this brought back a lot of memories, sold my last 250r about 5yrs ago … Wheelies down the street were effortless on those old bikes … Awesome content sir !!
I'm so jealous! 🥺 😂 I had one of those tiny ones 81 or 82 can't remember. I was 12or13 I had drawn some flames with a pencil on on it because it was white and boring. I was a kid and pretty good at drawing flames. I came home from school one day and my dad taped it off and painted it red, orange, and yellow fade. He was the best. I rode the hell out of it, by far my favorite three-wheeler. I want another one but have no where to ride anymore. I need to move out West but looks like you are going to run out of water before long and it's stupid hot 🥵 I done my time hot and sand.
You & Jimmy are a crack up Jimmy put a Cummings in his Ford truck . Wes truck looking good & DR FRANKENSTEIN MODIFIED his Honda 3 wheeler . Your knowledge on history & everything you work on. Really really sad about Lake Havasu. Love your videos Merlin thanks for the entertainment.
You got to love those Honda’s and their engineering especially in the 80s great job Merlin they used to say those things will kill you quicker than anything in the desert.
The 1986 Honda ATC 250R was the baddest machine ever built by man to date. There are faster machines built but when comparing weight to HP ratios the 250R still stands out. The mid to late 80’s Honda had an engineering team assembled that was way ahead of its time and it took decades for everyone else to catch up. The TRX 250R dominated the circuit for over a decade and still would be today but Honda them selves killed the legendary run so they could sale new models. You have a damn nice trike sir!
One of the guys in honda promotional video is dean sunhdal he has won the baja a few times on one of those. He now makes custom quads with 18 inches of travel.
I remember riding your Dad's little ATC at the Coral Pink Sand Dunes in the 70s. That thing tipped over so many times, but nobody ever really got hurt. Good times!
My buddy had a 250R that was bored, ported, polished, bigger carb...all the goodies. It was faster than his KX500 swapped Tecate and later faster than even a Banshee. It was totally controllable too, I loved riding that thing.
Great job Merlin! I’ve got an 86 350 X, it’s all stock, but man I just love those old 3 wheelers!! So much fun! I’m always on the look out for a good deal on 3 wheelers ;)
I absolutely agree I freaking love three-wheelers if you know how to ride them they're not dangerous at all. I was a '80s baby and grew up with those thanks Merlin for letting us see your revample them
I love it!!. The most fun you will ever have in the sand. I have 2 82250r and 1 85 water pumper 250r 2 200s. 2 200x one just parts 1 185s. This should be your new content rippin the dunes!! Brother. Im 56 and the kids can't hang the ridge like i can with my 82 bored to 290. Braap for life.
I lived in San Diego when honda sent out 3 for the Baja race with my room mate Ace Williams, Dean Nixon and Waxeldorf, were on the honda team. wild times.
That 84 front end is exactly what that needed! Also, twist throttles for life! Im tired of videos of these guys going on about oem tires and how i cant ride cause i use a twist throttle lol Bring ot out to Glamis and show me how to ride then! That's the baddest '82 ive ever seen sir!
Your buddy beat me to the comment on the vintage Honda shirt. Helmet looks like an Evil Knievel model, I think he had a few different ones over the years... probably because he broke a few. Great video. Keep them coming. I've started collecting golf cart parts😉👍. Reefer engine
Had a 185 and 200, no spring suspension on the 185, forget what the suspension the 200 had. (Relied on bounce from the ballon tires). Changed the rear tires on the 185 to more sand slinging type. (Multi surface tire tread, not a paddle tire). They will tip over. Experienced rider helps. I recall driving sideways across a sand dune. Some serious rider position shifting was required. Wahoo. Nothing like these machines for off-roading. Thanks for showing your machines.
You are like wile-e-coyote brother. i get so inspired watching your builds! thanks for the videos. also that helmet makes you look like guy "dave the stunt man" from the 70's haha
Well Merlin... Somehow I'm not surprised... just amazed😁 Another super cool project come to fruition!! That thing looks like it screemes! Hope you get the throttle/idle thing fixed!! Thanks for letting us in on it!!
