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  • Vintage High Performance Products brochures, cool stuff inside!

    Some of you guys may be familiar with the name High Performance Products...they started in the early 1970's manufacturing conversion frames and all kinds of trick trike parts that included rear suspension kits, front fork and triple clamp kits, axles, you name it, they probably made it. Most all of this stuff was based on the ATC90's as they were all available back then. Some of you guys have seen the oldschool street bike motors stuffed into custom fabbed frames using 90 components such as gas tank, fenders, seat, etc. Chances are it was probably an HPP frame. HPP continued making these trike components and chassis as ATC90 based until 1980 when the 250R came out and really changed the whole game. Probably the most interesting thing to me, looking at all of this stuff, is the inspiration i see in later years aftermarket parts from different companies. This really does look to be nearly ground zero for aftermarket components and hop up parts.






    Look at just how complete these kits were!:


    • Frame
    • Front axle
    • Rear axle
    • Front-end kit
    • Seat kit
    • Handlebars
    • Bar grips
    • Headlight
    • Taillight
    • Clutch lever
    • Cooler Rack
    • Foot pegs
    • Foot peg rubbers (Remember, this is ATC90 based, the toothed foot pegs were not really introduced or popular until the 250R came out in 1980)
    • Seat latch
    • Wheels
    • Wheel valve stems
    • All Misc. nuts and bolts
    • Fuel line (!)
    • Fuel filter.

    Where the heck do you ever find a kit THAT complete anywhere now-a-days??



    The super rear-axle really caught my eye. Does that design look familiar to any of you guys? If your in the drag racing or hill-shooting circles any, it ought to. Almost all of the light weight aluminum drag racing axles have this nearly exact same tubular design, 30 years later.



    Checkout the "you weld it" expansion chamber kits for engine and frame conversions. Nifty!



    These aftermarket front ends (And this style of triple clamps) was extremely popular. Estimates from a source close to the company say that there were around 4,000 of these made! Also another little tid-bit of information, the Laeger CR500/ATC500R conversion kits that came with a sub frame, triples, and a swingarm used a very very similar design on their triple clamps as well.








    This has to be the coolest, most trick 185 I've ever seen! You get a good idea of the construction of the frame. I find it interesting that they chose to use CREW (cold rolled electrically welded) tubing instead of 4130, but I'm sure it was an attempt to keep the prices more manageable for the average joe since Now-a-days Chromoly is 4x (or more) expensive than CREW. Talk about the "completeness" of a kit again, comes with 4 inches of #520 chain because of the additional frame length! The rear tires on the 185 also were Goodyear rawhides, a precursor to the modern day paddle tires that we have now. At this point we're probably in the early 1980's. The 250R is out and its effect on the aftermarket suspension kits probably hasn't really hit home yet.





    Checkout ALL the motor options, for RIGID frames! RD400, XR500, CR250 Elsinore (This would have been like the earliest version of a 250R probably ever conceived, back in the mid 1970s). There is also an option for the beastly Kawasaki H2 750cc triple cylinder street bike motor! You guys have to keep in mind...this is originally back in the times when you could only get a ATC90. There wasn't anything larger motor wise manufactured by Honda. But there was still that insatiable desire for speed and power...and HPP was there to offer you options for several different power plants. As it was explained to me, back in the 70s the procedure for hill shooting in the dunes was to actually go up the hills a little bit, and start on the hill. This is because of the whoops at the bottom. When the 250R came out in 81 the full suspension capabilities changed that, and racing from the bottom through the whoops became the new standard.

    Hope you enjoyed, Super mega ultra duner sand flea props extraordinaire goes to Mike Dunn () for sharing these with us!
    Comments 14 Comments
    1. SPD FRK's Avatar
      SPD FRK -
      Too cool! Thanks for that.
    1. 83ATC185S's Avatar
      83ATC185S -
      nice info!. I had a line on a rigid rd400 frame with the aftermarket front end, but it never panned out,couldnt get ahold of him. Finally got ahold of him and he said he scrapped out his back yard
    1. thefox's Avatar
      thefox -
      Neat, one of my friends had the 185s suspension frame and swinger he ended up selling to a board member before building it. The frame was noticeable heavier then a stock frame.

      I have a HPP bolt on rear suspension kit for my Yamaha YTM200. I bought mine form a board member that pulled it from a junk yard. I saw another on a complete YTM on ebay a few years ago (in Ohio). THere was another complete YTM with a HPP rear suspension kit on ebay in TX several years ago, the seller was going take the kit off and sell it to me but ended up backing out.
    1. ametzker's Avatar
      ametzker -
      I have a 185 with these triple tree/fork set up. Pretty cool to see the origanal ads for these things. I only paid $100 for the trike so I figure these were a nice bonus.
    1. trythekeep's Avatar
      trythekeep -
      thanks for the GREAT STUFF, I am looking to add a 450cc to a trike chopper
    1. weedan01's Avatar
      weedan01 -
      I bought a Honda Pilot with their long travel suspension kit. The guy gave me the High Performance catalog too!
    1. iceslinger's Avatar
      iceslinger -
      excellent post!!!! BROUGHT BACK A TON OF MEMORIES FROM THE EARLY YEARS
    1. danielctb's Avatar
      danielctb -
      Thank you! I'm from Romania,where there is no such thing like 3 wheels or 2 big wheels! I want to built a big wheel motorcycle.Any specification is very useful! I did not know how a triple clamp measures.Thanks to you now I know!
    1. fabiodriven's Avatar
      fabiodriven -
      So, why is there not one front fender in that entire line up?
    1. bigdaddyhj's Avatar
      bigdaddyhj -
      Good EYE there fabiodriven.lol
    1. TRI Z REBUILD's Avatar
      TRI Z REBUILD -
      very cool wish they had that now a days
    1. Tri z250's Avatar
      Tri z250 -
      That's awesome thanks
    1. hondabuilder74's Avatar
      hondabuilder74 -
      see mine on ebay! 1974 xl 350 with conversions, rare neat bike. also have pictures on this forum, awesome bikes thanks for the info and images, very informative, http://www.ebay.com/itm/181197931348...84.m1555.l2649
    1. Y_NOT's Avatar
      Y_NOT -
      Where can I buy the Conversion kit for inverted forks for my Honda 350X 1985 the triple trees is what I'm looking for
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