I’m Thinking about Buying My Kid a Real 4 wheeler

[HFV_Junkyardin]

My son will be 12 next month. Which means he’ll be able to ride an AVT on public trails, when accompanied by an adult. I talked to him last night about it and he’s going to take the DNR safety class as soon as he can. (In Wisconsin anyone born after 84 has to have safety certificate to ride off private property)
So that means I’m looking into getting him his own machine. He has an old 90cc e-Ton Sierra now, but he’s getting to big for it, and it’s not really designed to ride on trails. Small fuel capacity and only a few inches of suspension travel, and I’m not sure if it can even be trail registered.
I’m looking into machines that weight less than 300lb, and are under 350cc. I’m trying to spend under 1,500 for sure. I’m not sure if I care about 2 vs 4 wheel drive. They both have their advantages. 2wd is lighter, easier to manage, easy to get unstuck, 4wd is harder to get stuck in the first place, but it’ll make for a heavier machine that could be more dangerous in a roll over.
I’ve seen quite a few Polaris Trailboss 250s in the price range. It seems like a decent size, not overly powerful machine
The other option I’ve found is certainly faster, fully manual, but just way cooler. The Suzuki Quad Sport 230. It’s seems to be one of those “oh crap 3 wheelers are band, quick trow an extra wheel on the front” machines. It’s also a 2 stroke. I’m not sure if I want to give him that kind of power, but also it’s pretty easy to limit the travel on a thumb throttle he learns. And I think it’s be a good way to learn about manual transmissions. Way easier than learning the same controls on 2 wheels.
There’s also the Yamah moto4 and Honda Fourtrax. It’ll really come down to what’s available when I’m actually really to buy. It may also come down to selling/trading my snowmobile. Which honestly I’d be fine with.

[sony1492]

@hfv around that age I went from a raptor 90 to a big bear 250, 2 stroke is probably too fast. Having a foot shifter will be plenty of fun as long as its not fully automatic.

Width is probably the most important measure, I flipped mine over a couple times because the big bear was thin and topheavy.(and complacency, as I used that thing every day to get to the busstop)

Reliability is also very nice, something that starts without 10 minutes of faffing about and has a backup pullstart that your kid can reasonably pull.

4wd isn't super important if the bikes light enough to lift, most 4wd arnt with the extra weight(for a kid). Having the carry bars up top is very helpful, then you can pack around anything you might want without wearing a backpack.

[sn4cktimes]

@hfv Full manual will teach better throttle usage. My trike that I rebuilt as a teen with my Dad was a semi auto with a thumb throttle when we bought it. First thing we did once it was "done" was convert it to a full manual with twist throttle. That 100% forced me to mind "the juice" while riding. And kept me in check on hills and whatnot.

[adamftw]

my vote is full manual, 4wd, 4 stroke.

theyre bigger, heavier, wider, slower.

[JeepOfTheseus]

@hfv I grew up with Honda Recons which were 2wd and had a 250 engine. Light enough to be fun but very forgiving and not “slow” when you’re that age. I think ours were late 90s models. I beat the hell out of them and they never blinked.

[frinesi2]

@hfv I don't have much experience in the matter but I do have a Kawasaki Bayou 220 and they have a good reputation as far as I understand. They made larger versions (but not much larger - 250 and 300 I think) and even 4WD versions. Air cooled motor, manual trans (but automatic clutch), spooled 4-link twin shock rear, shaft drive, drum brakes all around. Seems pretty overbuilt and understresed. It's 400 lbs (2WD 220), though. 2.6 gal tank.

[454ssracetruck]

@hfv I have owned several bikes and quads over the years. In my opinion a trx250ex or 300 is the way to go for a newbie. Very light. Bulletproof reliable. Real gears with no clutch. And no belt drive crap. The Recon is the same except shaft drive and racks. We still have a 1984 and a 2005 in the fleet.

[derp]

Now I want a 4 wheeler again. Thanks.

[EssExTee]

@hfv All Verrain Tehicle

[BicycleBuck]

@hfv

Just don't be like my neighbor. The dude is a firefighter, so he should know better. What I witnessed just this past weekend:

• No helmets
• Kid driving (12?) with little sister (6?) as passenger. Again, no helmets.
• Riding without supervision.
• Riding on a city street and state highway.
• Riding on the construction site for the expansion of said state highway.

