Help me help myself... Childs bike purchase suggestions.

When we were starting out, I looked at the pros. Without exception they had their kids on PW50. 

There is a reason it's been around forever. It is the best design for teaching kids to ride. And, if he wants to race there is always a class for it from local all the way to national. 

Best purchase and it's under $2k

While I agree it is a great bike, pw50 is essentially the same size/performance level as the JR50.

TTR/CRF would be a good next step, as would the KTM, but only if the kid is more interested in track time than just ride time.

We went from PW's to ktm 50's to 110's.  My kids did not gel with the race bikes at all for the riding that we do. 

If I were to do it again I'd go with the KTM ebike after the PW/JR phase.  The KTM ebike has adjustable heights and power settings so they can grow into it.  

If trail riding and he is 4 foot tall then get him a CRF110 they are about perfect for everything.

dtl210 nailed it - KTM/Husky ebike. Highly adjustable and will grow with him. And he can ride it almost anywhere w/o pissing off the Karens of the world. Real brakes and suspension, reasonable weight. All the small 4 strokes are heavy pigs with crap suspension.

Based on the video, he has good bike handling skills and does not appear to be uncomfortable making it go where he wants. TT-R110 or CR-F110 all day long. He's big enough. 

Austrian E-bike for sure. Both my kids have them and are different sizes and skill levels. You can adjust power from 1-6 and the range is very noticeable. I think level 1 is only about 5MPH. They have different height and handlebar adjustments so they can grow into it. We haven’t had any issues with either one other than waiting for them to charge. 

We just went from a PW50 (same size as that JR) to a CRF50 with great results. My 6 year old rides it for hours every day!

I may be splitting hairs but I've found that JR 50s have a crap clutch design and P dubs are a more comfortable and predictable ride for kids. 

The CRF and TTR 50s are fine (my son has a CRF for a  pitbike) but like I said, you look at what all the pros have their kids on and at 95% of the kids who stick with the sport and they go Pdub. Plus if racing is in the cards, then that's what everyone else will be on.

I wouldn't really get the progression from JR/Pdub to TTR/CRF. If he's really progressed or grown beyond PDub, which it doesnt look to me that he has, then it's time for KTM or Cobra .

Clean used KTM/Husky 50...you can find some of the older ones that're still in good shape for a bargain.

Good luck!

I went from Pdub to KTM mini 50 and it worked pretty well.  He just outgrew it super fast unfortunately. Neither of my boys have gotten super deep into the track stuff so I went to a Honda 110 after that and hes loving it. Now my youngest is outgrowing the PW so I will be in a similar spot to figure out what to go to next.  I do like the idea of the KTM electrics but they are a ton of money and we just aren't riding a ton so I don't really want to spend that much on something we are riding only occasionally.  

Agreed- We found a 2019 KTM50 end of last season for $2100. Upgraded from a 2004 KTM50.

My sons rides the crap out of it- zero issues whatsoever..The clutch easily adjustable..He loves the bike. 

You'll have to find a used one if you are ok with it, but.....  I started my son at 4 on a JR.  it was great, and he learned all the basics.  Back in the day, KTM had an Adventure line of pee wee bikes that were incredible.   A Mini, a Jr, and a Sr Adventure.  Basically they were physically the same size as modern race 50's respectfully, but with tame engines.  I think the bikes were Morini powered if I'm remembering correctly....  Anyway, we jumped on the Mini after the JR 50, and it was fantastic.  Raced a full season locally, never a headache to work on, built a ton of confidence.  Next season, bought the full size model as he was growing like a weed, and eventually added a pipe and larger carb, we raced (and beat), a slew of local kids on their Cobras, and higher end race 50's.  Those little bikes, looked, rode, and with some cheap mods, could perform well with kids on much pricier bikes loaded with stuff on them most little kids were scared of.  I think they were sold from 03 to 08, and if you could find one, parts were used for ages on them, so building one for cheap should be fairly easy.  Besides, It could be a cool winter project for you with his help learning to spin a wrench.  Good luck, mine is fixing to turn 25 who rode them as a lil guy, it goes by too fast......

