How did you get started

[grtrat1]

In riding or racing...

My story

Back in 1984(14 yrs old) I lived in upstate NY... It was simple.. Everyone around me had 3-wheelers... I asked my parents if I could get one...Dad said no.. Too dangerous... Well Christmas morning Dad sent me to the garage for a screw drive... HOLY CRAP!!!!! A brand new 1984 Honda ATC 125m... Electric start, hi/lo gears, no suspension... the 3 wheeler lasted till early summer when I flipped it and bent the frame real bad....So that summer my Dad bought a 1984 Yamaha 200k 3 wheeler... Pull start with front suspension only...Very hard to start for a short fat kid back then..So I rode that for the summer...During the same summer I worked for the farmer down the street tossing bails of hay...His son had a Honda 200x and never rode it.. His dad sold it to me for I think $600... This 3 wheeler was almost brand new.... I made weekly payments, but got to take it home in the mean time...Learned alot on that bike and got hurt alot on it also...Then the timing chain tensioner decided to break... Took out the head and piston...So took it all apart sent the bottom of the engine out to get looked at...$300 later its back home... Friend of mine(race/riding partner) had a spare jug and head so he gave that stuff to me...So a few weeks later she fired up and just purrrrrred like a kitten....Now its winter time 1985 and ice racing is getting ready to start....I get a spare set of race tires from my buddy.. We hit the pond for some practice.... Not a good day....My dumb ass forgot to set the timing chain tension and ended up jumping time and bending the valves again...

In the mean time my Dad use to watch me race at the motoplex all the time and saw I was pretty good... So one day I guess he called my mom at home and told her to take me somewhere for awhile because we left the house like it was on fire....Couple hours later(back at home) my dad, his cousin and this AWESOME looking GREEN 3 wheeler was sitting in the back of my dads truck...I walk up and dad says... Like my new trike? I was like, HA HA you cant even ride a automatic. He said ok... So he and my cousin took the 1984 Kawasaki Tacate off the truck... (The bike was my dads cousins for real, Ive seen it and rode it many times)... My dad got on it and kicked it over and the kicker smashed his leg...Ive never heard my dad say the F word sooo much as he did after that... I thought it was funny... So my cousin got on it and fired it up rode it around for awhile adn then let me ride it...Few hours later he was going back home.. I asked him why he isnt taking his bike with him... He said "its yours, I got a new one"....OH MY GAWD.... I couldnt believe it....I rode that through out the rest of the winter learned how to ride and race it pretty well...

The end of my awesome Tacate....

March of 1986 came around, house was up for sale(Parents were ready to move south) Grandfather in Ohio died... We all went there for the funeral and all.. Well I ended up staying there with oldest cousin to help Grandma out on getting her house ready to sell... Well parents are in NY and the house sold, Tacate went back to my dads cousins untill we got to Florida... I had a total of 4 3 wheelers and my dad brings the Yamaha 200k down to Florida... the other 3 were sold....

So we are down in Florida now and wow.. Soo friggin crowded no where to ride... Summer of 1986 I sold my Yamaha 200k for $500....

That was the end of my riding era......


















26 years later......

Summer of 2011.... just started my new job in August, custome comes up looking for a tranny for a cub cadet tractor.... Dont have one... but somehow we get talking about 4 wheelers.. he mentions he has a 1984 Honda 200x for sale...$200.00... That friday I take him $200 and bring the bike to my shop...Needs alot of maintenance and moveable parts cleaned up....Worse thing is, it had no brakes.... So I get it running and ride it around alittle... I happier than a pig in **** now... By November she starts smoking pretty bad so I decide Ill rebuild it.. hell 26 years ago I rebuilt the exact same year bike.... The weekend after Thanksgiving Bike was back together and running... I fixed the front brakes also.. rear brakes needed everything as someone took it all off....Now Im riding with my neighbor 06 TRX450r and my other neighbor with a Honda Foreman and a Recon...Riding with them is starting to suck on the 3 wheeler... Im getting nailed in the shins with sticks, feet getting cought in vines etc..... Well I found a 1986 Honda ATC 250r on craigslist for $200... Wasnt pretty, but I always wanted one... Got it home, motor is seized, right foot peg is broke at the frame, all kids of stuff wrong... Ill take tax money and rebuild her.... That never happened... Shes sitting in my back yard all apart....So I decided to take the 4 wheeler plunge... Started looking at 400ex's... My neighbor was looking for parts on craigslist.. I went with him to get these parts.. the guys had 3 TRX450r's that his son MX raced...1 was a practice bike... Well I kept in contact with the guy... Come to find out, his son fell in love with some pu$$y... He quit racing and all.. So now his dad is selling everything... SO I went to talk to him about the prices on the quads he had.... Way too much for me.. but he said he'd sell me the practice bike with all the stock suspension back on for $2000...The guy was nice enough to let me make payments, but he kept the bike... He also let me come over and ride it in his yard on the weekends...

Finally got her paid off and brought her home... I was sooo excited again...Took it down the street hit 4th and BAM it shifted back down to 3rd.... WTF?????


The guy said he didnt know 4th was bad as he son never hit 4th on the track... SO I accepted it as that... Still got a sweet bike for the price...

06 TRX450r
stage2 hot cam
Supposed to be some porting in the head..
HRC kit
Brand new suspension (including a-arms, swing arm, axle etc....)
Brand new stock tires and rims
Houser chrome stem with the anti vibe..
Pro Taper Fat Bars
Pro Armor tether
MX link(dont know the name)
Power Madd hand guards

My awesome neighbor gave me his old pro armor nerf bars(I made new nets for them) and front bumper....

Been riding almost every weekend since...
Ive got 7 sets of rear tires and 3 sets of rear rims now
Also have a 2007 TRX250ex and a 1987 TRX250x..

