I always wanted a 3 wheeler since i was a kid in the 70's and the ATC70 came out. A kid up the street had mine and wanted me to chop it up for him so he could make a faster golf cart. I told him no so he went on his way riding a wheelie about a block long up the street. Then he called and said he found some truck parts and he needed 200 bucks. I said ride that thing back and i will give ya 200. Here he came on the back wheels. Had it for about 4 years. My cousin has a Yamaha Tri Moto he bought new in '79 or so...Bob
Ok cool story...yeah growing up my dad bought a new 185s in 81'. Its amazing that we used it as such a utility atv back in the day. We drove eons of miles with my dad, brother, and I on it. We were either grouse hunting, scouting for deer, pulling a small boat into a remote lake, woodcutting etc. Other than chain maintenance now and again it was an indestructible machine and the 185s wasn't one of the better models honda built.
My older cousin and uncle had a honda big red and they were brutes of a machine back in those days. My best buddy growing up had a 200m along with a 125m. Its astounding on how many hours we put on those old hondas without missing a beat.
I never had much personal experience with yamaha till my dad purchased a new big bear in like 91. It was on par with the build quality I experienced with the honda 3 wheelers growing up, except this one had 4 wheels. Later he purchased 2 new yamaha outboards and 2 yamaha snowmobiles and they were equivalent in quality.
I picked up an 84' ytm 200 a couple years back along with a 200E honda that I gave to my dad. The only reason why I kept the yamaha was because of it being shaft drive vs the chain driven honda. I use it as a cruiser/utility machine more than I should, but its been an awesome machine. I also have a 99' suzuki LTF500F 4x4 Quadrunner that I got on trade from a neighbor. Eventhough I wasn't sure what to expect from the suzuki it has been an impressive machine also especially since it wasn't ever taken care of or parked indoors the first 9 years of its life.
Either or honda and yamaha make great machines, but in recent years I have just slightly edged towards yamaha. Wow sorry for the rambling.
