Nicholson ATC 580X with PICS

[Bigbore]

Well I got it home. Had to drive to Rapid City SD to meet with the seller to pick it up. That was the easy part. Left on Thursday morning with another Blizzard coming in to Denver. When I left It was nice, with no new snow. Drove 400 miles, in 4.75 hrs, to get there paid him and heft to come home. Got back into Wyoming 30 miles and the snow started, BAD! Drove the rest of the way, 270 miles in a blizzard, with little visibility, hopping to make it back over the Colorado line before they shut the highways down. Made it by 1 hour. I only live 1.5 hours from the state line, but it took 2.75 hours to make it home. Total drive home was 7 hours. My wife wasn't happy!

Anyway!

I've got it! It is NICE! A lot of extras that weren't in the photos. Rear shock is a works performance WITH the reservoir. Fiber LOW PROFILE fiberglass rear fenders. Tons of receipts for the 3 wheeler and motor work. Hubs are 4 on 110 and the axle is a tecate aftermarket +4". Hand fab'd aluminum air box. HRC 250R front forks, with the HRC cartridges and HRC springs. It's NEVER been in the dirt, the owner only used it for some ice racing.

The motor, I’ve only got to start it this morning, but WOW!

I need to clean it up some from the sloppy drive home and I'll post up some photos. It was worth every penny of the $4500. The other bidders that were bidding on it new it to they've been calling tiring to get the owner to sell it to them. He said they were offering up to $5,400. I'm glad the guy was honorable. I've been waiting for this one for a LONG time.

[SYKO]

awesome man!!!! cant wait to see the pics!!!

[edog]

I thought it was a 500X.

[Bigbore]

No. Go back to the e-bay post for this bike and you'll see where the owner had it punched and resleeved to 580cc.

[jsimonh]

Just think, if you would have gotten stuck you could've rode that baby through the snow for help:D . Hurry and get all the pics up!

[gotballs 250r 82]

Man love to see some pic's.

[edog]

Post some will you?

Your killing us here.LOL

[Yamada]

from what the engine come from?

[Orangecnty250r]

Congrats!!! Its nice to get something thats even sweeter than you expected. With the other offers I had that happen to me before also. I won a super sweet all original TRX and other bidders were offering more for it after the auction:banned: People need to pull their balls out before the auction ends and learn to walk away after if they lost

[Bryan Raffa]

Glad ya made home ok. polish that old girl up!! At least she went to a good home where it will be properly taken care of!!! congrats:beer

[devildog_0431]

I rode for help once when I had a flat tire in the boonies at 3am in the morning....luckily the cops heard my quad and saved me, LOL.......i wanna see some pics of the x !!!

[super90]

YES GET PICS SOON! That must be one sweet ride!

[edog]

The last view was three hours ago.Where are the pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL

[Bigbore]

I still haven't had time to clean it up but I didn't want anyone to go without pics.

[MTS]

Alls i got to say is,,,,i gota go change my shorts cause DAYM!!! That is NICE........!!!

[Chevy200s]

:drool: :drool: :drool:

dang man...very nice. glad to hear it went to someone from the boards. bringin it to Trike Fest? :naughty: :) Looks awesome

[edog]

Thanks for the pics.

Now if you only had some snow to ride it in you would be all set.LOL

[Bigbore]

Heres some more....

[85ytz250n]

That is a sweeeet trike. I am usually not one to go for the fourstrokes but that would definetly get me going. I guess I missed the backstory on this so Im going to have to do some research.

Barry

[Bigbore]

Heres one more of the 580X until I can get it cleaned up.

There's a pic of a 350X that i'm going to put on the classifieds or on e-bay.

Last photo is my '83 250R torn down again. Frame was cracked pretty bad. Did a frame swap and putting it back together again. Sending out the cylinder for porting.

SNOW!!! We have plenty. We've been hit with 2 big blizzards in 10 days. We have 20" still on the ground with 3 and 4 foot drifts all over. Theres so much snow we can't go riding. I need a snowmobile.

[70ATC90]

Dang man have you ridden it yet? I bet that thing hauls *Edited**Edited**Edited**Edited**Edited*

[super90]

Clean it up?! It looks very very clean as it is! When the snow dies down up there please give a ride report!

