Anyone else notice the leniency with trikes lately? Booming popularity

[ironchop]

well, when I said mainstream, I meant mainstream in the ATV and Off-road niche. Mainstream as in, not out of the ordinary to see a trike picture or article next to quad and dirtbike stuff.

Not mainstream like, Walmart, mainstream.

right, I figured as much but even within a niche crowd, trends come and go and along with trends comes inflation of sorts. While a lot of it is driven by newbies lookin for the latest rebellious trend, folks within the niche crowd recognize this uptick in popularity and they start charging even their fellow diehard fans more for parts/machines than before. Exposure seemed to dictate demand to an extent.

I was building chops for a minute and when I got started in the late 90`s, HD was on a serious inflationary upswing so I went with the much less popular at the time and more affordable British bike route. Nobody much knew a BSA from a Bonneville or a Royal Enfield from a Matchless or a Vincent from a Norton but once folks figured out they were affordable yet cool, it spelled the end for the cheap parts for me so much that by 2006 I couldn`t snatch a decent basket case Unit Trump for under 1500 around here. It was still a niche market but the niche itself grew in population.


I worry about this with trikes.....maybe unfounded but concerned nonetheless

now if Willie Robertson rides a wheelie on an ATC 250R across a duck-filled swamp in Loozi-ana, you`re probably gonna see threewheeler t-shirts in a Walmart near you very soon.....LMAO

[ironchop]

To be honest, the biggest reason I had for getting back into trikes had more to do with the fact that they could be scored on the super cheap and still could do everything a quad for twice the money could do and then some in some cases. I could get everyone in the family a 200 or 185 for a third of what a comparable quad sold for. Also, I had WAY more experience with trikes than quads or dirtbikes put together both riding and wrenching.

The Nostalgia of it all was the other major reason. I never really cared if people hated them or not or thought I was foolish for having them. It was just a super affordable ATV with a much tighter turning radius and was much more suited for trail riding in my opinion than a quad or bike....win win

[slashfan7964]

All it's going to take at this point is someoneone famous hopping back on one for them to explode.

I have noticed the resurgence isn't just the next generation as far as us teenagers. While a lot of it is, I noticed its a lot of guys in their 20s getting into them. Just today a friend of mine said he wanted to see Artic Cat build one. I told him the closest thing to that he'd get is a Tecate


I got into them because growing up that's what we had. I didn't even know four wheelers existed for a long time. I thought trikes were what everyone had. It took some time for me to figure out that no one had them anymore. I loved how they looked and rode. Quads just didn't do it for me. I as just like ironchop. I didn't give a crap if people liked them or not.

But now everyone seems to be realizing how cool they are and I love the fact that I can go riding with my friends and they havve them too.

I've basically become an activist for three wheelers. I try to spread as much correct information as I can so people don't get the wrong idea.Yes I still get the occasional moron that wants to argue about the legality of these machines, but everyone I talk to goes "wow I didn't know that" or "that's cool< I want one now".

It seems to be working.

We know manufacturers are never going to make them again. That's a given. And I think that's another thing that draws people toi them, because they aren't made anymore. You can't just walk into your local ATV dealer and buy a three wheeler and that turns some people onto them. I think the other thing is the learning curve that comes with riding a three wheeler. They are simply different and fun to ride and its something that those who have ridden other machines before would love to try because its different.

Its like music. Good stuff from the 80s lives on and everything else you forget about. People are remebering the three wheelers. There's many reasons for their resurgence but theres no single good reason.

[hatc200x1]

They are Definitely coming back, especially the racing, about a year ago I started calling and emailing motocross tracks in Minnesota to see if they would allow 3 wheeler's. Well I just emailed one again last night and he said that he had just asked his insurance company 2 weeks ago about it. They said no, but the point is, is that the track owner realized the potential to make more money at his track if he allowed 3 wheeler's. So he went off on his own asking about it.

[slashfan7964]

It sure does make me wonder what insurance company they go though, because there are many motocross tracks across the country that now allow them to be run on their tracks. Or mostly anywhere. Trail parks invite them too. In fact my local MX track encourages people to bring them!


