Mini/pocket bike for the kids

[Wolf]

Been looking on Tardme at what's going in the way of pocket bikes suitable for kids.

Wanting to get an idea of how cheaply I could get a pocket bike, second hand (not necessarily paying auction prices).

What I want is a pocket bike - trail config (like a JR50) or race config doesn't matter - of a suitable height for my kids (eldest aged 3, already riding 12" pushbike) to learn on, in going condition, cheap as possible. Cosmetic state matters not a whit - could always rip off the fairing and "Street-fighter" it, if it's too stuffed. If the chain or the brake pads need work, I could do that but I'm not up to getting the engine running.

I would also need some advice on how to limit the bike's speed. Would some sort of block on the throttle cable to limit how far it turns be suitable?

Any ideas, pointers, leads would be most appreciated.

[Coyote]

Have a look on www.creatnz.net . They have the cheapest bikes by far since they bulk buy once they get the minimum order (so you could be waiting a few weeks untill you get your bike). A cheap minimoto may be a good start as they're still fairly slow and tame from what I know, WT can handle one so your kids surely will. I few kiddies were riding around the Kaitoke Kart track at a slow pace when I had a look there

[Wolf]

WT can handle one so your kids surely will.
:laugh:


mutter mutter fucking 10 characters...

[The Beast]

few kiddies were riding around the Kaitoke Kart track at a slow pace when I had a look there

That kid was 4 mate!!
Were you on one of the thumpstars?
I didn't see ya round if you weren't.

[madboy]

The minimoto style bikes can get real twitchy. If the kid isn't going fast, probably not a concern, but if they do... My daughter is shit scared of mine. Doesn't mind taking it for a scoot with the motor off, but won't ride it with the motor on.

Personally if I were buying a bike for her I'd get a cheapie trail bike style thing. Suspension etc so they can use it on grass etc (softer landings while they're getting used to it). Minimotos are rock solid hard. Even a kid wouldn't want to ride one on anything less than a perfectly manicured lawn.

[Wolf]

Personally if I were buying a bike for her I'd get a cheapie trail bike style thing. Suspension etc so they can use it on grass etc (softer landings while they're getting used to it). Minimotos are rock solid hard. Even a kid wouldn't want to ride one on anything less than a perfectly manicured lawn.
What cheapie trail bikes are available? Only trail ones I've seen are the Suzukis - JR50 and the larger JR80. Only cheap ones I've seen are sprots boiks.

[Wolf]

Have a look on www.creatnz.net .
Same as the ones that some dude on Tardme is selling for a higher price. They have a top speed of 50km/h - any way to tone that down? I'm not to keen on my 3-year old gunning it across the lawn at 50km/h fully manicured and soft or not...


And believe me, he knows what a throttle is for - opening out and holding open!

[The Beast]

I'm pretty sure you can govern the throttle by loosening the throttle cable.

[Wolf]

I'm pretty sure you can govern the throttle by loosening the throttle cable.
So it turns most the way without doing anything and then opens up the carb only a little at the last bit of turn. Cunning! Sounds simpler than my idea of screwing some kind of block onto the throttle cable to limit how far it can travel - and easier to adjust to where you want it: hold the throttle hard open and then loosen the cable until the revs drop down to where you want them.

[Wolf]

I've been told that a lot of the Chinese-made minimotos have crap welds on the frame and that people strip 'em and reweld the frame so they won't break. Am I right in assuming that this is so they can bear the weight of an adult? If so, does that mean that the default crappy welds would still be strong enough and safe enough to bear the weight of a child (eldest is not yet even 20kg)?

I note the cheapest mini trail bike on creatnz is over twice the price of the minimotos. Was not planning on spending over $500 incl GST on something that is gonna be hacked about and presumably dropped by three kids while they learn - still need to buy decent helmets and other protective gear on top of price of bike.

The minimotos are closer to what I can afford but still a bit dear - was hoping I could find a second-hand mini bike in going order for around the $100-$150 mark.

[White trash]

How about this Wolf?

49cc minimoto powered off roader. Suspension front and back. Disc brakes.

$290

[Devil]

Unless you want a beaten up street magic, that you could ride too. $700neg. Runs fine. Just a little ugly ;)

[Wolf]

How about this Wolf?

49cc minimoto powered off roader. Suspension front and back. Disc brakes.

$290
That looks pretty cool, looks new. What's the seat height?

[The Beast]

Yeah the welds are pretty shithouse, but we've never stripped a bike and re-welded it, only breakages we've had are from too much bending...woops...
I know of a guy that is just over 100kg and used to ride a Day2 no sweat, upgraded to a faster bike now.

[Wolf]

Unless you want a beaten up street magic, that you could ride too. $700neg. Runs fine. Just a little ugly ;)
Dude, they come out of the factory a little ugly!

Bit tall for the cubs, but if I had the dough I'd be tempted to get it to use as a hack for getting to work (if it's street legal).

[White trash]

That looks pretty cool, looks new. What's the seat height?

They are new. Tell ya the height when we get 'em next week.

[Wolf]

They are new. Tell ya the height when we get 'em next week.
Cheers!


..........

[FROSTY]

Wolf--no way do I wanna talk trashy outa a sale --but my experience--3 is too young for 2 wheels.
Its not so much the bike itself --more that when things turn pear shaped theres fuck all ya can do about it.
My strong suggestion to ya is a quad to start with--and one with a teather that can run back to you --
If ya dead set on a two wheeler then at least run a terather/kill switch back off the back of the bike and again run it back to you
Dont wanna sound like a kill joy folks

[SPORK]

How about this Wolf?

49cc minimoto powered off roader. Suspension front and back. Disc brakes.

$290
that looks an absolute blast! How well would it propel a 65kg bugger like myself? Wheelies all the way?

