I'm considering getting a new quad for my 10 year old son. He has a LT-80, but wants to be able to go where I go as I have a 4wd quad. His is great in the open desert or beach, but not so good in the rocky, narrow, mountain trails.
Why isn't there a 4wd youth quad?

 

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NO 4x4 minis probably because:

1 - Cost. It costs more to create a 4x4 then a 2 wheel drive mini. More parts, stronger suspension

2 - Public demand. Companies try to focus on the majority of the public wants and ignore the minority.

3 - Competition. Companies add more features / controls to their products when their competition is taking over their market share or they want to gain more market share. Take for example "reverse on a mini". Once one company makes Reverse, many companies add that feature to their product.


From a reality perspective, I'm sure a 4x4 model would also NEED more HP to pull a mini through mud / up hills - instead of light weight 2 wheel drive that spins its tires. Thus, bigger engine would have to be used in order to obtain same "take off" power as a 2 wheel drive mini. For some reason, the majority of people want want "take off speed" more then "BULL LOW" technical trail power.


For our type of trail riding, it would be really cool to have a 4x4 mini. Something that could take lots of mud, lots of water and something that could "bull low" crawl through our deep water crossings. But, our family is in the minority of "average" pulblic riding conditions.


Hope this helps...

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If anything, I bet they'd (who ever "they are") start putting the 4x4 on a 150 or something like that. Very few 250's have 4x as it is. I know my boy would benifit from it. He gets high centered on rutted trails often.
Someday....

 

Thanks for the info. Makes sense but I (and my boy) would still like about a 90 size 4x4.
For now I think I'm going with a 4 stroke 90 with better ground clearance. Something like this should do better than the low slung 80.

 

You are on the right track. For a kids size quad riding on trails, ground clearence is more important than 4wd. We added slightly larger diameter rear tires on our LT80 which gives it 5-1/2" of ground clearence. For the TRX90, we installed a full skid plate to help with it's 4-1/2" of clearence. Both mini's go everywhere that we can go with our full size 4x4's, only getting stuck when they get high centered. Basically, with the light weight of the mini's, there is little need for 4wd.

To tell just how well the mini's can do: For anyone who was riding at Black River Falls during the Memorial Day floods of 2004, my kids were those little guys that went cruizing past all those stuck 4x4's. We rode everywhere until they finally closed the trails down. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

Jaybee

 

Tennessee is a bit far for me to be riding on a weekend. Maybe there are others that frequent this board that were there, I don't know. But clearance is the issue and I think a 4stroke is the way to go to help with the clearance issue (no chain and sprocket to get in the way).

 

Actually, Black River Falls is in central Wisconsin.

I'm curious as to what 4-stroke has to do with with ground clearance and sprockets. IIRC, the only shaft drive mini out there is the Yamaha Badger/miniRaptor/miniGriz.

Jaybee

 

It was me that responded there. But, I was thinking more on terms of the Yammy and 1-2 off brands that are 4 stroke and shaft (Yamoto, I believe). It seems the majority are two stroke and chain driven and seem to lower the clearance by an inch or two. Sometimes I wish I could build my own mini quad with all of my likes. It's hard to find something that exactly fits ones needs.

 

I know what you mean. We've gone through three boys on mini's and use them for real trail riding, not yard bikes. I fugure the mini manufacturers will finally get things right sometime about the time that my youngest moves up to a full size ride. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img]

We've found that the biggest problem with ours is the brakes - unsealed drum brakes just don't cut it on the trails. Next wish would be more ground clearance. Despite how the mags always gripe about the small amounts of suspension, we've never really had any problems in that area, 2" of well functioning suspension is enough. Our two mini's have great low end power, but I understand that this is not the case with many of the newer off-brands.

The skid plate for our TRX90 gives it full length protection and acts like a big ski on the bottom of the bike. Best $50 mod I've ever gotten.

Jaybee

 

I'm thinking four stroke for two reasons:
1) No new 2 strokes can be green stickered in CA, only if made prior to 2003. The 80 my boy has is an '05 so I don't want to replace it with an older one.
2) I also think the power band may be more suited to the terrain, the 2 stroke hasn't been to great for crawling.
I may (don't tell the wife) keep the LT-80 so he can have the best of both.
How do the 4 strokes perform in the sand, either beach or dunes?