Just picked up an 87 250sx that's right an 87

[Jbird5363]

I picked up a very dusty 1987 250sx from my wifes boss
I stepped into my wifes shop to smoke cig one after noon after bringing her lunch I was off that day and noticed a head light peeking out from some boxes after some investigating and two monthes of hounding her boss he finally parted with it for 250 bucks. I am super excited to find out today it's an. 87 and it's cherry the plastics are in great shape seat is in good condition has one small tear and needs to be re stapled it had a very rare matallic gray gas tank and matching rack on the rear. I have color matched the tank and had a new batch of paint made I sand blasted the tank today and I have to weld some small holes tomorow where rust has eaten through in the normal place. I cleaned the carb and replaced a bad tire I am hopeing for a functional bike by Saturday I will try to post pics soon.

[edog]

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h196/edog_02/worthless.gifhttp://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h196/edog_02/worthless.gifhttp://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h196/edog_02/worthless.gifhttp://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h196/edog_02/worthless.gifhttp://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h196/edog_02/worthless.gif

[Jbird5363]

I'm dumb when it comes to Internet forums I can email some pictures if any would help post them up just pm me your email

[fabiodriven]

:pics: :pics: :pics: Xowner

[Macs]

welcome, i am from the houston area also. Email me pics at barry.mann@mustangeng.com and i will post them for you.

[smvorndran]

Metallic gray gas tank? That probably wasn't stock.

smvorndran

[Macs]

here yall go

[Jbird5363]

the only this g I can guess on the tank is the Honda house did it

[smvorndran]

The stock 87 tank is white, and the SX on the tank sticker is red. The 86 sticker has a blue SX, like yours.

smvorndran

[Macs]

here is another one...

So jbird, did you buy this from steve off of 290? If so i was suppose to go buy it tonight but got lazy.

[fabiodriven]

Jesus!
Are you taking pictures of bigfoot? Take a normal picture for christ's sake!

[Jbird5363]

No I got it from a brian he has a Cajun last name
I just got off the phone with brian he said in 87 you could get the white tank or red tank and headlight shroud the tank was painted by some kids at a high school and he ordered a sticker kit for an 86 to replace the tank decals

[smvorndran]

I think he's jerkin your gherkin. Only white tanks in 86 & 87. I love my SX.


smvorndran

[Jbird5363]

My wife took the pictures of the bike two monthes ago when it was in the shop at her work I'm at work and can't get to it to get better pictures but I will tomorow when I weld the holes in the tank before I paint it
They did make them in red it says so on this site in the 87 section

[DeePa]

naaaaaa 87= white tank

[racerxxx]

Red tank on 85's

White tank on 86-87

Blue "SX" on decals on tank 86
Red "SX" on decals on tank 87

You headlight shroud looks to be from and 85 (blue&white striped)
The 87 headlight shroud should also be white like an 86--although I think on the brochures it shows a red one if I rememeber correctly.

To be sure exactly what year it is----------Check the frame decal on the left hand side or run the vin:

http://atcvin.webs.com/

Regardless what year it is, not bad for the price! And I love my SX!

My 86 had a white tank(orig), and the 87 tank that's on there now is white also.

Brochures:

http://www.3wheelerworldforums.com/Brochures/ATCsite/87atcLineup.html

(Red Shroud)

http://www.3wheelerworldforums.com/Brochures/ATCsite/87atc250sx.html

(White Shroud)

http://www.3wheelerworldforums.com/Brochures/ATCsite/86atc250sx.html

86 SX

http://www.3wheelerworldforums.com/Brochures/ATCsite/85atc250sx.html

85 SX

[atcquebec]

this is a 87 sx

[Jbird5363]

Thank you for the handy site for vin # it is an 87

[brapp]

ther eis 85 had red tanka nd red headlight 86 had white tank blue stripe son decals and whit ehead light 87 had white tank, orange stropes with red sx and a red headlight sorry to burst your bubble but the 87 sx;s arent allthat rare i personaly ahve owned 2 of them and have ridden probeblay 1/2 dozen of them.

[atcquebec]

ther eis 85 had red tanka nd red headlight 86 had white tank blue stripe son decals and whit ehead light 87 had white tank, orange stropes with red sx and a red headlight sorry to burst your bubble but the 87 sx;s arent allthat rare i personaly ahve owned 2 of them and have ridden probeblay 1/2 dozen of them.

i agree with you that they aren't rare but they are the last year of a very nice trike. You are saying that the 87 sx came with a ''RED'' Headlight .
The one i have (canadian model) have the ''white'' Headlight cover and it is 100% original. The person that i bought it from told me that i bought it new and it came that way here.

[Jbird5363]

down here in southeast Texas a clean trike is hard to come by I never said it was rare but there were a number of people trying to disprove my new toy as an 87 but vins don't lie. I was just trying share my story of a good barn find. I thought guys on a three wheeler site would share some enthusiasm but some were helpful and others just wanted to be drama whores

[aaron7]

People will always call BS on a 1987 ATC unless you post up a pic of the VIN or some other way to -prove- it's that year.