[Bigbore]

Dang man have you ridden it yet? I bet that thing hauls *Edited**Edited**Edited**Edited**Edited*
Not yet, But man I looking forward to it.

[Liquid-Darkness]

Is that a 200x fuel tank+front end on that 500x? The plastics also look like 200x plastics. Maybe a 200x moded with a 500x motor? It looks like a prety beefed up 200x, I would like the rear end though. The bike is bad ass all around. Great find!

[Bigbore]

Is that a 200x fuel tank+front end on that 500x? The plastics also look like 200x plastics. Maybe a 200x moded with a 500x motor?
Rear fenders and tank are 200X, Frame is Nicholson ATC 500X, and front end is 250R.

[firefirefire90]

Its not liquid darkness your wrong. The machine is made by Nicholson products here in Santee, California by the man himself; Nick Nicholson. Sweet trike man. Is that foam everywhere? What type of pipe do you think that is? Whatever it is....thats a sweet trike...:drool::drool::drool:


I love it man. Can't wait for a ride report.

[Liquid-Darkness]

Rear fenders and tank are 200X, Frame is Nicholson ATC 500X, and front end is 250R.

Oh I see, that looks like a very fast bike.:beer

[atcfreak85]

Wow that is one sweet ride! I wouldn't want to get it dirty! What are your plans for it are you going to ride it or what ? :beer :drool:

[oldred95]

580 cc's thats insane. I rode a stock 350x a few years ago and it had enough torque to scare the crap out of me. I can't imagine what a 580 is capable of.:drool:

[jsimonh]

I now have a new "dream trike":naughty: . Very nice looking indeed!:cool:

[edog]

Very nice pics!!!!!

[Orangecnty250r]

That Machine is Hot!!!!

[p26575r16]

What is that engine out of? I know this question has already been asked but I cannot find an answer anywhere. By the way that is a nice trike.

[edog]

80's dirtbike I beleave.

[Bigbore]

Its not liquid darkness your wrong. The machine is made by Nicholson products here in Santee, California by the man himself; Nick Nicholson. Sweet trike man. Is that foam everywhere? What type of pipe do you think that is? Whatever it is....thats a sweet trike...:drool::drool::drool:


I love it man. Can't wait for a ride report.

This 3 wheeler is so CLEAN! Like it was lock in a vault for 22 years. Pipe is a Spark's pipe. It’s been black ceramic coated. The ceramic work on the pipe was done in '84 and still looks shinny and new.

Foam???? The wall insulation? Or the stuff on the floor? The walls of the shop have 3" of rigid foam insulation, R19. The stuff on the floor is snow. I'm having the door on the north end of the shop replaced and there was a small crack where a lot of snow blew in.

[Bigbore]

Wow that is one sweet ride! I wouldn't want to get it dirty! What are your plans for it are you going to ride it or what ? :beer :drool:


Ride it a little, but keep it pristine for the next guy. It's not leaving me anytime soon though.

[Bigbore]

What is that engine out of? I know this question has already been asked but I cannot find an answer anywhere. By the way that is a nice trike.

The motor is out of a '83 or '84 XR500. I'll do some serial number checking when I get a chance. I was bored and sleeved to a 580cc. Head was ported.

[SWIGIN]

What is that engine out of? I know this question has already been asked but I cannot find an answer anywhere. By the way that is a nice trike.



looks like an ascot ft 500 motor

[Dirtcrasher]

Trikes great, but DAMN - I love the machine shop!! Sweeeet, is it your families shop??

[Bigbore]

Trikes great, but DAMN - I love the machine shop!! Sweeeet, is it your families shop??

MINE. I'm 39 so I don't have to share with anyone :twisted: (except my 3 boys that are always into everything:lol: ). I bought a lot of manual and CNC equipment over the last 15 years. I used to make a lot of AR-15 parts and barrels and still have the equipment. I'm putting up the inertior sheeting in the new building now. Thats why it looks the way it does. I'll take some photos in a few weeks after the sheeting is up and all of the equipment is under power. There's a lot that you can't see now with all of my stuff out.

