Kids quad bike

[Heiny]

If someone asks a dumb question about DIY 240V electrical work on this site, the electrical experts feel obliged to post a warning about safety.   Usually it's along the lines of "Just don't do it."   Everybody accepts their expertise, and the dumb questioner says "sorry I didn't realize how dangerous that was."

Why are motor vehicles different?  "WTF Officer, I've been driving at 80km/hr through this school zone for years and never hit anyone."
 

Blah blah blah, let it go mate

You are entitled to "YOUR" opinion as is everyone else, the question was:

Are the Chinese units any good, if so what brand?
Or are we better off a good 2nd hand Japanese brand?

Any help much appreciated

[AKB]

We have three cheap Chinese units, it's that old story you get what you pay for.  If your handy and don't mind tinkering they are ok.  The first thing we do is change the fuel leads and all the fluids ie brake and oil.  Our child also has to do a spanner check everytime he goes to ride it. 

Like all things there are degrees of good and bad Chinese bikes and to a certain extent it's the luck of the draw.  We bought a 110cc adult one of eBay,I clipped a stump and the steering bent - damn that Chinese alfoil (I mean stainless steel).

[Swogjb]

Thanks to all for the information.
Ive decided to give the Chinese quads a miss and pay a few extra bucks and go for jap bike.
I think a Suzuki LTZ 50 is going to get the nod. I'll have a good look around for a good second hand one but I don't hold my breath in finding one reasonably close to home.
 
Glenn

[Patr80l]

Blah blah blah, let it go mate

You are entitled to "YOUR" opinion as is everyone else, the question was:

I didn't want to make this a game of "who has the last word" but, (like the electricians) I am an expert. My opinion is worth more. 

Have a look at the data Morgue collected; http://myswag.org/forum/index.php?topic=13709.0

[darren]

73 bubba
 I think your supposed to reply   "nah, you are"

[jetcrew]

Thanks to all for the information.
Ive decided to give the Chinese quads a miss and pay a few extra bucks and go for jap bike.
I think a Suzuki LTZ 50 is going to get the nod. I'll have a good look around for a good second hand one but I don't hold my breath in finding one reasonably close to home.
 
Glenn

Pretty much what I'm looking for too.

I read the links and would say that the overwheelming saddness at the loss of those children is undienable. However after reading 4 of the stories from the US I have to ask "What contributing factors lead to the death"

In one of the stories the child had no understanding of the quad and was ridding in a dangerous area .
In another the child had no supervision and died from being unable to breath
In another the quad was too large for the child.
Another lack of supervision and unknow terrain.

So before we all go off half cocked about how dangerous these machines are because of a death we must first evaluate the circumstances of the death and attribute any additional actions/cirrcumstances that may have caused the death.

Your link to the study and recomendations is exactly what i will be doing with my son.

So i am sorry to say but none of those deaths can be attributed to the quad bike itself, they were all rider error and lack of supervision.

very very sad that these kids lost thier lives but not a reason to ear bash someone for wanting to buy one.
 
Jetcrew

[Bird]

Out of bikes, trikes and quads, Bikes are my favorite.  Each to their own.

They are all worlds apart on how you ride them try turning a corner on a trike like you do on a bike and you go straight ahead.. Quads are different again. if your kid can ride a pushbike, I'd say go for a QR50/PW50 with training wheels - may make it easier all round.

Cammo has had a bike since he was 4-5yrs old (now 11), and loves it.

State dependent the issue is theres barely anywhere legally expect private property to ride trike/quads. theres a few bike tracks around you can go to for bikes only that dont have racing on them.

the fines are close to a grand if caught, something to keep in mind.

[2 Brutal]

A 3 year old is hardly going to be throwing lugs off the tyres in terms of riding it hard, until they progress and become a better rider. The Chinese bikes are ok at a price.
I bought a Chinese peewee for my young lad for his first bike when he was 4, he couldn't kill it and it never gave me an ounce of problems. We also used to have a Chinese single seat buggy, again never an issue, kids loved it. We had to offload the peewe and bought him a KTM as he couldn't race the Chinese peewee in his age group as it was a 90cc.
Don't forget your kid will outgrow a lot of this stuff before they can wreck it, so it really depends how much you want to spend.
Getting into motorbikes is not a cheap pasttime, especially with all the protective gear needed to ride safe and the rate kids grow they'll outgrow clothes and boots before they wreck them.
Fitting a govenor to the throttle will ensure the kid can't wind it on and take off across the paddock and do damage to bike or rider, the govenor can then be adjusted as their skill improves.

[jtraf]

My boys 5 and 8 now have been zooming around my parents property have for a couple years now on a pair of Suzuki LT50 quads.  I bought one brand new from the dealer $1450 and one second hand which was early 80's model but they are identical.  They can be stored for months then you take them out put the choke on and away they go.......They also have a cut off switch on the back with a cable you can pull when they are learning to stop them.  They can also have the throttle govenerned so that they only go as fast as you want them to......

For my own sake I bought named brand Suzuki casue I didn't want the hassles down the track.  So far three years and I have only had to add fuel and 2 stroke oil a couple times....

The old saying is "YOU GET WHAT YO PAY FOR"

HTH

James

[jeeps]

Anyone can sit on a quad and ride, they only need limited skill and that's why there are a lot of accidents. I'm biased as I come from and grew up with a moto trial background where riding skill and bike control is generally above any trail, enduro or moto x discipline.

