FL250 All-Terrain Vehicle Overview
First Generation FL250 (1976 - 1981)
The Honda Odyssey FL250 ATV had basically two generational body design periods. First was from its introduction in 1976 until 1981. This was the first version of the FL250 which featured a 2 stroke engine, single seat capacity. The lack of a full roll cage and rear suspension along with a separate front bumper put it more in the go-kart category even though it was powerful enough and often used for off-roading. You can see this first generation below in some of Honda's original marketing materials. As you can see from the picture below the roll cage was black and the original FL250 featured yellow plastic fenders and guards.
Issues with Original FL250
The designers and operators of the FL250 aimed at buffering the lack of a true rear suspension with large balloon tires, however this made the FL250 stiff and control was easily lost resulting in a roll over. This combined with the lack of a full roll cage (the original only had single rear roll bar) meant a deadly combination.
On top of this cracks in the frame were common due to no rear suspension along with bent frames from rollovers. Rust and overheating were also major problems with the original design.
1982 Honda Odyssey FL250 Redesign
In 1982 Honda came out with a redesigned FL250 which featured a true full roll cage. This combined with other upgraded features put the FL250 into true dune buggy status, however some consider this only have to be achieved with the FL250 release three years later. Below is a poster showing the main features of the 1983 FL250 with key ones listed below.
1983 FL250 Features
- Robust Large Diameter Pipe Full Roll Cage
- 60w Overhead Mounted Headlight
- Fully Padded Saftey Harness
- Form Fitting Bucket Seat
- Hydraulic Damper Front Suspension
- Steering Mounted Controls
- 2-ply Carcass-Type High Flotation Tires
- 220mm Diameter Rear Disc Brakes
- Auto-clutch Transmission
- 16PS 248cm^3 Race-Bred Engine
- V-belt Torque Converter
- Hot Capacitor Discharge Ignition
- High-mounted carburetor Air Intake
Simple design yet the power to travel 45 - 50 mph led to immense popularity of FL250. This consumer response also led to the redesigned FL350 which came out in 1985 and featured a more powerful engine among other improvements.