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I take mine off when I ride because my hands swell and the ring gets tight on the finger. I also take it off when Im doing work around the house so it doesn't get damaged. When my company was moving I was moving a filing cabinet and it got away from me and my hand got caught between the cabinet and the wall. No big deal until I tried to take my ring off. It got slightly crushed and I had trouble getting it off.

Welcome to the forum and welcome to ATVing SDgirl. Glad you are enjoying yourself!!!

Dirt Demon. That Lazy Trike is freakin awesome!! LOL!! I love it. I don't think I would be caught in public riding it. But, its one of a kind!! Two thumbs up. I did notice its missing a beer holder and remote. Does the leg rest take the place of the foot pegs!?

Is it ok if I post that pic on honda350X.com? My fellow Xer's will love that contraption!!!

The Tri-Raptor:

What in tarnation is that contraption!!?

Well, if Honda would have sold the 500R I know one would be in my stable right now!!!

Thx Guy!!!

Its been a labor of love (the 85X). I wish I had a garage on my property because it would be looking so much nicer. Nothing like making it look purty so you can mess it up!! Then, do it all over again!!

Is the Yamaha Rhino destined to go the way of the Honda ATC?

Commentary by Jon Crowley, UTV Guide

June 1, 2009

I was interviewed last week by a freelance reporter who is writing an article on the Yamaha Rhino and I got to thinking about the future of sport UTVs. Are Yamaha Rhinos, as well as other sport UTVs headed in the direction of the infamous Honda ATC three-wheeler from back in the 1980’s?

If you remember way back when in 1982 (it really wasn’t that long ago), Honda introduced the ATC 200 Big Red. The ATC was a great machine, but as popularity exploded, so did the accident rate.

Honda ATC Three Wheeler

The increase in accident levels lead to an investigation by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). In 1986, CPSC statistics suggested that most accidents were due to improper rider behavior that ignored manufacturer warnings. No inherent flaw was found in the three-wheel design.

Honda's owners manual and product warning labels stressed the importance of proper operation to its customers. Through a national industry safety campaign, there was a 33 percent decline in recorded CPSC injury statistics between 1984 and 1988.

Nevertheless, in 1988, ATV manufacturers entered into a 10 year agreement with the CPSC. Under the agreement ATV manufacturers made a $100 million commitment to expand safety programs. Additionally, even though three-wheel ATC sales were dropping off, manufacturers agreed to stop distributing ATCs in the U.S.

If history is bound to repeat itself, the sport UTV is headed in a similar direction as the ATC three-wheeler. The Yamaha Rhino is currently the biggest target, and Yamaha has worked out an agreement with the CPSC to “repair” existing Rhinos. Yamaha is facing an onslaught of lawsuits from users that for the most part have tipped their vehicles over and have been injured or killed.

From what I have seen in reviewing many of the accidents, a lot can be blamed on users not following manufacturer guidelines for proper use. For example, here are the two most recent accidents that happened in May 2009:

13 Year Old Dies in Rhino Rollover

Father Dies, 5 Children Injured in Rhino Rollover

The accidents are tragic, that is for sure. But if you look past the typical inflammatory reporting that blame the machine, you will find that in both instances, many guidelines were completely ignored that would have either prevented the accident or surely lessened the severity.

In the case of the 13 year old boy, he was not wearing a seat belt, he was under 16 years old, the Rhino was new (lack of experience), he was not wearing a helmet and there was no adult supervision.

With the father that died in the roll over, the Rhino was carrying one driver and 5 children as passengers in a two person vehicle. No one had seat belts on, and the father was carrying his one year old son on his lap.

If I am reading the tea-leaves correctly, I can see that improper use of sport UTVs will soon affect the types of vehicles that manufactures are allowed to build. Will the CPSC step in and limit how powerful side x side vehicles can be? Will helmets become mandatory equipment just like they are in California for ATVs? Will manufacturers be forced to add even more safety equipment? A riding lawn mower with doors, window nets and roll cages that create a safety bubble around occupants isn't too far fatched if you get where I am going here.

Even though the vast majority of side x side vehicle owners use their vehicles without incident, all of these lawsuits, the bureaucrats at the CPSC and our efficient lawmakers are going to force manufacturers to limit how much fun we can have in our beloved UTVs. That is the sad truth.

There are many more accidents involving bicycles per capita than there are in UTVs. If you apply the same logic to bicycles, manufacturers would have been forced to include a protective bubble around all bikes sold in the U.S. many years ago. But there are a few critical difference between bicycles and UTVs. First off, people have long ago accepted the fact that you may fall off your bicycle. And secondly, there isn't a specific manufacturer (aka cash cow) for a class action lawsuit so the lawfirms aren't interested.