[vintagemotorsports]

not to be an a hole , but I love when people use the word cherry to describe the condition of a bike . and this is what they come up with . drives me nuts i see it all the time on craigslist etc . if its an 87 its got alot of wrong parts on it , the 86 and 87 are basically identical less the decals on the tank , and no the NEVER offered a red tank or (Rare .. grey metallic tank ) in 87 white tank with red SX and white headlight shroud .

[Jbird5363]

the only I can think is thank was origanlly white and did he say he had the tank repainted that matallic gray color and and ordered a set of stickers from an outside vendor not Honda so the only thing on the bike that says 85 are the two striped stickers on the headlight so he did one of two things he put them on himself or broke the orignal shroud and replaced with an 85 I ran the vin and it came back an 87. The term cherry was used for the plastics and they are in great shape some light surface scratches and very little if any fade and no cracks what so ever the gas tank was in not so good shape I just finished welding the holes in it. Paint is just that any idiot with a rattle can could change the color and that's what happened in this case reading is our friend it educates us if you glanced at the whole page and not my origanal post you would have known that I found out the guy repainted the tank

[the great gazoo]

There's 2 differences from '85 & the '86-'87 that I'm sure of is the heat shield on the "j" bend on the header & the rear end(differential) was sealed, so you could take it swimming regularly & not have to worry about it filling up with water. There's more differences too, I'm just not remembering them right now. sold my "87 a while back(if I had the space & the money I'd buy it back in a heart beat, like most of 'em....) & regret it of course. You'll love that trike, it's indestructible!

[the great gazoo]

Oh, & congratulations on your rig, looks like you got a heck of a deal. Post up pics of your progress too, please.

[Jbird5363]

Thank you gazoo I will try to get more pics up as I go along but I should other than replaceing tires be done on Thursday with it and it does have a sealed diff

[atcquebec]

There is an other difference : the size of the headlight:
85 have a 5 1/4'' by 3 3/4 size (red plastic cover)
86-87 have a 6 1/4'' by 3 3/4 size (white plastic cover)

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[smvorndran]

Sorry if I seemed like an ass to you. I just don't want unsuspecting buyers to get duped by over-zealous sellers, and think they're getting something they're not. For $250, you got an excellent deal. I'd love to have an 87 to get back to original, but I'm pretty happy with my 85. Somebody's changed a few things on your trike, which decreases its value a little, but it's all cosmetic. It will be easy to get it back to stock. It may take a little while, and a few hundred bucks, but I think an 87 is unique, being the last model year. Use it as a rider, and that's fine too. Either way, it's your machine. There's just a lot of us on here that are experts on certain trikes. I've studied the SX, and I saw a few things that were not original, and I just want to bring it to your attention so you can go back stock if you want.

It's just when a new guy comes on here, and says he has a super rare ATC600R, he's toast. 99% of the people on here know it's bull, and we'll tell him in no uncertain terms. We just want them to be informed, and not walk around this world like a no-talent ass-clown. We all know the Jim-Bob owner before him just shoe-horned his spare XR600R motor he had sitting around into a 350X frame. It's not nearly as bad as the rednecks that weld a 200s onto the back end of a go cart, like was posted on here last week.

Congrats on your purchase, and welcome to the forum. It won't be long, and you'll be setting somebody straight as well

smvorndran:D :D :D

[Macs]

Jbird, dont pay attention to half of what gets said on here. We get yahoo's in here all the time so everyone's defenses are up. Just let it run off your shoulder. From one houstonian to another, let me give you some advice. Never say mint, cherry etc on here. There is quite a few high end collectors and builders that do not want that word taken lightly and i cant blame them. Mint/ Cherry means not one scratch, nick, fade and everything oem. Just like it rolled off the dealers floor.

On a better note, if you need any assistance let me know. Finally i get a board member on my side of the us!!!

[Jbird5363]

No problem smv no offense taken I'm on a motorcycle bored that's full of drama whores tyt most of the time are talking out of thare arse so I'm quick to the punch on defending my self I'm not that new to the trike world or by no means am I an expert I have revamped about 5 atc 110 of various years and some were in real bad shape this is my first bigger bike and I am super excited about it I have been working on the tank all day welding pin holes grinding welds and now I am bondoing the tank. I honestly could care less what year it is any way you slice it it is a sweet bike. I do understand what you mean on the cherry/mint term I ran into a 86 big red about 6 monthes ago that came out of a personal collection in Galveston that sold for 2800 and it was mint had about 4 hours on it still had nipples on the factory tires not a scratch on it. It was amazing I would have pawned a kidney for it.
Barry thank you for the welcome I'm not sure but Friday may not be good we had a rider go down on 3090 in my group Sunday and pastaway I think I'm going to be at the funeral any ways general sams is having a special event this weekend and it will be packed out