But that is definitely a good sign that people are starting to see the potential with these machines. Racing is exploding right now and they are all over the place. To say its reaching 1980s levels wouldn't be out of the question. I say give it time it won't be long before dedicated racing starts appearing all over the country in double the amount in half the time it already has. Its just a matter of time now. And once people see the popularity come back they are going to realize the market is there and there is a good chance of seeing even more parts reproduced than there already is. And as Billy said earlier, there's more stuff being repop'd now than ever. And that only going to increase. And as I said, parts inflation will keep te prices down. So really its a win-win for all of us three wheeler enthusiasts. Not a slap in the face like some guys seem to think. If anything, I can only see more good coming from this. Which in my opinion is freaking awesome.

I even had a friend out of state snap a picture of a second gen 250R on someone's trailer just for me because he knew I liked them. He was thrilled to find one in the wild. It was the first three wheeler he'd seen randomly since the early 90s. I thought that alone was cool that someone who'd been out of the scene for so long wigged out when seeing one of these machines for the first time in 20 years.

[jakep53]

I just want to see trike racing get popular in Australia so I can race....

[DohcBikes]

Call the tracks, call your buddies, get out there! It starts with you Jake!

[slashfan7964]

Call the tracks, call your buddies, get out there! It starts with you Jake!

This.

If you can gather up a bunch of people that want in, I bet you could make it happen.

[Tas Wheeler]

I just want to see trike racing get popular in Australia so I can race....

+2 on that one.

We will have to have a Tassie V Victoria race sometime.

It's definitely a fair way to travel for one of us, but us Aussie Triker's are a rare breed, especially in the southern part of the country.

The popularity in my part of the world is pretty much non existent as they are just not around. But they sure do create some attention when I take mine out.

Cheers.

[jakep53]

+2 on that one.

We will have to have a Tassie V Victoria race sometime.

It's definitely a fair way to travel for one of us, but us Aussie Triker's are a rare breed, especially in the southern part of the country.
The popularity in my part of the world is pretty much non existent as they are just not around. But they sure do create some attention when I take mine out.

Cheers.

This is basicly what it's like in Australia but my next door neighbour is a motocross racer so he has a full blown track in his backyard that has taken him over 10 years to build so thats where my 200x will live and I am building a flat track in my back paddock lol and I live on the back of a lake so I also have a mud pit so I am pretty lucky I just have no one to ride against......but i'm up for Tasmania V Victoria race!!

[slashfan7964]

Trying to get the guy to scan the whole newspaper article, but three wheelers are back in the press.

Not my photo (merely hot linking). The winner from the race took this and put it up on Facebook. Congrats to him and props go out to everyone that competed.

[TecateDan]

fred cuperstine is dead

Start the video at 2 minutes

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H1I5DweHlnQ

[czac]

It wont be long now until we see folks converting quads into trikes... lol (although riding a quad with one front wheel missing is going to be a challenge)

[czac]

fred cuperstine is dead

Start the video at 2 minutes

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H1I5DweHlnQ

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!
Not Fred, the guy who had the greatest idea ever... a huge warning sticker saying trikes are dangerous!!

[CaptainRon]

I've owned 185's and 350X's and Big Reds.
Rode an ATC90 when young, always liked 3-wheelers.

So I did notice how well 3-wheelers are selling - find a nice one hundreds of miles away and good luck getting to it before someone else buys it.

A new top-of-the-line quad is 9K and up, much more for side-by-sides/UTV's.
So my $1600 Big Red is pretty inexpensive in comparison, is reliable, capable, and uses very little fuel.

I don't race off road, but I do see that modern quads do well in very rough terrain, where my Big Red is slow.
But my primary hobby is riding dirtbikes - when I get on my XR650R or my KX500 modern quads in tough terrain seem as slow as my Big Red is to them.
So I ride slow on BigRed and enjoy the ride and scenery and take pictures - works for me.

I'd like to own a new quad, but around $10K?
I'll stick to my lower-priced fun.........