Loose On the Dunes

LOOSE ON THE DUNES

Cycle World takes a look at the current cro all-terrain vehicles-and comes away smiling

DAVID EDWARDS

THEY'RE NOT LAUGHING anymore.

You remember the snickers, the guffaws, the out-and-out belly laughs that were heaped upon the first off-road three-wheeler. Honda's ATC90. Even Cycle World got in on the act: a “tricycle with a berserk thyroid" we said in a 1970 news item that announced the donut-tired creation.

But oh, what a difference a decade makes! By the time the 1980s rolled around, the only laughter associated with all-terrain vehicles came from the dealers, who were gleefully adding up their sales receipts, and from riders, who were getting more and more sophisticated machinery.

Today, all of the Big Four motorcycle manufacturers are making threeand four-wheelers. Between them, 35 different models are offered. A more staggering figure, though, is that an estimated 550,000 ATVs were sold in this country last year. Farmers bought them, campers bought them, racers bought them, and in some recreationally oriented areas of the country, it seemed that everyone bought them. This at a time when motorcycle sales were still in decline, when a total of only 140,000 dirt bikes found their way out of dealers’ showrooms. Obviously, some potential dirt-bike buyers are being persuaded over to the threeand fourwheeler camp.

ATIIs of a several years ayo were, for (he mos( pari, dead boriny.

IUo( any more.

HONDA 250SX: The ultimate fun-time three-wheeler

HONDA'S NEW 250SX IS A CASE STUDY IN MECHANI cal evolution. The SX can trace its lineage back 1 5 years to the original balloon-tired ATC9O, and in 1985 stands as the ultimate extension of the recreational three-wheeler.

Helping the SX claim that title is a boatload of standard features that makes the Honda as easy to live with as possible. To ease the learning process for beginners, the SX’s five forward speeds work through an automatic clutch. A toe-operated lever still selects the gears, but there’s no need to master the sometimesfrustrating technique of clutching away from a dead stop: Just put the five-speed gearbox in first and open the throttle.

Other endearing features on the SX include electric starting, meaning that even the most weak-kneed novice can bring the 246cc, two-valve four-stroke Single to life. A reverse gear lets riders back out of any corners they’ve managed to paint themselves into. Shaft final drive puts an end to chain-maintenance chores, a big plus in sandy or swampy riding areas. Compliant suspension front and rear soaks up bumps at the playriding speeds the 250SX was intended for.

The Honda's success as an entry-level threewheeler was evidenced by the fact that all our test

crew, even the rankest beginner, had the SX mastered within minutes. Because there was so much high-performance machinery around, the more experienced riders soon tired of the SX, even if it did do great wheelies, and moved on to the more-advanced ATVs. Still, for the buyer who wants a three-wheeler that the whole family can operate, yet is still capable of respectable speeds, the $ 1928 SX will be hard to outdo.

Several years ago, a buyer interested in a serious off-road recreational vehicle would have to think twice before buying an ATV. After all. when compared to a good dirt bike, ATVs of that time were slower.

less responsive, more limiting and, for the most part, dead-boring. But these days, sport-oriented ATVs are quite sophisticated, exciting machines. Suspension travel is approaching 10 inches. Swingarms are

aluminum, attached to adjustable, remote-reservoir shocks. Disc brakes and liquid-cooled engines abound. Horsepower output is comparable to a decent motocrosser’s. Nowadays, should any dirt-bike rider have the indiscretion to poke fun at an ATV, he's liable find himself buried axledeep in the sand thrown up by a twowheeled roostertail.

KAWASAKI KHT250 TECATE: Rocketship on three wheels

HVEN IF IT HADN'T BEEN FINISHED IN AN ALMOSTfluorescent shade of lime green, the Kawasaki Tecate would have been easy to spot out on the dunes. It was the one throwing a

sandy roostertail, its front wheel clawing at the air, its rider wearing an ear-to-ear grin.

Introduced two years ago, the Tecate is one of the hot-rods of the ATV world. Its liquid-cooled, 249cc two-stroke engine ambushed the then-king of threewheelers, Honda’s air-cooled ATC250R. Ever since, there’s been an escalation going on, as first Honda and then Yamaha joined the battle with their own liquid-cooled, two-stroke 250 racers.

The Kawasaki’s technical highlights include more than eight inches of suspension travel, a Uni-Trak swingarm, and disc brakes front and rear. The Tecate’s biggest advantage over its rivals comes in the weight category; with a claimed dry weight of 276 pounds, it's about 15 pounds lighter than either the Honda 250R or the Yamaha Tri-Z.

