The History of Honda's Odyssey and Pilot ATVs 1977-1990

hello this attorney blazer for the motocross from all presented by Blinn zall if you're in the market for some high-quality racing oil for your two-stroke or for make sure you go to blends all calm and use our discount code vault 20 to save 20% of check out thank you for all the support [Music] [Applause] welcome back to the motocross vault I'm Tony blazer and what this video is gonna cover is one of the more interesting and iconic off-road vehicles of the late 70s and 80s Honda's Odyssey a four wheeled kind of a dune buggy a single person what you would call a UTV these days the odyssey was available from 1977 until 1985 and then a few years after that 1989 Honda released a updated version that they remanded rebranded as the pilot this was always a really cool machine I was one of one never had one I only ever got to ride maybe a 1980 model I think buddy might had one of the earlier ones it was still cool the particularly the later ones the 85 in the 89 90 where the ones really the pilot would be the one you'd want I would think these days but really a cool machine and a machine that I really am surprised is not really in the market anymore I mean the UTV thing is totally going crazies taken over the atv world I used to love reading dirt wheels I subscribed to for many years I've had several high-performance ATVs the current UTV thing it's kind of lost to me a little bit they're very expensive now maybe part of it is I live on the East Coast and the trails I have would be kind of small for that kind of a side-by-side and plus I I don't really want to take somebody with me I just want to be by like myself and a kind of a sporty more high-performance machine and particular the lady ones later ones 285 and then the 89 and 90 they were really kind of a sporty little dune buggy with full suspension really a cool machine and the current UTV's don't really have that the most of them are four-wheel-drive and like I said they seem to be more geared towards carrying multiple people so I suppose that makes it more of a family oriented and certainly the people making them know something I don't the terms of success I guess the pilot wasn't particularly successful I think it was too expensive back in 89 it was a you know a pretty expensive machine it was roughly a third more expensive than a CR 250 or 500 something would've cost you at that time it was pretty pretty significant investment but you see what the UTV's cost now they're fortunate some of them are as much as a car or Jeep you could get for what they cost so for whatever reason the later ones they actually when they got better I guess they were less successful the early ones they were they Honda stable for many years when they were more simple definitely a cool machine and a machine that I think maybe some people don't even know about these days so I thought I'd be kind of cool to look go back and look at the history of the Odyssey they didn't really make a lot of changes from year to year they really are just basically three different generations they're maybe four if you count the pilot I'm gonna go over them a little bit year by year tell you a little bit about the machines and what they were like so if you like this sort of thing check out some of the others I've done a history of the ATC 250r I just recently did one on the ATC 350 X if you like more motocross type stuff I also just published a history of the CRA T I've got a lot of these kind of retrospective things and some individual tests as well if you'd like to support the channel I just made some new merch available on the motocross vault teespring you can see a link in the description below and also put a link to it here I just came out with some cool designs for one based on my honda project 90 i did a kind of a yamaha a bradshaw replica one based on the 1996 y'see and also did one basically kind of chronicling me Honda's over the years the two-stroke on is kind of a look from 73 until 2006 seven or whatever that gyro uh said it ended so in any case if you like support the channel if you do that I appreciate it share like give it a thumbs up I would really appreciate that as well so here's the story of Honda's iconic Odyssey four-wheeler the original Odyssey was released in 1976 as a 77 model by Honda this first version was powered by a single cylinder two-stroke piston port single engine and displacing 246 CCS that had a born stroke of 70 millimeters by 64 point four millimeters and a compression ratio of six point six to one the motor was air-cooled which was pretty common for the time certainly an all motocross bikes in this year would have been here cooled in many street bikes as well it was as I said a two-stroke they used a 28 millimeter king carburetor had a flywheel magneto ignition and this first version had a recoil starter pull starter so you started like you would your lawnmower it would take many many years for them to add finally electric starting to these things it did have a usda-approved spark arrestor this first version and it had a claimed