Now I need to get my 12yr old daughter a quad...
She use to have a redcat 110, but we blew up the motor..

Thats my story and Im sticking to it.....


Chad

 

[grtrat1]

Guess everyone else doesn't really ride quads....

 

[ridinredjav]

I started riding when I was 8, my dad got me and my brother a go cart one christmas and we had a blast on it then the next christmas he got us a XR70. when I turned 11 my dad got me a 86 honda trx200sx and my brother got a 87 honda trx125 and that was when the real fun started! I bet I rolled that thing 15 times in 2 years haha I also started racing hare scrambles with it. when the 400ex came out in late 98 I wanted one really bad but my dad said no they are too fast! so I started saving money and when I turned 14 I had enough money saved up and wanted to buy a 400ex but my dad said no so I started looking at 300ex and the kawie 250 mojave and I ended up getting a new mojave in september of 2000 when I was 14. I had it til I was 16 and a friend of my dad offered to buy my mojave for a really good price so I sold it.

when I was 17 I bought another mojave just like it for cheap but the clutch slipped so i had a new clutch and top end put in it and started riding again then when I turned 18 the 450R and YFZ were out and one of my friends got a brand new 04 yfz and several others bought 450Rs so I couldnt keep up on the lil ol mojave so I started looking at used 250Rs because I always wanted one but at that time they were still priced way too high. anyway I graduated high school and im working at a factory and my dad says you need to buy a 450R!! and I say I dont have enough money so my dad says yes you do! anyway my dad owned a honda and kawasaki dealer (96-07) and of course he offers me a brand new 04 450R for 5700 and I can pay him when I get the money... so I did in june 2004! same quad I have today!

 

[nuckinfuts]

I grew up riding and spending time out at Glamis with my family. We moved to Utah then slowly started back into riding dunes once I bought my 400ex new in '00. Once the 450's hit, I held out till early 06 and bought mine new. A week later my dad bought a red 06. He finally retired and bought a nice new 40ft attitude and a XP early last year. This Thanksgiving was a reset button from last year as he had a horrible accident that took a chopper ride and landed him in the hospital for a week in critical. One year later and hopefully one last surgery to go, he's enjoying the desert life again. We had such a great time this last weekend, there was nothing more that I could have asked for!

 

[airmobile101]

I moreless had a extremely late start in the game. 32 was the age when I first started riding quads regularly. I was drunk one day at the local Bass Pro Shop and they had a Tony Stewart Edition DVX400.......... DRUNK GUY BUYS QUAD ROFLMAO!!! I only had a handful of times in my life riding one. And that was on a old beat to hell Blaster. Well......... soon after, I decided to get my 5 year old son a quad. Got him a brand new Kawasaki KFX50 4-stroke. Him and I had a awesome summer that year. We went riding at St.Joe state park at least twice during the week in the summer. Then fall set in.......... Him and I decided that we wanted to race a local harescramble. I had no effing clue what I was gonna get myself in. He did pretty good. He won the 50cc stock class. Dad didn't do so hot. I took 114 place out of 116 riders. ROFLMAO!!!!!!!! I had a rude awakening what it was to harescramble. Needless to say, I stuck with it over the last 6-7 years. Gotten pretty decent at it. Decent, not great.lol
I think my true joy of it is actually working on the quads and dirtbikes. I like to race,but I just feel more at ease wrenching on the stuff. Its moreless my trade anyways. I probably spend more time working and prepping other peoples race quads than mine. I love it thou....... wouldn't trade it for the world. And thats my story

 

[bigcountrydude]

dad set me on a honda elsinore MR50 dirtbike when i was 7 (3 speed with manual clutch!) the rest is history

MR50 --> KTM50sx (frackin thing was fast!) --> honda atc70 --> honda recon --> honda rincon --> 400ex (for one summer) --> fo fitty are

 

[Immortal ATV]

I started on a dirtbike in 81, tried an ATC90 at Pismo in 1982 and loved it, got an ATC200X and ATC250R in 85 and switched to twist throttles since I rode bikes(been twist ever since even though I haven't ridden a bike in 20 years), started racing in 1986, won a California state title on the 200 in 1987, the 200 was fast, had a Sparks motor where he tapped a second spark plug in the right side of the cylinder, I still have it, it was just that cool, got a TRX250 in 1987, started racing the TRX too, racing a 3 wheeler and quad at the same events was hairy, going from sliding into turns to driving into turns was quite an adjustment, moved up to local expert in 1987, got another TRX250 in 1988, turned pro, started racing Mickey Thompson stadium races in 1988 and continued that until 93 or so, through in a bunch of Arenacross races, a few Nationals, some Score off road races and countless Monster Jam Quad War shows(which I still do along with some Quad X and local junk) and you have my career. Riding and racing is in my blood and my blood has been all over my quad, so guess I am a quadder for life, all my kids ride too, son races and was a WORCS champ in 2009!! BTW, in the pic I am #73, in my Mickey Thompson days I was known as......"Todd the Quadgod" and the nickname sticks with me today!!!

 

[grtrat1]

Nice.... I have a 84 200x that I converted to a automatic, an 86 250 that needs completely restored.. My son has a 87 TRX250x that he wants to XC race locally, but now needs pivot kit for the swingarm, rear caliper....Drive axle.... Just dont have the funds to do it all..

 

[ridingred]

I was riding 3 wheelers as a kid, never really got into quads until about 5 years ago though. I rode dirtbikes all throughout my youth. Finally bought a street bike in 01 and then realized commuting and horsing around on it was too dangerous so i took my ventures off road in 2005 and haven't looked back since!

I've had 2 400ex's, 2 yfz's and 2 450r's. Never had anything but honda and yamaha quads.