Street Legal 340cc 2-Stroke Trike Found Untouched After 40 Years 

I'm 50 years old it's been a long minute since I saw one of those but I remember those. Man it's in really good shape for being 48 years old. I'd do a full rebuild on it and bring it back to minty condition. I love it!

That's pretty badass. I think it's definitely worth $1000 considering the rarity, title, and it's street legal.

Hi Joe I grew up in NW Ohio and my grandparents had 4 of these from 1974. Two 16hp four strokes and two of the 2 stroke racing ones with the Kohler motors. There is a major safety issue you need to know about. The welds that hold the frame to the axle are known to break and if one does, that side of the axle will swing behind the three wheeler and cause it to flip. They solved this issue by welding a horseshoe to the frame that went around the axle. They also had rear fiberglass fenders to match the orange one in the front. I got one of the two strokes from my dad for a birthday in the 80s and only had one issue. The rear differential bolts came loose and the case exploded making it in drivable and at that time there was no internet to find parts as they had quit making them in the mid 70s do to being sued.

That thing is cool! I've worked on small engines for 40 yrs. I didn't know Kohler made a 2 stroke! In my defense, I'm in TN and have never seen a snowmobile in person.

Pretty cool piece of history. It would be nice to bring it back to it’s glory. With some minor TLC it shouldn’t be too difficult. Thanks for sharing.

Hey man nice find...I had a 1975 Tri-Sport 27 HP Kohler...classified as a dirt track racer, not street legal (but I ran it on the street)... it was a screamer, front wheel was much smaller, Paid a grand for it brand new then....lotta good times on it, brings back good memories

The z340 decal is for an old Arctic Cat snowmobile .

Man that is super cool , awesome find Joe !!!! You don't see them very often, I believe you got a deal !!! You find the coolest 😎 stuff

We had one of those around our house when I was a kid. It had a Tecumseh engine (maybe 8HP). The throttle cable eventually broke so I drove it by pulling a string that was tied to the throttle linkage on the carburetor and draped over my shoulder. Fun times!

Dude in the 80s i had something called a triscat it was a 3 wheeler kjinda like that it had a ski or a tire for the front end n a 15 HP TECOMSAA engine it was fun af !

That is very unique. I love it! I was thinking it would not run since it had a extra motor but it has plenty of compression. Sure does need electric start.

A ride mower tank will work. Also, Stand-up Jet-ski fuel tanks will possibly fit. I have a few kicking around I use them for all sorts of projects. Vented and bottom feed.

I had a tri sport, it had a Wisconsin Robin engine, can’t remember the engine size, when I was 12 I’d ride wheelies up and down the road all day

Joe this is an amazing find what a great peace of history. Can't wait to see it being fixes up and getting back to its glory and ridding it again.

These were made in my state in the mid 70's. I own the Phase 111 Rager and the RTS 340. I believe the street legal has the same Kohler snowmobile engine as the RTS 340. Looks like it does. I have manuals and schematics. If you need help with something, let me know. The tanks are easy to find. If you need help finding a tank, let me know. There are many new old stock parts still around.

Man I really like that thing that's very cool I had two other smaller ones I green and yellow one but never seen one street legal with the 340 in it that's pretty cool right there

When I saw the thumbnail I was like no way. If you got that from Gurnee Illinois.back around 82 a friend had one just like it .also no seat. his had atv knobby tires on it .plus Thay had a white 4 wheel version . We got both running and we were ditch riding them in a snow storm. The 3 wheeler was a chore to keep moving . Thanks for the memories.

Love the video I think you should fully restore it I think that would be pretty cool Anyway keep up the great work

You find the craziest stuff! I've been into bikes and trikes my whole life and I'm 51 and I've never seen a few of the things you've found.

I used to buy a lot of motorcycles and fourwheelers and fix them up back in the 80s and 90s when I was your age but it got really hard to find any for a decent price! I've got a brand new ct250r now I got back in 2002 in storage with less than 10 hours on it! I should sale it but it has a lot of centennial value so I've been saving it for my grandson when he gets too big for his ktm105sx! Good work and glad to see someone who still does it!

Hey Joe!! What a great find!! You always find amazing stuff and you always get them going!! Great work sir!! I've been wanting to find a great place to move to and as much great deals and buys that you come across, makes me want to move to Wisconsin. Keep up the amazing work sir!!