Just because you have an accident and then see an advertisement on the TV or on the internet from a lawfirm talking about accidents in a Rhino doesn't mean there is a problem with the vehicle.

Here are a few guidelines to remember to help keep you safe in a side x side vehicle:

Always wear your seat belt

Always wear a helmet

Don't drink and drive

Keep arms and legs in the vehicle at all times

Abrupt maneuvers or aggressive driving can cause rollovers even on flat, open areas

Children under 16 should never drive a side x side vehicle

Beyond following the guideline provided by vehicle manufacturers, use some common sense and take responsibility for your actions. Be sure to learn the limits of your vehicle and your driving ability.

Wow...pretty interesting. I never really seen these or knew about them.

They were around in the early 80's. The manufacturing company was located in New York. My Dad was a distributor for Pennsylvania. The Supreme model looked the coolest but the Stampede was the fastest and most fun to drive. Unfortunately, they didn't sell very well. I guess the world wasn't ready for UTV's back then.

I wish I could get the full brochure loaded on the forum so all of you can read the specs and see one of the last remaining brochures of these early UTV's.

I ride in the NE PA area.

I used to ride at the "pay to ride" parks but I missed the days of riding for free (except for gas for towing and the bike plus lunch). The pay to ride parks prices were a bit salty. $35 a day to ride (and sharing the trails with monster 4x4's and huge rock crawlers) or $400 a year!!! The trails were actually built for the 4x4's but the owners found out they could make a lot more money letting ATVs in the park. Huge rocks everywhere. Mudholes that would swallow your bike in an instant. Just over all piss poor riding conditions. I also rode in the Hazelton, Hamburg, Allentown areas but those spots were illegal and my bike is a bit loud to be sneaking around. Then one day on a PA ATVing website I heard of this RAC program. I looked into it and found out the main riding area is an hour away from me!!!! AND...it only costs $100 a year! SA WHEAT!!! Since then Ive never cared to find other riding areas. The hour drive is a bit of a drag because it adds two hours to an already long day of riding. But, its one of the only places to legally ride and the riding is hard to beat!!

I never tried our state trails. One trail is about 45min from me but I heard the riding is absolutely terrible (especially for sport bikes).

I attended a couple of QuadFest events held at Mountain Ridge ATV Trails. Those were some of the best times of my life!! QuadFest is no more. It was great but it was starting to get too big for its own good. I would like to get back to the Moutain and ride their trails when there's not 5400 people riding around. I was just on their site and the main camping area is now covered with windmills. The vending area is in the middle of the windmills (see pic below)

Hi Ajmboy.

Unfortunately the pdf file is too large to post on this forum. I will try to load the pdf's of the Shrunkettes on another site that doesn't require a login.

Below are some screenshots I took from the pdf brochure (hopefully they load):

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I got it.

There was a little checkbox that said "Do you want to replace default image" that I didn't see and check. That was why my image wasn't being replaced. All is good in my garage now!!

Thx for the tip BuckBilly!!! It worked like a charm.

The 85X pics were taken at QuadFest 2007. It was the largest ATV event in Pennsylvania (maybe the East Coast). But, it was shut down last year. The Organization (PAATVING) that held the event closed its doors forever. All for the better though. The event was getting way too big for its own good. The last year they had it there was over 5400 ATVers.

The pics of the 86X were taken by the guy that sold it to me. Since I bought it the whole motor has been rebuilt. The guy said it was professionally built. The only professional thing I got that day was a professional line of BS!!!! There's a lot of things I want to do to this bike. I was going to sell it but I spent more on rebuilding the motor then I paid for for the entire bike! I couldn't bring myself to part it out. So I drop the mula to rebuild it. So, Im going to keep it so I can get my money's worth out of it. I was thinking of turning it into a trail bike. I want to put an add-on exhaust silencer (attached to the stock exhaust), large trail/mud tires, Goki electric starter, custom cargo racks, tank bag, and maybe some add-on lights. The only thing I would be missing is reverse. I guess we can't have everything!! LOL!!

Now all I need help with is getting my picture of my Quad in "My Garage". For some reason its not loading. It was well under the 95kb. I also saved it from jpeg to jpg (same but different) and it shrunk to 38kb. But, it still won't show!! My other two pics were larger then the allotted size and they were automatically converted to the appropriate size. It don't make sense!!!

Anyone that may have some tips please give me a shout!!!

These are some UTVs (named Shrunkettes) my Dad sold as a distributor back in the early 80's. They received a lot of attention but they didn't sell very well. I think the base model was approx $3500. The Deluxe model $6500. No wonder they didn't sell!!! Even though today's UTV's go for approx $14-16k.