capacity of 220 pounds rider cargo so unfortunately my fat butt would probably be over capacity but this first version had no rear suspension at all it had just like all the ATC s at the time you gotta remember in the late 70s out pretty much all through the second 70s in fact none of the APCs had any suspension they just used their big balloon tires as a suspension the rear of the ATC was a solid axle with no rear suspension the front though did have suspension although it wasn't a whole lot in terms of actual ability to absorb any jumps or what everybody gets a little bit was better than nothing at all ground clearance was listed at 5.5 inches and Honda claimed a dry weight of 397 pounds for this first version now this first version did not have a full roll cage it had a four-point padded roll bar instead you see there's a little push bar in the front in this kind of a roll bar on the top clearly this is better than nothing and a bike with your strata or a machine where you're strapped into you wouldn't want to roll it on top your head and crush your head it would take a few more years from that full roll cage the interesting a little side thing is this vehicle kind of been owing to people's transportation at the time a lot of people actually crammed their ATVs and their motorcycles in the back of their station wagon station wagons were very popular in the 70s it was very common for people to have that instead of like a SUV or a pickup truck we'd have today so Honda incorporated the ability to remove this roll bar so he could cram this thing in the back your station wagon so that's pretty interesting tidbit they did the same thing with the original like CT 70 the handlebars actually in the original Z 50 as well they would be faulty can be folded in so you could stick it in the trunk of your Caprice Classic or whatever pretty amazing a little tidbit from the 70s now this as I said this first version did not have any rear suspension did have front suspension had a single disc brake I don't believe there was any brake on the front in this first version they had a single disc which was I think a mechanical disc I don't now believe it was hydraulic either it was mounted to the rear transmission this transmission was a fully automatic what the brochure describes is a Salisbury type transmission which I you don't don't hear people use anymore I believe that's just a limited slip slip transmission as with all Odysseys that had a kind of an airplane style yoke in the front where we got the throttle and the brake built into that now this first version I don't think had the little wrist straps later ones would have wrist straps to prevent you from if you did roll it you know sticking your arm out obviously that's a reflex thing the same thing would get you up at three wheelers you put your leg out in a run your leg over roll this thing over and inside you're gonna put your arm out to try and cut me because you're blowing it up breaking your arm pretty easy now I did have a set of harness here so you can strap yourself into it in a single headlight in the front so if you did get caught after dark you could could ride the bike as I said this is the only one I have actually ridden I rode one like this it's a two-stroke wasn't particularly fast I mean it's a 400-pound machine with a fairly small piston port not even doesn't even read valve two-stroke engine wasn't and of course that the automatic transmission had no reverse it's just forward wasn't a fire breather by any means but I imagine they were pretty popular like I said dune buggies were a huge craze in the 70s people were taking Volkswagen Beetles and sticking all kinds of crazy dune bug stuff dune buggy stuff on it in Honda actually looked at something similar to this before they released the original ATC 91 of the probe they've done many prototypes looking at this all-terrain vehicle capability their dealers were looking for something they could sell in the winter time in the off months where the motorcycle sales were kind of off and they originally settled on the ATC 90 of the original three wheeler but they had looked at something somewhat of this like dune buggy style stuff but it held off a few years so it didn't actually get introduced until 1977 now this basic odyssey doesn't change a whole lot over the course of the next couple years it basically runs through 1980 with the same basic design all these models are yellow yellow plastic very similar I really don't think there's any major mechanical changes from 1977 through 1980 the 1981 season saw the first significant upgrade to the Odyssey the engine remained the same it was still a two hundred forty-eight CC air-cooled single but there was some updates to the chassis first thing you'll notice is it has a full roll cage enabled for 1981 definitely a improvement in terms of safety now this new roll cage also allowed them to move the air intake much higher so you see the air intake is actually a snorkel type and it runs the air and take all the way to the top of the cage here made the bike or the quad or buggy whatever you