I remember the Rupp trikes very rare and worthy of a complete restoration. Well done on the find

That is awesome. A 340 in it should make her fly !! Nice job Joe !!

I had one it was a blast to play with I had it when I was a kid I wish I kept it and it would be cool to put a pair of tracks on the back and the ski upfront for the winter time

Great find there bud. I can't believe that you got it going that easy that's awesome. If I were you I would definitely try to clean up and restore what needs to be done. I would definitely keep that one in your cool collection

Never ever seen one before and i really need one in my life

this is SO freaking cool! we had one as kids in Arizona, but it had no motor on it, we ended up putting an 8HP briggs on it. I really hope to see this shined up.

Joe: I ran across your video of this 340 Tri-Moto caught my eye! I had the chance to ride one of these in the California desert of California city, back before California city was built up! About 1976-77 a patch of desert directly east of that location nothing there then! What a blast! I’ve never had more fun on something! It was wicked fast and because of the design you could run it as fast as it would go , whip it floor board it and immediately go in the opposite direction!!! You could not flip the vehicle because it was so powerful , the one I drove had knobby off road tires on it front and rear! The suspension was very forgiving! Almost felt like a hover vehicle! Sitting the way you do gives you a fantastic low center of gravity! These tri-moto’s are very rare! Scoring it along with a spare motor is a great find! I think you got a bargain. I don’t know what the top speed was but it felt mighty fast! Since it was built with that variable speed Automatic V clutch drive it was a bulletproof design! Forgot what the drive was called but you get the idea since you have one now! I think it came from the snowmobile design , and where the engines came from too , but trying to cash in on the dirt bike click of the day which was enormous back in those years! Hope you have fun with it! Regards the original Mad Mike from California.

I bought two of these 20 years ago they were smaller had 3 n half horse moters had fiberglass fenders on em pretty cool ✌️

My family and I had something similar to this back when I was a kid in the 70's an early 80's it was called snowco tri scat and it had a 5 hp briggs and stratton on it and the back tires on it were the ones like you would see on the monster trucks at least the tread and it had a wheel on the front and a ski also for the front so that you can ride it in the winter.

Fantastic. I had never heard of these and when I googled it I saw that the original 1974 sales brochure is for sale on ebay. That would go nicely with this.

I had one of these as a kid, they were awesome! the independent suspensions were great, mine was a JLO Rockwell 292 1 cyl but I replaced it with a 340 2 cyl snowmobile engine! Its was stupid fast for the time around 1986/87 My Tri sport also had no rear cover, and a tall overhead height roll bar. Mine was not street legal, no lights. Mine did not have front spokes or front brakes! Just the rear hydraulics!

Wish we had toys like that in the UK

The one I had had knobby rear tires similar to the old Honda 3 wheeler tires, the padded seat cover was one piece and had snap buttons, also had a optional wheelie bar with a wheel barrow looking tire, was so much fun

I had two of them when I was a kid,two different sizes. Had years of fun.

Saw one of these several years ago when I was buying some parts for my Barracuda. It was in the back of a barn under some tarps and appeared in good shape. The guy said he bought it in the 80s and drove it around for a few years and lost interest in it. I tried several times to buy it, but he said that someday he would restore it and get it back on the road. I wonder if he still has it.

My dad sold these back in the 70s we had one exactly like this one not sure if it was a 340 or a 440. Also had 3 of the smaller ones , basically a snowmobile on wheels . Good luck getting it going. (Ontario canada) they also had a little 3 wheel dump truck which he had to, the week point was the aluminum rear differential it broke so he cut a vw tranny apart and put it in . Top speed was 17 miles per hour .

Always a good start to the week when your catching up on 2 vintage absolutely awesome 👏

I had one in my younger days, great memories!! I drove it straight up a hill of sand, front wheel hit a grassy lip that overhung at the top, rolled it all the way back down, flipped it over and kept on going!! Have fun!!

I have a similar trike..1974 owasso explorer. Same story..gonna get it running someday

Brings back memories. I had the same bike and put over 100,000 miles on it. The carb slides are vacuum operated. To get it to run smooth you'll need to get a carb synchronizer. Mine looked like a long thermometer with 4 mercury filled glass tubes. Don't give it any throttle when the synchronizer is hooked up or you'll suck the mercury into the carbs. Good luck.