My Dad had one base model and two Deluxe for display. They were neat little all terrain vehicles. The base model ripped!!! Too bad they were before their time and so damn expensive back in the day.

The Company went belly up and they are no more. I made the PDF from the last known brochure.

Shrukette Brochure

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Let me give the link suggestion a try...

My 85 350X:

My 86 350X:

Im not sure. My swinger isn't chromed. It has a ceramic coating on it that looks like satin polished aluminum. The high temp coating doesn't serve any purpose on the swingarm. I wanted to get it coated so it would match the head pipe and the rest of the polished aluminum on my bike. Too bad I need to buy another swingarm because after rebuilding and coating the rear I saw the rear skidplate bracket was bent all to hell. So, Im going to put the swingarm on my 86X and get another swingarm for my 85X and start over.

I know when I was looking to get my Quad's wheels chromed I was looking at some big bills to do it. So much I decided not to bother.

Works has two replacement options for the 350X.

One is a shock with reservoir.

The other is a shock without a reservoir. Even though there is no reservoir Works claims this shock will out perform the OEM shock. Im sure it will considering the stock shock is over 25yrs old.

A couple of years ago I purchased a polished rear shock for my X. I never got a chance to install it. I think I want to send it out to make sure all the parts are in good condition. It looks quite sweet all polished up. It would compliment my coated swingarm.

We need Bigger Pictures!!!!! Or is everything in South Georgia that Small

The jpeg/jpg size limit needs to be increased. Under a 100kb isn't enough!!!

RAISE THE LIMIT PLEASE!!!!

Below is some info and interviews with Jimmy White:

Team Monster Energy Kawasaki Team Manager Jimmy White will go back to his riding days, showcasing ATV racing's earliest days Saturday at Steel City

Monster Energy Kawasaki ATV Racing Team Interview - Jason Lubugh, Josh Creamer, Jimmy White

ATV Racing Legend, Jimmy White

ATV Source - Articles - 2009 - A Q&A with Jimmy White

Airfoolers.com Blog Archive Fooling around with Jimmy White.

Back in the day three wheelers (at least Honda's) came with a "Certificate of Origin". Later on when ATV's were required to be titled (and insured) you could take the Certificate of Origin along with a frame tracing to a notary and get the trike titled.

The first step most of these people need to take is purchasing a service manual for their bike. Many questions will be answered in the SM book.

Works Performance sells some replacement shocks for our ATCs. They are quite expensive but they are comparible to Ohlins. I would shop around a bit before dropping the cash. Works also offers a gut replacement. You give them your shock and they replace the stock guts with their parts and recharge your reservoir. The price is a fraction of what a brand new shock would cost you.

I don't know if you have a service manual for your R. But if not, here is a link to dload one:

http://honda350x.com/manuals/81-84atc250rservicemanual.pdf

I never rode a 2 stroke so I can't really compare 2 stroke to 4 stroke. But, back when I was 19 I was looking for a 200X. My buddy bought one out from under me (nice friend eh!?) and I couldn't find one anywhere (I wish the internet was around back then). Then one day I saw a 350X for sale. It was a total POS but I bought it anyway. It turned out the motor ran like a champ. The rest of the bike was trashed. But I fixed it up a bit and rode the nuts off it. Ever since my first run with it I was hooked. I sold that 350X and bought the 85 I currently own (shown in the pics).

My brother bought a sweet 200X for his son and was looking for another 200X for himself. I kept telling him he should buy a 350X. He was intimidated by my bike (he never rode it) and kept saying the 200X was plenty big for him. I told him he's taller and heavier than me and the 350X would fit him better then a 200X. I also told him he would get a 200X and we would go riding and we would switch and he would be kicking himself in the arse for not getting a 350X. Turns out he found a 86 350X and bought it. He loves it and is very glad I talked him into the 350 instead of the 200.

One day I want to take a 250R for a spin and feel the difference. I hear its night and day compared to riding a 4 stroke. One day.....

How did you bust up the vertebrae? Did you land in the water or the ground?

Hope your recovery is speedy and you don't suffer any future complications from your injuries.

Ive been down and out since Halloween. I broke my ankle in three places and tore the ligaments. I thought I would break my first bone doing something extreme like skydiving, hangliding, rock climbing, three wheeling. But noooooo! I break my ankle all to ell by walking to my car!!! I slipped on a tree stump covered with wet leaves. Im in a walking cast right now and still rely on crutches and a wheelchair to get around. I miss walking, driving, and riding!!!!

Great video!!! Thx for sharing.

A lot of the footage took me back to memory lane!!!