Kids 4-wheeler... how young?

DCVING 6

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2002
I know it is kind of apples and oranges, but my kid has been driving a little powerwheels John Deere gator for 2 summers now. It is scary how rediculously good he is at driving, backing up, etc. He is just a total natural at it. I would like to get him a mini quad in the future and was wonder how young your kids were when they started. He will be 5 this upcoming August so I was thinking maybe around his birthday?

Was looking on CL for something like a 50cc, but looks like most small ones are 110 which is probably big for him.
 
Just get him a mustang....anyone can drive those. :)

I was riding 50cc dirt bikes and 200 three wheelers as far back as I can remember. And I'm thankful for it. I learned a lot of self control regarding speed and the limits of my ability.

Posted from the TurboBuick.Com mobile app
 
Mine is 2&6 they both do good thinking the same. My two year old wheels the battery deer like nothing. Want to but mite wait till summer..1st gear nope 2nd is the only way to ride!!! It's like he has a glide in it!! Funny that's my boy!!;)

Posted from the TurboBuick.Com mobile app
 
Just get him a mustang....anyone can drive those. :)

I was riding 50cc dirt bikes and 200 three wheelers as far back as I can remember. And I'm thankful for it. I learned a lot of self control regarding speed and the limits of my ability.

And this explains why you moved back to Yankee hell.:p It's up to you Glen but they're just kids and most of the time they don't have the best of judgement. If you feel he's ready then that's great, but remember it only takes 1 mistake to cause a tragedy. After all Dan went from being a Texan to being a liberal Yankee so it could happen to your kid.:eek:
 
Yeah, well.........when I was only 2 years old my parents got me a little used fire truck pedal car....you know, the ones with the little bell in front and the ladders on the side?

So I woke up one morning, had my bottle (Jack) and oatmeal, then went out to ride my little red fire truck.................WAS HORRIFIED! :eek:

It was sitting up on baby blocks and all four wheels were gone! To add insult to injury, the baby blocks all spelled ''SUCKER''. It was a really bad neighborhood....:mad:

Guess this somewhat explains my mental condition to which it still exists this way today.

Lots of times after that, my Dad put a sign around my neck every morning and told me to sit outside on the steps all day...and wait until he got home from work....not to move...............since I was too young to even know what the word READ meant, I had no idea what that sign said.

Decades later, while cleaning out his things when he passed away, I found the sign......brought tears to my eyes......it said "FREE TO GOOD HOME." :(

I'd go with a bicycle or a small street Formula 1 car from Skip Barber.

Bruce '87 Grand Nationl
 
i've see 4 and 5 year old kids racing the little quads on the big boy motocross tracks.. they also start racing the little 50cc dirtbikes at that time- sometimes they even have training wheels on them...
 
Some kids can drive at 2-3 some never can. Depends on their abilities. When my son was 40 months we lived on a cul-de-sac that was full of young families. A neighbor bought his kid a fairly quick electric car. The kid drove it around for a few minutes with my son watching. When he got out and my son Vince just jumped in and took off no instructions. A little girl was riding her bike coming around parked cars and my son could not see her. We all thought there would be a collision but Vince just steered around her and kept going. He has always been able to drive very well. Safe? No, but he can handle a vehicle. By the end of his first day at the track in my 97 Cobra ad he was cutting 2.0 lights on street tires at the greasy test and tune while running 13.8's. My daughter is a very safe driver but will never be really good. Good and safe do not necessarily go together.

We go race those fast shifter carts. When he was 13-14 he was a couple of tenths behind me and I could not shake him. Now I can't catch him. I blame it on the fact I outweigh him by 80 lbs.

You know your kids and the only way you will ever find out if they can drive is to let them.

Mikey
 
Get it for him, Those will be some great memories!

My youngest (Landon) was riding this 2-stroke 90cc 4-wheeler at the age of five..... We just set the throttle stop when he first started and before the year was over the throttle stop was completely backed off and he was doing power slides around corners. Thankful for no injuries ever!

Can't go through life backing off of things being afraid of 1 mistake causing a tragedy, it can happen anytime while were driving in a car but we still do that! "A tragedy can happen while swimming-but we still teach our kids to swim" In life tragedy's can happen anytime doing pretty much anything, the main thing for us parents is to be as cautious as possible and try to avoid the hazards in life that we already learned from and the throttle stop was great to limit the speed so he gets used to the machine first. Pretty sure ALL of those little 4-wheelers have the throttle stops on them!