[Bigbore]

looks like an ascot ft 500 motor

Randy, the previous owner said that it did have the gear set out of an FT for the wide ratio but the motor was XR.

[super90]

In the beginning i though it was a 350 bored to a 580 which would be rediculous. Makes more sense now. So what would be the estimated speed of that beast?

[rally4x4racer]

nice trike

.. I was thinking about chopping up my 1981 xl500 and doing something like that but I havent mustered up the balls yet.

[jmsmilin]

so thats the $4500 beast...its got Nicholson written all over it, cool man. Dont break anything though, I wouldnt hit any jumps, its be rough to replace that swinger...

[fastleo]

i almost bought it too much for me though... i called the guy and tried to offer him 2500 cash in hand
o well im glad to see your enjoying it
lets see those riding pics later on

[Mike_Ham_250R]

I envy you.

[mad_max]

Any history on the trike?

Any idea of what they sold for originally?

Very cool indeed!

[Bigbore]

Here's a small break down some of the receipts. The frame, alxe, swingarm, and exhaust were $1,100 ( in 1984 dollars). There's receipts for over $2,000 for just the roller. All of the parts that went on this thing were new in 1984 and not parted out junk from e-bay. The motor has $5,000 in it.

And it has an extra swingarm, NEW.

The frame is strong! Stronger than a 250 from '85 back. It's made out 4130 cromemoly. Honda didn't start making their 250R frames out of 4130 until '86.

[The Goat]

bump for the sickness of it...damn.

[84honda200s]

dude that is the sickest 4 stroke ive ever seen !!!!!! its friggin huge !!!!

[RideRed250R]

congrats!!!! cleanest i have ever seen

[maggiesboy]

hot hot hot hot hot! :D

[ATC185R]

Find me a Nicholas frame will ya? I want to throw my '83 XR500 in one :drool: :drool: now! I respect the size of kahunas you possess for owning such a high quality trike. Talk about high-class old school :w00t: Nice shop setup also. Appreciate the pics.

[atc500x]

Nice trike,I like the power of my ft500 engine in the 350x,but I can't ride it at full speed,poor handling over 120km/h
Hope your engine is easy to start with kickstart
Do you know how much HP produce the 580?

[Bigbore]

Thanks for all of the compliments. I wish That I could pass them on to Nick Nicholson in the hopes of some new frames, but that'll never happen!

The power is strong! It'll come close to running with my XR650R. Its the strongest 4 stoke in a 3 wheeler I've ever ran. I'd love to put it on a dyno. It's been freezing here! Maybe when the weather warms up I'll get some photo's riding and get it to the dyno in Denver.

[scrawny]

cool stuff!!

was this considered a short track frame, or mx?

i want to see a dyno run too. betcha the HP #'s wont be the best, but the torque is going to be the ass hander.

[SWIGIN]

i cant wait to get my (350x) 460cc ft500 headed motor done....sounds like a baby nic motor

[Bigbore]

cool stuff!!

was this considered a short track frame, or mx?

i want to see a dyno run too. betcha the HP #'s wont be the best, but the torque is going to be the ass hander.

Built for FAST desert racing. The frame and wheelbase are stretched a little longer than a 250R and has a little more rake for stability. The funny thing is the guy that owned it before me ice raced it for a couple seasons. He did really well with it too. HP... I'm guessing 50-52HP, torque makes the front end want to stand straight up.

[jaykup]

Thats pretty sweet..

What does it have for an oil cooler?

What kinda gearing does it have? (front and rear sprockets)

Did the 500cc motor just bolt in to the frame or were there some modifications done?

Makes my 430 look like a baby :)

[the great gazoo]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but I've got access to an '81 XL500s. Since I've become addicted to 3, I'm wondering how much trouble/work it'd take to make this thing a trike, using the motorcycle frame? It's just sitting there, needs a top end, Oh Christ, I think I'm in trouble $$$$wise, that is......................
BTW, BigBore, I'm in total awe of your 580. It's the coolest, most bad ass 4stroke I think I ever saw, TGG............................................... .....

[BigGreenMachine]

search for sandpuppi's 600X thread. He converted a bike.