Motorcycle, ATV or Go Kart for a 9 year old. Your thoughts?

[Alan L.]

I think it depends on the level of supervision, which can be time consuming. I got the kids a go-cart with a 5hp Briggs motor on it when they were about 7 and 10 years old, and they had a blast with it (so did I). It does need a smooth dirt/grass track, which we set up on about a 100 by 400 area we had behind our house in town. You could go full blast and skid around corners and I don't remember anyone ever turning it over. Helmets are required equipment however.

When they were about 10 and 13 I got them a small 4-wheeler - I think it was an 80cc Yamaha. They used it only under supervision, but I found out later my young son had driven it as far as 6 or 7 miles away, with his friends who also had 4-wheelers they weren't supposed to take on the road either. Nobody got hurt.

The 9 year old son of my best friend was riding a 4-wheeler in a pasture and hit a ditch and went flying over the front, require stitches to basically sew his nose back on.

Not long after that the 12 year old daughter of another of my friends (brother of the one above) who lives miles from town decided to drive their 4-wheeler to a friend's house a half mile away. She drove through an intersection, was hit by a car and was killed instantly. That was 1995, and ruined a family. The girl's 19 year old sister had died just a couple of years earlier from cancer.

I think the key here is supervision and locking up the keys when play time is over. As everyone knows, 4-wheelers can be hard to control without experience, and doing 35 or 40 mph anywhere is super dangerous for any kid.

Just my 2 cents........

 

[/pine]

There is no doubt in my mind that a minibike ...

I must have been typing as you were posting or I just would have seconded your suggestion...sorry to be redundant

 

[Mark_in_NH]

Eddie,
I have to apologize. I feel like I have stolen your thread and completly steered it away from your original question.

 

[warhammer]

I vote for a small Honda minibike with a remote cutoff while he learns, full protective gear and adult supervision. Really reliable, not too fast, fun and they have good resale when he outgrows it. Trail riding is a great sport to share with your kids. Even when my son was at the age when I was no longer cool he still wanted to go riding with Dad.
4 wheelers seem to generate too much confidence and that can lead to counter intuitive bad situations at speed.

Warhammer

My 8 year old will be turning 9 in two months and I'm thinking about buying him a go kart or dirt bike. He doesn't have a clue about this, hasn't asked for it, but is fasinated by dirt bikes. When we were on vacation, he'd get very excited when we drove by a motocross track.

We've pretty much dismissed getting him a fourwheeler because of all the injuries kids seem to suffer from them. We know a few nurses and have heard these stories from them, on the news and online. I do like the remote kill switch that the small four wheelers have. Being able to turn it off while he's riding it wold probably go a long ways to keep him safe. But we're still not comfortable with kids on four wheelers, so I think it's out of the running.

I realy like the idea of a two seater go kart. They seem safe and I'm sure would be allot of fun for him. From what I've seen,they all seem to be from China, and I'm unsure about parts. The stores that sell them don't have parts, so it's a concern that if I spend the money on it, how long will it last and what would it take to repair it? For allot more money, there are other options, but I was hoping to keep this under a grand.

Then there is the dirt bike idea. I had a Honda 70 as a kid and loved it. Very reliable and allot of fun. With the proper gear, I think it would be safe enough, as these things go. We don't hear the horror stories from dirt bikes and kids like we do with the ATV's, but don't know if this is because ATV's are more popular or if there is a real difference between the two and how dangerous they are. My thought is the four wheeler would be safer because of the four tires, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

He's turning 9 and this might be a bad idea. He might be too young for this, so that would be something that I'd like to hear about too. He's kind of on the wild side, tends to push things a bit, but he also learns from what doesn't work and will keep doing something until he gets it. We've been very impressed by how quickl he learns and improves at what he's doing. With the golf cart, he started out bad, but quickly learned and became pretty good at driving it. His sister is 3 years odler then him, but doesn't have his skill at driving like he does. He can think ahead, plan for what will happen and when he's suprised, he'll react to it appropriatly. He has good reactionary skills. She freezes up and just runs into things. She does not react well to suprises and has not improved at all in her driving skills since the first time she's started driving stuff. It's actually scary how bad of a driver she is. From a bicycle to the golf cart to my truck, she just doesn't get it.

If this is a good idea, and we decide to do this, what would you recomend?

I'd go to the dealer for a dirt bike and buy a name brand. I see the chinese bikes out there for less, but I don't think they have any resale value, don't know about parts or reliablity. Any of the Japanese brands should be fine for his first bike if we go that route.

If we get him a go kart, what should we look for and what should we avoid. It seems that they are only sold at the box stores like Tractor Supply and Atwoods. Is there a good brand to look for?

Another thoght for the go kart would be to increase the budget some and get it for both of them as a shared Christmas gift. That has some appeal too. She really needs to practice driving and developing some sort of skill. If we bought it for Peyton, then he'd have to share it with her and it wouldn't be his gift as much. He's pretty good at sharing, but if it was both of theirs from day one, that might be better.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[LBrown59]

I had the best Go Cart there ever was.

