My oldest is turning 6 in April. Before he could talk, he would point at my Yamaha Kodiak to tell me he wanted to ride with me, and loved riding. As he got older his desire to ride has not diminished. This year I wanted to get him his own 4 wheeler. He has good eye hand coordination and drives his battery operated ATV like a pro.

I want to get him something he can use for a while, but not something too big for him. I am considering getting a 90cc Outlaw, or 90cc Raptor. I have seen 80cc bikes also, and 110cc units.

What is the general consensus for this age group and size? I feel like the 50cc units are perhaps smallish to "okay" for him now, but think a 90cc would be better. But I don't really have much to base this off of.

Thoughts?

 

The atv companies say that a 50cc machine is the proper size for a 6 year old but its really up to you. 90cc is a little bigger and faster but obviously he wouldn't outgrow it almost immediately. I wouldnt go any bigger than that. It will be a lot different than a little battery powered toy that maybe goes 3 mph. Make sure he knows how to control it. He's used to a toy where you just give it everything is has and its still very slow. A real atv is a lot different. Let him get used to the 90cc machine and by the time he's too big for it, then you can move on to a small adult sized machine like a 250ex.

 

Thanks for the input. Yeah I feel like the 50cc quad is about the right size for him maybe 8 months ago, and he could ride it fine now, but with him growing as fast as he is, he would for sure NOT get years of use out of it before he would be too big.

I have put a great deal of thought into teaching him how to ride his first quad and have seen the mistakes from friends and their kids and I know the first thing I'll do is set the throttle so the quad barely goes 10 MPH at first. He will need to have a max speed that will be slow enough that he can't roll it by going full speed and make a full sharp immediate turn. Once he gets the basics down then I can let him have a little more throttle gradually.

 

The cc size is hard to say. The frame size is more important IMO. They should be able to reach and operate all the controls. It's tough buying something they'll outgrow, but this can be an unforgiving hobby.

 

Here he is on a Can Am DS70. This "looks" about what the Yamaha Raptor 90 frame is, but don't know for sure.

I think this looks about right to me. Thoughts?

 

Looks like he really likes the DS70. Like you said, limiting the throttle and top speed is key for a beginner. Some kids have no fear, until they wreck and get hurt. Are you looking to buy new? A lot of good used kids atvs out there at a fraction of the cost of new.

 

I won't spend the huge $ on new. My budget is $1500 or less.

 

Lots of options out there used in great shape for that. Then when he gets too big for it, you can always sell it or trade up to a bigger atv and get most of your money back. A Polaris Scrambler 90 like this https://stlouis.craigslist.org/snw/d...517633183.html I bet he would really like.

 

Greg is right about buying used kids' quads. A friend bought one and his kids used it for years. When he sold it he got nearly what he paid for it. Many are made in Taiwan and should be of comparable quality. As always, avoid anything Chinese.

 

Some great points. A year ago my nephew got a brand new Tao Tao. By the fall it was already falling apart and broken in a dozen areas. That's what made my mind up that I would spend more and get a name brand unit.

There are a lot of the Polaris Outlaw 90's and I like them. I have a deal on one not too terribly far away. I really like Yamaha and think the Raptors are just a little better build and most of them made happen to be blue (which sounds dumb, but it's my boys favorite color and I know this would be the icing on the cake for him).

I have a lead on a Raptor 90 that is blue, and it's about $350 more than the Polaris I have a lead on, but it's still under my $1500 budget. Only issue is that it's gonna be a 4 hour drive away for me to get.

At any rate, I fully expect to buy one, and use it for years and get most if not all my money back. Around me, these are really hard to find and when they do come up for sale, they are sold almost instantly.