I've reported him before, but he's all buddy-buddy with the local sheriff, so nothing was done.

[pickup_man]

@hfv I'm very much a proponent of lighter is better, I've trail ridden a 200x 3 wheeler, a 350 Honda Rancher, and a Kawasaki Brute Force 750, and a few 600cc bikes. The lighter the machine the easier it is to control, the easier it is to get out of bad situations, and the more fun it is. I hate this trend of 1000cc+ machines with giant tires and 6" lugs. Sure they're fast and it's impressive what they can go though, but with a machine that big you're just along for the ride, not really in control.

Polaris machines, especially old ones make me warry, there's lots of them out there and while they seem to be pretty durable they're not exactly known for their reliability the way Japanese machines are. Plus they're all CVT driven and I hate CVT's. Polaris also had quite a few 2 strokes back in the day, make sure you confirm what is what before buying.

That Suzuki pictured is a 4 stroke, I've ridden the utility version of one and it's probably the perfect size, weight, and power for a younger rider. Suspension on 80's machines is pretty rough and primitive, after all the industry was still figuring out quads, but should be plenty fine for basic trail riding.

Sounds like you're on the right track looking for a machine, just a matter of what pops up.

Have you thought about bikes, or is he not really interested in those? I've got a 2 year old and while he's still a few years away from riding I think I want to start him on bikes, assuming he's interested. The learning curve is steeper with a bike but they're safer statistically I believe. Less weight, no rollover or crush risk. Just a thought.

[onlytwowheels]

Maybe this:
https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/snw/d/lindstrom-kawasaki-mojave-250cc/7253985478.html

[ibRAD]

@hfv This is what I lusted after when I was 12, but probably too much for a beginner (and likely collectible) The quad sport looks like it might be a lower end version of this?

I really like the king quad a friend of mine has. Use it for hunting a lot. More of a work bike, but very reliable and the low gear/locking diffs are nice

I have an '89 fourtrax 300 for use around the yard/screwing around on like what @454ssracetruck posted. Very reliable. Easy to handle. I just started letting my 11 year old drive it once in a while (like to bring the trailer back to the wood shed) Seems like it might be a good starter if your son is responsible enough to ride it safely.

[HFV_Junkyardin]

@sony1492 a little Big Bear would be great my father in law has a Big Bear 350. But I think that would be a bit to big and heavy for him. He’s nearly 5ft tall but only 100lbs wet.

[HFV_Junkyardin]

@ibrad yeah that quad sport 230 is just a smaller version of he 250, I think there was a 350 too. They seem very fun, but definitely hilt for speed, not lumbering over tricky trails.

[HFV_Junkyardin]

@onlytwowheels oh that has the look for sure.

[jminer]

@hfv Plenty of solid advice on 4-wheelers above. I’m going to go a different direction and suggest you buy him a dirt bike.

12 is when I got my first dirt-bike even though I wanted an ATV (my friends had ATVs) and it was the right choice. Looking back on it and having friends that got seriously hurt or killed on ATVs the dirt bike made me start slower and learn balance, control and judging terrain before I could move with any speed whatsoever. Not saying I never dropped the bike or hurt myself, I dropped the bike more times than can me counted but never broke anything, nothing but bruises and scrapes on me.

On a 4-wheeler you can just go fast without knowing what you’re doing which gets a lot of kids hurt. On a bike you have to learn al lot before you can move with any speed, plus he’ll be cooler on a dirt bike

[Rusty Vandura]

https://i0.wp.com/www.rockcrawler.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/unnamed-33.jpg

[HFV_Junkyardin]

@jminer I actually agree with you. But other people have put it in his head that motorcycles are too dangerous so he doesn’t want one. Or even want to try. Otherwise yes a little 100/125 drift bike would be sick.
The other problem is a lot of the trails around here are sand, like a foot deep beach sand. So riding them on a bike is not super fun. And you have to take some of those sand trails to get to the hood ones

[jminer]

@hfv I was terrified of it and spent a year on it before I went north of 2nd gear or 10 mph! Then I had some developed skills and started to enjoy myself.

There is a lot of stigma to bikes, and while I don’t have the stats in front of me I’m pretty sure more people die a year on ATVs than motorcycles, if you’re talking off-road . Personally I had more friends get seriously hurt (one even died) on ATVs and the guys who rode dirt bikes never had any more damage than a broken arm.