CVC42, you might consider something with a rear hydraulic or a foot brake. My 7 year old is starting to work our rear drum pretty good now that it's loosened up but she struggled a little at first.

 

She has been riding a BTM mini mite 50cc. it's pretty small and has out grown it. It has a hydralic rear break. Who makes a foot break?? I looked at the Suzuki 80 and I am afraid she will out grow it to soon. Looks like a nice quad. I aggree with the Honda Suzuki being a great choice. But I cannot justify 2800.00 for a 90cc no mater how good they are. I am trying to find a used 90 Honda but no one wants to give them up[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]) I did find a used Kawasaki 2 stoke 90cc at the Suzuki dealer but ran out time and will have to go back. I do want enclosed foot rests though, we ride in IOWA and the hills and terrain along the river get pretty narly and we like to ride in the winter as well. On another note here in IOWA kids under 12 are not allowed in any Sate managed ATV parks. What do the states that you guys are in do as far as age is concidered? They can ride dirt bikes at any age in the parks but not ATV's.

Thanks
Guys

 

The deals are out there...you will find them if you wait. I bought my kids TRX90 earlier this year and paid $1500 for a 2004 model. I personally wouldn't buy a quad if it wasn't in the big four....price is a major consideration, but so are parts and repair. I look at the Honda TRX90 like this...my youngest boy should be riding it for at least 6-7 more years (he will be turing 7 in a couple months.) In this respect the price is well worth the purchase. It's hard to find a good quality ATV (big four) out there because they are being used and they never seem to die. Consider if your checkbook can cough up a few hundred more for quality instead of bargain prices. But like I initially said...the deals are out there...keep your eyes open.

 

The Kasea (aka LRX) and GPX have foot brakes. The GPX is a hydraulic foot brake.

And as someone that drove up his own leg on my first outting (trying to switch from dirt bikes took some getting used to), I agree 100% about the full foot rests. That or nerfs should be standard on all quads as far as I'm concerned.

 

Lord at least I am not the only one that happend too[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img])) And I agree with the foot boards they are number 1 on my list.

 

I would suggest shop around until you (and the children) find the quad that is exactly what you want. I gave up on buying name-brand stuff(except tp) long ago. As far as the big 4, they are so far behind on their youth quads, I wonder if they may be going the way of the 3-wheeler.
Even the Bombardier and Arctic Cat are light years ahead. I didn't ride all of them, but I did put hundreds of miles on my vehicle looking at them all, and chose the one that fit what we wanted.

 

Does anyone know much about the Bombadier DS 90? I have been seeing them around.

 

jimk had the best responce IMO (well at least the first sentence).
A cpl thoughts::
Floorboards. Nice but in years of mimi racing/riding I have learned that the kids feet go back not foreward. Thus the footrest on the Honda and LT are fine.
Your child (CVC42) won't be outgrowing a 90cc for a while. I have had 150 pound riders on a LT and they were still competitive.
In STOCK form the most reliable is the Honda with the LT in 2nd IMO. The asian minis (kasea/polaris/bomb/eton/etc. are all fine machines.
In RACE form they all need much $$ and they all break! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

right on jack
the biggest thing when selecting a mini is what type of riding is the child going to be doing.

 

Just my 2 cents. I bought an LT80 and couldn't be happier. This thing works for Adults, kids, and multiples of them. The used market is full of them so they aren't hard to find.

I had this thing with a 300 lb adult driving pulling a 200 lb adult on an innertube in wet grass and it moved fast enough. I don't recommend this, it was just an 'exparament'.

I never tried anything else I was so happy with this one.