If he is going out to try to jump his quad on purpose the first thing to get is really good health insurance and your doctor on your cell phone speed dial.

Jumping a quad is not what they were made to do and should only be attempted by an experienced rider and only after modifying the suspension to take the pounding. I have been riding sense the 80's and my Suzuki LTR450 Quad racer is the largest 2wd quad Suzuki makes and it is made to take the pounding and I still try to keep all four of its tires on the ground which can be a loosing battle at times.

Always remember..four tires on ground is control...two tires on ground is bad Ju..Ju and on the edge of loosing of control..all four tires off ground is real bad Ju..Ju.. and no control over the quad at all and eventually looking at a trip to the ER room and thinking "it was a good idea at the time"

If it were my kid I would take it real slow and easy into any larger entry level bike, I would not go past a 250cc and stay far away from any racing quad until he gets used to the larger cc.

Just my opinion

 

BTW the Suzuki LTZ250 is rated to top out on flat dirt road at about 45mph..may not sound fast until you take it out in 5th gear sreaming don that dirt road...been there done that...

I used the LTZ250 as a trainer quad before I stepped up to my LTR450.

 

A 250cc machine is no joke or play thing. Im 30yrs old and weight a titch over 300lbs and Ive got a worked over little Honda TRX250 that a ride all the time. Plenty enough torque to pull the front wheels of the ground from a stop.....plenty of power to power slide and Ive launched that little sport quad many feet in the air.

Id say go NO bigger than the 250cc for now.

 

Sand Hog... Is that the shift machine but no clutch? Thinking of one for my daughter. Love the Honda TRX 250 and she fell in love with it at the dealer, but there is a good condition used Zuk, and I love my Suzuki, nearby. I remember, at least pretty sure, an '06 but can't remember the model. Know it was a 250. And a sport. Are those drive-trains reliable?

 

The phoenix will not be a good quad to jump it heavy compared to the power my mother even found hers to slow. The raptor 250 would be a great quad for jumps and trails because it is light weight. And its top speed is 44 mph which is pretty respectable and would be a great starter quad for a kid his size.

 

Your right its the 5 gear up and one reverse gear down "wet clutch" type quad. The gears are manually shifted (normal MC ger shift lever) by engine rpm up and down. The best feature is that the front and rear brakes can be used from levers on the handlebars nice option for the novice rider who does not have it down yet how to use the foot rear brake lever.

We have two LTZ250 quad sport"s and they are built tough and reliable, we have never had a single issue with ours and the shaft drive is great smoother than a chain drive and zero maintenance unlike my chain drive, wish my 450 was a shaft drive. It has tons of climbing power in 1st and 2nd gear and plenty of cruising power in 4th and 5th topping out at about 45mph.

Of course it cannot keep up with the big dogs as the wifes 250 is in 5th and my 450 is barely in 3rd but that is to be expected.

Hope this helps your search for a quad for your daughter.

 

Sand Hog- THANKS MAN! Exactly what I was hoping for in a post. I have the King Quad 450 (not sure if we share anything genetically with our LTZ450 bretheren) and I need it because I want to push snow, use the plow blade for grading/grating etc.. Need the ute capacity. Girl doesn't though. I am nervous with teaching her on the 450 (trust me, with me behind her and VERY carefully and very, very slowly). She loves the machine but gets that it is too big for her. You know, the KQ 450 pretendes to be the 700 or 750 with a smaller motor. Still, all in all, it feels big. She loves it, but like I said had that OMG moment at the dealer when she realized there were quads in her size (so to speak). I really want her to be able to drive a clutch before her permit and this semms like a great bridge. Next would be the fully manual trans.

Thanks Sand Hog!

 

I'm glad I could be of service. I know she will enjoy whatever quad you get for her..Let me know what you get.

 

I agree that a banshee is too much, especially for his weight. The speed on a Banshee would make it so that hitting a small bump could make him fly off and die. The raptor 250 & 35. Would be a great bike. However, when I was probably 10, weighed about 120lbs. I rode a yamaha Blaster which had plenty of speed. It is a slightly smaller version of a banshee, but it still has the normal 2stroke issues. I would suggests 250-350cc Raptor or a Honda 300ex. As he gets a little bit bigger(about 135 atleast) I would suggest putting him on a Honda 400ex. It has more than enough power for an amurture rider, and still enough for an experienced rider.

 

go with the raptor 250r because it has better suspention than the regular raptor 250 and is you get it wide open you can go 55-60ish.