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