When I was a young teen. I got a 200x for my B-day. And it was so much fun.! I loved it. I went out riding with some new friends. One of them had the Brand new. 300x that I got to ride. It blew my mind with it's torque. And another guy had a 250r I got to ride. And it was so fast and so fun. I just fell I love with the Honda 3 wheelers. l used to have a few of them. But I had to get rid of them about 10 years ago. Now I want one again. 😂
I've owned 3 ATC200X's, an ATC200S, ATC70, ATC125M, and still currently have my 86 ATC250R and my son has an 85 KXT250 TECATE torn down in my garage. LONG LIVE THREE-WHEELED DEATH MACHINES
Merlin would love to see some more trike content. I'm from Iowa and have owned hundreds of them and still own a couple dozen but you guys out in the desert have the cool old goodies to be found for them.
So great to see you using 400 parts. we used to rob 250R parts to make our 400's better when we were racing them back at the turn of the century! I never had an R, but 350X and 200 X and a ton of 4 wheelers. Still got a 400 ex, maybe I should get it out.
Great lookin wheeler, nice work. Used to work for the local Honda dealership as a mechanic. More than once people would show up with boxes of oddball parts or complete engines they’d taken apart and couldn’t put back together. Quick heads up, I’ve run across it a hundred times but replace the crank seals on that two stroke!!!! Had to rebuild countless two smokes from the crank seals drying up and cracking after sitting. When the crank seal leaks on a two stroke it pulls vacuum there causing a lean situation. First it’ll scorch the top end but if it runs too long it’ll take out the rod bearing then the crankshaft main bearings. It usually all goes within a few seconds at wide open throttle as that’s when it pulls the most vacuum at the crankcase. Working on a 90 model CR 250 right now that blew the bottom of the cases out with the connecting rod and a snapped off lower skirt on the sleeve. Just hoping to save you some headaches and money down the road. Only takes a little while to replace both seals if you’ve got a flywheel puller but they’re an excellent investment. The last seals I bought were just a few bucks and it’s good peace of mind to be able to check crankshaft end play.
Glad you did a video on the 82R. I absolutely love the first gen R's, my profile pic is me coming around the last turn to take the checkers on one of my 82R's. If you haven't got the idling issue solved, it's most likely an air leak, crank seals, intake sucking air some place. Also the kehien flat slide needs a pretty good size air filter. I run the biggest that fits between carb and shock mount.. With the Hondaline 300 kit, a run of pistons are just now being made, join an R page on Facebook. Very hard to find top ends in running condition. Great video , follow the leader, he's on a Honda.
Merlin I raced Honda 200X and owned a custom made Kawasaki street bike converted in to a 3 wheeler. I had a great respect for the 250R, wicked power band. I loved my 3 wheelers and had a blast as a kid in the AZ deserts. I am always looking for a 200x or the 350x, prefer the 4 strokes 🙂. Love your work with Fabrats!
We had an '82 250R when I was in HS. My brother and I took turns switching between it and our Honda 110 3-wheelers. We didn't have any bad crashes but we were both pretty tame. The 250R mostly just putted around with us on it. My dad on the other hand did lots of dumb stuff on it and eventually declared that we had to sell it before "someone" got hurt... :)
The 250R was every kids dream bike in the 80's. I had the 250sx. Fun but not a 250R. I spent my entire childhood riding 3 wheelers and only had 1 bad crash. Just had to be smarter than 3 wheels. I remember thinking 4 wheelers were weird cuz they were a lot harder to throw around. I bet that old 250sx is still running somewhere, absolutely indestructible machine. Badass
My buddy had a 200x and it busted a 2" hole in the top of the case somehow-- maybe a chain slap.. it still ran fine, but it was splashing oil everywhere. We needed to go to the trails that day-- so I patched over that large hole with some JB Weld and a beer can, and he drove that 3 wheeler hard for years with that fix. lol.