For motorcycle riders making the transition to three-wheelers, the Tecate is an ideal choice. To begin with, it is one of the few ATVs equipped with a conventional twistgrip throttle rather than a thumb-operated lever. Another motorcycle carryover is its manual clutch and one-down, four-up gearbox. Even the Tecate's handlebar-seat-footpeg relationship seems more cycle-like than those on other three-wheelers.

Ridden aggressively, the Tecate can literally scorch across the dunes. In inexperienced hands, though, the machine’s power can be intimidating; if traction is available, it’s fairly easy to loop the Kawasaki, even in fourth and fifth gears. All in all, however, the $2149 Tecate is capable of providing about as much fun as it's possible to have on three wheels.

HONDA 350 ODYSSEY: Half car, half ATV, all fun

SO WHAT IF IT COSTS ALMOST $3000? SO WHAT IF IT has no motorcycle ties whatsoever? So what if it’s still a kidney-bruiser in the rough despite the addition of rear suspension this

year? Honda’s new 350 Odyssey will have you in a fit of giggles in no time at all.

Looking for all the world like a Class One dune buggy that's been left in the steam cabinet too long, the 350 Ody is Honda’s long-awaited successor to the original 25Ö Odyssey. The race-car impression is further driven home when you climb in through the roll cage, snug down the collared, four-point safety harness and dump the shift lever into Forward. Press in on the steering wheel’s thumb-operated throttle, and a torque converter transfers the 342cc two-stroke Single's power into forward motion. Then it’s time to go looking for some smooth sand.

The 350 lives to be pitched into full-lock turns, to spin endless donuts in wet sand and to be flung assend first around the rims of sand bowls. It’ll also get an impressive amount of air off of jumps, after which the new suspension does a good job of cushioning the resultant landings. Ridden at top speed over abrupt bumps and ruts, though, the Ody will have you looking for an extra kidney belt and smoother trails. Five inches of travel in the back and four inches in the front just aren’t enough for a vehicle that weighs in at more than a quarter-ton.

Like the 250SX, the Odyssey was an easy vehicle to learn to ride—well, make that drive. Everyone came back smiling, and the car was in almost constant use. Still, there’s no denying that three grand is a lot of money to pay for an off-road vehicle with such limited scope. In the end. it all depends on the value you put on your giggles.

SUZUKI LT250R QUADRACER: The ATV of the future

YOU'RE LOOKING AT THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE for all-terrain vehicles: the four-wheeler.

Actually, it’s a wonder that someone didn't think of it before now. The extra wheel, you see. does some very important things. For one, it adds considerable stability. The new-generation four-wheelers actually turn without the gymnastics that most three-wheelers require. That’s good news for beginners and for farmers who don't have either the skills or the inclination to slide an ATV around a corner or go through the effort of lifting the inside rear wheel to make the turn. But perhaps more importantly, the extra wheel is likely to get various government agencies off of the ATV manufacturers’ backs about the “inherent instability” of threewheelers.

Suzuki has taken the lead in four-wheelers; the company introduced the Quadrunner series two years ago and this year followed it up with the Quadsport and the blockbuster Quadracer, a high-performance ATV powered by a liquid-cooled, 249cc two-stroke engine orginally fitted to a domestic-market dual-purpose bike.

The other manufacturers have noted Suzuki’s sales success with the Quad series, and for 1985 they all offer four-wheelers, although none are as serious as the Quadracer. Rumor is that Honda will have a similar bike very soon, but there’s a counter-rumor that Suzuki is about to unveil a gonzo Quadracer powered by a 500cc engine.

That addition would solve one of our complaints about the Quad: Its engine makes excellent lowand mid-range power, but falls a little short on the topend. There’s just not the same power rush of, say, a Tecate 250. Also, while the fourth wheel does add stability, cornering hard in soft sand can result in so much bite that the Suzuki will start to rise off its two inside wheels, threatening to become a $2299, 300pound steamroller. On firmer surfaces, though, there’s no such problem, and even fairly rank novices are soon able to start sliding around corners at fullthrottle, opposite-lock attitudes. It’s easy to see, then, why Quadracers are beating up on three-wheelers in closed-course races around the country.

Cycle World wanted to find out first-hand what this new generation of ATVs was all about —to see if trueblue motorcycle fanatics could find happiness aboard the high-performance descendants of the original ATC90. The subjects of the experiment were easy to pick. Research shows that ATV sales are divided fairly equally into three groups—utility, recreational and sport. We were interested in the latter two; so from Honda came the 250SX, a featurepacked recreational three-wheeler, and to cover the sporting end of the spectrum we picked the Kawasaki Tecate three-wheeler and the new Suzuki Quadracer four-wheeler. Our next choice was a Honda Odyssey 350. Even in ATV circles. Odysseys have always been considered outerfringe machines. But the new car, with more suspension and power than its 250cc predecessor, looked like a good bet to finally bring the Odyssey into performance parity with other ATVs. Finally, just for the hell of it, we took along two Yamaha BW200s that were left over from our March test.