I had one of these back in the early 90s. Mine was blue. Loved it. Fun to cruse around the back roads of Indiana. Mine had balloon tires on the back. It was fun to ride but wondered how is was ever considered street legal lol. I didn't dare take it near town

John deer made a trike looked a little like this. Vaguely remember it. Was in the late 60s early 70s. It was kinda big. Had ag tires on it. New cost was like $500. Used to see it on display at the JD place.

I used to have one of these years ago but it didn't have an engine. I wish i kept it because they are rare and would be fun to ride. I always wanted to put a snow ski in the front with diggers in the back for the snow. They sell snow track kits for go karts on ebay so you can have snow tank tracks on the back.

That things from the days of being responsible for own safety before everything got safety'd to death

Very cool find! And, with a street-legal Wisconsin title. Ah, gotta love the simple days of "street legal" vehicles from back in the day. This will be a fun project - good luck!

Cracking video super cool Joe awesome job on getting it running super looking forward to the first ride on this such a nice super cool looking machine it seems really well designed hopefully you manage to get a gas tank vinny looked cool sitting on aswell can't forget the vinster the channel mascot have a great Sunday evening Joe wonderful content you really do bring some outstanding content and I always so look forward to your videos mate 👊💨

I know all the history behind them... mine is converted with a 250cc liquid cooled motor with a reverse.. i commute with it all the time! :) Cool find!!

Love your vids my guy! so jelly of that Honda 450S you have!!

Thank you for finding this. My uncle had one for running around his land. He only had it for maybe 2 years and sold it on after he bought one of the suicide 3 wheelers everyone thought were a good idea. Thing is; I thought maybe I had dreamed it and convinced myself it was real, as kids do. Cuz this is only the second one I have ever seen.

Holly cow, I had a tri-sport in my younger years, it was such a fun vehicle, awesome find, you should hang on to this.

Love it Joe,this is quite the beast!Epic gl brother!👍💪👊💪💪💪

I was not expecting this for a video. Thank you for the great content.

my grandmother had one of those back in the 70s, she used to take me all over the dry lakebeds on it. her's was the smaller one, in yellow. thanks for the memory! 👍

Zoinks, this is a badass find. Absolute pure '70s plus an eager sounding inline 2-stroke twin.

I used to race motocross a while back, and at one of our tracks they raced those things. This was in ‘74 -‘75 in North Texas.

Beautiful find Joey my boy! Clean that ol girl up and enjoy it in the summer! I’d clean up where the pull start is round it out put some kind of rubber grommet so the fiberglass isn’t eating away on that cord. Find a cushion for that seat base and your golden. Can’t wait to see more content with this rig

New subscriber here. You got me hooked maaan!! This is what I love doing and I’m always messing around with stuff that my sons want to work on too

I like it when people are honest enough to tell the price, thank you.

Good job young man on getting it going. Looking forward to seeing it finished. Good luck with the rest of it buddy.

That Gyro was the best handling cycle I ever had, and I was a cafe nut. I put Tomaslli clip ons myself on my first bike. A1974 Kawasaki 90 street bike.

Pretty awesome find. You didn't pay too much. Great video.

Perfect video i watch every singel video from You im a big fan keep it up mate💪

I had one back in the day. It was a very early model and they didn't use jigs when they welded the frame together yet, so the frames warped as they cooled and things just didn't quite line up. It ate the bearings that supported the differential every thousand miles. The Koehler 340 2 stroke had a number of things wrong with it from the get-go, so they replaced it under warranty with a very reliable single cylinder 4 stroke with 18(?) HP. Not nearly as fast and vibrated like a paint mixer at highway speeds, but it started and ran. I drove it for about 2 years. Fun on the road and fun off after I replaced those awful and very heavy semi-slicks rear tires with lightweight tires with a knobby tread pattern.