Can't believe you found a red , white and blue one. It wasn't the three wheelers fault that some people did know how to drive it , turning it into a rolling death trap . That is called operator error. Pencils also don't spell wrong by themselves. Thanks for the update on the trucks also.
Ohh I love my atc’s , 3 wheelers . I owned a few 200x & loved them & got dam good at riding them . There only dangerous if your an idiot . I always wanted a 350 x because of the torq monster. Your 83 ,250 is clean & will be sweet with the new mods . FYI your camera is on the blurry side or I’m still tooo sober,
Thanks for the content man! Idk what your goals are with your channel. But this old two stroke earned my subscription for sure. I think doing some 2stroke frame up restorations and custom builds would earn a lot more subscribers too. Yz250...?
The 200X was a fun one too. I worked on many of these when they were latest greatest things out. I actually preferred the Suzuki 250 and 500 quads. Also seen many many Big Reds We used to sponsor river races and I have seen some serious injury's but on 4wheelers too and bikes. and remember the YZ and Rm 465's? Man they were wicked when the power came on! I miss those days working for Suzuki and Yamaha. All I do now is PWC'S and boats. all day every day. Moved from Bike shops back in 92 I seen more dollars working on pwc's
Fixing Anything old cheap and easy is always way more fun than going out and buying the new stuff . Taker er easy Merlin!!
this brought back a lot of memories, sold my last 250r about 5yrs ago … Wheelies down the street were effortless on those old bikes … Awesome content sir !!
Yeah, I had 3 over the years. You can't hardly beat a good 2 stroke. Banshee's were my favorite bikes for a long time. I was slow to the 450 party
Swing arm looked better then the factory one did , man that thing came out looking awesome 👍,
I'm so jealous! 🥺 😂 I had one of those tiny ones 81 or 82 can't remember. I was 12or13 I had drawn some flames with a pencil on on it because it was white and boring. I was a kid and pretty good at drawing flames. I came home from school one day and my dad taped it off and painted it red, orange, and yellow fade. He was the best. I rode the hell out of it, by far my favorite three-wheeler. I want another one but have no where to ride anymore. I need to move out West but looks like you are going to run out of water before long and it's stupid hot 🥵 I done my time hot and sand.
You & Jimmy are a crack up Jimmy put a Cummings in his Ford truck . Wes truck looking good & DR FRANKENSTEIN MODIFIED his Honda 3 wheeler . Your knowledge on history & everything you work on. Really really sad about Lake Havasu. Love your videos Merlin thanks for the entertainment.
I laughed far harder at the "Helmet makes me look faster" comment than I should've!
You got to love those Honda’s and their engineering especially in the 80s great job Merlin they used to say those things will kill you quicker than anything in the desert.
Merlin, your calm and super-knowledgable delivery doesn’t hide your passion and excitement, it’s intoxicating!
Love these videos… thank you… ❤️🇷🇴
Nice wheeler Merlin, had several back in the day. ENJOY
The 1986 Honda ATC 250R was the baddest machine ever built by man to date. There are faster machines built but when comparing weight to HP ratios the 250R still stands out. The mid to late 80’s Honda had an engineering team assembled that was way ahead of its time and it took decades for everyone else to catch up. The TRX 250R dominated the circuit for over a decade and still would be today but Honda them selves killed the legendary run so they could sale new models.
You have a damn nice trike sir!
One of the guys in honda promotional video is dean sunhdal he has won the baja a few times on one of those. He now makes custom quads with 18 inches of travel.
I remember riding your Dad's little ATC at the Coral Pink Sand Dunes in the 70s. That thing tipped over so many times, but nobody ever really got hurt. Good times!
Thanks for the memories, I bought a 1981 250R new.
Very cool project... I had an 86 Big Red as a teenager that I still miss!
My buddy had a 250R that was bored, ported, polished, bigger carb...all the goodies. It was faster than his KX500 swapped Tecate and later faster than even a Banshee. It was totally controllable too, I loved riding that thing.
