I don't know why, but lately I have been thinking about the good ol ATC days when I was a kid. These were simply the most amazing machines to me when I was growing up. Pretty much the sum of all things bad-ass piled into three wheels. Unfortunately, now people look at them as if they are the red-headed spawn of the motorcycle industry. I however think that they are going to make a comeback. Lets be honest, will all this hipster shit going on right now, everything horrible from the 80's/90's coming into "Trend", its only a natural progression that these kids would pull some of the sweeter stuff from that era to start running again. I am fully advocating it. A Quick craigslist search found that I could be into one of these babies as low as $200. TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS! That's a small price to pay for what could be some of the best memories of your life, or death. Which would bring me to the only down fall of the ATC, or three wheeler if you will, which led to its demise: Its extremely unstable and super dangerous. In my opinion that's just part of the mystique behind this feat of engineering. Its like stepping onto a bull, you never know if you are going to get bucked off.
I will say, Honda was very much ahead of their time when they launched the 85 250R, the holy grail of ATC's. It looked so advanced for a mid-eighties product. My Pops still has his 85 250R, and I would go as far to say that he still enjoys it as much as he did the first day he got it. I specifically remember being in 3rd grade or so and always telling people about my dads ATC, "Yeah is an 85 250R with a shit load of motor work. Thing is so fast its crazy, but I can totally handle it." Mind you I was like 3 foot nothing, so I wasn't really "Handling" anything.
If you take anything from this post is should be the following: If you have $200-$500 burning a hole in your pocket, go out and buy the most pristine 250R you can find. After you are done Premixing the oil & gas, getting the shit pounded out of your shin from trying to get it started, and trying to round up spare plastics from the salvage yard, then you can go out and rip that thing around and be the talk of the town. Just a thought.
3 comments:
I had an 87 250r fourtrax. My dad was pissed when I outclimbed him on his banshee. The next day he bought a raptor 700 only to be dissapointed again. To this day nothing runs with the 250r's. And the ATC is even lighter. I can't imagine the fun. I hope they come back.
So you were taller in 3rd grade then? Crazy!!
DAMN! Seth beat me to the 3 foot comment. Well played Seth...WELL PLAYED.
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