I can’t wait!!! This thing is super cool!! Awesome video brother. 😊

Joe you should do what my dad did to ours. It pretty much sucked in the winter. It didn't turn well on the snow and ice of Northern Minnesota and the wheels didn't do much of anything but spin like crazy. Dad replaced the front wheel with a snowmobile ski then it turned on a dime but tires still just spun of course. So next was another set of wheels and tires with snow studs big improvement but still sucked when you were riding in deeper snow. Then dad happened to come across some bigger wheels and I mean quite a bit taller with some paddle tires with about 3 inch tall paddles and of course 5 snow studs on each paddle then it got around great but was a little slower than neighbors Kawasaki 440 snowmobile so Dad didn't care for that much so in went a 500cc snowmobile engine and that trike instantly became a beast. Neighbors sleds didn't stand a chance after that on the back roads in the winter but get off the road in the woods and of course the snowmobiles were king lol. Thanks for giving me something that brought back some great memories with my dad

I think that's one that should be restored and kept

Yo-yo bro! Just sayin’ “hey” stay safe in your travels and the hard work u put in almost every day! Ur killin’ it and u deserve what is coming to you on the back side from RU-vid!! CONGRATULATIONS!!💪😉👍

Awesome find Joe, its always cool seeing stuff this old on the channel. Definitely a nice score!

My neighbor has one he rides around town I believe it had a smaller engine than what's on yours

Awesome find! A family here in Colorado had one in my small town.I graduated from high school in 75.It really ripped too! Have fun man.

My friend had the off road version of this when I was a kid, it was pretty quick. We would put sheet metal screws (studs) in the tires and run it on frozen ponds in the winter. Lot of fun.

Just discovered your channel Joe and love it can’t stop watching

I used to have one back in the late 80's and 90's and I wish I still had it today. It was clocked at 110mph by a sheriff, so the owners sold it to me for a $150. They cut off the front end and turned it into a 4 wheeler with independent suspension. With the low center of gravity you could literally whip that around on a dime. My family and I had so much fun on that it would make you grin ear to ear. Memories is all I have. Enjoy

Joe, I successfully repaired a very similar fuel tank like the one you have with a plastic "welding" kit. Mine had a split about 3 inches long. My tank is made of polypropylene as yours most likely is. I bought a "model 6" kit from a company called Urethane supply. Very complete and comes with everything you need including a great instructional DVD besides printed instructions. If you've got connections, you might consider replicating one from aluminum. You look like you're getting a shop going, so having an AC/DC TIG or AC/DC MIG welder that can do aluminum might be on your wish list if you don't have one already. If you decide to get one, there are some great multi-process units out there that actually have it all. (AC/DC) MIG, (AC/DC) TIG , (AC/DC)stick and a plasma cutter all built into one machine for less than $2K.

Love your channel. Keep up the good work!

Pretty damn Cool Joe oh, I don't remember those as a kid but I do remember the full-size raked trikes made by Rupp the same people that made mini bikes. I still think the one you got pretty cool but man down in South Florida in the seventies there was a shop on Dixie Highway that sold rupp's, they were pretty expensive toys. A lot of people bought those things and cruise them around I always wanted one but could never get one. Joe if you get a chance look one up cuz they were beasts wheelstanding beasts. Not sure if they were 2-stroke or 4-stroke but that's what makes yours so cool the 2-stroke Kohler engine. I don't know where you keep finding all this odd stuff man, but I think it's really cool really cool and brings back old memories. Thank you for that Joe

Really nice find Joe, mine was blue metal flake did about 75-80 mile an hour top speed but very quick steering they're fun to slide around but have to be careful of rear tire doesn't catch when sliding sideways and flip you over. I would get a gas tank from a riding lawn mower.

AWWWsome find, dude! I had the AllSport 340, that never saw the road, got it for under $100 with no title. As kids, we beat the snot out of it on the dirt! that engine was bulletproof, took everything we put it through. I sold it to a gent who put a RZ 350 in it, and sand dragged it. NOTHING on the track could touch it. Have fun restoring it, and have a SAFE blast with it once it's ready to rock!

Cool find my brother 👍👍👍 !!! I can't wait to see it up, running and roadworthy.

Never seen one in running condition, my uncle had a few bare bones chassis and or shell... Excellent score, looks dangerous AF! LOL I can't believe that was ever considered Street Legal? My how time's have changed! Craftsman lawnmower tank should work!!

I looked up some info on it. This is an RTS SL model. It should have hubcaps on the back wheels. It looked really cool in the brochure that I found online. The fiberglass has faded significantly. It was originally red. This thing is a deathtrap, but a fun one, lol.

