I'm an avid ATVer and I have a 13 year-old little brother who has Down Syndrome. A few weekends ago I let him ride my Honda Recon while I shifted it with me behind him to make sure he didn't do anything crazy. He absolutely loved it and my dad and I have decided as the ultimate Christmas present, to buy him his own quad. I was wondering, for a kid weighing about 105 lbs. It would need a fully automatic transmission and some sort of throttle limiter, I don't care which type. Would a Suzuki LT80 be a big enough machine? If not, maybe a Predator 90? If all else fails, I'll get a Yamaha Breeze but I was just wondering if these mentioned before would be big enough or would he get bored on them too quickly. Thanks a lot to anyone who helps me out on this!

 

I'm assuming with Downs' He will not grow much more? I think with a little higher set of handle bars if needed it would be just fine. They are quite peppy and quite capable. I know Kasea has a little bigger auto as well, but it may very well be more than he will ever need. I'm not sure, of cousre, what his level of challenge is. It is up to you to decide how much power he will need, but that 80 or even the 90 will move him around safely.

 

A lot depends on his ability to learn to ride and how to keep it safe during the process.

As much as I like the LT80, I think it will be too small in size for him. Our LT is perfect for my youngest - 6 1/2 and about 55 pounds. the LT also works OK for my middle son - 10 years old, 4' 10" and about 105, but only because he is inexperienced. He is almost too big for it but right now it works OK as the LT fits his experience level. My oldest son - 12 years, 5' 2" and 110, is cramped looking on the LT. He can still ride it, but he bumps his knees in the turns and is obviously too large for the machine. He's still OK in the Honda 90.

I think the LT80 will max out at a 5' tall rider. For your brother, I'd say either the Yamaha Breeze or the Suzuki LT160. Either one of these would have to be slightly modded to limit power during the learning process.

Jaybee

 

My personal opinion is to go with the Breeze. I think with his size he would be uncomfortable on an 80 or 90. The Breeze is fully auto no shifting, electric start, and it does have a throttle limiter so he can grow into the power.

 

All things considered, I think the LT80 would be fine.In 1993 I bought 3 of these. Me and my buddy's rode them all over, wheelie races, all kinds of fun.Yes he may looked cramped in a sence, but it's small enough that if an accident did happen, the chance of injury would be mimimal IMO.
Have fun [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

I checked out both the LT80, Breeze and Predator 90 for my almost 8 year old daughter as her second quad. All have speed limiters, but the weight of the bike is also a consideration. The Breeze was a bit too big for her, but in a few months she'd fit it fine. The LT80 is just the right size (at least right now), and it can handle up to about 135 pounds (more because good ole cousin Jeff, (a more than full sized adult) rode it for a bit, and even with one of the two throttle limiters in it was able to move around just fine. The reason why I bought the 80 was the weight of the unit. The 80 weighs significantly less than the Breeze, so if she dumps the bike, she would have less weight on top of her and would be better able to lift the 80 off of her. I picked up the front end of each at the dealer, the 80 was a breeze (no pun intended) and the Breeze almost felt heavier than my 300.

 

I AGREE FOR LOTS OF REASONS ONTHE LT80, WE HAVE ONE AND THEY ARE VERY,VERY, DEPENDABLE. BEEN AROUND SINCE THE 80'S AND EASY TO GET PARTS FOR. THE ONLY REASON I WOULD EVEN LOOK AT SOMETHING ELSE IF I WAS IN YOUR POSITION IS THAT THE LT80 HAS FOOT PEGS AND THE OTHER MINIS HAVE FULL FLOOBOARDS WHICH MIGHT BE BETTER FOR YOUR NEPHEW.

 

I SORRY (RED GOBLIN) I SAID YOUR NEPHEW I MENT YOUR BROTHER.

 

A couple of years ago, my buddies and I went down to Mexico on the Pacific coast just past Rosarito. There were some little sand dunes there. It was a blast to people watch but not big enough to really have much fun other than drag racing. Anyway, we saw some 200 pound women riding the little LT80s flying around this little course with a kid on each. There were about 6 or 7 of these things way overloaded moving pretty damn good. Yeah, they looked big on the little LTs but they were still laughing and having a good time on them. The funniest was seeing 3 12 year olds on a banshee. Every time the kid would really nail the gas, he would loose the riders that would be holding on to him. Of course they were just falling in the sand and didn't really care because they were having the time of their lives.

 

Get a remote control shut off for it also. You can pick one up from almost any of the mini dealers on here. It can be made to work on any machine. That way you will be in control of him alittle more. Atleast until you are confident in his ablilities.