bear rims on my 85 Big Red a while back and it would walk through some mud just like our Foreman! But ATCs are at a huge disadvantage in mud because on 4 wheelers, the front tires create smooth tracks for the back tires to go through. The front tire on an ATC is just pushing extra mud and slows you down alot. I've been mud riding probably average 3 times a week for the last 4 years and I don't believe a 3 wheeler will ever be better than a 4 wheeler in mud.

atctim
03-17-2004, 01:02 PM
except the fact that the 3 wheeler only has to push one tire and the four wheeler has to push two tires. The 4 wheeler has much more resistance in mud (or snow for that matter) than a three wheeler. I completely disagree with the prior post.

trikerider2oo7
03-17-2004, 01:26 PM
sounds cool...is this the newbie topic or somethin? you guys dont a very high post count

King44
03-17-2004, 01:41 PM
except the fact that the 3 wheeler only has to push one tire and the four wheeler has to push two tires. The 4 wheeler has much more resistance in mud (or snow for that matter) than a three wheeler. I completely disagree with the prior post.

Whatever man, my friend's 2wd Timberwolf walks all over my Big Red in mud and we're both good at mudding. He has 22 inch tires and I have 25 too. I guess if you ride in places that 3 wheelers make the ruts it would be different, but most people here ride 4 wheelers.

Wickedfinger
03-17-2004, 02:32 PM
Let me inject a little "post count" into the mix if thats so important to some people. Hick, I think what you really want is a real ATC200X. Why try and evolve something into what it isn't. ATC200S's fetch almost as good price at sale as a 200X, so sell it and buy the genuine article. Since the title of your post is "Building the ultimate off road trike", I have to wonder if even the ATC200X falls into that criteria - personally, I feel the ultimate, do all, under all conditions off road trike, with the most broad and tractable power would have to be the ATC350X.

thehickfarmer
03-17-2004, 05:01 PM
well your right about that.. but i don't really like the fact of having a rear suspension.. i feel you sink in more when you have it.. but this is still a thinking in progress so i will really be taking alot of ideas.. like you guys have already made some points for me and have explained some questions i had in mind...

350XXX
03-17-2004, 06:46 PM
if you dont want the suspension, just have ends welded on a pipe to mount in the place of a shock on a sport trike. now you have a suspensionless trike. problem solved. then if you want to ride somewhere else thats rough you can just bolt the shock back in. THE ultimate mud and trail trike!

thehickfarmer
03-17-2004, 07:09 PM
what dose that have to do with the topic ???

yamaha200E
03-17-2004, 10:49 PM
But ATCs are at a huge disadvantage in mud because on 4 wheelers, the front tires create smooth tracks for the back tires to go through. The front tire on an ATC is just pushing extra mud and slows you down alot. I've been mud riding probably average 3 times a week for the last 4 years and I don't believe a 3 wheeler will ever be better than a 4 wheeler in mud.


WOW! back up man think of were trailprotrailpro at! man my ytm eats up these stupid mofo 4x4 pos's! man i can get through some DEEP mud. im taklking up to my belly button. sorry if i affend and golfcart riders just blowing off some steam.
kyle

thehickfarmer
03-17-2004, 11:54 PM
i belive you of that 100% my honda already can do that.. i guess it's just the driver that can push the machine

350XXX
03-18-2004, 12:08 AM
Whatever man, my friend's 2wd Timberwolf walks all over my Big Red in mud and we're both good at mudding. He has 22 inch tires and I have 25 too. I guess if you ride in places that 3 wheelers make the ruts it would be different, but most people here ride 4 wheelers.

i have owned one quad and three trikes(125 TRX, 2 85 big reds and a 85 350X) and the trikes ARE far superior in the mud to ANY quad. i have went through holes that two or four wheel drive quads would get stuck in. not to mention that quads dont go in the snow for crap either, they just push up piles with the front tires.

thehickfarmer
03-18-2004, 12:10 AM
no offence or anything man.. but you really should stick to quads... or maybe even a argo.. u make trikes look and sound like rolling jokes

atcmatt
03-18-2004, 12:46 AM
King 44.....

Trikes are os much better than quads in the mud. My 200es can out mud a bayou 300, bigbear 350 and a yammy 600 grizzly 4x4. Quads front tires dont pack the mud down for the rear they just make bigger ruts and then the back wheels sink in further into the mud. Just think about it, its perfectly logical that a quad is heavier with more tires to get stuck. A trike is lighter with less tires to get stuck, go figure.

Matt

thehickfarmer
03-18-2004, 12:49 AM
and the tires on the good ol triked are wider as well.. with good threds on those tires you'll be unstopable.. i wanna get a pair of mudzilla tires for my 200s.. but they cost so much

King44
03-18-2004, 11:31 AM
I notice nobody is in my area (Mississippi) so maybe the mud is different? There's about 5 people against me on this so I'll agree, I would like to know why my Big Red sucks so bad in the mud though! Maybe it's my tires that ball up too quick, but it didn't do much better with the vampires on. Sorry to talk like i knew everything :oops:

atcmatt
03-18-2004, 05:18 PM
No Worries, nobody is perfect. You bigred should be a mud machine! Maybe you arent working the throttle and body right? When i do mud crossings i like to put my 200es in high range 2nd gear. I keep the throttle going all the way through because if you let it off the hit it again your gunna get sunk in and you wont come out. If you start to slow down and are about to be stuck I rock my body side to side to get traction. Almost always it pulls out. Heres an example, few weekends ago we had this good mudhole, this kid who wasnt a top rider went through, he rolled into the pit and then booted it. Result, stuck. I hopped on expecting to get bogged, nope i kept up some speed and some throttle and she pulled right out, both times i went through. I think its all about how you ride it. Oh yeh, and my bigred only has nobbys on it.

Matt

thurockk250sx
07-28-2004, 02:45 PM
I am in mississippi, I have a 1985 250sx with 22" bear claws that will bog much better than two wheel drive quads.

deathman53
07-28-2004, 08:14 PM
so quads are better than trikes in mud, tell that to those 4x4 guys I rode with a few weeks ago, I made it through everything they did and got stuck once on a real bad one, and this wasn't a big red, 86 200x with 20in tires and those were the reason I got stuck.

ATC crazy
07-28-2004, 08:47 PM
i have owned one quad and three trikes(125 TRX, 2 85 big reds and a 85 350X) and the trikes ARE far superior in the mud to ANY quad. i have went through holes that two or four wheel drive quads would get stuck in. not to mention that quads dont go in the snow for crap either, they just push up piles with the front tires.

I dont know what kind of quad you were riding....but my Foreman will go just as many places...if not MORE, than my old '87 SX.
Mud = the machines are about equal with the Foreman getting much better traction while the SX "floats on top"
Snow = The Foreman is the clear winner here. It will float on top just as well as the SX...with 2 extra wheels pulling it.

Trikes do VERY well in the snow/mud for only being 2WD. But quads do have the definate advantage when it comes to hills, off camber trails, rock crawling, and slippery hills

eh_tee_see
07-29-2004, 02:48 AM
^^^ hes right