Kids and Quads ?

[hevysrf]

My 10 year old son is begging me for a quad, is 10 too young, is there any thing out there with a governor? I haven't had a dirt bike in 25 years, so I don't have a clue as to whats reliable, whats too fast or too slow? Which bike holds its resale best, in case we decide to upgrade ? Marty D

[Daytona19]

He is at the age where some quads are to small and some to big. I would say a used Honda 70 quad to start would be a great investment and has wonderful resale. dirt bikes for kids hold resale too so a fourstroke ( xr 50/70 ) would be a good choice. My son started on a honda 70 3 wheeler at 3 yrs old and he has done great since then and now has a CR 60 which is a 1984 and still runs awesome, but its to fast for a beginner. Good luck, wear a helmet and good shoes ( work boots atleast, no exceptions)!! :D

[Ted Stryker]

Not too young with your guidance and supervision... IMO...

[hevysrf]

I know when I was a teen, I was out on the bike when I wasn't supposed to be. There's an atv park about 1/2 hour away, I guess most use would be there. MartyD

[stvhelm]

I bought my kid a 50cc quad when he was 5 yrs old after I burnt up his PowerWheels with 24 volts (loads of fun while it lasted). He had no problem learning to ride it. Now he's 10 and he's bugging me for something faster.

[ProComp]

My 8 year old is pretty cautious and he uses are 350cc Yamaha Bruin 4x4 whenever he wants. My daughter on the otherhand will not be able to touch something like that until she's probably 14 cuz she's nuts! LOL.

Take a look at the 125cc Yamaha Grizzly or the 90cc Honda Fourtrax. The XR line of bikes as mentioned would be a great choice too. We had an XR50 for awhile this summer and it was a ton of fun. Fast little buggers too.

ProComp

[Raceman]

The Christmas before my son was turnin' 2 in the Spring, I bought him wunna' those little Indian Motorcycles with trainin' wheels. (handlebar prints on the wall and 2 stroke smoke in the house sure ticked his mother off when she came home) When he was 9 he got a YZ80, and at 11 an ATV250R Honda (2 stroke 3 wheeler from Hell). When he turned 16 I bought him a used 928. Nowdays he drives normal stuff (a Tahoe) and doesn't seem lusty for high perf.

When I was about 8, a cute chick at the lake had a 20 horse Merc on a john boat. I wanted one also, and my dad bought me a 3 horse Johnson. A year or so later I wanted a Yazoo Super Dragster go kart (dual 2 stroke Clinton engines) and my dad got me the Yazoo 2 1/2 horse yard cart for Christmas. When we built the little MiniMost boat I wanted a 10 horse Merc and got a 5 horse Johnson. First motorcycle I wanted was a 165 two stroke Harley (called a Hummer) and got a Honda 65 instead. My dad never would participate in my stickin' a big block in my first car, a 57 Chevy, but did buy a 350 horse 327 crate motor for it. I guess all this wantin' powerful and endin' up with less than the max made me always try and buy the fastest sum beach of anything I'm interested in now, and probably the reason my car collection is almost all big block stuff.

What was the question????? Oh yeah, quads for kids. It's probably bad advice, but I've always bought big, trained/instructed/supervised well, and had good results. I also believe strongly that kids with quads/motorcycles/go karts develop motor skills that make em a lot better drivers when they get older. My daughter hit a garbage truck in her first week of driving. Kept tellin' the ex wife she shoulda' let me buy her a go kart when she was younger.:p

[triple dude]

Raceman on a HD Hummer?? While in junior high, a buddy had one. We used to deliver newspapers with me on the handlebars. It WAS a bit faster than doing by bicycle. ;) Regarding young kids and quads/dirtbikes, it depends on the kid and how much time you want to give to teaching and supervision. Some take to it well and use their heads while others are a disaster waiting to happen. If they get minor scuffs and scrapes, well, that's part of being a kid. But your wife will probably disagree. ;)

[Raceman]

Hahaha Trip, the first wife/mother of my children disagreed with most everything I ever did.


You're right on the supervision. It's the reason kids get hurt on 4 wheelers, and PWC's are so unpopular. Turnin' a 13 year old loose on a 50 can be much worse than a well trained 10 year old on a 250. There was a little kid on a full sized 4 wheeler in the motorhome section at Jasper in 03. He couldn't touch the pedals on either side and had to slide off the seat to one side to shift it, and back to the other side to hit the rear brake. He looked like he was only 7 or 8 and could ride the stew out of it. I'm sure somebody had spent a lot of time with him.

[hwyrnr]

I got my son 7 a 90cc artic cat it has 3 goveners on it that you can take out. I feel a 10 year old might need something a little bigger. James

[triple dude]

My own ex had two kids who she and their dad had gotten into wrestling at the grade school level. Throughout junior high and high school both were contenders in the State Finals. Now, these kids were getting tossed around just about every week, even in the off season. But even the mere mention of me buying them a dirt bike/quad, got me the cold stare and "Are you crazy? They might get hurt!!"

[hevysrf]

Has any one had any experience with the xr70 clones( Lifan or Civet?) They probably dont have any resale, but saw a brand new one go for $550 . MartyD

[vwfreak]

Check out Kasea dirt bikes & go karts. My friend has been looking at one of these for his boys (about 10yrs old).
They offer a dog leash type kill cord, so dad can follow closely, and if junior takes off, just yank the kill switch.
These are clone bikes, that will have very little resale value, but then again he's gonna grow out of it sooner thn you'd think. So why dump a ton of $$$ into his first quad? www.kasea.com
Just my two cents.
I wish I had one of those at 10 years old! :cool:
vwfreak