Too much fun. That helmet reminds me of my brother riding his Kawasaki Green Streak. That 3 wheeler stance looks too cool, love it.
just bought a 82 250r with a hondaline 300 kit in it yesterday! Been sitting for 3 years, fresh gas and it fired right up!
I have a 1985. Honda 200x love every second of it!!!
Great job Merlin! I’ve got an 86 350 X, it’s all stock, but man I just love those old 3 wheelers!! So much fun!
I’m always on the look out for a good deal on 3 wheelers ;)
Ohh I’m jealous, always wanted a 350x
I've got one of each year, my 86 is also completely stock.
Yeah that's awesome.. memories of Congress , AZ .. my older brother bored one 60 over .. it was a blast..
That helmet is worth 5 on the top end at least. Good one, thanks for sharing.
Hope to see a video of this Bike when running great. Very interesting fabricating on the swing arm.
I have a '85 250R, and a '84 200s. Rode em both today.
Used to have an '85 350X, but I had to pay the rent.
That is so cool, brings back a lot of memories.
I absolutely agree I freaking love three-wheelers if you know how to ride them they're not dangerous at all. I was a '80s baby and grew up with those thanks Merlin for letting us see your revample them
You set that up perfect. I sold those new back in the day and they were a blast.
That's a sweet clean swing arm. Makes me wanna try to make one.
I love it!!. The most fun you will ever have in the sand. I have 2 82250r and 1 85 water pumper 250r
2 200s. 2 200x one just parts 1 185s. This should be your new content rippin the dunes!! Brother. Im 56 and the kids can't hang the ridge like i can with my 82 bored to 290. Braap for life.
Mr Honda says: "wear boots, and all of your safety gear".
Nice build as usual. Thanks for sharing.
That bike is sick AF!! I love three wheelers! I learned how to ride on an old 200s
250rs have been such a constant in my life I don't even think of them as old school I just think of them as rebuilt rebuilt rebuilds
3 wheelers were the coolest things ever produced, especially when they started pumping out race ready models
I lived in San Diego when honda sent out 3 for the Baja race with my room mate Ace Williams, Dean Nixon and Waxeldorf, were on the honda team. wild times.
I forgot the chain and exhaust were on the other side on the air cooled models... Great video and brought back a bunch of memories. Thanks
Love those 250 r's nice machine and that sound 👌
That 84 front end is exactly what that needed!
Also, twist throttles for life!
Im tired of videos of these guys going on about oem tires and how i cant ride cause i use a twist throttle lol Bring ot out to Glamis and show me how to ride then!
That's the baddest '82 ive ever seen sir!
Your buddy beat me to the comment on the vintage Honda shirt. Helmet looks like an Evil Knievel model, I think he had a few different ones over the years... probably because he broke a few. Great video. Keep them coming. I've started collecting golf cart parts😉👍. Reefer engine
I prefer the quads because of the stability during shenanigans
The 250R was the cats nuts back then
Had a 185 and 200, no spring suspension on the 185, forget what the suspension the 200 had. (Relied on bounce from the ballon tires). Changed the rear tires on the 185 to more sand slinging type. (Multi surface tire tread, not a paddle tire). They will tip over. Experienced rider helps. I recall driving sideways across a sand dune. Some serious rider position shifting was required. Wahoo. Nothing like these machines for off-roading. Thanks for showing your machines.
Nice Build! Looks Great.
You are such a talented person! I love your videos!
You are like wile-e-coyote brother. i get so inspired watching your builds! thanks for the videos. also that helmet makes you look like guy "dave the stunt man" from the 70's haha
You are extremely talented and creative it’s a lot of fun to watch what you do and try and learn some of what you teach
I had several ATC's. They were so much fun! Great video.
I had an 86' 250R and it was too much, I was 14... I grew up on a 84' 110, and this beast made me a man over night
Bad ass memories you just brought back miss the 80s and all the mayhem . Merlin good job 👍🏻
nicely done !!! i still own my 84 200X. fun to see these still running.
