Over the years, the physical evidence to back up all these statements and claims has been hard to track down. A small caption under a picture of the 1986 ATC250R on page 67 states Along these same lines, in the November 1987 issue of DirtWheels magazine, there is an evaluation of all the high performance models. So was this a publicity shot that was taken in Canada, or Japan, or possibly even here at American Honda, before the Consent Decree took place? Its hard to say and that question my never be answered.
You can click on it to read it yourself, but it says that the 87 models WERE available in Canada after all! You'll notice that this looks to be a studio shot, probably for a brochure or some other type of literature, but the background is definitely different from the original 1987 model line up brochure we have above. It is a small blurb from the January 1987 edition of 3Wheeling magazine. What your looking at here is one of those long forgotten pieces of the puzzle. However, as the fervor built, some additional sources of information came to us that had been over looked during the years. Prior to that, no one in the online 3wheeler community even knew that there was a potential for those models to exist. That original brochure is what ignited the interest and controversy for years to come. A French-Canadian member of the message board at the time that went by the user name of "xmen" had contacted 3WW and sent a scan of the same above brochure, but in French. Questioning the existence of the 250R and 350X models originally came to play back around 1999. What about the big boy models though? The highest performance models that Honda had ever offered? The ATC250R and the ATC350X are missing from the Identification Guide, and pretty much history itself. The Honda of America Motorcycle Identification Guide, released for purchase through Honda dealer networks in the year 2000, confirms the existence of these models in the American market as well. As years went by though, slowly but surely 1987 year model ATC250ES "Big Red"s, ATC200Xs, ATC250SXs, ATC125Ms, were all located and verified by forum members. Originally, we were led to believe that ALL the 1987 year models were impossible to find. From the earliest days of 3WW, the "Quest for the '87s" has captured the imagination of readers.
No other piece of vintage literature posted on this site has ever caused such interest, speculation, controversy, bewilderment, and a gold rush like fever among three-wheeler enthusiasts.
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