Off-brand for the kids?

[Dahitman44]

I have seen some pretty cheap wheelers out there and a buddy got two for his two boys.

They were some Asian outfit that I can't remember. I guess they came in the crate and needed a little TLC.

Cost was only $600 for a 110 4-stroke.

Is that a smart buy for the 8-year-olds?

[GotOne]

I bought a Kazuma 110 Panda 4 or 5 years ago and sold it last year to my cousin for his kids-still going strong. Can't beat the price and reverse in my mind, helped close the deal. Now, the price is even cheaper than when I bought one. You could by 3 of these for what one of the major manufacturers cost and they do not have reverse.

[Roofer]

Most of the off brands have no suspension. A friend of mine's kid had his toes cut off from the chain on one of those. Never for any of my kids. Just my opinion.

[Ryan_V]

the polaris 90cc kids model is a chain drive also, what were they doing to get their feet in there???. I was looking at an off brand for my 6 year old as well. I can get a new 110cc with the throttle limiter and remote kill switch for $700, brand new, ready to ride. My neighbor has an older polairs 90cc that's in very rough shape and he wants over $800 for it, for the few years that a child will get to use it, I'm going with the off brand, no contest. That being said, my child will NEVER ride it without me on my wheeler right next to them and the throttle will be VERY limited. the only place we will ride it is in my nice flat alfalpha fields!!

I am interested to hear how others that have bought them like(ed) them!!!

[Scott K]

I know a little about these. First off children under 12 arent supose to ride anything larger then a 90cc. Now I know a lot of kids under 12 wont fit on a 90cc, but if they ride it on other then private land, it will be ilegal.

I use to sell these off brand 4 wheelers. Some are built better then others. I have stopped selling them a few years ago and I know of a quite afew that are still around with no problems what so ever. I personally bought 3 of them for my kids, they ride them alot and one of my kids rides it hard. I have had zero problems with the ones I have as well.

My overall view of them is, they do go cheap on some things, some of their safety features arent really up to our codes. But over all they are alot cheaper then the name brands, if money was no object I would buy the best name brand out there. But for me, money doesnt flow freely. I would compare it like this, you can go out and buy a Snap ratchet for $150, or one from Walmart for $5, they will both work, just one is of better quality!

[Roofer]

The kids were being kids....(not smart kids). Anyways, I'm sure someone could point out problem areas and even safety issues, but it will not matter when someone is only looking at price.

[coonchaser]

i just figure go with the name brand, the resale's awesome so it all works out in the end, my kid has a xr 50 honda now and that thing don't miss a beat, so i'll prolly go with the honda 90 four wheeler

[pj4]

please be carefull with the "off brands". some of these are copies made in china. they buy several usa made atvs, bring to china and copy them, then sell to us under diff. name.we spend big bucks for usa company to design , research the units and test them. only for a country who does not respect anti-copy laws to under cut local buisnesses. (just my two cents worth)

[SnoManX]

I agree with you PJ!

[Big Dave2]

I bought my son a chinese unit about 3 years ago. It has a very nice suspension. It actually had better safety features than the name brand units. It has a remote controlled kill/start feature and there is no way you could get anything caught in the chain under reasonable riding conditions.

It has ran flawlessly for the past 3 years and was about 1/4th the cost of a name brand. In my opinion it was a very good value and since I bought it so cheap, re-sale will still be just fine on this unit when we upgrade. Just my 2 cents.

[Rippinlip]

I just bought my daugher an off brand 110 cc wheeler and the suspension works well, little stiff. Motor runs good and the way I look at it for the price if she gets 3-4 years out of it I could probably almost give it away and be money ahead.

Love the remote kill switch it has, gives me some control over her riding skills.

In fact my 18 year old daughter rode it around a little bit and it handled well for her also.

Safety features seem to be up to the Name brand styles as far as I could tell for 1/4 to 1/3 of the price.

When she gets older she will step into a Polaris like Mom and Dad, until then she loves her new ride.

Just be happy with the decision whatever it is that you make.

[fishinphilth]

Which off brand are the ones you are talking about. I have been looking for a while and debating which one to get. So any info would be great