Kids ATV choice / trails to ride?

My son started with the typical power wheels quads and trucks. The leverage of the quad style handlebar made them very appealing to him. Very easy to turn.
At 4 he got the razor dirt quad. These are very nice and they now have several brands that even have full suspension. The razor is readily available used for cheap. Assume the batteries are toast. Buy batteries cheap and replace them. It has a solid rear axle and offers great traction along with learning a twist throttle and a disk hand brake. I would highly recommend one of these. You can ride them just about anywhere that people aren't totally butthurt.

At 5, he got a gas quad. One of the 110cc china quads. I could not be happier with it for what he did. It has its limitations. You can set the throttle stop for learning, but it really limits what it can do. It is also not a rev limited system so they can run downhill out of control. It has two remote kill systems, a lanyard you can trail the kid with to pull/kill and a remote to kill it. The foot brake is great and easy for a kid in motocross boots to use. The footboards are nice and cover to the edge of the wheel to prevent a kid from coming off a peg and running themselves over. The suspension is a bit stiff for a light kid. It is narrow, which is good an bad. The front hand brake is really stiff on every one that I've seen that still has brakes. The battery is crap. He will be going to a honda as soon as I feel he is big enough. This has done it's job nicely and I have a list of friends that want it when I'm done. We focused on all of the normal basics of riding and this was great for that.

I also got him a razor dirtbike and long term borrowed a great friends crf50. The crf50 has training wheels. We only rode it with them once. I told him he needed to ride a bike and then he could ride the razor, which is crazy light and surprisingly fast, and then he could ride the gas dirtbike.
Well, he did all of those things. The CRF is too hard for him to shift still but I usually put it in second and let him run around learning to stand and ride and use the brakes and engine braking.

It's a fun hobby. There are places to ride if you are willing to drive and pay. Or buy some land. I'm very grateful that I was able to find a place with 3.5 acres with my family where we can walk outside and do these kinds of things.

Buy the right gear and buy all of it. Gloves, helmet, neck roll, chest protector, knee and elbow pads, and boots. This gear is made to take a beating. Best case is that you never have a scare and you can resell or gift great gear to the next rider in your group.

The answer to #1 is they could always ride around in my back yard.

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Not dropping this on you by any means......., but RANT BACK ON....unfortunately, this is part of the problem at Glen Haven....the yards back up to the cemetery, kids get bored, yard gets small, and the cemetery becomes their backyard. I have had discussions with parents of these little $h!t$, and they all seem to think the cemetery is part of their property. Unfortunately, the cemetery owners won't push the issue and the cops won't let us press the charges. BTW - I have heard them say...."But, where else are they supposed to ride?" RANT OFF.

CrawfishStu said:

Buy the right gear and buy all of it. Gloves, helmet, neck roll, chest protector, knee and elbow pads, and boots. This gear is made to take a beating. Best case is that you never have a scare and you can resell or gift great gear to the next rider in your group.

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yes to this! stuff will happen. hitting a tree, fence, house, ditch, another rider, etc is way less painful when the rider is wearing all the gear.

I think my kid would ride more, particularly when it was hot, if it didn't take so long to gear up with hot and heavy gear. But, what would the point of that be? If he gets hurt, the safety committee would put a full stop on this stuff. So, we ride when we have the time to do it right.

Thanks for all the great advice. I figured I’d be spending several hundred bucks on equipment to get them safe. My wife, who is probably more protective of them than I am if that’s possible, looked at me like I was crazy the other day when I listed off the safety equipment we’d have to plan to buy. But she’s never rode or wrecked so she doesn’t understand.

I’ll check into those places mentioned to make sure they allow my aged kids. If they do they sound perfect. Insurance and registration is no biggie. I don’t mind paying when it comes to activities for the kids. It’s like anything else. Most things to do you have to pay for.

As far as the cemetery. I’d have a sit down talk with the cemetery managers. If they complain the police would most likely do something. I’m sure that’s annoying to hear and see them turfing up the cemetary. But if the cemetary managers don’t care, most likely that’s why the cops don’t enforce it. It’s not trespassing if there is no victim. Again though I don’t condone that. I wouldn’t take mine anywhere other than designated trails or my back yard.

I love reading threads like this, and I especially appreciate that the OP is interested in getting his kids on some sort of off road bikes in a safe manner at a young age when they can learn to ride safely without the fears that we adults have as we get older and acquire responsibilities. Well done, sir!

I remember how much fun I had trail riding as a young adult, and always wished my parents hadn't been so absolutely against my doing it. So I pretty much had to wait until I left home to get into the sport. Stopped riding a decade ago, but if I had a place to ride trails today I'd be super interested in getting back on the saddle. Not interested in street riding or touring any more, but I did 30+ years of that, too.

Several years ago I was in Edinburgh Scotland for the opening night of the Military Tattoo, and one of the groups that participated were the Imps. This is an organized group dedicated to education and safe riding of motorcycles, and the show they put on was spectacular, even for kids. I wish we had something like that for kids here in the U.S.

ClutchyMcClutcherson said:

Thanks for all the great advice.

As far as the cemetery. I’d have a sit down talk with the cemetery managers. If they complain the police would most likely do something. I’m sure that’s annoying to hear and see them turfing up the cemetary. But if the cemetary managers don’t care, most likely that’s why the cops don’t enforce it. It’s not trespassing if there is no victim. Again though I don’t condone that. I wouldn’t take mine anywhere other than designated trails or my back yard.

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Been there, done that, got the blown nerves. The owners aren't local and local managers don't give a crap.

Yeap, private property no complaint, no action.

When I hit the lottery, I'm moving out of MD and I'm taking all the late relatives with me. I will have a family plot in a decent place.



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