For this reason, I strongly recommend you take a look at an OSET. They have bikes purposely designed for 2-5 year olds, 5-10 etc. They are not a toy and are a quality built comp spec bike specifically designed to teach kids how to ride - you can start them on training wheels and the power is fully adjustable. http://www.osetbikes.com.au/. Yes they are electric and yes they are a trial bike not a trail bike but you get 2 hrs from a 6 hr charge and you never need to worry about neighbors and noise. When they can handle an OSET then they can go up to a proper petrol bike with a full set of skills.

I will be getting my daughter an OSET as soon as she is off training wheels on her pushbike.

[graham]

i must say ,as a recalcatrient parent my two little girls  could not ride their quads till they could ( due to the fact that they could not operate the brake ,to slow down ,or stop but the true fact is i would never put the munckins in a situiatin that a problem would occur (and i know accidents do occur & thats why they are accidents), but i ride with them,2or 4 wheels.also they cannot ride without full armour, armour is as cheap as chips, if you can afford the toy the armour is part of the price. i wear it so why would,nt my kids have it . next thing i will hear is that i should not have brought them  a couple of shot guns

[graham]

sorry i have to come back after my last post in this age of political correctness and say that the two munchkins  could not hold the shotguns in the correct position, due to the fact that they are too long &heavy so they will not fire them , due to the pure fact is that they may not like it and i would never force my ideals upon them .they are two little girls who think chickens are people GOD LUVEM

[Cloud Basher]

Well I asked this question last year and ignorning all the nay sayers and after looking at the Suzuki, the Polaris and a few other (non-Chinese Quads) we then looked at the Yamaha 50cc (with electric start, I think it was the TTR50 not the Peewee50?) and the Honda CRF50.  In the end Santa went with the CRF50, one for each girl as we picked two of them up in the pre-Christmas dealing time of the dealers for just slightly more than one Quad bike.

The girls are not even allowed to sit on their bikes without all their safety gear on.  They were 6 and 5 when they got their bikes and could ride a pushbike without training wheels before we let them loose.  The neighbor also lent us an electric scooter that used a twist throttle the same as the bike and we got them to ride around the cul-de-sac on that getting them to learn that there wasn't just one speed of flat out and also how to use brakes.

The girls can now ride their bikes (I won't let them in the back yard just yet as they WILL panic and go into the fence) and they have started to go over bumps and get all excited when wheels come off the ground!  In Sydney they have been to Pacific Park and out to Leuwee.  We are looking at getting them into fun-kana if they want to.  They absolutely love it.

They have had many many offs but have never hurt themselves as we have the proper riding gear and also the throttle is restricted and we only allow them to go in second gear at this stage.  During the day you can see them gain confidence then they have an off, and god bless their little cotton socks, they jump back on, but are much more weary than before.  Then their confidence starts to rise again and they have another off.  Good fun.

All I can say is have a serious think about two wheels rather than a quad.  In the end actual price decided for us.  You can wrap your kids in cotton wool and not allow them to do much and experience much in our nanny state.  However my kids, whilst keeping them as safe as possible, will get to experience most things in a controlled manner and if they like it then we will keep going with it.  Things like motor-bike riding, driving, water skiing, hiking, flying/aerobatics etc my kids have done and they love them all.  Abseiling, rockclimbing, diving and shooting will be added to the list as soon as they can.  Pity they have to go to school and I have to go to work!  Nothing beats bonding with your kids as much as undertaking new activities.  And these are all good wholesome, fun-for-the-whole-family things.

Just need to buy a farm or get access to a hundred acres or so closer to Western Sydney so I can get out more often to undertake these things with them!

Anyway don't listen to the naysayers. They are in ALL walks of life and in EVERYTHING we do.  I do believe you should listen to all sides of the story though and as much as the good doctor here has been slightly bagged, I am sure he is well meaning.  But in the end do what you think is right, most of us have a decent enough moral compass to know what is right and wrong.  Let your kids experience life.  There will be stumbles and if you have done your job responsibly then there will be no major issues.  We learn for the stumbles, it grows our character but more importantly, that is how we learn. Yes the paint is wet...

Cheers
CB

[Squalo]

Top post Cloud Basher.

That's what is often missing - total responsibility taken by the parent/s.

If you are going to manage the risk properly then there is not much wrong with getting kids onto bikes, and as far as I'm concerned the more young people growing up with an appreciation of motorcycles, the better, even if it only means that less young drivers will pull out in front of me when I'm riding

[Juggs]

i bought the kids one a 50cc yumcha quad
worthless piece of crap also dangerous
no real chain guards and quite a long chain, exposed exhausts with no heat shielding and would hit nearly 60kph on the bitumen with my 7 year old son on board

and after about a hours use you spend 30 mins cleaning the crap out of the carb

quads are inheritantly unstable while cornering and many people come acropper because of this tail whip effect, run nearly bald rears to aleviate it somewhat

we could not buy a full face helmet small enough for my 3 year old daughter so that to me says shes too young, no saftey gear no ride is our moto
a 12-18v electric job is more suitable

i  bought the kids 50cc yamaha bikes aournd 900 second hand at about 8-9 years old, if they cant ride a 2 wheeler they shouldnt be allowed on a quad with its handling quirks