243 .

- 8

for a length of time , American Honda encountered user complaints

about punctured tires because of the rough off - road terrain .

A

tire was developed which included a carcass to prevent repeated

punctures of the tice . With that carcass came a hardening of the

tire , which detracted from its softness as a suspension element .

Mechanical suspensions were therefore added gradually with

changes in the tires .

This provided comfort to the rider and

replaced the suspension characteristics which were removed from

the tire by its revised carcass design .

The balloon , low

pressure tires still without full carcass supply the smaller ,

If

lower - speed machines with suspension adequate to their needs . additional mechanical suspension were added to these machines ,

the soft , mushy handling characteristics mentioned above would develop in these machines . In higher performance machines , such as the ATC250R which was intended for racing , a traditional high

M

as

2

performance racing - type mechanical suspension was used on the

vehicle when introduced in 1981 , because of its unusual high

speed racing environment .

This included the adoption of harder

tires for racing purposes .

The initial development of ATVS included exploration of

several different configurations .

Two - wheeled , three - wheeled ,

four - wheeled , five - wheeled and even six - wheeled prototypes were developed and explored . The tricycle configuration was decided upon because it provided mobility coupled with stability . It could operate on slopes and slippery terrain , such as snow and mud , which was not possible with a two - wheeled version . The

cause