Early 80s a top ranking European off road motorcycle racer Horst leitner teamed up with Boyesen, they same boyesen who later started boyesen reeds, teamed up to create ATK motorcycles. An american company that had ideas way ahead of its time and had some unusual ideas. These were the California owners of ATK. The bikes had top of the line parts, some trick parts, and some interesting parts on their bikes. Rotax 2 and 4 stroke motors, WP upside down forks, WP shocks, Chromoly frames and swing arms made by world famous C&J frames, chain torque eliminators, countershaft mounted rear disk brakes, electric start, and a few had fuel injection in the later 80s. These bikes meant business! One big reason I think there were never a lot of them around was because of the prices for these exotic bikes. They were several thousand dollars more to buy than the competing japanese brand bikes. The company was bought and sold several times, once in 1993 and moved to utah and redesigned, and a few more times still staying in utah. The company is still in utah, they still made rotax powered and unique bikes until 2003. Rotax stopped producing the 4 stroke motors they were using, than the company bought what was left of the failing cannondale motorcycle company and produced more bikes and rebadged them as ATKs. Now they are doing the same with another asian brand street bikes and rebadging them as ATKs.
Here is the pics of the crazy rear brake setup and the chain torque eliminator.
So its just a cool bike all around. I hardly ever see any other ATKs on the road or at the track. I kind of like the odd ball bikes a little more for that reason. There are still several suppliers for parts including ATK-USA in utah, and American Dirt Bike in Norco, CA. I can also say my bike was build in America.
Other than basic maintenance the bike was pretty much ready to ride. I even tracked down an MX tank, but it wasnt until after my first race with it. It is a great do it all bike. I can run the 4.6 gallon tank and seat and haul in the desert or swap to the 2.2 gallong tank and seat and run it on the track. Lots of power, and flat track racers have gotten 60-70 HP reliably out of these motors, so parts are still available for the motor. A lot of the suspension and body work is shared with similar era KTMs. I like it a lot and can use it for more than one discipline of off road riding. There is also a cult following of die hard ATK fans out there. So check them out if you want to read up on a unique history and production of a very cool American motorcycle company.
These are just a few pics of the bike as it stands.
And some with the MX tank and seat.
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