Friday Funny: Some Ugly Moments in ATV Design
These days you can head to your local ATV dealership and pretty much be assured that everything on the salesroom floor will look pretty tight. Headlights are minimal, plastics cut to sharp angles, frame geometry is presumably spot on. These are good times!
However to get to this point, the ATV industry has undergone growing pains just like any other. And while most of us tuck our “awkward years” photos under the bed to never be seen again, the ATV industry’s not so pretty moments are forever immortalized for us to laugh at all these years later.
Yamaha YT125 Tri-Moto
Believe it or not, this fine specimen represents my first foray into the world of ATVs. BMX-bike handlebars, a 125cc air-cooled 2-stroke engine mounted way too far back in the frame, an upward angled gas tank that made spill-free filling all but impossible and seat foam that doubled as your machine’s suspension- what could possibly go wrong? The real mystery here is what prompted me to not simply give up on the whole industry altogether after this one.
Honda Fourtrax 200D
We’re guessing the D stood for dumpster because what better name could you give that integrated trunk-thing behind the saddle? This would be the quad of choice for all mobsters, Joe Pesci impersonators and anyone else looking to eliminate pesky evidence on a relaxing ride.
Kawasaki Tecate-3 250
Liquid cooling was a nice addition to the 1984 Tecate 250 2-stroke but could the headlight possibly appear any more of an afterthought here? First low-hanging branch and that thing’s going to end up in your lap. Amazingly enough my cousin purchased an identical 1985 version (in 1998) and immediately removed the headlight altogether rather than face ridicule from the other riders on the trail. It was the second modification performed, however, as the first was to remove the prior owner’s Taz stickers from the rear fenders.
Kawasaki Duckster 200
Man, Kawasaki earns two spots on our list and while we don’t mean to pick on them exclusively, it sort of goes without saying that the 1983 Duckster was just an awful exercise in design on all fronts. As if showing up to a ride on a machine called “the Duckster” wouldn’t have been embarrassing enough, the camo colored KLT200 finally put to rest the idea that camouflaging anything can be used to fool animals. The bizarrely complicated headlight guard, main frame, minimalist tank area, weird handle-things sprouting from the bars; all we can say is riding this thing in anything other than camo coveralls would have been sacrilege!