Go look at the POLARIS line up, AMERICAN MADE
http://www.polarisindustries.com/
They are about the easiest bikes to ride for beginers and have a very nice soft ride and super features.

For the kids, this is a tough one, you said they are big, you will need to go size them up on machines

The Polaris Trailblazer and Trailboss are great beginer bikes but I have a hard time recommending them for a 10 and 12 yr old. And you said you didn't want a kiddy bike. It will need to be personal preferance. If a cluchless shift is not a problem I would look at the HONDA 250 EX for the kids.

 

The kids will be a tough call. I still reccomend the bayou 250, but you should also consider the recon 250, ozark 250.
They are physicaly smaller atvs which I feel is a big plus. bombardier offers an automatic 174cc Rally. Its a nice machine but they say there really is no engine braking.

 

I'm not saying the CPSC thing is a law, its just an agreement between the CPSC and the manufacturers (actually it has expired already). I have seen that some riding areas do follow the guidelines, as does the AMA for racing. I'm just pointing out that it is something that should be looked into before the purchase is made. It would suck to buy a 250EX only to find out that the kids couldn't ride it where you want to go. In Ohio, the rules say nothing about quad size, but you must be at least 12 years old to ride in the state forest riding areas. In Wayne(a national forest), there are no rules about size or age, just that minors must ride with an adult. I would still look at 2 wheelers as an option for the kids.

 

bigron, my wife and I went through the same proces a few years back. We also live in the Bay Area, and do a lot of riding at Carnegie, Hollister, and in the National Forests in the Sierra's. If you go out to any of the riding area's in Northern California, and especially at Carnegie, you'll notice that dirt bikes out number quads by 100-1, and of the quads you see 9 out of 10 are sport models. There's a good reason for this. The riding around here features mega verticle! Many of the trails, and all of the cliff-like single tracks can only be conquered by two wheelers. On trails where quads can go, most of it pretty open, so sport quads are just a lot more fun to ride on this type of terrain. There are also a few MX tracks in the area which are set up for dirt bikes. While you can take your quad on them (at least you can at Club Moto) because of the layout dirt bikes dominate. With this in mind, you may want to add two wheelers to your list of prspective machines.

If you do go with ATV's, I suggest you look at some of the more tame full sized sport models for yourself (Yamaha Warrior, Honda 300EX, 400EX), and something smaller for your wife & kids (Yamaha Blasters). Try looking in the Cycle Trader for used quads in good condition.

As for age requirements at the SVRA's ( State Vehicle Recreation Area's), that's a joke. The rangers aren't even enforcing the Red Sticker law. As long as you don't tow a skate boarder past them at 70mph, or toss cherry bombs over your shoulder as you ride through the grass, they'll probably ignore most anything you do.

One thing you might want to look into before you stick your 10 yr old on a quad, is Kids Night at Club Moto. Every Wednesday afternoon/evening they have a kids only (50-90cc) ride. You have to see this to understand what the heck I'm talking about, but 5 mins of watching the scene there and your son will be a die hard dirt bike guy for life. They're located just of I-580 in Livermore. Their website is www.clubmoto.com

I'm personally not a big fan of kids on quads. The mini's are a joke and the full sized ones can outright flatten a youngster in a roll over. Also, kids learn much more riding technique on a dirt bike. They can always switch over to quads when they get older, and they'll be twice as good as kids who have only ridden quads.

Oh, by the way, be sure to steer clear of Hayward Honda, now East Bay Motor Sports. They absolutely suck!

Good luck

 

well depending on how big you are judges bike to.a 300 ex is a small frame bike soots a 150 pounder very well but if you get over 200 pounds and are tall then this is not the bike for you.you should get something bigger. as far as the family there are alot of quads out there utility would be better for the wife unless she really knows how to ride. utilities are much more stable.plus they dont get you as muddy lol sport quads sling mud everywhere so make sure your wife likes to get muddy if you get sport. the kids are at and age where you need to get someting they can grow into or you are going to be buying another quad soon you might want to buy something where you can govern the throttle so they can't get to crazy.

 

The Arctic Cat 300 handles really nice for beginners. They will need to learn how to shift it, but it is very torquey so it will allow you start out in a higher gear. It is also big enough that it will not be outgrown.

 

Kawasaki Prairies are automatic. They have a full line with differant sizes and options. I am not loyal to any brand, as long it is Japanese engineered, I just think at the moment the Prairies have the best features for utility quads.

 

Go with Suzuki Ozarks for the wife and kids. They are easy to handle and quite capable. I'm 6' and 230 lbs and have a ball on mine. My son also rides it too,he's 11 and 5'2"- 110 lbs. They won't outgrow them for quite a while and I feel they are the best of the 250 class bunch. Forget minis, at your kids ages that would be a waste of money. As for you, it's wide open. Test ride a bunch of them, I'm sure if you are buying 4 quads your sales people will be very eager to let you do just that.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone! I think I've decided to get an Ozark or 250EX for the wife and dirt bikes for the kids and me. Now does anybody know where to get advice on buying dirt bikes?

Thanks again!

 

Rec.motorcycles.dirt in the usenet groups or www.dirtrider.net

One thing to note. dirt bikes tend to go faster than quads so, your wife may find herself left behind more often than not [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

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