My 9-year old daughter rides a 2006 LTZ50. She loves riding, but it's way underpowered.

How strictly are the "no one under 12 allowed to ride 90cc ATVs" rules enforced? Will I be stopped (or ticketed by a ranger in a nat'l forest) if I buy her a 90cc quad?

 

It depends on where you ride. The age 'rules' are actually just recommendations. They are in place to limit liability. Some states and some riding areas choose to follow the same age guidelines as the cpsc mandates. Other places have no age restrictions. I think that all states have no restrictions on private land riding.

I don't think you will have as many problems with your under 12 child riding a 90cc ATV. IMO, putting a 9 year old on a 90cc is much better than sticking a 12 year old on a Raptor. You will still need to check the laws where you ride though.

Jaybee

 

in iowa nobody under 12 can ride an atv except on private property and between 12 and 18 you must carry a valid certificate proving u passed an atv safty course or you can ride a two wheeled cycle in public trails no size or age restrictions, seems odd but thats the law here . my son is 8 and rides a big bore 90 cc quad and is a great rider, we have several places that aren't state supported that we quad but at the state trails he rides his suzuki ds80 dirtbike with no problems from the rangers

rich

 

According to what I can find on Virginia you must be 12 years old to ride ANY atv on public property. On private property you must have the consent of the property owner.

I have years of expereince with this issue. Here are some real life examples of what leads to problems

1) Your child gets hurt and you or someone else blabs to any LEO, CO or II (Law Enforcement Officer or Conservation Officer or insurance investigator) that he/she was operating a ATV.

2) Someone may feel the need to protect your child from your poor decision allowing the child to ride the ATV and report you to any number of state, county or other child advocacy/protection groups, offices or LEO's whether the child is injured or not.

3) Someone may not like you and your child blocking the trail at moderate speeds and preventing them from doing wheelies at 50mph and report you to a LEO so you dont come back and ruin their 'fun'

4) Or you may yourself confront someone about riding dangerously near you and your child and they may contact the LEO for your threats of snapping off their heads and spitting down thier open throats if they do that again.

In the real world there is a 70% chance one of these will happen becuase -
Children under 12 are 70% more likely to be injured and require medical attention which will bring the LEO and II in to the loop. Insurance companys have this neat little process of transfering the 'blame' or liability for the medical expenses to whomever they can point the finger at. The land owner is #1 and you better hope that if its not your land you are riding on - the owner remembers giving you permission to ride there, and accepts the financial liability for the amount the insurance company paid for the hospital and doctors, xrays and those $20 kleenex in the emergency room.

And to address the CPSC guidelines - actually most states have adopted those into law. And its not a parking ticket. I have seen a parent spend $10K to defend themselves against everything from misdemeanor charges to child endangerment. If your a single father with your kid in the emergency room keep your attorneys phone number handy becuase your x-spouse will extrapolate every possible ounce of blood from you they can becuase this is all your fault.

After attending the funerals & hearings of youthful operators, and arguing this to nearly the point of insanity in these forums - I personally would choose to wait. But this is America and its entirely up to you.

 

Thanks for the detailed replies.

With the government trying to protect us from ourselves, there's not much to do.

She'll continue to ride the 50, unless she wants to move to a 70cc or 90cc dirt bike.

When I was growing up ('70s), there were no laws regarding age limits on off-road machines. Of course, ATVs really hadn't been invented yet, with the exception of the Honda ATCs.

I rode a Monkey Bike and a Yamaha GT80 until their wheel fell off, and no one questioned my age or my father's judgement.

Thanks again.

 

Sir,
I feel your pain. I can say in this area of Washington, they are good with kids as long as their parents are with them. It is the renegade kids that have no parental supervision that get in trouble. In saying that..there has been some parents that I would have loved to seen get arrested for letting there kids run free w/o supervision. SEADAWG

 

Hey SEADAWG - glad to see you back!

And DAL, maybe your power problem can be rectified. A lot of these smaller bikes have various types of restrictors on them, either in the clutch assembly, the carb, or the CDI - so check it out with the dealer.

 

We have the LT-A50 (2-stroke version) and it has at least four restrictors that I know of, plus at least two other easy modifications that can be done for no money and just a little time if necessary. Look into your model and see if the 4-stroke version is the same. There may be sufficient power in the unit you already have.

 

My 8 year old grandson rides A 90cc Polaris, He is to tall for anything smaller. Like it was said before they are to protect the manufactor. Not enforced here in NV. Yet.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img]

 

I really dont understand how they come up with those age rules.I have known 12 year olds 5'8' and taller and weigh 180-200 lbs.Now you cant tell me that they are only to ride a 90cc atv.
Yea,it'll pull'em around but its way under powered,especially going up hills.
Plus from what I have seen you can get a 50cc,70cc,90cc,110cc,125cc,that are all about the same size and weight.
I seen this 50cc atv the same size as the 90cc right beside it,and that pretty dang close to what my 110cc is.