Kids Dirtbike

I’m debating which route to go for my daughters. I have a 4 year old and 2 year old now, and the 4 year old is all about dirt biking with the 2 year old not far behind. She rides all over on a borrowed electric Razor dirtbike with her gear. She for the most part has demonstrated the ability to ride under control, turn, stop, and follow directions while riding. I hate borrowing stuff from other people, and am stuck trying to decide what to purchase.

Have any of your kids ever run the Yamaha PW50s or something similar? I could go the electric route like she currently is borrowing, but it seems like she’s going to outgrow that quickly. I also question the longevity of batteries in a cheap dirt bike with her wanting to ride daily in all weather. She was on a TTR50 this weekend and was pushing the limits a bit with speed and control trying to keep up with an 8 year old, and it’s also pretty heavy considering she weighs maybe 45# herself. It looks like the PWs are lighter and have adjustable throttles?

Any suggestions or advice are welcomed. I’m not a lifelong dirtbiker, but married into a dirt biking family and am learning as I go.

oh, the memories. first bike was a Honda XR75 4 stroke. Parents thought that was a good thing, small, not very fast….lol. broke a few fingers when I wiped out and fortunately that was about it. Huge problem was I created no fear. Jumped into a Yamy YZ250 as my next bike. 10 or 11 years old and had to use milk crates to get on and lay it over to get off the thing. miss those days.

every kid is different, develops different, and strengths are different. looking back, a light weight bike that I could have managed better and lifted up myself would have been the smarter thing to do. But then options in the 70’s are not what they are today

Your kids are roughly the same age Gap as my kids. What I found is that it pays to buy higher quality equipment because there is more demand for it when quickly it comes time to resell it after they outgrow it.

To me it was all about being able to resell stuff quickly and with minimal effort and maximum return. I had people lined up to buy our youth ATV and I never even had to advertise it.

I have also found that maintenance and staying on top of broken parts is huge when it comes to resale. There are so many kids powersport toys out there and people are just trying to sell completely wrecked crap when they could have easily replace some broken plastics and a torn seat and gotten much more money.

A pw50 is a great machine. You will never go wrong. So simple and so reliable. Easy to limit the throttle and just a great first bike. And to bore them to a 65 is simple when they get that age.
The kid rode this from 2 to 6 or 7 when he went to a 85

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***On a complete side note, spending a day chasing after a 4 year old riding a dirtbike on foot has provided me with some great sleep at night.

buckybadger wrote:

***On a complete side note, spending a day chasing after a 4 year old riding a dirtbike on foot has provided me with some great sleep at night.

I never chased mine. Told him the boundary and let him go. I’ve ran to him after he’s hit a tree, the deck post, my neighbors house once and told him to hurry up and start the bike back up and get back to riding. But never ran with him for any reason. If I had to do that I’d get training wheels. But I never did that either. He learned balance on the pw at 2.5 years old. He’s crashed 100s of times. Just make sure mama isn’t watching.

My 8 year old has been riding for a few years now and is riding a razor sx500.
This is not your store bought razor.
It can hit 37 mph can run for 2 hours and has pit bike brakes forks and shocks. Yes he takes it off plenty of jumps as he rides a pretty big track up at our land. There are so many upgrades that you can do to a stock razor to have them keep growing with it.
Battery and motor for one. Extended swing arms bigger tires etc.
I have a speed switch installed and he currently runs on speed two. Thinking speed 3 will be hit next summer.

My biggest reason for liking this route is no gas/ no hot muffler engine.
He has put the bike down on the track and I don’t have to worry about him getting it started again.
He can also ride it where we live in town and nobody can even hear him.

I can ride this bike at 170lbs and often do.

There are other electric options as well. Mototec/Venom Tuttio and many others.

You can buy used ones for cheap but you have to jump on them quick because so many folks are modding these bikes for adults now.

Search online for modified razors and you will see guys that get them going 50-60mph. With adults riding them.

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We began our son at 5 on a ttr50e.
If she is physically big enough for the 4stroke series the electric start is sure nice for kids, especially when a carbed bike floods the engine on a dump.

All of the kids bikes have a throttle limiter screw.
Shifting is really not a big issue as you start the 50cc strokers in any gear till kids get shifting down.

I would stick with name brands over the Chinese knock off brands, name brands will hold their value, and parts are easy to find, especially plastics when they wreck.
I highly suggest dad get a bike too as kids at age of 6 can be on the trails on OHM vs I think 10yo on an ATV.

Hope to see you at the Theilman ride one of these years!

