3 wheelers in snow

[wolff]

Hey everyone. Pretty new around here but i like what i'm reading so far. I had a 2000 honda trx 250 few years back, liked it but wasn't impressed with the snow performance. I bought my 85 250r just this summer for $160. My question is, are 3 wheelers any better in the snow than 4 wheelers (given same tires). I hope so, and look forward to comments. Thanks.

[Vealmonkey]

Wolff, my own personal experience with 3 wheelers in the snow is my trike does better than my buddys rear wheel drive quads. The snow seems to want to pack up under the quads sometimes. If you look around you might get lucky, I know of at least one company that made snow skis for the front of atc's. The 4wd quads generally do pretty good in the snow, unless it gets so deep that neither one do any good.

[wolff]

Vealmonkey, that's what i suspected but wasn't sure. Years ago on the back of a big red it seemed me and a buddy got around pretty good in the snow. My atv was almost embarrising. Took lots of spinning to get up to any speed and god help me if i hit any depth at all. Hope the 250r does better. Thanks for the feedback.

[350Xhilaration]

I'd have to disagree.

There are so many quads around here that when we get snow, all the trails get "grooved" with two tracks. The trike front tire won't stay on top in the middle. It will drop into one of the sides made by the quads. You end up fighting the ruts anywhere you go.

In an open area where no ruts have been made, they are equal. 2WD quads and trikes will go about the same. I'd still have to say the quads go better because the front tires push a lot of the snow out of the way making it easier for the rears to get traction. The trike has to push three lines. After 6"-8" it doesnt matter anyway, neither will go well.

4X4's will go through anything up to 12"-18" without too much trouble.

Another thing to consider, as fun as it is riding in the snow, you'll be revving the snot out of your engine to get going and to keep the speed up. Tons of tire spin.

Here are a few pics of us riding a while back. Tons of fun, but I felt bad for the engine. It was screaming.

[bigredhead]

Nice pics !!!

Same here.. the front tire kinda splits the snow and piles it up for the rear tires to spin on.. slow going in the soft stuff.

But on HARD PACK !!!!! look out !.. Like fun in a can.... Once the snow starts to melt and then it gets cold,, with a few inches of thick crust trikes RULE !!!.. you float on top and can ride anywhere you want.. heavy quads break thru alot ( very dangerous at moderate to high speed on any vehicle.. )

I hate deep snow on my SX.. rev rev... you hve to wind it out to shift up thru the gears and as soon as you let off.. dead stop in no time.

Get MUFFS.. ( handlebar covers you slip your hands into... just as good as hand warming grips, and no power needed )

[Pistonhead]

I find that once I get over 1 1/2 feet of snow the trike stops going well. Thats when I put on my tire chains I made for the rear tires! The thing to watch out for in deep snow is not to get bogged down and lose speed and steering, you don't steer very well in the deep stuff so make adjustments accordingly. Under 1 foot of snow you can spin donuts off like nothing! Itf great!

[slow200s]

i have to agree 4x4 quads are best in snow out of atv's but if you pack a trail watch out you will be having fun! 4 inches of powder over frozen grownd is very very fun! you will figure out what your trike can do when the snow flys but until then its all talk.

alot of winters i end up pushing my trike while my thumb is on the throtle because i need to break a trail but if you start early with very little snow and beat a path then you will have the most luck.

[Tri-ZNate]

quads arnt as good in snow as trikes. Dirtydan's big bear 4x4 got buried in the snow next to me and we rode the trike back to get some help. I'll see if I cant find any old pics.

[bigredhead]

quads arnt as good in snow as trikes. Dirtydan's big bear 4x4 got buried in the snow next to me and we rode the trike back to get some help. I'll see if I cant find any old pics.

Only in certain specific conditions.

I don't agree with the trikes being better in snow.

[firehart]

I can hardly wait. I have never ridden in the snow on anything.


Wayne

85 200x all stock

[TeamGeek6]

My 250R wont go in the snow, mostly because of the low profile racing tires, the front tire causes a lot of drag the rears cant overcome. But its a wild ride on ice if the rears are studded with a couple hundred sheet metal screws! My Avitar picture is ice riding on a frozen lake.

[mx600]

my $.02

I think snow is the best place for 3wheelers..well hardtails at least. Growing up we had a YTM200 and it got most of the its use in the winter. But like some guys are saying too much snow and it won't go. Also the revving factor, make sure to keep enough oil in the engine and give it periodic cool down periods if you're revving a lot and not going fast enough for the engine to get enough air flow for cooling.

I'm pretty excited about this winter because I'm back into 3wheelers with my 200s. I also bought an old snowmobile and plan on packing down some trails for the 3 wheeler with it. Anyone ever do that?

Here are some winter pics. The first is about 12-15 years ago on our '84 YTM200. The rest are my brother from last winter on my BW80, jumping the snow bank I plowed up. Some of my best memories are playing in the snow with him.

[wolff]

Wow, great pics. Almost makes me wish winter would hurry up. Looking forward to trying the 250r in the snow. Thanks for the advice too. Pistonhead, maybe i should look into some chains. 250sxwheeliepop, looking forward to the pics if you find them. Later all.

[Wickedfinger]

If the object is to get from point A to B, then the choice is clear - anything 4x4 will be the "best" in snow. It depends on your definition of "best" though. In my experience, I will concour that hardtail trikes are the most fun and functional in any snow that a 2wd ATV could go through. I have a few reasons for this but the main one is that you don't notice the lack of suspension as much in the snow, which makes them alot "funner". Also, I think ridgid (rear) suspensions corner and slide better (look at FT and TT). To me trikes have a fundemental advantage of having a front, center tire to push down the snow, making it easier for the machine to achieve forward motion. The "push down", especially from a wide balloon tire, keeps snow from hanging up the trike. Tires are another issue. The low profile, light tread tires found on most sport ATV's are only going to hamper traction - couple that with a higher horsepower engine and you have to work to have fun, which is NO fun. My '00 Scrambler 400 2x4 is a classic example. I have over 50 highly modded hp and Holeshot XT's on beadlocks on the rear. When the "big" snow came last winter, I was always in the back of the pack, struggling with traction (and shes an automatic). Another time, years ago, I couldn't wait to take my "new" Blaster out in the first snow of the year. When I did, I found out quickly about its limitations. I headed back home and swapped her out for my trusty old '84 ATC200S and racked up the snow road miles. Some of the old timers on here might remember the epic "Snow/Ice Storm" story I posted a few years back involving that old S. Anyway, you bolt on a set of cheap Ching Chang mud tires to an ATC200S and take her out into 4" -8" of loose snow, and you are going to have a ball all day. The only limitation I see in some hardtails is their lack of torque. I love my ATC125M and ALT125D to death - but take them out in anything more than 4" of snow, and they cant overcome my weight.

[BigGreenMachine]

When you wander off the trail and get in the powder your usually screwed. I've had my Tecate in about 2 feet of soft powder and it was useless even with the 22x13 wide Spidertracs simply because they would spin too much and not bite like John just said.