This Custom Honda Off-Road Trike Is Awesome, And Terrifying
This ATC-inspired concept trike looks incredible, but we'd need a very thorough explanation before attempting the first corner.
Honda's modern adventure bikes have earned a reputation for being sensible. They're comfortable, capable, and surprisingly approachable for machines designed to venture far beyond pavement. That's why one of the company's latest custom build showcases at "On-Road v Off-Road" at Wheels and Waves is so wonderfully confusing.
Meet the ATC750, a one-off concept created by Honda Benelux and Belgian dealer Anquety Motor Sport. It starts life as an XL750 Transalp, one of the most balanced middleweight adventure bikes on the market. Then somebody looked at it and decided it needed giant paddle tires, a custom rear axle, and a healthy disregard for conventional wisdom.
The result is spectacular. It's also the sort of machine that raises several questions, most of which begin with the words, "What happens when..."
If the name sounds familiar, that's because it's a tribute to Honda's old ATC three-wheelers. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, Honda sold a wide range of All Terrain Cycles that became wildly popular before eventually disappearing from the market amid mounting safety concerns and rollover accidents. The original machines developed a reputation that can best be summarized as "fun right up until the exact moment they weren't."
So naturally, someone decided to revive the idea using a 755 cc adventure bike that produces 90 horsepower and nearly 56 pound-feet of torque.
From a design perspective, the ATC750 is brilliant. The custom rear bodywork integrates surprisingly well with the Transalp's factory styling, and the huge rear tires give it a stance that looks ready to cross a desert, invade a neighboring county, or star in a post-apocalyptic movie franchise. It grabs your attention immediately, which is exactly what a concept build is supposed to do.
The problem is that the standard Transalp is already extremely good at the thing it was designed to do. Honda spent countless hours engineering a motorcycle that can tackle dirt roads, highways, and everything in between with minimal drama. The ATC750 appears to have taken that recipe and asked whether drama could be added as an optional extra.
Adventure bikes (and any two-wheeled motorcycle for that matter) work because they lean. Riders instinctively tip them into corners, manage traction through the tires, and let the chassis do its thing. The ATC750 throws that familiar behavior out the window. Instead of one rear contact patch, there are now two giant paddle tires connected by a custom axle. Turning quickly would likely require a completely different riding style than the motorcycle it started as.
In Case You Missed It
That's where things get interesting. Unlike a purpose-built ATV, which is engineered around multiple contact patches from day one, this machine occupies a strange middle ground. It has the height, suspension travel, and proportions of an adventure bike, but it's now operating under a very different set of physics. Those long-travel suspension components might be great in rough terrain, but watching them work beneath a tall three-wheeler sounds equal parts entertaining and alarming.
Then there are the corners. Lots of corners. The kind that most Transalp owners would normally glide through without giving them a second thought. On the ATC750, every turn looks like an invitation to discover whether you're secretly a professional flat-track racer. Most riders aren't. That's what makes this thing so fascinating.
To be fair, nobody built the ATC750 because it would outperform a stock Transalp. This is rolling artwork. It's a celebration of Honda's weirdest off-road history, wrapped around one of its most modern adventure platforms. And in that regard, it's a complete success.
Would I ride it? Hell yeah. Would I ride it quickly? That's a much tougher question. What about you? Would you risk life and limb to experience such an odd and unique custom creation? Sound off in the comments below.
Source: Honda
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