Man, your 230 lbs sitting on an 80!!! What do you expect? Your weight is 3 times what the average rider would weigh. Imagine how a 400ex would feel if you rode it and you weighed 500-600 lbs. Its about the same ratio.

Plus, you cant really expect an 11 year old girl to keep up with the adult men on a trail ride. My 7 year old daughter has a Polaris 90 that she drives very well. That machine has LOTS of power for a 50 lb girl. She drives great, but her trail rides with my wife and I are VERY short. Like 15-30 minutes. The reason is because she is a good driver and knows that the power and her stamina make for short rides if she is going to ride SAFELY.

I think you are forgetting the machine is for her, not you. If you get her a machine that is YOUR idea of enough power, you are likely to get her hurt. Don't listen tothe kids telling you to "get her more power, man! A BLASTER!" Most of the posts are from kids 12-20 that dont have daughters of thier own. YES she may advance to a Breeze 125 or Blaster 200 quickly but......

Would you rather buy her a new ATV in a year or two after you KNOW she can handle it, or get her too much machine and end up buying her a wheelchair.

 

I would go with the Honda 250 EX, it just won a shootout against the suzuki 250. The ergos should be right for her and the quad is not overpowered. Use that screw on the thumb throttle to limit her speed until she gets some hours on any quad. My boys have been riding LT80's since they were 5, now 9.5 years old. If they were 11, I wouldnt even consider the LT80, although they have been EXCELLENT quads. The boys have taken the stock 400 EX out for a few spins and do alright. The 400 EX is a bit too much for them now but they can ride it conservatively.

One more step up would be the Honda 300ex. It has ergos that are right for smaller riders.

 

Trapland I hear what you're saying. I thought the same thing, but even though I'm way too heavy for the Badger, you can get an idea of it's performance, which isn't much. I'm at the point now where I'm either gonna wait a few years or get a bigger bike now. She's a responsible kid and I don't think she'll be crazy on it. She'll always be with me anyway when she's riding. The Honda 250EX seems to be a regularly suggested bike. Maybe I'll check them out. The Blaster's out though, especially with the manual clutch.

 

To Be Honest - I purchased my Daughter her first quad and she was 9 at the time. The bike I got her was the Badger 80 and she didnt last 3 weeks on that and wanted something bigger. I sold it a month later and purchased her a new Breeze. Now my 7 year old rides it and my daughter is 11 now and just bumped her up to the Z250. She loves that bike and for a great beginner and wont grow out of it to fast I would deffinitely get the breeze. She didnt grow out of it as fast as the badger. Anything lower than the breeze at age 7 to 8 would be a waste of money. You can adjust the throttle so she cant go fast until she is ready. Beleive me, you will regret buying a smaller bike.

What ever you choose she will be happy, have fun and ride safe. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

You may want to explore the 80-90 class machines a little further before writing them all off. My daughter has a Polaris Sportsman 90. Maybe we just got a good one but this thing hauls. 0-30 with ME on it leaves my wife 2-3 lengths behind on her big 4x4. I have to be careful going uphill cuz she has plenty of power to flip. It wheelies like a dream.

The thing does top end of 30-35. Thats PLENTY fast for my girl. There is a rev limiter that you can turn on in the ignition that makes top speed about 15, yet you can still give it full throttle up to then. We used that for the first few rides. I put wheel spacers on for added safety. The physical size of the machine is pretty big.

If I ever decide that my girl needs more power, 200-300 for a new cdi and pipe will wake it up even more. She WILL outgrow this machine, yes. I'd just rather have her gain the experience and make her mistakes without throwing excess power into the mix first.

Good luck deciding. She is YOUR daughter and you know her best.