<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: SMFREY

You are correct it does take skill

But the skill makes for a better rider is what I have found

The fun factor also helps

I have also found it a challange to see just how fast you can make the darn things run

Thanks

Ray</end quote></div>

I found the same thing riding dirt bikes as skills learned in the dirt translated to make me a better street rider. I'm too old to do it anymore, but it sure was fun. My motto was, "If you ain't crashing, you're really not having fun". Of course that was with a 200 pound motorcycle and I never got more than a broken thumb and some sprains and a lot of bruises.

By reading this and another thread, I have come to appreciate how people view and use trikes and have a much better understanding of their passion. I will never own one, but can understand why others do.

 

i think if you know how to ride anything is safe to ride i let my 10 year old boy ride anything i ride that includes my81 250r i would rather him ride one of are 3 wheelers on the trail than his blaster and so does he.

 

It all depends on the kids, some can and some can't. I taught my kids to ride motorcycles and shoot when they were about five or six, but I have had too grandsons that I wouldn' trust with either until thirteen or fourteen. Unfortunately my son did and wound up with a totaled ATV; fortunately no one was hurt.

 

it does depend on the kid my son has grown up a round bikes all his life and he respects them we have a daughter now she is two she loves going for rides were looking to get started on something this summer nothing serious just teach her the throttle let her stear will i putt around hope to have her on something small next year.saw china bike that was gas powered so small could pick it up carry it under your arm going to start her on something like that.but she will be riding the 3-wheelers when shes older

 

Personally, I would have to say that neither machine is paritcularly dangerous if you are smart enough to keep your thumb out of the throttle! I'm not going to be a total preacher the virtues of three wheelers, and to be honest im kinda glad they quit making them, because if you think people are bad at staying out of the throttle on a Honda 200, can you imagine what would happen to anybody that rode a Banshee 350 powered trike?? We all know that every quad out there would have had a three wheeled counterpart, except four maybe the 4x4s. Think about this for a minute... The ATC 200M will do about 60MPH. Thats a 200cc, single cylinder, air cooled 4 stroke built 20 years ago when they didn't have te same high performance technology. The 2002 Yamaha Grizzly 660 will get up around 90MPH. It weighs over 3 times as much as the 200M, has 3 times the motor, and its 4 wheel drive, so it loses a lot of power! The Raptor 660 or 700s will probably do 120 or 130. They weigh about twice what the 200M does. I don't doubt that they would have built a 1985 Yamaha YTZ 450 if they had have had the YZF450F Dirt Bike that the motor came out of. Most cases of three wheeler or four wheeler crashes happen when somebody is riding too big a bike too fast over terrain thats too rough. It doesnt matter if you have three wheels or eight, they won't do you a damn bit of good if you're too stupid to keep them below you, not vice versa

 

My father bought a new 200m in 1984 we still have it and it runs great this trike has hauled thousands and thousands of logs/firewood out of some pretty rough terrain for 22years untill 2006 when he got himself a 06 kodiak450 because at 62 he wanted a bit more smooth ride as you know there are only shocks on the front forks of the 200m. It's been rolled a few times trying to go over a large rock or something but I think a 4wheeler would have done the same in those conditions.
I drove it mid 90's to 2004 when i got my vinson I wanted more power har har har. After riding the Vinson for 7000km now when i get on the 200m i feel like one of those circus bears on a little tricycle in the cartoons. But back in the day i went everywhere i wanted on the little 200 and enjoyed every minute without incident.
Like anything it's only as safe as the person using it i know people that would find a way to crash a wheel barrow. Check out youtube there are plent of senseless pople crashing 3 and 4 wheelers.

 

It seriously is all in how you ride them whether or not they're safe... I've been hurt more on a SUzuki King Quad 300 then I ever was on my Tri-Moto 225... Its because you feel like you can get away with more on the quad than u think u can on the trike

 

This is a great discussion. I was just thinking about this the last couple of days. When I was a teenager in the early 80s I rode ATCs all the time and wrecked plenty. But I also wrecked plenty on 2 wheels. (I guess I'm just not that great of a rider.) The worst thing I remember happening to me was getting drug under the rear tire because I put my foot down. But that kind of thing can be remedied with a footboard/net. It was absolutely overkill to ban all ATCs from the market. Then I got to thinking about the "safe" four wheelers that replaced them. Apparently they are so "safe" that we can now manufacture them with 700cc engines that exceed 100mph! That's safe? Lastly, I was wondering (rather daydreaming) if it would be possible to lobby to have the ban lifted, thereby encouraging manufacturers to start building them again - safer, of course...

 

I don't care what it is car, 4wheeler,3wheeler,tractor,I don't care the day you disrespect it and keep on disrespecting it it will hurt you.

 

i cant believe this atcs or any offroad veicles are not dangerous its the dumbasses that ride them personally atcs are safer than dirtbikes especially on dunes so maybe dirtbikes should stop being manufactured.....