Mod Edit:  This thread is from 2011.  

Hey guys, My youngest son(5 at the end of the month) has been hinting that he wants a riding toy. His older brother has/had a John Deere tractor one for many years,but it is dead now,and not worth fixing. We had another John Deere Gator ride on for a little while that a friend gave me,but he had to take it back when his wife found out that he had gave it away instead of keeping it for his grand daughter. Can you guys reccomend a brand,or any advice as to what to avoid? His best friend has some sort of Ford F150 looking one that he says he likes,but I can't seem to find one locally,and these things aren't cheap. It seems the Peg Perego brand JD we had was poorly built,but maybe my older son was just rough on it(doubtful). Any advice is greatly appreciated. You think I could drop a 12A in one?

Buy a used Power Wheels with a dead battery and install a 12V motorcycle battery. I did that with a Hummer H2 that I gave to my niece and she loves it. I did a how-to thread here when I did, maybe 2-3 years ago?

At the age of 5, I'd say he's rather big for the powerwheels and such. Even hotrodded, which I did for my son.

What I have seen, and been pretty impressed with, are some electric dirt bikes for kids. A few friends have them for their kids (mine got stuck with gasoline). They are surprisingly zippy. Price is comparable to the powerwheels and such.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/modified-power-wheels/11298/page1/

Dear GRM- quit finding creative ways for me to kill my as yet unborn child on a budget. His mother will be angry.

Power Wheels used to have a metal frame under a plastic body, but I think that cost-cutting has made them all-plastic and not as strong as they used to be. Based on the kids in my neighborhood, I'd recommend an electric Razor Scooter with a seat.

Find one in the trash. Buy the right batteries. Carve up the seat and redo for a bigger kid and have fun. Pops a lot of wheelies too.

BTW she took her last ride 1 month ago at the ripe old age of 8-1/2 and I sold it on craigslist for $20.00.

How about a pedal (kid powered) bike.

If they want to drive something with an engine, put them on the riding mower.

93gsxturbo wrote: How about a pedal (kid powered) bike. If they want to drive something with an engine, put them on the riding mower.

quoted because this is something that SHOULD be quoted :)...

it drives me nuts in this neighborhood seeing all the fatty kids riding around on their powered scooters and stuff...

sorry nothing useful for this thread

I hear you're never too young to DURIFTO!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SzDYoIKQOk

They're exxxxxxxpensive, tho. Last time I checked, about $245.

I am a bit leary of his age and a powered car. Thinking he may "outgrow" it pretty quickly. He does love cars though,and always wants to sit in my REPU or RX-7,and make noises while shifting,and pushing the pedals(not the accelerator). He actually had me install a shifter into his foot powered truck that was his brothers,and we custom painted it orange for him as well. I made a thread about it a while back.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/my-4-year-old-is-a-gearhead-already/35167/page1/

I like the idea of a gas powered unit,but he is pretty touchy with the idea of getting on the mower with me as the noise bugs his sensative ears. He actually doesn't even like the noise of the REPU,or RX-7 unless he is in the vehicle,and neither one is ear peircing(hard to believe I know). He is a small kid,but getting bigger every day,and will be bigger than my older son I think as he seems to have more of my wifes frame,and the youngest one mine.

He has a bike now with training wheels still,and does ride it a fair amount but usually only in the driveway as our hiuse is on a busy street. We do have a huge driveway though,and plenty of land to buzz around on. An electric quad may be a cool idea. Do they make those? He isn't on two wheels quite yet,so a dirt bike even electric may be out of the question right now.

I want to just buy him a REPU of his own,but he may be a little young for that just yet. Maybe I could call it a father son project to get it past the wife. He has his own creeper already.

-C

I'd have to agree that at 5, he's already past the age of getting much use from a 12V battery Hummer/F150 whatever. Or if he's not past the age, awful darn close. We have a Hummer H2 we bought years back, when my oldest son was about 3. He's now 7, and we've got twins who turn 4 next week. We've used the Hummer so much that the back wheels are literally coming apart. But when he was 5, he was pretty much bored with it. If your son really likes cars and driving, I think he'd be bored with it too.

