Too Fun, Must Be Outlawed: A Look Back At The Honda ATC200X Three-Wheeler

An automotive delinquent just doesn’t happen overnight. They are groomed and slowly brought into the world of loud engines, sideways antics, and the fun that can be had. For many kids, an ATV or a dirt bike is the logical next step between a bicycle and their first set of wheels, and I was no different. After starting out on a Honda 50 minibike and going through a few small-displacement, low-power trail bikes, it was a Honda 200 “Big Red” that gave me my first real taste of power. An auto-clutched workhorse, it instead spent most of its time in the yard being used as drift trike practice. I churned up the open area enough that you could’ve planted just about anything you wanted after I had run through a tank of gasoline. There were others…the fluffy-tired Honda ATC185 that my younger brother loved to roam around on, and the ATC200X that we both learned lessons about speed with…I found the upper limit of fifth gear, he found out that all the brakes in the world won’t stop you from hitting the neighbor’s Ford Courier head-on when the tires lock up… read more >