I have a buddy that has jumped into the atv scene with both feet. He is buying bikes for his whole family and wants to get one for his daughter. What does everyone think??? She is a petit 13 year old that has never really ridden. He is putting both of his kids in the atv class in the next couple of weeks so at least they will understand a little bit of what to expect. He bought his 12 year old son a 2007 Popo 500 Sporty this weekend when we were up in Hurley Wisconsin and he did great on it. The two days he was able to ride he did everything from the main corridors to the mud pit at Bear Chasers. When he got home his daughter decided that this was the sport for her as well. Would appreciate any guidance anyone might have.

I may be boo'ed here, but I am a safety nut! He may want to keep his
daughter no more than 250-300cc class, Mfg. recommend no more
than 150cc for under 16. I gave my 15yr old nephew
a older Honda 250 fourtrax and its more than to handle for him.
He rolled it a couple of times, thank GOD okay no injuries. Plenty
of speed and he is 6.2 ft tall. I'm glad to hear that they are taking
classes, good move!

Have Fun, best wishes, hope all works out well!

R'

Does it need to be 4X4??........If not the TrailBlazer 250 or the even better Trail Boss 330 might be worth a look at.........If he is a Polaris.Rider only!!!....LOL.......LOL....

If 4X4.....Magnum 330 4X4..........If they still make them!!!...I really don't know.......Caper

I think he is looking in the 300cc and below range. He likes the Polaris' so he will probably go that route. I think they make a Phoenix 200 in pink. My daughter who is 7 rides a pink predator 90 and she loves it just because it is pink.

I personally think he is nuts for getting a 12 yr old a 500.Both those kids need to be on 330s or 250s.This is what gets a bad rap when the kids get cocky.Believe me they will try to get that way.
My son started ridding when he was 6 on a 50cc and has worked his way up to a 350 Yamaha Warrior for the last 2 yrs but he is 15 now.At 11 he was on a 250 Trailblazer that was modded and learned about power.Now he is a safe responsable rider that gets POed when dad gets stupid.

A 12 yr old on a 500. Are you sure you did not mistype this? I just got my 12 and 11 yr old older 250 trailbosses this spring. They can go faster they need to. I manually limited the throttles so I would not be stressed.
If you get a newer sport ATV I would not go above 200cc.
Hopefully in there ATV class the 12 yr old will bring up that he has a 500 and the instructor can get the Kids to understand this is not good for anyone.

Sorry, this is too of interesting thread, wanted to reply to the
rapid growing thread. Yea, sorry I didn't mention the 500 scenerio
earlier. I feel the same as the other posters. I think a 500 whether
a Sport or Utility is was too much speed/power for under 16, aka
12 yr. Son.

I think we would be amiss if we all didn't express our safety concerns
for your friend. -- WE CARE!

Regards,

R'

So let me get this correct............Polaris 500 for 12 year old ........And 300cc or under for a 13 year old??
For just getting into the quad/atv sport...........They may need to get some seat time on others before he jumps in and just buy something for them!!........Never want to see new riders get hurt!!......Caper......

I think a 700# machine is a lot for 12 yr old as well. Hope they are very careful, or go down to a smaller machine. To roll that on top of anyone is going to hurt, especially a kid. Now I am a Polaris fan, but when my boy gets a little older, I am going to seriously look at the Suzuki Ozark 250. Just under 400# I think, 2wd utility that handles like a sport supposably, decent travel and ground clearance. People seem to like them that own them. Good luck and be careful.

I have to agree with you that a 500 is a big machine for a newbie 12 year old that has no real seat time. I'll tell you what though, my son got a gas powered snowmobile for his 2nd bday which I attached a dog leash to and ran behind him while he drove around the driveway. That way I could lift up the back of the machine if he got in trouble. For his 3rd bday I got him a gas powered atv. He has had 3 50 cc machines, a 90, a suzuki eiger 400 and now he is on a wolvy 450. He has almost 1500 miles in this season and rides better than most adults I know. He, like my friends kid is always sandwiched between two of the adult riders and we are very careful about maintaining our speeds and what type of terrain we take them over. Our motto is that our group is only as fast as the slowest machine and we are never in a hurry to get anywhere. The faster guys ride up front and we always wait for everyone to catch up. Unfortunately for my friend, where we ride we require 4 wheel drive. In this day and age there are not a lot of bikes out there with 4 x 4 that are much smaller than the Popo 500. He refuses to buy used because that is a crap shoot. His boy is strong and a little timid so he is not on the gas every chance he gets.

I guess what I am saying is that if done properly, you can learn on just about anything. My first snowmobile was a 1976 Yamaha Exciter 440 which I got when I was 12. That was a fast sled back in the day and my father made sure he took me out and taught me how to ride safely and with preservation of others property in mind. This is the same ethic that the guys in my group are trying hard to impart on our children. I can't express enough how everytime my son and I go riding I talk to him about the power of his machine and how he needs to be extremely careful while riding so I can trust him not to hurt himself. He always has full riding gear on including a good helmet and body armor. Another thing I always tell new people in our group is to go on to google and type in wisconsin dnr atv fatalities and read the current year and the last two year synopsis. I think it is extremely important for people to understand what kills most of the poor people who die enjoying our great sport. It is a bit of an eye opener. I mean let's face it, in virtually all motorsports, speed kills.