what comes after a CRF50?

[HajiWasAPunk]

A friend of mine's 6 year old is out growing that bike. What do ppl normally move on to? He races MX tracks with it so that's what he's looking to go to next. Honda doesn't really have anything right? I mean no CR65 (probably too big anyway), and the CRF70 or 80 isn't really setup for MX.

He's been looking at the KTM 50?

 

[Jasle]

Well I'm jaded so I'd reccomend a Cobra or Polini 50cc racer if they want to race MX. Both are very good auto class racers. Cobra has the winning heritage winning 24 of 25 AMA titles over the last decade and Polini's reentry to the US has been with a bang winning Branson this year. I'd highly suggest you have your friend check out www.ktmtalk.com in the mini's section to find out the huge number of problems those guys are having. Then check out www.cobratalk.com and www.poliniusa.com/forums to see the small problems they are having. Since my shops focus is bikes 85cc and below I end up with a lot of 50's. Most of my labor dollars are generated working on KTM's. So I cannot say I don't like them. In fact I love them. But my son rides a Cobra and before we were the Cobra dealer my other Son rode on too.

 

[OldTimer]

He's been looking at the KTM 50?

There ya go ^. Either that or a Cobra, otherwise it's off to the 65's.
My 6yr old is in the same boat so I've been checking around. My 8yr old already has an RM65 so I know where we stand there. My 6yr old is fairly tall and can't hold the 65 up. It's setup however, at full height and can be lowered quite easily using longer link arms. The disadvantage of lowering is that the bike handles poorly all jacked down "California style" in the back.
I, on the otherhand, have the disadvantage of throwing the trail mix. A guy really needs to be able to hold his bike up and start it on his own when riding trails. Enter the TTR 90, perfect for woods riding, invaluable electric start, but crippled on the MX track. I haven't found anything for young riders that does both considering the young'uns have specialized needs in either case.
So, don't consider the trail bikes (CRFs & TTRs and such) for MX'ing and vise versa. Also keep in mind that six months from now he'll double in size (seems like). If I had lotsa money, I'd go with the short term (KTM50), but on my budget the 65 would get more mileage.
Oh, BTW, when my 8yr old made the transisition from the CRF50 to the RM65, it was like night and day the difference in the way he rode. Like the CRF50 had been holding him back. He started clearing jumps and such that he hadn't even considered trying before. There's a lot of difference between 6 & 8 though.

 

[HajiWasAPunk]

Another guy who's a mechanic has also discourage him from the KTM (insert your Kill The Mechanic joke here). I've never even heard of Cobra or Pollini, but will check them out.

And yeah, the 65 seemed a bit much for a 6 year old? A clutch and all that power..?

 

[FruDaddy]

Someone recently told me that AMA doesn't include Polini in their approved 50cc bikes list. This person went with a Macbor 50 and is very happy with it.

 

[williamson425]

Cobra Rocks ! :nener:

http://dirtrider.net/blogs/williamson425

 

[dante]

I wonder why they banned the Polini's... I've seen them out at Bert's Mega Mall is Arcadia Ca a couple years ago... They are the sickest looking little things... I kinda wish they made a full size 125 or something... They look like a bike for a miniture expert... so tiny

 

[FruDaddy]

If it helps, the approved 05 models are listed here:
http://www.amadirectlink.com/rulebooks/supps/2005/51APROVD.pdf

And other years can be found in the links on this page:
http://www.amadirectlink.com/rulebooks/

 

[HajiWasAPunk]

Cobra Rocks ! :nener:

http://dirtrider.net/blogs/williamson425

Man your blog is awesome!

I have a bunch of family that live in the Owasso area too. Looks like your boy is tearing it up pretty good too! I've never seen arena cross for kids, is that something put on by a local group or something?

 

[williamson425]

Thanks, we are having fun making it. Yes our local track owner promotes several arenacross series every winter that run pretty much all classes. This is the first year ive let him do it. He sais its fun but he likes outdoor tracks better.