Ripjiggen wrote:

My 8 year old has been riding for a few years now and is riding a razor sx500.
This is not your store bought razor.
It can hit 37 mph can run for 2 hours and has pit bike brakes forks and shocks. Yes he takes it off plenty of jumps as he rides a pretty big track up at our land. There are so many upgrades that you can do to a stock razor to have them keep growing with it.
Battery and motor for one. Extended swing arms bigger tires etc.
I have a speed switch installed and he currently runs on speed two. Thinking speed 3 will be hit next summer.

My biggest reason for liking this route is no gas/ no hot muffler engine.
He has put the bike down on the track and I don’t have to worry about him getting it started again.
He can also ride it where we live in town and nobody can even hear him.

I can ride this bike at 170lbs and often do.

There are other electric options as well. Mototec/Venom Tuttio and many others.

You can buy used ones for cheap but you have to jump on them quick because so many folks are modding these bikes for adults now.

Search online for modified razors and you will see guys that get them going 50-60mph. With adults riding them.

This is what I am finding. The electric bikes have come a long ways, but at what point does the time/money involved with me modding the thing to keep up with growth actually pay for itself.

The Razor she’s been on is a sx350. I’d guess it goes about 15mph as it’s stock. My biggest complaint is that there’s literally no suspension on the thing. I love the “flip the switch and go” though. When she got on the ttr50 it seemed so much smoother and actually easier to handle with having suspension. I know that there’s no way she at maybe 45# will be able to stand that up (~125#) on her own when she topples though. Hence, where the thought of a PW comes in at (85#).

My kids razor has hydraulic front and rear suspension. Made a huge difference at his age. Modded myself yes. Not hard either. In fact my 8 year old helped with it and kind of got into tinkering with tools a bit more. Mototec and many others come stock with hydraulic front suspension and hydraulic brakes. Even the big boys like Yamaha are making electric pit bikes now. Way more expensive.
Midwest mini mods is just one company that makes parts and kits. I believe they are out of prior lake.

I don’t think I will have any problem getting my money back after he is done with it.

I got his used for 200$ probably have about 400 into it now. Fun hobby to upgrade with him.

So 600$ for a bike that is lighter than a 50cc. Just as fast if not faster later on and sits bigger.

I picked up my buddy’s kid a Yamaha TTR 50 . 4 stroke 3 gears . Very cool little bike . I think it even had a remote to shut it down if they were headed to a fence . He mainly left it in 1st gear but it was a really well built bike . Electric start too. They hold their value well from the little I helped him search .

If you can still find one the 50cc cobras from back in the day we’re the best kids bike out there. Never lost value it was a step up from the pw50 for sure.

All my kids learned on our pw 50. Its a good machine for kids to learn on. I sold mine for what i paid after 10 years.

Anyone run mopeds anymore? Not the fancy ones but the old school banana seat about 20″ off the ground type things. Had an old elementary grade bud whos dad had a shop up in Rogers where we’d buzz around on those things, fun stuff.

Deuces wrote:

Anyone run mopeds anymore? Not the fancy ones but the old school banana seat about 20″ off the ground type things. Had an old elementary grade bud whos dad had a shop up in Rogers where we’d buzz around on those things, fun stuff.

I rode the hell out of a Honda Spree, then found out when I asked about it a few months ago my dad gave it to my brother in law for no good reason. To my knowledge it ran fine and was in mint shape. The gifting of it may be revisited by me after a few old fashioneds over Thanksgiving dinner.

I had tons of memories on that thing, with one being when it “accidentally” ended up being ridden in the high school gym during halftime of a girls basketball game. Ahhh the good ole days and my “friendship” with my principal will never be forgotten

Bought a SSR 125 pit bike for our oldest boy when he was 10, should last him til he’s 16 or so, definitely see the advantage of buying brand name though for resale value. No complaints from the ssr though. Being a cheap Chinese knowckoff, it’s held up well and with 3 younger brothers behind him I have no plans of selling it anyway. Paid 900 for it new

Pitter patter wrote:

Bought a SSR 125 pit bike for our oldest boy when he was 10, should last him til he’s 16 or so, definitely see the advantage of buying brand name though for resale value. No complaints from the ssr though. Being a cheap Chinese knowckoff, it’s held up well and with 3 younger brothers behind him I have no plans of selling it anyway. Paid 900 for it new

Ssr bikes are great, honda parts bolt right on to them. Just be ready because every nut and bolt with fall off. After you re tighten and lock tight them they are good to go. The motors run forever. We’ve had 3 just for ditch hoping and to keep as a cheap around the block wheelie rider.