Thoughts about a 3 or 4 wheeler for 6 year old....

[Dirtcrasher]

Not mine, I don't make those mistakes, neighbors kid :lol: Anyhow, he has a TAO TAO 110cc single speed quad and he is on my track all day every day. There are 9 jumpos including filled in doubles, banked corners etc, he can keep his speed up pretty quick.

He has 2 broken shocks on his quad, tires are shot, chain is out of adjustment, carb is riveted together and causing the motor to stall and he brought it over a day ago with a "clicking starter" issue.

This kid can ride, he will be 7 soon. I chase him and it just makes him faster. He is hitting some good sized jumps and this thing is falling apart. The A arms and tie rod ends are horribly cheap! I am always tightening things and there are no bushings in the A arms, it's built like a homemade go cart in many respects. Just bolts in tubes are "pivots".

So, we need to get him on something that actually has bushings/bearings and a manual shift (he has 1 gear centrifugal clutch) and it tops out very quickly.

He is trying to learn how to ride my suspended ATC70, I blew that shock out as well :D I'm not sure if he's ready for a trike just yet but I'm open to suggestions.

Trikes are getting very expensive, prices are constantly climbing now, IDK if I can find him a 110 or 125M and I've been thinking about a quad for him.

I was thinking 80's Fourtrax, but they are hard to find, I honestly think if I limit his throttle that he could ride a Blaster, they made a bazillion of them and they are 1000 - 1500$ for a decent , but no electric start...

He's a good rider, except he keeps looking back to see how close I am as he heads towards a tree, a big rock, a 30 foot double or one of their pigs that roam my track, I'm sure we can put him on something bigger.

Could someone suggest a new ride for this little twerp?? I want electric start, manual shift and nothing over 200CC. I want something made better (Japan), better suspension, bigger tires but still smaller framed, a headlight would be nice, disc or drum is fine... I can't recall every model out there, hoping someone has a good thought.

Thanks in advance for any input...

[bobtdms]

We put both of my nephew's on a suzuki lt160 at about 8yrs old each. They could handle it just fine with a little room to grow. I'm sure if you asked my older nephew, he could tell you all about it's jumping abilities. Great little quad overall.

[Jim mac]

trx90? jim

[atctim]

Don't buy him a trike - they are TOO EXPENSIVE when things happen. Buy him a Honda quad - if he can ride good, I would say he will grow into a 250EX fairly quick and will not out grow it for a while. They are reasonable in the price department, and plentiful, and pretty darn bullet proof. I knoiw it is over 200cc, but not my much - they are 230cc, even though Honda calls them a 250.

I know it is not an option from your original post, but what about a dirt bike? As far as I am concerned, they are best for training a kid to ride.

[oldskool83]

I have a 87 YFM80 Moto 4for my 3.5 year old. She has not road it herself yet but will sit on it and tell me what the controls are. Her atv right now is a peg perego polaris outlaw pink that she rides...I follow her on the old Moto 4. She does ride on the Moto 4 with me every now and then but only with helmets on in front of me holding onto the bars.

[Tri-Z 250]

IMO a 200X would be too much at 7yrs...maybe at 11 if he’s completely capable rider. Cobra had a quad 65cc and a lot of race kids run these https://www.drrusa.com/ in this area.

[Jd110]

So, he can ride and likes it....I would use it to teach him how to get his own stuff. You could help him keep his current machine running as long as possible-less time riding, more time maintaining.

Nothing wrong with telling him to calm down, either. Little machines aren’t build to handle an aggressive rider. Just my thoughts. I know you’re helpful.

One last mention is the rewards from working together on a machine. I like to tell my son to grease this or put this here and tighten it. Last year working on his 70 headlight, he asked, ‘why are these called male and female’. After I told him, he ran out of the garage, not to return until next day. My mistake, I guess.

[keister]

I know it is not an option from your original post, but what about a dirt bike? As far as I am concerned, they are best for training a kid to ride.

Came here to post this. At that age, if he learns on a dirt bike, he will easily be able to adapt to a trike / kwad later. It doesn't work so easily the other way around.
Also, much as we may hate to admit it MX tracks were invented for motorcycles, not ATVs.

[ATC King]

I think the dirt bike idea is a good one too.


If for nothing else, learning to use a clutch at the earliest age possible. It's much easier to find smaller dirt bikes with a manual transmission than quads. Trikes are getting too expensive for learners to beat up.

They've really dumbed down ATVs over the years. If it's not auto clutch, it's fully automatic. If they learn on any of those, they'll more than likely never be able to use anything with a manual clutch, including automobiles. It really closes some doors to them.

Maybe one of these:

Suzuki Quadsport LT230S
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fatvconnection.com%2Fforums%2Fattac hments%2Fsuzuki%2F3200d1270835887-85-88-suzuki-lt230s-quadsport-help-lt230e.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

If you can find one.

Suzuki had some smaller sport quads for a while, maybe into the 90's. I don't know how sporty they actually were, I've only rode one for a short while around the yard, but they look the part enough to excite a young rider.

[schlepp29]

Dirtbike is definitely a good option. He already has a feel for the quad. Sounds like he's fast

[Quinc]

dirt bikes are cheap and plentiful. ttr110 or 125 have electric start but suspension isn't great. Could build up a crf50 if he is on the smaller side. KX65 are cheap with a ton of power and decent suspension. (can add a washer/restricter to exhaust and intake manifold)

For quads check out the LT80 (2stroke), and 4stroke LT250 quadsport or like you said get the blaster. You can restrict them as well, or run two head gaskets to bring down compression.

[Dirtcrasher]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

Problem is he's not my kid, and I don't need him to be. His parents don't spend much time with him (typical these days) but they are very good at screaming every shitty word in the book. Needless to say, when he swears I tell him he can't go on the track, I don't find it cute or funny for a 6 year old to say trailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro and anything else.

So, none of you will find it hard to believe that he still can't ride a bike. I would be the one teaching him to ride a dirt bike, picking him up etc. and I really just wanna ride and enjoy the track myself.

[Quinc]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

Problem is he's not my kid, and I don't need him to be. His parents don't spend much time with him (typical these days) but they are very good at screaming every shitty word in the book. Needless to say, when he swears I tell him he can't go on the track, I don't find it cute or funny for a 6 year old to say trailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro and anything else.

So, none of you will find it hard to believe that he still can't ride a bike. I would be the one teaching him to ride a dirt bike, picking him up etc. and I really just wanna ride and enjoy the track myself.

You are doing the world a favor by teaching the boy and giving him a shot of not growing up to be a pos like the parents. And while it's not your problem and it sucks I am sure it means more to him then you think. Also with his parents he probably doesn't have much understanding of how to show appreciation. Another idea is to have him work for it. Collect cans, wet the track down, fill in holes, rake leaves, etc etc. Teach him how to work and you get some easy chores taken care of.