 

[deere755]

My wife and I had this discussion a few years back. He and I wanted a 4 wheeler but my wife felt it was a death trap. We ended up buying an off road go kart or some call them a mini dune buggy. It is great, it has a full harness seat belt, and a full roll cage. He has had a lot of fun on it and so far no injuries. The wife and I have used it a lot too. We went with a Baja 150cc engine. Top speed is about 35 mph. It seems to do real well on the trails. I have talked to some guys that own them and have told me that their kids have rolled them and just push them back on there wheels and keep going. He seems to be just as happy with it as he would have been with a 4 wheeler. I mentioned to him the other day that he might want to sell it since he is getting his license in a week, but he said he wanted to keep it. It seems to do well in the snow too.

 

[MikeD74T]

Hi Eddie, Entertaining opinions here, ER horror stories & "rides only under supervision" kid that managed to ride 6-7 miles away. Not bashing the adult, no worse influence than peer pressure for kids. Got a real kick out of the idea of a remote kill switch on a 2 wheeler ! Kid driving along, parent panics, machine suddenly stops - & tips over - crash!!

I've owned motorcycles since 1966, along with snowmobiles & ATVs. Currently have 5 four wheelers & 7 snowmobiles, no motorcycles. I find 4 wheelers as safe as the driver. Have grandsons, ages 7 & 13, that drive both 4 wheelers & snowmobiles. Both boys learned to drive, snowmobile first then ATV,well before they could ride a bike.
None of these machines are babysitters, not that I think you're looking for one. My wife & I have taught the grandsons that they'll loose the privledge for misuse. They only ride unattended on our property & have to loop thru the yard every few minutes to check in. If they don't show up we go looking. Sometimes they get stuck or out of gas. We've a network of trails on our 38 acres that is well traveled. 13 year old has done over 1000 miles per year in the last 2 years on 38 acres!! We belong to, and do group rides with, a club that rejects yahoos & 2 wheelers. Not saying 2 wheelers are yahoos but they seldom ride as slow as 4 wheelers can. A sample of the attitude from our club website www.northcountryatv.com/unwantedriders.htm .

We have one chinese 4 wheeler, 110cc medium frame, bought for the small stature of the younger grandson. Couldn't see spending $2500 for something he might quickly grow out of. I bought that one for $300 from a kid that used it for 3 years & was then too heavy & big for it. I did have to put new bearings in the rear axle which I got from a local bearing supply. My grandson's got 2 years out of it so far & will get next year as well. Expect to save it for his 18 month old brother to grow into. It's been very reliable & lots of parts are availible online, though I haven't needed any. Looking at the Tyler CL I see a few for sale. There's one in particular thats a 125cc on a 250 frame. Would take a kid a while to outgrow that one.
One other benefit of the 4 wheeler. The 13 year old is getting into the idea of working to make money. He gets no allowance. I build him a trailer to haul behind the ATV. He hauled 2 cords of firewood last fall over a week from woods to cellar. MikeD74T

 

[Frosty2]

I'm voting Minibike. The old burn your leg models of the 60's were the type I started on. Sure makes me long for the days of not having a care in the world. Any 9 year old (if taught) will have a safe, fun time. The only problem I see is you might create a monster. My parents started me out on a life of loving motorcycles. Have had at least one all my life. Keeps me smiling and sane at 50 years old. I'd recommend a Honda 50 or one of the other Japanese bikes. Whatever you do stay away from the Chinese models because parts are hard to find and you WILL need parts. I have my first "bike" in a shed that makes me grin everytime I see it. Your son is lucky to have parents that will let him be a kid and I commend you and yours for that. Someday he'll even let you know how much he appreciated you doing this.

 

[AlanB]

Hi Eddie, I think I can comment some on this subject.
For cred, have been riding since I was 6, my son has been riding since 3 (no training wheels), experienced with 4 wheelers and was a SVIA (Specialty Vehicle Institute of America) instructor back in the day.

The best thing you can get him is what you will spend time doing with him.

Folks think the 4 wheelers are "safer" because they are more stable at low speed, unfortunately they allow an unskilled rider to go at unsafe speed without even realizing it.

Most of the 4 wheeler accidents though that you see can really be attributed to lack of parental supervision and concern.

I would suggest a Honda XR 80. Set the limits off the start. Helmet, boots, long pants, (e-mail me if you need boots) and enforce them hard when they get broke.

For something for the two of you (or all of you) to do together I strongly suggest the sport of Observed Trials. Go to Trials Central and check it out. There are some other riders there in your local area.

Good luck whichever way you go. If you want to come out this way sometime, we can put you all on Trials bikes and let you give it a go. We had two newbies out to the house today and everyone had a good time.

On Edit, just looked at my Avatar, That is Dean on a Sherco 50, probably about 9 years old.

 

[Deaf]

Eddie,

I have read most of your posts in the past and I can tell your on the line, have a good way of looking at things and your already showing what type of parent you are by researching 1st before buying.. With that said, nothing is 100% safe but with proper training and supervision all the toys mentioned will be a blast for any 9 year old.

My son rides ATV痴 and started on a Suzuki LT80 that he basically wore out. Had a few spills but nothing serious. The thing was so light if it did roll or land on him he could push it off. 100% of the ATV stories I have read where a child was hurt the kid was riding an adult sized ATV and most of them being unsupervised.

I read not long ago some famous persons kid died in a cart roll over in a creek, they drowned due to being strapped in..

One of my closets friend said dirt bikes are safer due to being lighter. Not sure what the stats are compared to ATV痴 but watching a group of young kids on 125 dirt bikes makes me 撤ucker?

Deaf