A couple of my dad's friends had the bigger versions of this with the VW engines in them. Motorcycle trikes. One was green metallic paint and the other was a custom made trike with a carriage-like roof over it (think the Munsters car). Last I knew the custom was still stored in a garage, but the green one has been gone a long time. One of dad's friends specialized in VW customs, which was no doubt involved in their construction. These things were popular in the 70's, along with custom vans of the time, both of which I have memories of being around. In the early 90's, my brother picked up one of the trikes like this one in the video. We had a lot of fun on it before he got rid of it.

Our father had a dealership back then, we rented a vacant gas station. They were shipped to us boxed we assembled them, from Alsoort & Steen, who built Hodakas, I used to race the RTS 8 dirt version....Rutherford Trisports Montrose California (So Cal)🤗🙏

Used to ride a small trail bike from around that same time period as a kid. Simple engineering on those back then. Working on them wasnt much different than getting a chainsaw or a lawnmore running. I wonder if you can find tires for it. Deffinately a rare find. And even if you dont get that engine going for some reason. You can always through a different engine on that frame. The pride of Canada in 1974. I think the world fair or expo was in montreal 1974. Then the Olympics were there in 1976 i bet they made a bunch of these around that time. But ive never seen one anytime recently.

This video brought back a memory! A friend took me on a ride on something like this when I was about 15. It scared the crap outta me! if it may be the thing please confirm - it would do like 60 - 70 MPH! Note the passenger pad at the back.

One think I've noticed is that a lot of DIY RU-vidrs use water pump plyers and adjustable crescent wrenches Bass Acwards. You put the load on the upper jaw not the adjustable or lower jaw. the teeth of water pump plyers are designed to "bite" one way only and the strength is in the fixed jaw of adjustable wrenches.

Sounds crazy but got one of em back in late 90s. It was only 250 but once it was running good it was fast, had ever but the seat. Body was fiberglass. It would scream. Restored to back to clean like new condition and sold to an old man in Albuquerque that had a couple more. I remember finding a place that had aftermarket parts for them and got some stiff for it, seat etc. Have fun! Think you over paid a bit but you'll get it back out of it. Good luck!

seeing you pull that chord and your words " she fired up " got me seeing this as CPR for motors :D

I am truly hoping you do a full-on restoration. I can only assume that you'll start had some kind of chrome grommet where that jagged hole is now. Absolutely amazing

We use too ride them 3 wheelers summer and winter . my father inlaw rode his 440 that looked just like that one to work ...You get that one running and it will wheelie and do burn offs lol....lots of fun!

Been a minute since I seen one like this, there a bigger ones out there with a volts wagon engine and it's a two seater, rare to find. Nice little piece to restore, you definitely now starting to get a few rarer harder to find pieces, the snow mobile, and the six wheeler, wait till you find a k1 or k2, Honda z50. The rare ones. Maybe your next find will be a blown side by side to rebuild. Nice video

Unbelievable! You’re a genius. I was lost once the ignition came off.

That thing looks like a big wheel for big kids. Pretty neat. Thanks for the video.

Awesome video. reminds me of my childhood. Nice to see younger generation tinkering and fixing older things from a by-gone era. I'd like to offer a little constructive criticism if i may. Always start anything that has a centrifugal clutch, with no way to neutralize it, drive wheels off the ground. You may have done it 100 times and never had an issue. But it takes just one time for it to hang up and take off. Causing damage to it as well as other property and or you. Not worth the risk.

First Three wheeler i had was a Alsport Tri sport came with a 10hp briggs stratton put a 440 snowmobile engine on it dad had one like yours they are a blast mine was my backup three wheeler when i wasn't on my 200x and 200s

Those Kohler engines were pretty good back in the day! Much better than Briggs and Stratton! I think they are cast iron and last a lot longer! I have a old Cushman scooter that ran really good and was pretty fast!

Shame its not over here in the UK, I would be rather interested in it, being disabled it would be Ideal to get around on only having a full motorbike licence . Looking forward to the build as always

That's so cool I would love to ride around on that in the summer watching people's face's as I rode it down the street 😀

Thats awesome! You could make an attachment with a ski on front and some mud paddle tires on the back and go in the snow!!