Quads / ATC / ATV question

[sixtall]

Fellow members - - my kids ( 11 year old girl, 10 year old boy ) have been working hard for two and a half years and have saved enough for a cheap 4-wheeler. We've been hitting the ditches and collecting beer/liquor empties and cashing them in for their "four-wheeler fund" and now have $560 on hand. That's a lot of empties at 10 cents a can and bottle !! Anyway, they've worked hard in the cold of winter and the heat of summer and it's time they got their reward. As much as I'd like to see them on a Yamaha or a Honda quad, funds don't allow for it. All that's out there in that price range is the cheap Chinese made stuff. Any of you folks have any experience with any Chinese knock-off stuff or know of anyone who has ? If they had to save for a Yamaha, Honda, or Kawasaki they'd be my age by the time they could afford one !! Appreciate any input you guys or gals may have. I know it's not car talk, but getting my kids into the joys of something with an internal combustion engine could be the "spark" to get them into the stuff we all love.

 

[cycledog]

Unless you are a great mechanic stay away from the Chinese stuff. Most of the motors are Honda 50 or 70 and lager knock offs with soft metal and you wont get much milage out of them.

Now on the other hand the real Honda stuff will interchange (according to my motorcycle mechanic son). But ulness you want to split cases and change cylinders and heads and rods and pistons stay away....far far away from the chinese stuff. Besides by the time you get doing all of that you may have just collected more cans and get something decent. My 2 pesos worth.

 

[Sniper]

I bought one of the small mini 4 wheelers for the grandkids to toot around on. They haven't used it a lot, and sure haven't been rough with it at all. But just looking it over, I would imagine a young boy could pretty well destroy one in a week or less. Not built to jump, fly and crash. It would soon shed parts I'm sure. This one is electric start, and think the kids will soon have the starter pooched with all the starts and stops. Not that it won't run, (runs quite nice actually) It's more like " I hold the power to contol this thing" concept that little kids enjoy. So they are forever shutting it down, dinking around, only to start it up and go again. If the engine poops out, a Briggs with a torque convertor would replace it. Cheap to buy, but built cheap to begin with, with a boy, you might be needing a welder from time to time. Sniper

 

[sixtall]

Interesting, Sniper. You're telling me what I was thinking but didn't want to hear. Where did you get yours ? I see a lot advertised on Kijiji. There are a few dealers that advertise on there within an hour from me.

 

[Sniper]

It was an Ebay buy. This will be the third summer coming up for it. It has everything the full size units have. Full suspension, coilover shocks, electrics with lights etc. Just a scaled down version. However, it just isn't built as strong as the higher priced brand name quads. (This is where the "you get what you pay for" part comes in.) Looks the same, or very similar to the Honda/Yamaha type of stuff, but it isn't a Honda or Yamaha by no means. My grandkids are all girls, and much more gentle with it than any boy would be. So it's working out fine for them. It will have it's limits, don't get crazy and beat the daylights out of it, and it will likely give you your money back in fun with no real problems. Since your kids earned their own money, there's a good chance they will look after it better. I've seen Hondas and Yamahas smashed to death in the wrong hands. So paying 5 or 6 times as much, is no guarantee it will stand up to abuse, it will just take awhile longer to kill it. Sniper

 

[wrecker55]

My neighbor has a couple of em, just little stuff you need to keep a eye on, the fuel lines start leaking after a few months too