sandluver How old is your kid? I have an LT80, my 5 year old is learning to ride it with the throttle limiter turned down. He is doing real well. I higly reccomend the LT80. LT80 is bulletproof and your kid will be able to ride it for years, my 12 year old still rips around on it. I have run into other fathers at my riding club who complain that their kid's LT50s are too slow, FWIW.

 

Well sanluvr said he/she wasn't going to race it and he/she was going to ride it mostly in the sand. So the LEM is NOT the choice here. I bought my LEM for $1500 new so I doubt anyone is going to pay $1500 for a 3 year old used one. I paid $1927 OTD for the LT50 6 months ago. For a 4-5 year old in the sand the choice for me was the LT 50 plus I have a 2 1/2 year old that is itching for the chance to ride the LT50. I agree that my 5 year old is starting to itch for more power but the 50 is doing fine for his experience level. Once my younger competes for seat time on the 50, I will step up my oldest to a LT80 or Fourtrax 90. Just my $.02.

 

sandjunkie there is another post in this forum specifically about the LT50. The Raptor guy gives some good tips on boosting the LT50's power. Then again you may not wanna make it too fast for your little guy. Good luck and good riding.......

 

bsb64.

My son's 8 years old but he's very short. He was premature so he's more like a 6 to 7 year old. I'm not sure how quick he's going to learn the bike so I'm pretty confident we'll keep the LT50 for a while. He doesn't grow too fast. I figured if he gets the hang of it quick and needs a bigger bike I'll just trade it in later. I'd like to get him started on something smaller do to his size. My husband was also considering an 80 but when our son sat on it it was to big. Thanks for your help though.

 

If I remember correctly from other posts, Raptor720 sells Kaseas or hops them up or something and pushes them as THE machine to have, so it is no surprise that he puts the LEM down. I have never taken the LEM to sand so I can't respond to that, but we haven't had anything break on ours yet and our neighbor has one 2 or 3 years old and his is still in one piece as well (and he is very rough on it-rollovers etc..). I got ours back together and everything (aftermarket parts from AC Racing) fits fine. The pipe and silencer sound fantastic, like a mini 250R-very sweet. Very snappy now as well. Can't wait for the new race season to start.

 

I dont want to make anyone mad but ALL the little Tiwaunies quads are about the same.We started on an Eton 50 and soon graduated up to a Yamaha Breeze after he turned 9 but if it were me I would just get a LT80 for them to learn on then up grade from there.

 

First off, I don't sell Kaseas. I build minis for racing and elected to build and race the Kasea in house.

On the LEMon thing -- The fact that you have never experienced the problems I have mentioned does not mean that the problems don't exist or are not common. You are either lucky or you simply don't have the hours on the machine. Because of the nature of my involvement in the youth ATV market, I see many more of these machines from across the country than you could hope to see in a lifetime. When you kid breaks an axle or spindle, remember this post and your comments.

J

 

The Lem is @@@@ for the dunes i know iv been there and have poured more $$ into it to make it work out there than i wanted to.
Dwayne

 

I also am an ex owner of a LEM Cayman 50 for the exact reasons some of the other people have posted. It absolutely would not go in the sand with my 40lb. daughter on it. I had to install a twist throttle on it so she could give it gas without fatigue, I had the rear end welded solid so it would have more traction and not get stuck on the simplest of ruts, I had to install hydraulic disc brakes on the rear from a mountain bicycle so she could stop it. I sold it and bought a Honda 90. I haven't had t do any thing to the 90 and she can ride anywhere. Shifting isn't a problem with it because I can put it in 2nd gear in the sand or 3rd gear anywhere else and it will pull her. She is also slowly learning to use the gears on her own. I definitely would not recommend the Cayman. I don't think you should buy a quad and immediately put $$ into it so it willl fit your small childs hands[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Though the Suzuki is a great machine, we avoided the two stroke engine, red sticker issue by sticking with 4 strokes..

The tiny Mini Raptor is worth a look because it's more suited to a small child, has a 4 stroke engine, elect start, shaft drive, auto clutch and governors.

But like you said he's a little guy, and still though it's way undersize for it's class, may still be to big.

If you go to Pismo in the summer, they have a 2 stroke restriction and have been enforcing it on occasion.

What ever you buy, make sure to read in the owners manual how to take off the governor/speed restrictors. Often people don't realize most kids quads have both an exhaust and air intake restrictor, (and throttle screw) only remove one, and the quad runs very bad, and sometimes ruins the engine.

Just my opinion and free opinions are worth what ya paid for them.