want to call it much more suitable for taking through creeks and what-have-you they also because I assume anticipating people would be more inclined to take it through the water they made some improvements to the transmission as well to make it a little more water-resistant one of the issues with these bikes the transmission is always kind of a weak link with some of these and really the the two main problems with all these oddities going up to this retirement 85 is air cooling the motor is in the back it was really easy to overheat these things clearly it's not going to get the same kind of same kind of air you'd have in a you know a motorcycle and unlike a Volkswagen Beetle you're not typically riding 50 miles an hour down the highway to get all that air to the engine so overheating was always an issue with these machines but it did can basically keep air cooling in effect for 1981 now in addition to the rollbar they also added a larger capacity air cleaner they also added a larger headlight that's had a little more candle power at night they changed the ignition as well it went from the old-style flywheel Magneto to a new capacitor discharges CDI ignition the transmission stayed a v-belt torque converter same kind of thing and it had been using in the past that didn't change now the front suspension did get a slight upgrade they upgraded the steering ratio to give it tighter steering and they also upgraded the shocks in the front slightly it did remain just a single disc mechanical rear disc in the back so that didn't change it so in terms of performance suspension wise the shocks were upgraded they also changed the tires in the back to be a softer more compliant ride I mean if you have never ridden any of these old ATVs with just no suspension and balloon tires it's pretty brutal I've had my brother had it like I'm 200 s back in the day 185 I've written a lot of these things with no suspension it is pretty terrible it's really bouncy I'm you know I imagine it's even worse in something where you're strapped down at least on a ATC 200s or something like you can use your legs for some of your suspension stand-up you're not gonna get pounded quite as bad but in this thing you're strapped into the damn thing so you know if you hit a big bump it's gonna write your kidneys now they did improve the harness slightly for 1981 it had a better four-point harness with more padding and they added a little net there to protect you from your helmet hitting the things in the back overall though it's very similar there's not a whole lot of difference for a t1 they did change the colors you notice it does look different obviously the first version 1977 through 80 is all yellow and then 81 through 84 goes to the more traditional haunt of red so it did change that part as far as upgrades you could get like a little trailer hitch for these odyssey's they also sold a chevron style tire you get for a little better I guess maybe use some snow or something I'm not sure I don't think it was maybe I guess maybe the sand tube in any case these early versions you know they're probably full a lot of from the dunes like I said though I only ever rode one in the backyard you know like I rode my buddy's backyard it's pretty fun for that in any kind of rough terrain though I imagine they're pretty pretty brutal on the kidneys but they continue to be popular enough that Honda kept him in their lineup for the next few years for 1985 the Odyssey receives by far the most comprehensive updated received to that point the new machine was completely redesigned from stem to stern literally nothing was a holdover from the 84 machine the bike had a new frame all-new engine full suspension for the first time as I said really a complete redesign really almost should have changed the name like they did with the pilot it was that much different than the previous machines now the new Odyssey 485 had an upgrade in displacement to a 342 CCS it remained a two-stroke air-cooled single really that's the major difference would you'd see versus a mountain UTV these are all two strokes now did get a reed valve for 1985 which helped with response the new engine used a six point seven to one compression ratio in a 80 millimeter by sixty eight millimeter bore and Stroke carburation was handled by a thirty two millimeter piston valve carburetor ignition was still done by electronics CDI now one nice feature they added as well 485 is electric starting so this is the first Odyssey you didn't have to pull start which also meant you could start the thing once you're strapped in that was always a deal with the old one you had to fire it up not get run over by it while you climbed into it so this one you could all do all that stuff just while sitting strapped in there there was a switch for the starter basically all the controls are on that central yoke there for 1985 they added front brakes for the first time they were hydraulic but they were drums the front used a hydraulic drum the rear used a hydraulic disc which was a major upgrade from the old mechanical discs the old mechanical disc