Mini bike for kids 3, 4 & 5 years old?

**catharsis** · 27th December 2013, 05:51

Hi guys,

Wanting to get my kids on the bike.
Can you guys recommend something for them? I've hunted around a bit looking at pocket bikes but I wouldn't know where to start. Seems to be some really reasonable ones around $200-$300 and then they jump right up into the $1k+ zone.
Not looking at anything serious, just something they can get a thrill on and get used to riding, probably pref have one with side/training wheels for the younger guys.
Any kid friendly stores in Auck that sell them & or the kid size protective gear?

Thanks for any help.

**Akzle** · 27th December 2013, 06:57

y' get what you pay for.

personally, i wouldn't trust my kids' safety to a chinese (2-300$) bike. but there's a clown on here who'll be along shortly to sell you one...
the resale will be poos, the welding is poos. the overall fit and finish is poos, the performance is poos...
i guess what i'm trying to say, is that chinese shit is shit.

if you can afford 300$ for a toy this summer, then maybe, fine. (and they'll grow out of it, and if they dont like it you're not too far out of pocket.)

but i'd get a better one, meeb second hand, and then sell it and upgrade if they decide they want to stick with it.

**Akzle** · 27th December 2013, 07:00

and NO NO NO on training wheels.

if you want them used to an engine, get a quad. (or a sidecar

)
training wheels are bad.

**rapid van cleef** · 27th December 2013, 07:05

The tech dept at the high school I work at buy in a heap of chinese pit bikes but dont use the chasis. The kids do an analysis of the frame, work out whats wrong with them and build their own. The stock chasis are generally poorly made, out of alignment etc. But I have a took a cheap chinese pit bike around a track for 30 mins and it was a lot of fun. Probably fine for what you need.

**2smokes** · 27th December 2013, 11:06

I agonised over the same thing 2 years ago. I looked at the price of second hand PW50s and the price of a new Chinese bike and it didn't make any sense until I checked the Chinese stuff out. The cheap stuff is cheap and in some cases so cheap that I would call them dangerous.
I bought second hand PW50s. The have not changed them for decades so parts are cheap and easy to source. I stripped the bikes down, cleaned, painted etc and put them back together looking like new.
So after 2 years of bouncing around the paddocks, crashing into fences and all the other terrible things that kids do, the only thing I have had to do to them is fill them with gas and oil.
My eldest has about out grown hers now and I know when I sell it I will get my money back and the next owner will have just as much trouble free fun.
Will a $300 Chinese bike last the distance? Like they say "yous gets what yous pays for"

My 2 cents

**Tazz** · 27th December 2013, 11:21

Old scooter or something would do the trick as well. Should be a few of those kicking around up there for that price.

**Madness** · 27th December 2013, 11:48

Originally Posted by Tazz

Old scooter or something would do the trick as well. Should be a few of those kicking around up there for that price.

Really? For 3/4 & 5 year old kids I'd have thought a scroter would be too big physically.

**Tazz** · 27th December 2013, 13:06

Originally Posted by Madness

Really? For 3/4 & 5 year old kids I'd have thought a scroter would be too big physically.

XD

Depends on the kid? And the scooter? They can come pretty small. My little brother used to rock around my uncles farm on a little scooter when he was 5, maybe younger. Just had to bend the bars down for him.

**fridayflash** · 27th December 2013, 16:31

my opinion is avoid the chinese ones..no doubt there are some 'ok' ones out there, but if you stretch the budget to $5-700 youll find a honda qr or yamaha pw50 which will be fantastic and after two or even five years itll still sell for what you paid for it initially (providing you dont trash it of course)
so thats damn near free motoring!

**bigreddog** · 1st January 2014, 21:17

My choices would be
1) PW50
2) PW50
3) PW50

So there it is then winner by a knockout Yamaha PW50.

I know a bloke who is teaching his boy to ride on the PW50 that his dad bought him 25 years ago....Nuff said.

**swarfie** · 1st January 2014, 21:54

Originally Posted by bigreddog

My choices would be
1) PW50
2) PW50
3) PW50

So there it is then winner by a knockout Yamaha PW50.

I know a bloke who is teaching his boy to ride on the PW50 that his dad bought him 25 years ago....Nuff said.

My girls both learned to ride on a Honda QR 50....same thing as a PW 50 but red

Sold it for more than we paid for it six years latter...barrel of fun and WAY better than any chinese poos