Off Road Go-Karts For Kids, Recommendations Needed

[MBtech]

Any of you guys have any experience/advice on youth size off road go-karts?

I'm looking for something in the 125-200cc range and $1500 or under price range.

My daughter has been begging for one and her birthday is in November, now I'm getting "all I want for my birthday AND Christmas combined is a go-kart"

So I've been looking around at a few possibilities.

http://www.familygokarts.com/shop/gokarts-off-road-buggies-46

http://www.saferwholesale.com/category-s/32.htm?gclid=CP2KlJySxcYCFQ-raQodOfQFCg

http://www.powersportsmax.com/index.php/cPath/40

I'm looking at 2 seaters with a roll cage and good seatbelt/safety features. I'm aware that some of these you find say at hardware stores etc. are complete cheap junk. With my 12 yr old girl and 10 yr old son I'm sure they will put one to the test.

So if any of you have had experience with any any of these any input would be great. I'm checking into this well ahead of time because it's a chunk of change for me to come up with and I still have a few months to do so.

Thanks in advance

[JPB]

Look for an old Honda Odyssey (not the minivan!).

[26 Inf]

Not the same thing, but we raced go karts for several years.

Before I pulled the trigger and took my kids and grandkids racing I did my due diligence. Most go-kart fatalities I found were - run under parked vehicle, run into traffic and hit, struck tree or other object, overturn (in just about that order IIRC). In the years we raced there was one racing fatality nationwide, a young girl hit a trailer that was on track during caution - she apparently didn't see either the caution or the trailer - sounded like a mess for the track, and of course, her and her family.

We raced dirt oval karts, they didn't have bars or belts, 3 of my 4 racers were upside down at some point, none with injury because I spent the money on good neck protection - Valhalla 360 with the youngest and Leatt as they got older. The kids also had to wear sternum and rib protection.

I think with belts and bars you want to make sure the kids are at least wearing a Snell or CFI rated (vs. DOT rated) helmet - they are rated for multiple impacts against roll bars. I'd also make them wear neck pro, but that's me.

As for what buggy to get, haven't a clue. :)

[buckshot1220]

It has been a very long time since buying a go kart crossed my radar, but if I were you I'd look for something with a well known engine (Briggs and Stratton, Kawasaki, Honda etc.). If the mfg was willing to spend decent coin on the powerplant, they probably didn't cheap out on the rest of the thing.

That being said, go karts can be dangerous, roll cage or not. DRILL it into your kids that if anything goes wrong keep your arms/legs tucked in.

[Honu]

I had a honda odyssey growing up what a blast :) learned about wrist straps as you can try to keep your parts in when rolling but its really hard on fast rolls and crushed my hand :)
agree on high quality helmet proper restraint and protection even kidney belts etc... I wore mostly my MX gear along with wrist restraints and neck helmet stuff was not really out when I was doing it but could see it being good :)

considering something like 7 or 11 kids die daily from texting and driving now ? anything is dangerous I say get them out there and having fun and learn to be wild on these things so when on the street they dont need to be wild its what I did and IMHO works cause they learn the difference and can get there wild side out safely :)


also my dad raced cars I raced MX big time so driving off road stuff IMHO really helped me out a ton in later driving and something I want to do for my kids

[MBtech]

Difinitely taking all safety factors into consideration. Some good recommendations there, thanks.

Agree 100% on a good well known engine for the powerplant as a quality indicator.

[JBecker 72]

Look for an old Honda Odyssey (not the minivan!).

The original Pilot and Odyssey are bad ass. A kid down the street from me had both when we were growing up. I loved driving those things around.