Awesome machine, great job
My 1st ATC was a Honda 185s then bought the 200X. Always had a blast on them! Like your blue banner in the background.
You are very lucky and blessed.great video!!
Nice build !
That's a real nice 250r. You are the master customizer! Keep the 3 wheeler videos going. 👍
Cool bit of fun, all the best to yous and your loved ones
Well Merlin... Somehow I'm not surprised... just amazed😁 Another super cool project come to fruition!! That thing looks like it screemes! Hope you get the throttle/idle thing fixed!! Thanks for letting us in on it!!
NIIIIICE!!! Watched a few of your videos and I can tell you are my kind of guy!
2 strokes from the 80s, 12 valve cummins, and old steel!! Right in my wheelhouse!
I had a couple of these back in the day. So quick and snappy. Tons of fun!
Cool 3 wheeler Merlin. :)
Nice swing arm and cool front end upgrade
2 smokes rule!!! I had the same bike years ago, railed on that thing like crazy.
As always, great video
Nice shirt by the way
Thank You Merlin
When I was a young teen. I got a 200x for my B-day. And it was so much fun.! I loved it. I went out riding with some new friends. One of them had the Brand new. 300x that I got to ride. It blew my mind with it's torque. And another guy had a 250r I got to ride. And it was so fast and so fun. I just fell I love with the Honda 3 wheelers. l used to have a few of them. But I had to get rid of them about 10 years ago. Now I want one again. 😂
Sweet man thanks for the video
I've owned 3 ATC200X's, an ATC200S, ATC70, ATC125M, and still currently have my 86 ATC250R and my son has an 85 KXT250 TECATE torn down in my garage. LONG LIVE THREE-WHEELED DEATH MACHINES
Merlin would love to see some more trike content. I'm from Iowa and have owned hundreds of them and still own a couple dozen but you guys out in the desert have the cool old goodies to be found for them.
ive been trying to figure how to put a swing arm on a 200s. Thanks to this video I've found what I didn't think of. thankyou sir.
Man I love them Hondas I had a 350X when I was a kid had a lot of fun on that bike
So great to see you using 400 parts. we used to rob 250R parts to make our 400's better when we were racing them back at the turn of the century! I never had an R, but 350X and 200 X and a ton of 4 wheelers. Still got a 400 ex, maybe I should get it out.
Loved growing up with an ATC. Never tore my leg off the rear tires either lol! They came out with wheel guards a few yrs later
Super cool Bill dude
Cool build.
Everytime I think I've seen the coolest thing,you turn a corner and there's more,I like you taste and style Merlin
That thing is awesome 👏🏽
Great lookin wheeler, nice work. Used to work for the local Honda dealership as a mechanic. More than once people would show up with boxes of oddball parts or complete engines they’d taken apart and couldn’t put back together. Quick heads up, I’ve run across it a hundred times but replace the crank seals on that two stroke!!!! Had to rebuild countless two smokes from the crank seals drying up and cracking after sitting. When the crank seal leaks on a two stroke it pulls vacuum there causing a lean situation. First it’ll scorch the top end but if it runs too long it’ll take out the rod bearing then the crankshaft main bearings. It usually all goes within a few seconds at wide open throttle as that’s when it pulls the most vacuum at the crankcase. Working on a 90 model CR 250 right now that blew the bottom of the cases out with the connecting rod and a snapped off lower skirt on the sleeve.
Just hoping to save you some headaches and money down the road. Only takes a little while to replace both seals if you’ve got a flywheel puller but they’re an excellent investment. The last seals I bought were just a few bucks and it’s good peace of mind to be able to check crankshaft end play.
Mine needs that swingarm! Killer job bud
Thanks!