worked okay I mean I had one of my blaster it was decent but it lacks the feel of Golic system now the 85 received full suspension for the first time up front it had a set of shocks and the front that were adjustable for preload only now in the rear it finally did get rear suspension which was a major upgrade the shocks offered a decent amount of travel at five point nine inches not phenomenal you wouldn't want to take it on a supercross track clearly but it was way better than the zero inches of travel on the 84 model there was an adjustment for pre low but neither the front or rear were adjustable for compression or rebound damping it was basically like the old street bike shocks you could crank down the preload to get a little more spring tension but there wasn't anything he just fries that damping goes now the new bike did increase in weight significantly the 84 model came in at about four and thirty pounds this new one was just shy of 600 pounds so a pretty significant upgrade in terms of weight so that probably neutered some of the performance in terms of the the motor the motor as I said did remain a air-cooled design this was a bummer overheating was always a problem on these darn things and now they didn't make some changes they have they said they redesigned the front fenders to use more direct more air to the back then you can see there's actually a little RAM scoops kind of behind the on either side of the pilot didn't really help too much I mean this bike still was known for overheating it was actually one of the problems they had with this 85 model in fact it led to a recall at some point they recall some of the motors and actually downsized the displacement slightly I'm not sure if that was to try and cool the motors off I don't know it's not a lot of information about it at this point this obviously happened thirty years ago but I do know at one point really this 85 is much of an improvement as it was and performance had a fair amount of problems they also had problems with the transmission failures on them you know when you you know go off a jump land suddenly you could break the transmission when the rear tires hit the ground again it really was some mechanical problems I think that kind of plagued this design in terms of you know technology it was a big improvement but in terms of reliability I'm not so sure maybe because people push these a little harder you know any time you up the performance capabilities or something somebody's more likely to you know push them a little bit harder and maybe that's part of what caused these things to have some issues the bigger more powerful engine and the better especially probably cause people to treat him less like a toy and more like a high-performance machine and maybe that caused some of the problems but I love the looks of this thing I always wanted one myself I wish that guy could have one you know it's a neat machine I imagine that price still worth a fair amount of money if you find one that's still running and still in decent shape it's a good looking machine for sure way way way better than the original ones which look really very much like a 70s dune buggy it's kind of cheeseball this thing here looks like you know high-performance like sand rail kind of deal certainly a cool machine I never got the opportunity to ride one now this this 85 did offer a reverse gear for the first time as well which was a really nice thing in the old one you'd have to get out and push if you wanted to back it up so much more versatile in terms of that but like I said there were some reliability issues that probably torpedoed it interestingly Honda only had this bike in the lineup for one year I mean you think about all the money they must have spent I mean this is a really significant redesign and then they canceled that there was no 86 obviously I don't know what happened they don't know whether they didn't sell very many of them they read the recall and the reliability issues might have been a problem but I mean it's not like you have a recall on a car now and you completely stopped making the car after one year so it's kind of puzzling I don't know why this is a one-year model but certainly an iconic machine an interesting one probably all the more for the fact they only made it one year in 1989 after a four-year hiatus Honda came out with a successor you know essentially maybe not the exact same machine but clearly a direct successor to the original Odyssey the 1989 FL 400 our pilot one little interesting tip of you it's funny to me that the pilot and the Odyssey are now currently like SUVs and a minivan but Honda had these original versions in the 80s in the ATV / UTV market now for 89 this was a complete redesign of the previous machine it shares no parts with the Odyssey which probably has something to do with the faculty change the name the machine had much upgraded suspension and used double wishbone suspension just like Honda's high-performance cars at the time it has upgraded shocks in the front the rear shocks actually have remote reservoirs for the first time offered