Three Wheeled Ignorance

03.28.10

Back in the early 80’s Three Wheeler sales were BOOMING. Every family, it seemed, owned a three wheeler – or two!

Sadly, with such high sales and success also comes a recipe for true disaster as many three wheelers made their ways into the homes and hands of ignorant owners and users. Users who rode without safety gear such as boots and helmets, users who rode while drunk or high on drugs, users who would ‘double ride’ with passengers on board, users who road on public roads and users who let small children ride our beloved three wheelers without proper supervision or training.

Team Honda Rider Crashes 06/01/80

Yes, the 80’s started with much innocence along with plenty ignorance in regards to the three wheeled ATV. While the majority of users were having fun and enjoying their ATV’s to the fullest – other users were having accidents and getting seriously injured and even killed.

By 1985 the party was all but over …

The program ‘60 Minutes’ on the CBS network showed more ignorance than any of the end users however when it aired it’s ’special’ program entitled ‘The Most Dangerous Vehicle’ … The episode is infamous amongst the three wheeler community and no more than a memory for most who were old enough to see it back in the day. As it had never become available online before, those too young to see it when it aired could only read about it from their older peers.

Thankfully a SUPER member of the three wheeler community – JayKup the video is now ONLINE for everyone to see.

It wasn’t long after this episode aired that the CPSC and the major Three Wheeler manufactuers agreed on the 3w consent decree – and all three wheeler production was halted for a period of no less then 10 years. (And obviously they have never been produced by a major company since) All of the racing teams folded and moved on to quads, no three wheeler was sold in the USA after 1987 (many were still sold outside of the US up until 1988 though)

So here it is – I’d say ‘enjoy’ but it’ll probably anger you more than anything else.

Part One

Part Two

In somewhat better news, we’ve added some new readers rides and a new flashback picture. Keep it safe Foolers & keep it on Three!

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 28th, 2010 at 8:10 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

7 Responses to “Three Wheeled Ignorance”

  1. 300RinNY says on March 28th, 2010 at 10:56 pm :

    CBS 60 Minutes not NBC.

  2. Saul says on March 28th, 2010 at 11:25 pm :

    Yup – brainfart on my part. Fixed.

  3. ForeverThreeWheels says on March 28th, 2010 at 11:36 pm :

    Excellent Update Saul.

  4. Saul says on March 28th, 2010 at 11:38 pm :

    Thanks Ben! Appreciate the kind words. :)

  5. Jared200x says on March 29th, 2010 at 8:18 pm :

    The 6/01/80 pic of the Honda team rider, whoa!……Jared200x

  6. Saul says on March 29th, 2010 at 9:12 pm :

    Jared – that’s Mike Chester. He became paralyzed losing the use of his legs as the result of this crash. When all the lawsuits against Honda started up in the 80’s many people were calling Chester to court to testify against Honda.

    I have some more pics of this crash & maybe I’ll write more about him and this incident in my next update.

    Thanks for reading and replying!

    -Saul

  7. Kylie Batt says on April 22nd, 2010 at 2:34 am :

    ??? ??? ??????!…

    Back in the early 80’s Three Wheeler sales were BOOMING…..

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