Project Machines

-- THE LIFE OF A HONDA TRX250R -- For this "Reader's Ride" we go to North Carolina and check out Benjamin Hewett's 1986 Honda TRX250R. He has owned this legendary two-stroke machine for 10 years and it has been given many updates during that time. Here is a list of the parts it has now: ESR 330 Cylinder LED Performance 350G pipe, Silencer and Intake Fully gusseted stock frame Lonestar +2 +1 A-arms Lonestar -1 Swingarm Lonestar Hubs Galfer Rotors Hiper Tech 3 wheels Maxxis Razr Balance Rear / Razr2…

-- WILD 2-STROKES & MULTI-CYLINDER 4-STROKES -- One place where you're sure to see modified quads is at the sand dunes. Some are set up for getting to the top of a dune as quickly as possible and others are set up to improve the overall fun of carving sand dunes. Lone Star Racing is one company that ATV riders have been going to for their specialized expertise. For over 20 years LSR has been providing custom quad chassis, A-arms, swing arms, suspension, hubs, axles and other performance products. Here is a sampling of…

-- Maximum Max—size matters, By the staff of Dirt Wheels -- Shock Therapy has a large and growing profile in the UTV industry. The company is located near Phoenix, Arizona, but has a fully equipped shop in a race semi. If you have seen the truck, then you have seen the techs scurrying around nonstop modifying suspension for customers right in the dunes so they can get a back-to-back feel for the new suspension. Shock Therapy can modify your suspension for any kind of riding, but dune fans are among the most fanatical…

-- ADVANCED 2-STROKE TECHNOLOGY FOR 2018 -- Walt Shumacher is racing the GNCC cross-country series on a machine that is a little different from most. It's a 2-stroke, but not the standard Honda 250R you usually see. He wanted the most up to date modern version of a 2-stroke and that seems to be coming from KTM right now. We'll let him describe what all was involved in building his KTM 300 XC race machine... This is my 10th season racing GNCC.  Coming into this year, I was considering doing something different, just…

-- Built for battling the elements, By the staff of Dirt Wheels -- Ever since the Can-Am Maverick X3 Turbo was released, we have been greedily awaiting the most trick builds to appear, and without a doubt, Steve Bechard built an X3 masterpiece. This machine was designed and dubbed the “War Wagon X3” after his daughter, who is a military crew chief and medic of a Medevac Black Hawk helicopter overseas. Every part that was involved in this build was chosen for performance, strength or durability—from the heavy-duty roll…

-- MORE POWER, SUSPENSION & VISUAL FLASH -- Blake is a Dirt Wheels reader who grew up near the Oregon Dunes. He still vividly remembers the first time he saw a chromed/polished/powder coated Yamaha Banshee there. He knew he had to have one of those custom 2-stroke screamers. Before reaching that goal however, his tastes began to change and he found himself preferring a 4-stroke instead. After Blake got hold of a 2005 Yamaha YFZ450 he set out to turn it into a show bike. However, he never intended for it to be…

-- PERHAPS THE ULTIMATE 2-STROKE QUAD? -- We're taking a look at Doug Miedema's quad here that started out as a Honda TRX250R, but there's probably not a stock part on it (except the plastic). The thing that makes this machine extra special is the Lonestar frame made from titanium. It is the lightest, strongest and highest quality steel there is. As you may guess, it's also very expensive. Doug's quad also has titanium A-arms, swing arm, tie rods and axle. LED built the engine, intake and exhaust, and it uses a…

-- READER'S RADICAL RIDE -- The Oregon Sand Dunes at Winchester Bay is one of the best places on earth to ride a quad. Carving the dunes is even more fun if you have your machine modified to improve its sand performance. It also doesn't hurt if you give it a custom look to make it stand out from the other quads. That's what Brandon Becker did with his Honda here. It started out as a 2005 TRX450R, but then he pulled the engine apart to increase its size and power. John Dyer of Racerz Edge in Tuscon, Arizona…

-- A manual-shift Yamaha that works! By the staff of Dirt Wheels -- What do you do if you already have a high-powered Polaris RZR XP 1000 punched out to 1100cc? If you are Brian Carle, you buy a stick-shift Yamaha YXZ1000R to add to the stable. He is fortunate to live where he has plenty of room to drive. He stays with his trusty RZR for slow and technical outings and turns to the YXZ for faster, more open conditions. He lives in a rural desert area and has many opportunities to hit the trails, and he is often out on…

-- TPC Trikes has been one of the top builders of fast 3-wheelers for many years. This has been proven by the number of race wins their machines have earned. One of the main differences between a TPC machine and other built 3-wheelers is they're not converted dirt bikes. A TPC Trike has a special frame made from the ground up to be a 3-wheeler. They handle better than a converted dirt bike, which sometimes have ground clearance issues before the suspension bottoms out. TPC's top gun machine uses the four-stroke engine…

--  Hold on before you go rushing down to your Yamaha dealer to see this machine there. Yamaha stopped selling their 3-wheelers back in 1986. If you want one today you have to build your own, as Richard Maestas did in Arizona. He actually built three of them in different color combos as you can see here. The basic formula is to take a YZ450F dirt bike and convert it to a 3-wheeler. If Yamaha did sell a Tri-Z for 2018 this is what it would probably look like. It would be the natural evolution from their old 250…

-- Giving a modern touch to a bulletproof UTV, By the staff of Dirt Wheels -- Yamaha has always known to look outside of the box when it comes to producing new and exciting machines. Starting with the original DT1 in the 1960s, Yamaha has consistently created performance machines that shape the future of off-road vehicles, like the Banshee, Raptor, YZ400 and the YFZ450 to name a few. They are never scared to throw knowledge, design and futuristic flair into every machine it produced. In 2003 a new class of what would…