I made the mistake of buying one of those Chinese made go carts for kids. It was really cool...but was the biggest piece of E36 M3 I've ever seen. It ran well for a few months and I never really got it to run again. Sold it cheap. After that, I bought a $300 used go cart that had a Briggs and Stratton motor on it. He couldn't quite reach the pedals, so I went to Home Depot and bought hardware (mostly brackets and bolts) to make extenders for the pedals. If you wanted, you could even mess with the throttle so that he couldn't "floor it". My son had a lot of fun with that, until he just decided he was done driving a go cart...

Yeah 5 is about outgrown for the power wheels type. My son had a Safety1st Compuware Corvette that he no longer rode after 5, he's a tall kid though and the car was never fast enough. Powerwheels are easier to mod and make faster than Safety1st, Peg Perego etc... from what I've read. That might give you another year or two depending on how fast you make it. I sold his on craigs instead of trying to mod it.

He has this now Has been riding it since around 6. Does pretty well on it and may be ready for a gas powered on soon. We're lucky we have a huge school parking lot across the street so he can go zip around.

My youngest son, who is small, but a gearhead nonetheless, used his brother's power wheels until he was 10. Use a car battery, not a bike battery. It's more better.

donalson wrote:

93gsxturbo wrote: How about a pedal (kid powered) bike. If they want to drive something with an engine, put them on the riding mower.

quoted because this is something that SHOULD be quoted :)... it drives me nuts in this neighborhood seeing all the fatty kids riding around on their powered scooters and stuff... sorry nothing useful for this thread

Not a good idea... my dad let me drive his snapper and i rolled it!!

This is an electric powered toy.

When I finally get a house, I may have to get myself one of these bad boys. An electric dual sport? Heck yes!

my cousin skipped the 12 volt electric silliness and bought a 50cc KTM motocross bike for his oldest son when he turned 5.. he got it used for not much more than a Power Wheels Jeep at Wal Mart and the kid got second in the state championship in whatever AMA sanctioned motocross league he joined in his first year.. he's now 10 (but only looks about 7 or so), and runs solidly mid pack against kids that are 3-4 years older than him on an 85cc Kawasaki.

he got his first taste of real go-karts a few weeks back..

Zombie Canoe Sunk!

In reply to Mazdax605 :

"Electric powered riding toys"

i... uhhh... thought this was going to be about adult toys...0

Ooooh a hovering canoe, that's innovative.

pinchvalve said:

Power Wheels used to have a metal frame under a plastic body, but I think that cost-cutting has made them all-plastic and not as strong as they used to be. Based on the kids in my neighborhood, I'd recommend an electric Razor Scooter with a seat.

Those Razor things are pretty fast.  Like 15 mph fast.  Helmet required. 

And consider how "switched on" the kid is before handing over something that goes as fast as a bicycle to a 5 year old.

I have four kids and my nephew lives a couple houses down, so we have a fleet of these things -- Power Wheels, Peg Perego and chineseum ride-ons and Razor scooters and motorcycles.  The kids love them, the neighbors hate them, and I'm just starting to get the modify bug.

Timely canoe. 

I want an electric go-kart for kiddo. Doesn't need to be shifter kart fast, but I wouldn't complain about being able to use it as well. 

Anything like that exist? 

Crazy Carts are a blast for kids and adults -- if you can find a suitable place to ride them.  Razor (no canoe!) also makes four wheel electric karts -- I see them on FB Marketplace but don't have personal experience with them.

Oh sheesh this thing canoes all the time, huh?
 

pheller, this is a late reply but people are taking the power wheels Dune Racer and doing very fast things with it. I think it's the most modded for the racing series. There are even tires specifically for it, lots of upgrade options. 
OTOH there's Marketplace and used gas ones, and that's what I would do after having futzed around with these plastic ones.