![]() Image courtesy of Honda.įrom this time on the manufacturers all focussed on more stable four-wheeled quad bikes, and these remain the most common type of ATV today over 30 years later. Engine displacement and power kept increasing, for Honda this culminated in the ATC250R released in 1981 and the ATC 350X released in 1985.īy the mid-1980s the sheer number of injuries and deaths caused by inexperienced riders crashing or flipping three-wheelers drew the attention of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the manufacturers reached a settlement called the 1988 Consent Decree that essentially shutdown three-wheeler production.Įxperienced riders would throw their body weight left and right to counterbalance the trike through the corners, achieving remarkable speeds in the process. Led by Honda the three-wheeled ATV revolution resulted in millions of sales, and the vehicles were a common sight on beaches, dunes, motocross tracks, and enduro trails. #Reddit atc how toRiders soon learned how to get the new breed of three-wheelers up to speed, and racing leagues were set up across the country (and around the world). The downside of this was that the trikes tended to be less stable than a comparable four-wheeler. The decision to use three wheels rather than four was probably driven by economic reasoning, the single wheel up front could be steered with a simple fork arrangement rather than a more complex two-wheel steering system which would have also required more complex suspension. The other three major Japanese motorcycle manufacturers rushed to catch up, and by the 1980s they were selling hundreds of thousands of them each year in the US alone.Ībove Image: This detailed modern review of the Honda ATC 350X gives a good look back at the history of the model, including its pros and cons, and in-depth coverage of what it’s actually like to ride off-road with plenty of footage. When the Honda US90 three-wheeler was released in 1970 it triggered a revolution in the burgeoning ATV market. The Honda ATC 350X was the largest and one of the fastest three-wheelers ever made by Honda, the model was only in production before the shift to quad bikes, and today the surviving examples are seen as highly collectible.Three-wheelers soon developed a reputation for being dangerous, many new riders had difficulty handling them and flipped them over, resulting in injury or even death.The “US” prefix was replaced with the “ATC” prefix in 1973, it stands for “All Terrain Cycle.” Engine capacities slowly increased, from 90cc all the way up to 350cc by 1985.Honda introduced the concept of the modern three-wheeler in 1970 with the release of the US90. The concept proved popular, and it was helped along by the inclusion of multiple US90s in a chase scene in the 1971 James Bond film “Diamonds Are Forever.”.This meant that the ATC 350X was only in production for two years, making it both the biggest and rarest of the dominant Honda ATC three-wheelers. Three-wheelers have a well deserved reputation for being dangerous and the 1988 Consent Decree essentially ended their sales in the USA. Honda called it the “King Of The Hill” and the trike had no trouble living up to the hype, it could reach speeds of over 105 km/h (65 mph) on the dirt. When the Honda ATC 350X was released in 1985 it was the largest-displacement production three-wheeler money could buy. ![]()
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