Next bike after PW50??

[DRMA]

My 4 year old son currently has a PW50 which he got for his 4th birthday 3 months ago. He really likes to jump and getting "air" but we are worried about the suspension on his PW for this.

We are thinking of getting him a KTM50 for his next birthday but not sure if this would be the right bike for a 5 year old??

Pics of him jumping only 3rd time out riding on it:

http://s1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee372/Rachael_Barwick/?action=view&current=CampingatBestbrook-May2011129.jpg#!oZZ1QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs1224.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee372%2FRachael_Barwick%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3DCampingatBestbrook-May2011037.jpg

http://s1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee372/Rachael_Barwick/?action=view&current=CampingatBestbrook-May2011129.jpg#!oZZ2QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs1224.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee372%2FRachael_Barwick%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3DCampingatBestbrook-May2011129.jpg

Edited May 17, 2011 by DRMA

[kawirider15]

Yes,I would say it is time to get him a bike that can handle the abuse and has good suspension.Be careful though some ktm50's are maintenece intensive.I looked at your pics,and man is he flying on that PW or what.

[daniel96]

Ktm 50sx ?

[crf450319]

Be careful though some ktm50's are maintenece intensive.

My 5 year old switched from a PW that he rode last year to a KTM SX Jr (last produced in '09, the Jr is gone now). He's got 8 hours on it so far and we haven't had any real maint. issues with it to date. Not that we won't have any, because we're still just getting going for this season but so far it's been good.

The only issue we had (during the first 3 hours) was that he'd only twist the throttle half way when he was riding, what that does is it half engages the centrifugal clutch - creating a lot of heat and the bike starts to spit coolant out. If a child rides the KTM the same way throttle wise as they can on a PW, it will more than likely overheat.

That being said, I think we're passed that now. My guy has learned to use the throttle properly in order not to overheat the bike.

The older generation KTM 50's (08 and older) are from what I've read, a lot more maintenance per hour of seat time. They have a different clutch set up that requires a lot more attention than the newer ones.

I've heard good things about Cobra's as well, but heard that they have overheating issues with new (to the style) riders.

[RebelRider724]

I've heard good things about Cobra's as well, but heard that they have overheating issues with new (to the style) riders.

and are by far the most annoying sounding bikes ever

[tribalbc]

My son had to go from the electric starter bike to a 2000 KTM50 Pro Sr, and skip the PW50 stage, because of his love for jumping. I like the fact that the pre 2001 ones are air cooled and don't have the overheating problem. The clutches are very adjustable as well. Put mini adventure springs in to start. Smooth PW type engagement but with lots of power to boot.

Biggest issue is seat height, my son is just tippy toe, so it's the track only right now, no woods.

[Irishcrfrider]

There's a junior and senior version of this bike I think?

My wee brother started on a ktm 50 senior, unknown to my dad

The wee thing was absolutely lethal and wasn't forgiving. Plenty of times it bucked him off and took him a long time to regain the confidence to ride it again.

If you want maybe go for the junior version?

[bronc3wife]

I would say the type of bike may greatly depend on the type of riding your weeman will be doing. Trail riding? MX tracks? ?

We have two kids here and both started on the PW50 and upgraded to CRF50 at around age 5. (so yes we have two hondas in garage.) We use the hondas for play riding. Great low maintenance bikes. Our son has a LEM50 for racing and our daughter races her honda. The KTM's and LEM's are more maintenance and you could have clutch heat issues until you get the clutch set correctly for the rider.

All kids are different and all kids want to do what they want with the bike.

Good luck and have fun.