[White trash]

Probably lacks the torque for wheelies to be honest. I mean, it'll do 'em but keeping it up will be very difficult and that's the last thing a young fellah needs.

[White trash]

Frosty has a (small) point Wolf, although I do know of a number of 3 year olds riding two wheeled motorbikes now.

That being the case, wrap ya laughing gear 'round one of these.

Product Description

Product size: 980mm×600mm×5870mm
Seat height: 460mm
Engine: 49cc,2 stroke,single cylinder, air cooling;
Starting kist start
Max power 1.8Kw / 7500r/min
MaxTorque(N.m./r/min)： 3.5n.m/6000r/min
Compressed Ratio 8.50:1
Tank: 1.0L
Drive system: chain
Transmission automatic clutch
Wheel size: 3.0-4
Wheel base: 690mm
Ground clearance: 50mm
Brake(Front/Rear): disc brake®
Max. speed: 50km/h
Max. load: 95kg
Range: 50km
G.W./N.W.(kg): 33kg/29kg

[Wolf]

Wolf--no way do I wanna talk trashy outa a sale --but my experience--3 is too young for 2 wheels.
Its not so much the bike itself --more that when things turn pear shaped theres fuck all ya can do about it.
My strong suggestion to ya is a quad to start with--and one with a teather that can run back to you --
If ya dead set on a two wheeler then at least run a terather/kill switch back off the back of the bike and again run it back to you
Dont wanna sound like a kill joy folks
Well made points, FROSTY.

The three year old is already very confident on 2 wheels (push bike) and leans around corners, goes reasonably fast on it - faster than my usual brisk walk.

I was thinking in terms of limiting the motorbike's speed back to my walking pace so I could keep alongside him. the tether with kill switch sounds a great idea.

[Wolf]

We were watching (for the 10,000th time) "Quest for Victory" a doco about ELF's involvement in motorcycle sport and the three-yera-old is mostly enamored of MX and trials riding - the MX, Paris-Dakar and Trials segments of the doco he really gets into, more so than the Moto GP. Asked if he wants to ride GP or Trials and he said "Trials". No great surprise there, he keeps trying to ride his bike up onto things or make it jump. On his little velocipede he actually gets up to speed and then jumps into the air, taking the bike with him (good thing it's pretty solid or he'd've broken it by now).

Looks like he'll be wanting an off-road style bike rather than a sprots boik configuration.

The two-year-old has to learn how to ride a pushbike yet.

[Winston001]

I've found an example of what looks like Whitetrash's trail minibike on Trademe. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=45762160&key=382525

The main point is the photo gives an idea of scale for a child. Cute machine. Mind you I like Trash's 4 wheeler too. :D

Interestingly, there is another guy trying to sell one for $400, claiming it is an unwanted $500 gift.

[Wolf]

I've found an example of what looks like Whitetrash's trail minibike on Trademe. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=45762160&key=382525

The main point is the photo gives an idea of scale for a child. Cute machine. Mind you I like Trash's 4 wheeler too. :D

Interestingly, there is another guy trying to sell one for $400, claiming it is an unwanted $500 gift.
Cheers for that.

Yep, the kid is 110cm tall and my 3-year-old is nearly that tall.

He's now learned that he can ride a bike even if he can't touch the ground, so even if I have to lift him onto it and lift him off it, he should be able to ride it.

We took him down to the Hamilton BMX Club's track near Minogue Park on the weekend. Sent him around the track with me running along beside him to be sure he was all right.

First he went around on his usual (12") bike but it doesn't free-wheel so the pedals would take off on him as he plunged downhill. He couldn't get his feet back on the pedals as he slowed on the hills so he kept falling off. We dug out the other bike his aunt had given him (14", I think), which can free-wheel, and I lifted him onto it and let him ride around the track while I ran alongside (or, staggered, huffed, puffed and wheezed along behind if you prefer accuracy).

Must have looked quite interesting, a three-year-old careering around the track with a 42-year-old puffing along behind him hollering "keep pedalling, keep pedalling!"

He fell off a fair few times - mostly because he didn't pedal fast enough to make it up a couple of the hills - but kept getting back on and kept wanting to go around again immediately afterwards.

His control of the bike is brilliant, the only time he fell off from poor steering was when he turned his head to watch some of the other kids. The rest of the time it was not having enough speed to get up the hill or accidentally pedalling backwards (and engaging the rear brake).

He's been around the track about 8 times now on the larger bike (every time he fell off I had to lift him back onto the seat and I had to grab the bike when he finished so he could get off) and the last time around he only fell off three times - on the three steepest hills - and two of those times he almost made it over the crest. He toppled over from a standstill rather than "fell off" on those occasions.

Given that he has the control sorted out over a full-on BMX track at the speeds you can attain going down those hills (I was sprinting in places), I'm confident that he can cope with a mini-bike governed back to walking pace (until such time as he demonstrates proper control of the throttle and use of the brakes) on flat terrain. I'll still use the tether with a kill switch idea, I think.

Later I'll allow the mini-bike up to the speed he attains on the BMX track but keep him on the flat until he demonstrates appropriate control (running around after a mini-bike on the flat has got to be easier than chasing a pushbike over the BMX course!).

By the time I let him onto a tame MX track with the minibike, he should be fully confident on his pushbike on the BMX track and completing the course on a regular basis.

Won't be letting the minibike go at full speed for quite some time, though.

Edit: The bit that really scares me is that I will have to go through all this running around after the bikes with him and with our two-year-old in his turn and, later, our daughter... I'm in grave danger of becoming fit!

[Wolf]

How about this Wolf?

49cc minimoto powered off roader. Suspension front and back. Disc brakes.

$290
Is the $290 inclusive or exclusive of Grab, Snatch and Take? (or Government Swindle Tax)

Are they in yet?