My son is 9 now and will be 10 in 3 months. He is tall and 70 pounds. His maturity level (related to riding) is a little lower than his age. He rides a Yamaha Raptor 50 now. He rides it on the rev limiter all the time, it is just slow for a 9 year old. I have been looking for a Raptor 80 as that would be the logical step up, but they are hard to find used, and I am not paying the new price. Honda TRX90's have been hard to find used too. I prefer those two, but lack of availability in decent used ones is making me look hard at Chinese quads.

I looked at the raceway link, and he (Garion) looked with me. He likes the 100cc mini utility. It is smaller than the Raptor he has now. I think the Jetmoto 110cc would be good it is 4sp with reverse, and it looks great too.

So a few questions: How do you decide on Utility or Sport? Our Terrain will be: Backyard and sand trails, the sand trails we visit are pretty sandy and the raptor 50 can't cut it there at all. There are moderate hills there too. Our backyard mini track has some small jumps.

The next question... What cc size will be good for him?? 90cc? 110cc? Being his maturity level is lower than his age, I don't want to get him something that will scare him, but it does need power to traverse the sand trails. I also believe a geared model would be better for him, because the power is less likely to "get away from him" as he chooses the gears. That is what he did on his Yamaha PW80 dirtbike, the power intimidated him a little, so he just kept it in second gear all the time. Gears may be better in sand too, right?

 

I think the JM110 would be perfect for a 9yo. He will just have to learn how to shift. I think the mini utility will be way too small. Even the MS125 will fit good.

 

He rides a Yami PW80 dirtbike, it is a 3 speed (gears) with auto-clutch, so he should be fine there... That JM110 is a great looking quad. I hope the build of it is good and the suspension decent.

 

have you done any mods to the Raptor 50 to improve the performance. CDI, Throttle lever, carb slider. these make the raptor 50 about twice as fast as stock and give it better power (about $120). there are a number of threads on this forum that deal with the Raptor 50 mods. I'll just say that my son (8 yrs old, tall, 65 lbs) progressed from the Raptor 50 to the Raptor 80 (he wanted a quad that he could shift like the big ones) and he loves the thing. have you checked ebay or craigslist. sometimes local dealers have used.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I have not checked the mods... I don't think 50cc is gonna be good in the sand, mods or no mods. He definitely would do well with a raptor 80.. Just looking for one... Thanks for the suggestions -- I had no clue you could make the 50 twice as fast... But bottom end is where it needs more power for the sand we ride in.

 

check out this forum

http://www.raptorforum.com/index.php?board=13.0

click on the "Pics of kids and the bikes they ride ? 1 2 ? " topic and look and read down through to see some raptor minis at play in the sand ....

good luck

 

I have to disagree... After having nothing but Japanese products, I think you are going to be very disappointed with the ATVs that were recommended. I have had a couple of Chinese brands for the kids now...and they have become quite decent, but they are still a class of their own.

We just moved my son (also 9) up to his first real ATV. We got him an Arctic Cat 90 (the Taiwan version). I am a HUGE fanatic of fit and finish and I was blown away at the quality of this quad. This is the Dinli/Bombardier.Jag (all the same thing). Great ATV...two stroke, e-start 90cc. This thing has over twice the power of the JM110 we had before without a doubt. My wife hopped on it and it fit her quite well and oulled her up some hills that were tough to walk up.

You mentioned sand...sand needs power. 110cc of Honda clone just wont do it.

 

You can also check out the Unison Desert cat 90. You cant find a better quad for the money period! It is not chinese. Its made in Taiwan and its the same as the Polaris pred 90 2 stroke. This is a very tough quad and plenty of power for the sand. The JetMoto is still a decent quad but it wont have the power of a 90cc 2 stroke.

 

have garion look at my pics of ashley(girl) on a 500xt. then see what he want's ...

 

Buy a 500cc quad for a 9 year old? Are you kidding? I looked at your pictures. Nice mud hole!