more travel the motor was completely redesigned it went from our air-cooled single cylinder two-stroke to a liquid-cooled 397 cc two-stroke Honda claimed to put out 38.9 horsepower and used a six point two to one compression ratio and a thirty four millimeter carburetor now the transmission remained a fully automatic it didn't have Reverse like 85 but they added what they called a slipper clutch to the transmission to help take a little of that shock as I said they had problems with the transmissions braking on the 85 so when you go off a jump and you pin it in the air and you land on the ground you could break that transmission the new one we had a little of something in it there to try and push that up to keep it from jarring the transmission and breaking the cases and what-have-you so I never got a chance to drive one of these personally I've always wanted one this is the one that is like on my bucket list the dream machine to have it looks like a really cool machine and back in 89 I wanted one so bad and when I first saw it I thought it was just the coolest thing I've ever seen of course it listed 459 98 in 1989 which I don't know modern dollars is probably $15,000 or something today and that was a lot of money back then especially for a nine-year-old kid you know fresh out of high school I I certainly had no way of affording anything like this and I guess a lot of people had a hard time swallowing that kind of money for you know essentially an ATV back then now you see guys spending 20 grand plus on these crazy things now and I think if the pilot came out now it would be a huge hit but back in 89 I guess it was a tough sell unfortunally Honda only made this thing two years it was only an 89 90 so I guess they just didn't sell a ton of them it's kind of peculiar because like I said everything was upgraded in addition to the liquid cooling here with a big radiator on the back of the roll cage you got hydraulic disks in the front and back so the brakes were you know largely upgraded pretty much everything was improved on this machine now in stock condition I don't think you're again you're gonna take it out on a supercross track or something like that but compared to the Odyssey with the first generation the second generation or any I'm really it was a it's a major major improvement I would like I said I'd always love to have more of these things it's just a really cool machine definitely an iconic machine of the eighties and one of the most interesting machines Honda build it kind of puzzled me that they haven't come out with something like this now and again I think this thing would sell crazy today because it really isn't anything like it I mean there I think Polaris like I said makes a a single person one of these UTV's but it's four-wheel-drive and it's at least 200 pounds I think more than this thing this thing weighed believe it or not it would even of the upgrades it it's listed the same exact weight as the 85 so they added liquid cooling it's got a larger chassis I don't know if they put more aluminum into it or how they got to it but it lists the same 592 dry weight as the 85 so you got a huge improvement in performance with you know no real appreciable change in weight which is pretty impressive and I think the the least Xterra pilars is like 800 pounds at least now so it would be significantly lighter of course a two-stroke typically is lighter as well so this is a really interesting machine and again I don't know why it only lasted two years other than maybe it was just too expensive maybe was a clearly a machine kind of too early for its time if they if they came out with it now I just imagine this thing selling like hotcakes so Honda if you're listening me pull the pull the pilot out of mothballs and take it front of the spin here so I hope you've enjoyed this little brief look back at the Honda Odyssey and pilot a couple of machines that were definitely very interesting and I think you deserve another look back today I think as I said they would be a real hot seller if they brought something similar to this back so it's really kind of a weird little niche of the market that I don't think is being served so in any case if you like this sort of thing make sure you check out some of the stuff I've done if you like support the channel check out my teespring merch store and if you give it a like and a little think and a little bail checking their on Facebook or whatever that you're watching this I'd appreciate it until we meet again this Tony blazer for the motocross ball peace you [Laughter]

Channel: The Motocross Vault

Views: 49,243

Keywords: race, crash, supercross, motocross, HONDA, YAMAHA, KAWASAKI, KTM, SUZUKI, 80, 125, 250, 500, 490, YZ80, YZ85, YZ125, YZ250, YZ400, YZ765, YZ490, YZ450, YZ426, CR80, CR80R, CR125, CR250, CR450, CR480, CR500, CR500R, KX80, KX125, KX250, KX450, KX420, KX500, rm80, RM125, RM250, RM465, RM500, RM450, RM-Z250, RM*Z450, ATC, FOURTRAX, FL250, FL350, FL400R, Odyssey, Pilot

Id: zMXjfyDAB4g

Length: 22min 6sec (1326 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 22 2020