New 86' White T 015.jpg
New 86' White T 016.jpg


Then shortly after this he moved onto Moto-X with a KTM 50 that he actually raced and won 1st place with.... Of course Dad had to do some working on the Air-box, Pipe, and a piston kit!! ;)
kidspics 118.jpg

Old pic's 414.jpg


This was my oldest son Brenden's CR85R that was Insanely Fast! As you can see we had lot's of fun as a family on race day!
skatepark 024.jpg

kidspics 153.jpg
 
My son started on his Suzuki 50 4 wheeler at 4. In 2 months he was pushing his older sister off her 90 and shifting gears. 50 just sits so its about time to sell.
 
it really is amazing what learning to ride a dirtbike or 4 wheeler can do for a kid... i never got into that stuff, but one of my cousins has always been into it.. he never could afford a dirtbike as a kid, but in '05 when his oldest boy was 5 he got him a well used KTM mini adventure and let him ride it around the yard.. the kid was a natural, and started racking up 1st and 2nd place finishes within a few starts at the tracks around central MN... after a couple of years on that and another slightly faster KTM 50, he upgraded to a 65 and passed the trusty old 50's down to his sister. he kept winning races and developed into a very natural and smooth rider, and she just sort of plugs away and finishes mid pack but has a ton of fun and got a lot more confident in herself in general... now he's riding a Kawi 85, the sister has his 65, and their 8 year old brother has the second 50 that they bought... my cousin decided to join in the racing fun last year and at the age of 39 got his first brand new dirtbike- a Kawi 250, i think- and has so far managed to finish a couple of races and not kill himself yet..

they all know how to ride 4 wheelers and have a lot of fun just hooning around on them, but 2 wheels are where it's at for them... the oldest is 13 and he wants to do some rally racing, but since we live in MN and rally isn't really a thing that happens around here i told him i might let him run my Dodge Neon ice racer a few times if he helps me work on it..

but the most important thing- and the coolest part of it all to watch- is the comraderie and friendships that the kids build at the track... they are like a huge extended family that gets together a couple of times a month to play in the dirt... they help each other out at the track shortly before and after they race each other as hard and clean as they can and play with each other and hang out in everyone else's campers when the racing day is done. all 3 of those kids have real life friends from all over the upper midwest thanks to those noisy little dirtbikes, and the worst injuries so far after 8 seasons of doing it have been one broken arm during practice and a finger that somehow got ripped open enough to need half a dozen stitches when handlebars got tangled up.. kinda makes me wish i had found that world in the late 80's after my dad died and i needed something to do with my time..

tell me this isn't a family that gets a lot of good bonding time in:

936246_10201016343230442_348428283_n.jpg
 
I put my son on his first bike at 2yrs old he rides mine now
350 worrier. He was 5 in that pic
Now 7 and taller he can shift through the gears

Posted from the TurboBuick.Com mobile app
 

Attachments

  • 1385899552959.jpg
    1385899552959.jpg
    69.7 KB · Views: 70
I started riding 50cc bikes @ 5 and was graduated to dual sport 175+cc dual sports at age 8. I had an accident on mine but it wasn't because of my riding; just wrong place at the wrong time. Like Scott said, accidents can happen anywhere, anytime; enjoy life.

And as someone else stated, safe driving and good driving don't always go hand in hand. If your kids have the skills, let them grow. It'll make them better drivers when they start vs the kid who gets thrown the keys and has little machine operating experience. I grew up on a farm so machine operator training started very early.
 
My Son is 19 now, & my daughter is 16. Both of them went from an electric 4-wheeler to an 80cc quad at the age of 4. I think it is really good for them. It teaches them the basics of driving. Both of my kids are excellent drivers now. Just make sure you put a good helmet on them! Got to protect the noggin.;)
 
I definately agree with a lot of the points made here. I was on a garden tractor at a young age, learned to back up the yard cart young, etc. Graduated to a Honda Fourtrax 250r when I was in 4th grade, but didn't have enough room to get out of second gear. :rolleyes:

Like I said he's four right now and I have no doubt he has the ability to do it, just think he may be little immature right now. We're still having trouble with him listening to us, but he has a 2 year old brother that is just starting the terrible 2's and a 5 week old sister. I think they are just looking for some attention.

Maybe we'll see where they are at this upcoming summer when he is almost 5. My in-laws have a lake house near Madison, Wi and there is thousands of miles of ATV trails. I hope to eventually get the whole family out and into it.
 
Get the largest CC that has a tether attached.... if u get a 50 you will wish u had gotten the 90. Most all have throttle control but ur better off with the 90
 
I had my first boy on a Kawasaki kfx50 at 4. The Suzuki and Kawasaki 50s were physically smaller then the other brand 50s. They are great machines and close in size to the powerwheels. I found a basketcase predator 90 this spring, tore it down and rebuilt it with my now 9 year old. The kfx50 was past down to my youngest. My 9 year old is now a better rider than a many adults I know. You can only turn the throttle down so much on a 2-stroke before it won't have the torque to climb hills or start on them. They hold their value better than bigger quads so I would start him on a 50 and sell it when he is ready to upgrade. Plus you can have him do the maintenance the quad to learn.
 
My little girl started riding at about 4.5 see is on her Honda 50 but I ride the Yamaha gytr 50
 

Attachments

  • 2013-07-12_13-27-44_746.jpg
    2013-07-12_13-27-44_746.jpg
    2.1 MB · Views: 129
My little girl started riding at about 4.5 see is on her Honda 50 but I ride the Yamaha gytr 50




2013-07-12_13-27-44_746.jpg
 
Top