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thorns
8/16/2018 4:24pm
8/16/2018 4:24pm
Edited Date/Time
8/17/2018 2:32pm
So I'm at the exciting time where my nearly 3 year old son is loving motorbikes. Pretty much lives on his balance bike and pretty solid at riding that, so naturally with Christmas coming up, I'm starting to think about getting a bike with a twisty throttle.
Is the PW50 still the pick of the bunch, or are the likes of the electric OSET, or even a STAYC bike a better first option?
I know obviously with the PW50 you can pretty much buy one, run it for a few years and not lose money, but the electric bikes have my attention a bit as you can ride them in a lot more places without pissing neighbours etc off, and even the STAYC you could ride it round the footpaths.
Anyone else been down this road recently with all the options available these days?
Is the PW50 still the pick of the bunch, or are the likes of the electric OSET, or even a STAYC bike a better first option?
I know obviously with the PW50 you can pretty much buy one, run it for a few years and not lose money, but the electric bikes have my attention a bit as you can ride them in a lot more places without pissing neighbours etc off, and even the STAYC you could ride it round the footpaths.
Anyone else been down this road recently with all the options available these days?
Here are a few things that sold us on the PW;
It can be ran for hours at a time. No battery changes/charging. We are at a point we need to get multiple extra batteries for her powerwheel. We do not have a generator, so going out for a day or a weekend wouldn't work.
We have kids around here that ride the Honda 50's and PWs with mom walking around or whoever all the time. No one seems to mind. They are not too loud either.
My daughter would like black and pink plastic...and it's an option. Any color combo is, graphics as well. There are a lot of aftermarket goods for them also. I do not know if that is the same for the Ebikes, but I do know we will have fun making the PW "hers".
We put a lot of thought into this for a while now and even though we are picking the PW, none of them seem like a bad choice. At least that I am aware of. Just my 2cents.
The Shop
I like the Oset for its weight, throttle adjustability, no hot engine parts, and ability to ride in my suburban neighborhood during the week. I call it stealth dirt biking cause it looks like we're just riding bikes but the kids are getting in extra ride time outside of the weekend trips.
Plus kids can start, pick it up when they drop it, and ride in really compact areas. Battery lasts forever when kids are just cruising around too.
The reasons I like the CRF are applicable to the PW50. Son loves the speed and engine noise, it's a real dirt bike, can ride longer at riding areas etc...just can't ride it in my neighborhood or small backyard like the Oset during the week.
Buy the PW used. Top end kits are cheap on eBay for it. Get the electric bike for those other areas.
The cheap razor is very light and the footpegs stay folded up until the kid is ready to balance on the pegs. The thing still does about 14mph and has been low maintenance.
Then when he was at San Diego SX he saw the KTM juniors they made noise and are real "orange race bikes". He knows I have a "blue race bike" PW in my garage waiting for desert season. So he asks about it all the time.
My opinion is the PW50 is the perfect beginner bike, it has a ton of safety features like the shaft drive, mag wheels, rubber pegs, and a throttle screw. And they are bullet proof.
When I first brought the PW home for him he was scared of how loud it was. We don’t think of them being loud but to him being use to his electric bike, he was not use to that. He’s been around my bikes plenty but it still took him by surprise. Just something to consider and possibly prepare for when he does get his first gas bike.
Picked one up for my 2 year old a few weeks ago
Is it worth getting training wheels if they are good on a balance bike, or better just to start with out them?
PW definitely seems the pick from a true motorbike sense, just hard to look past an electric one also for a start, especially when there are little BMX tracks nearby in our neighbourhood.
Maybe he needs both.....
Here’s him riding the oset at our park last year not long after we first got it. He was 3.
We ended up going Strider (2 - 4 yrs) > Specialized Hot Rock (4- current) > PW 50 (4.5 - current). He's never used training wheels. He went straight from Strider to pedal bike and then within 4 months of that up to the P dub and, like I said, rode it first time with no training wheels and hasn't looked back. I credit the Strider and the Hotrock with that.
My final decision came from looking at the price (and the fact that a used one was same as new), looking at all the pros whos kids were on PW not CRFs, and looking at the local races (where all the kids were racing PW not TTR or CRF or Stacyc or Oset {obviously not the last 2}.
Biggest bang for your buck is PW. I've seen Stacyc's at the track. They are a cool toy, but I didn't see what you get from it that you won't get from a Strider. I guess you can argue throttle control, but honestly that was like a 7-8 month window that it would have filled, that the P-dub couldn't have fit because maybe too intimidating. If you have the money, go for it, but it's not needed in my mind.
It's worked out for us. I'm getting him a Razor 350 next so he can ride around our neighborhood (HOA) without any issues. But he doesn't really need it. The P-dub is best.
Pit Row
Point is, you can get lots of good, solid years out of a PW for pretty darn cheap. The best part? In 4 or 5 years the bike will still probably sell for $400+ easily.
Also, I replaced the razor with a STACYC for booting around the yard and subdivision in short order. The razor has real tall bars, an ususable brake and just overall low chi-com quality. Many many hours on the STACYC. Well worth the 800 bux.
Now they are 6 and I got a Cobra for them to transition to and they just don't like it. They ride it, but prefer the 4 stroke power curve over the high rev 2 stroke. I'm trading it this weekend for another CRF + cash and doing to put suspension and motor kits on the CRF's tuned for a 6yr old instead of an adult. I figure every kid is different and if it's not fun than I'm not going to make them do it so we'll revisit the Cobra/KTM 50 next year.
As far as electric for bmx tracks/pump tracks. I've been going back and forth. I mean, what is he going to get that he can't get off of just using the bicycle? There is a lot to be said for the bicycle and it actually is more complex because weight is constantly shifting from one side to the other.
Some of my best memories in all my years of riding. This.... chasing him around on that PW 50.
Your best bet for riding young is strider bike>stacyc>pw50
My younger daughter had 4 months on a Stacyc before I let her ride a PW50 and the difference in learning curve has been huge.
The PW50 class is the best class for a safe environment to get into racing. You can’t beat it.
at first i was getting frustrated because i insisted he ride the bigger bike, but now i'm chalking it up to "he's a 7 year old" and if he's not comfortable then we'll wait until he is.
cool thread bros
recommends the LS2.
https://ls2helmets.us/mini-mx/fast-mini
That's what I've ordered, but I want to make sure my little nephew has the best.
Thanks
On his bicycle he loves the pedal braking and skids for miles, so I've been thinking about converting the P-dub to a pedal brake. Would love to hear if anyone has any experience or reviews on that.
How do you like those Mika bars? A buddy has the PWOnly setup with a whole different throttle and braking system. That got me looking into it and he also mentioned the Mika setup, which is a little less $. How much more effective is it than stock?
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