I have an opportunity to buy an excellent condition '06 Yamaha Raptor 50.

The thing looks almost new and I can get it for 700$. This will be for my 7yr old son, he's outgrown his little Kawasaki 50 and I can't wait to get him into an electric start !!



Buy it or not ?


Thanks guys !!!

 

For a 7 yr old, another 50?? He'll be grown out of that in 3 days.
I'd be looking at a 70 or 90cc machine.

 

Im with LT here....that doesnt seem like its worth while.

I (and him also) probably seem a little bias.....but an LT80 makes a great quad for some one your sons age. My child is 8 and hes having a blast on the LT80. I can see him riding it till hes 10 easily....maybe 11 or 12.

You should be able to score a good used LT80 for that same price and get much longer service out of it. Its electric start so your set. I put the wheel extenders on my sons and it really makes it look quite a bit bigger....

 

^^ What they said ^^

I got my son his LT80 when he was 7. He's a little big for his age but he'd only had a few hours of riding experience prior to that. Because the LT is a little smaller than some of the other 80/90's out there, it's a great fit. A side benefit of its size is that it's one of the quickest and most nimble in its class.

Reliability has been incredible. We keep ours at a friend's vacation house and there are kids of various ages riding it most weekends throughout the spring/summer/fall and it's needed almost nothing done to it in the 2 years we've owned it.

About our only complaint is that it is just a little narrow. We installed 2" wheel spacers on the front this summer and that improved the stability alot... it also made it a little easier to slide through the loose turns. Despite my son learning to jump this season, he hasn't broken them yet.

 

Rapple,

Those wheel spacers are great stuff. My sons LT (in above picture) is sporting the 2 1/2" spacers per wheel.....for a total of 5" extra width per axle. Now he can pin the throttle and hammer the whole yard, no need to slow down. Downside.....he and it are COVERED in the mud.....takes me 30 mins to clean the wheeler when hes done.

I wouldnt worry about the spacer breaking in the jumps.....be more concerned with breaking the case.....its a stressed member of the frame and they have been known to break if overly abused.

 

I agree with the above... I think you should look at a larger quad. But my 4yr old would love a 50cc.. So if you are not going to get it, I would be more than happy take a look at it for that price.

 

I got me a 2001 LT80 last night off of ebay for $500.

 

Thats a darn good buy. I payed $750 for my 1988 LT80....with some cracked/repaired plastic but it did have a fresh top end and new tires. I could have done better but it was setting at a shop I do alot of business with so we worked something out where my boy made the payments....took him 4 months to pay for it but its his now (they let him take it on day 1 so he could ride the summer).

 

Ya,,a good buy LOL..
It does have a problem that I havent found yet but I figure main bearings/seals/bore/piston kit/gaskets will run me around 100 or so bucks. A cheap date.
I got the tank and fenders off. I haven't taken out a original bolt yet!!
Wires routed all wrong, I donno how or why anyone was messing around with any of that.
I'm convinced that some ppl should not be allowed tools..

FYI: That's a cool thing that your boy took the resposability on the repair. Congrats!

 

Thanks guys, I think I'm going to pass. I was reading about the
Raptor 50 and I guess it's a real dog without upgrades. Jetting the carb, new CDI and a few other things.

I'll be further ahead looking for another 90.

Merry Christmas gentlemen !!