Glad you did a video on the 82R. I absolutely love the first gen R's, my profile pic is me coming around the last turn to take the checkers on one of my 82R's. If you haven't got the idling issue solved, it's most likely an air leak, crank seals, intake sucking air some place. Also the kehien flat slide needs a pretty good size air filter. I run the biggest that fits between carb and shock mount.. With the Hondaline 300 kit, a run of pistons are just now being made, join an R page on Facebook. Very hard to find top ends in running condition. Great video , follow the leader, he's on a Honda.
Are you a gay?
Looking good 👍
Merlin I raced Honda 200X and owned a custom made Kawasaki street bike converted in to a 3 wheeler. I had a great respect for the 250R, wicked power band. I loved my 3 wheelers and had a blast as a kid in the AZ deserts. I am always looking for a 200x or the 350x, prefer the 4 strokes 🙂. Love your work with Fabrats!
Nice.. cool tip about that wheel adapter.
That model was my first 3wheeler loved it flat track tires was great traded for 85 kxt still have it green machine
Nice job with that swing arm
Currently working on my 82 sposdly has a 310 kit in it. I changed the 28mm carb to a 32mm and need to dial in te getting. Yours looks mint
Thats cool !! I wish I could add a 1st gen to my collection...it would be #7 for my collection of 3wheelers
best little bike i ever owned.. old school fun
Definitely wish I was your neighbor. It would be cool to hangout watch and learn how to work on all this stuff. 👍
How is it your only at 32k?? Do people not know the genius of this channel??
We had an '82 250R when I was in HS. My brother and I took turns switching between it and our Honda 110 3-wheelers. We didn't have any bad crashes but we were both pretty tame. The 250R mostly just putted around with us on it. My dad on the other hand did lots of dumb stuff on it and eventually declared that we had to sell it before "someone" got hurt... :)
The 250R was every kids dream bike in the 80's. I had the 250sx. Fun but not a 250R. I spent my entire childhood riding 3 wheelers and only had 1 bad crash. Just had to be smarter than 3 wheels. I remember thinking 4 wheelers were weird cuz they were a lot harder to throw around. I bet that old 250sx is still running somewhere, absolutely indestructible machine. Badass
Rode the heck out of an 84 in my younger years. A little challenging following my buddies on single track.
My buddy had a 200x and it busted a 2" hole in the top of the case somehow-- maybe a chain slap.. it still ran fine, but it was splashing oil everywhere. We needed to go to the trails that day-- so I patched over that large hole with some JB Weld and a beer can, and he drove that 3 wheeler hard for years with that fix. lol.
Can't believe you found a red , white and blue one. It wasn't the three wheelers fault that some people did know how to drive it , turning it into a rolling death trap . That is called operator error. Pencils also don't spell wrong by themselves. Thanks for the update on the trucks also.
i love the sound of that
Ohh I love my atc’s , 3 wheelers . I owned a few 200x & loved them & got dam good at riding them . There only dangerous if your an idiot . I always wanted a 350 x because of the torq monster. Your 83 ,250 is clean & will be sweet with the new mods . FYI your camera is on the blurry side or I’m still tooo sober,
Thanks for the content man! Idk what your goals are with your channel. But this old two stroke earned my subscription for sure. I think doing some 2stroke frame up restorations and custom builds would earn a lot more subscribers too. Yz250...?
HAD GREAT TIMES HUNTING MOOSE ON 3 WHEELERS!...YOU GOT SOME GREAT LOOKING TOYS!
Cool factor 9/10. One point deduction for the old man socks
Around here we called it the Widow Maker...
Looks nice buddy I have a 84
The 200X was a fun one too. I worked on many of these when they were latest greatest things out. I actually preferred the Suzuki 250 and 500 quads. Also seen many many Big Reds We used to sponsor river races and I have seen some serious injury's but on 4wheelers too and bikes. and remember the YZ and Rm 465's? Man they were wicked when the power came on! I miss those days working for Suzuki and Yamaha. All I do now is PWC'S and boats. all day every day. Moved from Bike shops back in 92 I seen more dollars working on pwc's
Swing arm cane out nice