At 48”, he is ready for a KTM 50sx. Too small for a 110. A 110 is more of a 65 alternative. Not that he couldn’t ride a 110, but they are very heavy and wider in comparison. They are a little undersized for a 50sx till about 50”. You can always lower a SX too for a year. Once they start hitting 52”, then it’s time to think 65. 
Just my 2cents. I’m sure there are plenty of kids that ride the hell out of the bikes at smaller heights, but those kids are outliers 

Put him on a ktm e5. Enough said.

My son has ridden  a strider and a stacyc 16 and it’s been perfect for him. I just recently bought him a cobra fwe as he’s ready to take that next step. Also, as the Dad and mechanic the 50 gas bike is a huge jump up maintenance wise. The e 50 bike takes such little maintenance and has many different speeds for him to get used to.

Edit: he started on the e5 in March. He was born august of 16.

110 is way shorter than a 65.  I don't agree with them being heavy either.  I've got friends whose kids never rode before.  Got them some 110s and off they went and they were even smaller.  They are great midsize bike.

We went from Jr50 to TC 50 was and easy step to take.

Get him some boots first and foremost. Don’t skimp on quality boots and helmet even though he unfortunately will probably out grow the boots before he wears them out. Skip the neck brace and splurge on the helmet. 
 

DISCLAIMER!!!! Unpopular opinion incoming🤣

Don’t go the E-Bike or ktm/cobra 50 route. E-Bikes can barely go 40 minutes on a charge and the regular 50s are high maintenance, temperamental, expensive and they teach bad riding habits. Keep him on a bike he has the ability to shift so that’s one thing less thing he has has to adapt to when he graduates to a 65cc. 
 

I would go to a 110 after the JR50 then to a 65cc. 
 

Sounds crazy but as a coach all these kids that come train with me all have the same bad habit from riding 50s. Then they carry that habit over to the 65cc and so on. 

Lot of you guys are overlooking that he wants to stay under $2k.  You aren't going to find much in the way of a race 50 for under that unless it has lots of problems.  You can find a 110 that will pretty much be bulletproof still.

A 110 will last a little guy a very long time. $2k is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to riding 50s🤣

We have a crf110 my little guy can’t pic it up if he drops it it goes and goes and goes but not real god for little kids way to heavy. We have a crf50 too and it’s to slow. We lowered the forks as much as we could on the TC50 and it was light and good to go just need to get used to having to rev it to make it go.

tomorrow we pick up his first 65 I’m excited more than he is 🤣

I miss my PW50. 
It felt so fast when I was little. It was 90’s model, white plastic, purple seat, no graphics. 
The Yamahas at Wash reminded me greatly of it. 

Just some info:

went through all of the fast 50s. My daughter rides a ktm e50. She can get almost a hour and a half ride time on a charge, but she’s pretty slow and rides in mode 4. My son, who is on a 65 now and weighs about 65-70 pounds gets 15-17 min riding the e50 fast on mode 6. My boy rides it a few times a week in my yard on mode 4, and it last a long time on the lower mode. The nice thing is I haven’t done anything to it in almost a year. I think I’ve only washed it maybe 5-6 times. It has way more torque than the fast gas 50s, but doesn’t have the top speed to compete. 

A race 50 should fit well.  They are all high maintenance, but fwiw our Tyson built Cobra FWE has been great with no failures of any kind.  It appears to handle amazingly well and the suspension looks to work great.  A good used one will be $3-4.5k.  They have. Jr model which is a bit smaller and more mellow, a king cobra which is a full size race 50, and a FWE which is the factory edition.  You can also get blueprinted FWEs where someone has put it together with particular care and greater precision (Tyson built). 

Any race 50 is a game-on hard charging race machine.  There is no slow gear.  It's a single speed that's pretty fast combined with a high stall auto-clutch and a shockingly fast motor.  Killer on the track but not great for much else.  

For yard and trail riding my little guy uses an Oset 20 with a big Lithium battery.  Works great.  

For not so serious riding, I'm looking for Torrot Motocross Two for our six year old to replace his Oset 16.0. Seems decent.

Torrot and Stark were somehow related? 

Don't know how is availability in States. 

That’s a damn clean little rig and it seems to me that you got a great bike for the money,

Stoked for you and your boy. 👍🏼