ATVs are such kiek in fun they should be lis "therapy" in the yell

Our test site was Pismo Beach State Park, located along the central California coastline and containing acre after acre of rolling sand dunes—a perfect place for wringing out a bunch of ATVs. The test crew consisted of most of the CW editorial staff, as well as a smattering of wives, boyfriends and girlfriends. ATV riding experience ranged from virtually none to moderate.

And what did we learn in our twoday safari into the strange world of all-terrain riding?

Well, for one thing, our beginners—aboard the auto-clutch 250SX, at least—needed less than five minutes of instruction before they were motoring down the beach, all smiles and excitement. Because they didn't have to worry about balancing, our novice riders could concentrate on steering, shifting and braking, and so their learning curves accelerated.

We also disproved the old saw that says experienced motorcycle riders need to forget everything about bikes before they can ride ATVs. Based on our experience, 1 5 minutes is all the acclimation time needed before an experienced motorcycist starts to feel at home on an ATV. And within a few hours, we were pulling off impressive enough maneuvers that one ATV playrider who was watching us went back to his camper and returned with a video camera so he could record the festivities.

YMUMWIBWSOO: Unlikely King of the Dunes

KAY. WE ADMIT IT: WE'RE BIASED. WE LIKE MO torcycles. But even we wouldn't have guessed that Yamaha's fat-tired, hybrid BW200 would win an impromptu shootout with the best the threeand four-wheelers had to offer.

You see, the two BWs we took to Pismo Dunes were just supposed to be backups, something to help pass the time while all the ATVs were being ridden.

Art Director Elaine Anderson was the first to discover the BW's potential. Fresh from stints on the auto-clutch SX and Odyssey 350, she got some instruction in the previously mysterious art of clutch starts, and before we knew it she was strafing the beach, body bent into the wind and upshifting her way to the BW's top speed of 53 mph.

Next to fall under the BW’s spell was Test Editor Ron Griewe, a dyed-in-the-wool dirt-biker whose enthusiasm for three-wheelers is less than boundless, partly because he suffers motion-sickness when he rides the things on the dunes. Wife Marilyn agreed. “The three-wheelers feel tippy after riding the BWs,” she said.

Further confirming the BWs-are-better theory were Cycle World's Feature Editor and Shop Foreman, both of whom went out for an hour-long tag-andwheelie session that had a group of three-wheel riders all but standing and applauding as the two jumped and slid around the sand bowls.

We’ve got some bad news for Yamaha, though: No

one knows about the BW. Even the ATV riders at Pismo looked at the bike, snickered, and asked what it was. So here's some advice, Yamaha—trust us on this: Make a BW350 with 10 inches of suspension travel. Take ’em by the truckload out to various sandy riding areas for demonstration rides. And don’t forget the deposit forms.

Some people will still snicker and ask what it is. Don't worry, though. They’re probably related to the same people who snickered at Honda’s ATC90 15 years ago.

In the course of all this fat-tired merriment, we also learned about crashing. The Odyssey got flipped, the SX was rolled down several offcamber dune faces, the Tecate was wheelied over backwards, the Quadracer was high-sided, the BWs low-sided. Yet, thanks to the relatively slow speeds, the soft sand and the proper safety equipment—helmets, boots, gloves, padded pants and shoulder pads—injuries were limited to a few minor bruises. From our observations at Pismo and other riding areas, the majority of ATV riders believe that the soft sand alone will protect them from injuries. But we don’t agree. Our advice to potential — as well as actual—ATV riders is to buy all the safety gear they can, starting with a helmet. It can mean the difference between a laughable pratfall and a painful ambulance ride.

More than anything else, our days on the dunes taught us that ATVs are so much kick-in-the-pants fun that they should be listed under “therapy” in the yellow pages. There’s something marvelously cleansing about riding a vehicle whose sole purpose for being is to pull 100-yard wheelies, do button-hook turns on the pristine face of a sand dune or splash spectacularly through the water at the surf s edge.

Don’t get the wrong idea, though; as much fun as we had, no one on the staff is ready to trade two wheels for three or four. Man, after all, does not live by sand dune alone. We do, however, have a suggestion for any motorcyclists who snickered at the first ATVs: Try one of these new-generation threeand four-wheelers. You'll be laughing this time as well —but for all the right reasons.

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