One of the more intriguing segments of future collector vehicles is that of the 1980s class of three-wheeled ATVs. Honda was quite possibly at its peak of engineering ingenuity during this time, seemingly cranking out endless configurations of outrageous, go-anywhere rigs that had a reputation for being hard to handle. Today, they are legitimate collector’s items that command higher and higher prices. Find this 1981 Honda ATC 185S here on eBay with a Buy-It-Now of $4,500.
What’s perhaps more intriguing is that for a vehicle designed for off-road abuse, how many still survive in near-survivor condition. Obviously, you don’t have to look too hard to find stories about the injuries and even death caused by reckless or inexperienced riders piloting one of the wonky rigs, but that didn’t stop a lot of ATV enthusiasts from learning how to ride these three-wheelers the right way. So, it would seem that despite being enormously capable in the hands of the right rider, plenty of these ATCs got socked away or otherwise barely used.
Now, when you find one that has been used, it has been used. They are in basketcase-grade condition with lots of broken plastic body pieces and engines caked in mud. The example shown here is none of those things, with the seller noting it was placed into long-term storage after the owner purchased it in 1995. I often wonder if this is the kind of purchase that is made with grand plans to develop an off-road hobby but life and logistics (need to trailer it to the trail) get in the way and it simply ends up parked.
The seller notes that the ATC’s “…air-cooled 180cc four-stroke single was factory equipped with a 22mm Keihin carburetor and a recoil starter,” and that the fuel system has been purged in preparation for sale. The spark plug was also replaced, and really, there’s the beauty in a three-wheeler like this over a long-dormant project car: the simplicity of revival, with no sacrifice to the scale of fun you can have with it once running. I still want one of these – badly – if for no other reason than it would make for some killer garage art.
Rode my ATC 200 the other day, once again I cheated the grim reaper!
I think we’ve pretty eliminated those that might hurt themselves on these. Upon introduction, there really wasn’t much in the line of ATVs, and the Honda 3 wheeler started it all. So much has been said about these, safety wise, and nothing but crybabies to me. For what they were, they did a good job. Almost universally, people will say they got their feet ran over by the back tires. A natural instinct when about to tip over, you put your feet down. Guards were made, but clumsy, and soon removed. This is a nice one, naturally I personally couldn’t afford it, but with ATVs north of $10gs, this will get you back there, and possibly more fun. Ever try and get a newer ATV unstuck? Nice find.
It was many young adult’s that donated organs with these units.
We lived in an area around park trails set for off roading.
I remember back in the day when my mother inlaw ER nurse would quite often relay the emergency fatalities from these inits and those surviving staying in intensive care recovering.
One can say a dangerous toy with the ability for the front end to pull up and over to distribute injuries.
One can call them inexperienced but think about a 13-16 year in one pushing it as its fun and then getting into trouble.
Keep this in a display case and get a four wheeler with better reliability and actuarial stats to live instead .
As someone who knew a kid that died on one of these, I completely agree with you, and some of the previous comments are …
well, I’m glad they obviously survived
Any thing can be dangerous. People get hurt and killed on motorcycles, SXS and ATV everyday. I would rather have a 3 wheeler in the woods because you can turn a lot better than the others. I am not making light or people getting hurt, but it is not always the machines fault. People need to realize their limitations and the limitations of what they are riding.
Baloney, and stop roping the relatively few fatalities, overshadowing the millions of folks that rode them. The only way someone got killed, was they weren’t following the rules, and would probably have gotten killed anyway on something else.
This is a great collector vehicle! If you’re a collector of broken vertebrae when that thing bounces up like it’s on 3 stability balls and lands your straight on your head.
Used these on my cotton farm (Texas) back in 70s 80s . Cotton rows a mile long and more. Sure took thr drudgery out of cotton chopping. They could be dangerous .
You can make any fun thing dangerous. Look at dynamite, for instance…
or any dangerous thing fun
(aint smart tho…
I know almost nothing about these. My dad had one back in the 80’s (don’t remember the model), he used it to check oil wells which didn’t have all weather roads to them. Obviously he wasn’t a teenager being a daredevil, it was a tool just like his wrenches. He respected it and it served him well. I rode it a handful of times, never really got comfortable with it.
What struck me in Jeff’s good write-up is the fact that, apparently, many in good condition remain. Is this true of other now-old offroad vehicles? Or is the fact that many of these do remain directly tied to their reputation, i.e. someone got one then decided it was too dangerous to use?
My opinion, the 185 is the peak of the Honda 3 wheelers. Ive owned a 70, 90, 110, 185, 200, and a 250. The 185 is the largest engine on the small frame, on the 200 and ups they moved to the larger frame, like a modern day 4 wheeler. Made them much more heavy, and harder to get a feel for the balance when off-roading due to the weight. The 185 was small, making them much easier to guide with your body weight, and that 185 engine was blisteringly fast on that frame, gotta watch it all the way up in 4th gear. and if you had to, you could move that frame around by yourself, try lifting a big red up into the bed of a truck by yourself, not gonna happen.
so true ellis. my only complaint with the small frame versions was i never found one with suspension. and for casual type riding i would almost be tempted to swap that 185 into my big frame that does have suspension.
as to this one, its a good clean one and the price is about right today for any of those old hondas 4 or 3 wheeled
Didn’t they make a full size 185, like the 200 and the 185S. I had this same bike, 1981 185S. Put a header on it and a Big bore kit with a 12.5 piston in it. Ran like hell, but was very hard to pull start, had to use the compresson release.
We found a 185 3 wheeler & custom trailer, when we bought our 5 acre mini ranch! I used it yesterday to drag some extra 6″ main line sprinkler pipe to the storage pile. It’s not safe to turn it at speed, but good for rounding up escaped cows/horses/goats!
when I was younger 2 different people I knew owned these, both suffered bent forks from inexperienced “friends” riding them for the first time.
I’m a toy head and would love to have one just to ride around my yard and dead end street in the fall/winter. BUT if I am buying another toy I would probably choose a Yamaha Big Wheel or similar.