PW50 still the pick for kid bikes?

I bought a used pw50. Working perfect for my little one. I can't fathom a more perfect bike for a new little guy to figure things out on. They are cheap to buy and cheap to fix.

The PW is what we are going to get our soon to be 4 year old. Our reasoning may not be the same, but it could be useful.

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.

TXDirt wrote:

Do those come with training wheels?

I've got a Crf 50 for my son (6) and an Oset 12.5 for my daughter (4). They both have their strengths.

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.

My son has a used $500 PW50 and a $280 24volt Razor from Walmart.

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.

My godson is 6 and has the Razor McGrath replica electric bike and loves riding it, which he can do at the park by the house. Which is great for kids in suburbia. He's learned the throttle and hand brakes and the basics on the electric bike. The downside is he gets 40 minutes of riding before having to recharge the battery.

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.

I’ve got a 4 year old and I started him on an oset 12.5 after he just turned 3. He has a PW now and his little brother will start on the oset soon. I think had it been available I might have gone with the STAYC over the OSET just because the OSET is so expensive but the amount you can adjust both the throttle response and top speed on the OSET is really nice.

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.

PW50 all the way. considerably smaller than a CRF50. pretty much bulletproof, and if it breaks, parts are insanely cheap, and there is a plethora of aftermarket knockoff parts that are even cheaper.

PW50 for sure!! Bullet proof, cheap parts, and decent resale.

Picked one up for my 2 year old a few weeks ago

Good replies thanks everyone, love the pics of kids excited with there bikes!

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.....

thorns wrote:

Good replies thanks everyone, love the pics of kids excited with there bikes!

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.....

I didn’t do training wheels since that’s what the striders bike were for - learning how to balance. My son is far from being the next phenom on his bike but he was able to ride his oset the day I brought it home. I just had to be there when he got going and when he’d stop or fall because he wasn’t strong enough to hold the bike up.

Here’s him riding the oset at our park last year not long after we first got it. He was 3.

The Oset is rad. Completely adjustable power and throttle response. No noise and basically no maintenance. really has me actually considering an Alta haha. The oset allowed my little dude to start riding at 21 months old. had to get a shorter shock and the first couple days i had taken the footpegs off so it was like his strider. 4 months later he is shredding, standing and even putting only the correct leg out for corners. Video is from 2 months ago. need some new footage!

A few friends of mine got bikes for their kids, two are sold on the new Oset MX10 and the third one on a 50 YCF (french pit bike brand who built their own factory in China to make sure they get the quality they want, not sure if you have them in the US), all very pleased with their choices.

AngryBear wrote:

PW50 all the way. considerably smaller than a CRF50. pretty much bulletproof, and if it breaks, parts are insanely cheap, and there is a plethora of aftermarket knockoff parts that are even cheaper.

I just couldn't help but bump this post...This little guy is in "Attack Mode" and it's a beautiful thing. Props to all you fella's for getting your kid's on two wheels, that's how the world should roll. Carry on.

thorns wrote:

Good replies thanks everyone, love the pics of kids excited with there bikes!

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.....

I vote to start with no training wheels. Im on my 3rd kid riding, started the first 2 on training wheels cause it seemed like the right thing to do. But with the 2nd kid I saw some problems that they caused and decided I was gonna skip the training wheels with the last one. Glad I did as she is now ripping around on 2 wheels just fine. We never had a strider but started them on very small bicycles early. If you can ride a bicycle, you can ride a PW

Dude, I'm pumped for you. Mine is 5 1/2 and I went through the same thing as you and I did a lot of research and asking around. I thought about all the options you put up as well as the Razors and the CRF/TTR 50s. I thought about cost, how fast he would transition from one to the next due to size, what would be best for his skill progression and confidence as well as other things.

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.

I just bought my 3 year old nephew a pw50 for his birthday. I’m getting some work done to it this weekend and custom graphics addd for him. Honestly he’s a little bit scared of it. I wish I would have went with the Stay-C bike.

I'm in agreement with mostly everyone here. The PW is the perfect bike for little ones. I bought my boy one 2 years ago when he was 2. Put him on with training wheels at first. Took the training wheels off early spring this year and he's been ripping around since. I bought the bike for $450. It's a 2004 and was in pretty darn good shape. I fixed it up a little bit but probably only had $50 tops into making it look and run great. My boy has got 2 years out of riding it already and I've got a total of $500 invested into it. When he's too big I'll buy him something new and my current 4 month old will get the PW to learn on.

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.

I bought training wheels when I purchased my son’s PW but I never used them. Seemed like an invitation to disaster. When he can balance the bike unaided he’s ready IMO. Being on his Strider since he could walk helped immensely with his progression. Once he could ride his pedal bike without training wheels, I got him one of those electric Razors to start out on. A couple of afternoons on that and he was ready for the PW. He literally through a leg over and blasted away. He had just turned 4. I’m sure if I had pushed a bit, he could’ve done it all sooner but I didn’t see the need. Plenty of time to ride together in our future. All it takes is once mishap and he loses interest and then you play the waiting game anyhow.

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.

Of cheap electric, PW and CRF, my kids prefer the CRF. As they started to go "faster" at 5, they seemed more comfortable with the CRF's engine braking to help them slow down & corner.

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.

thorns wrote:

Good replies thanks everyone, love the pics of kids excited with there bikes!

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.....

Hoseclamp wrote:

I vote to start with no training wheels. Im on my 3rd kid riding, started the first 2 on training wheels cause it seemed like the right thing to do. But with the 2nd kid I saw some problems that they caused and decided I was gonna skip the training wheels with the last one. Glad I did as she is now ripping around on 2 wheels just fine. We never had a strider but started them on very small bicycles early. If you can ride a bicycle, you can ride a PW

I agree. Training wheels just confuse them in how it is all supposed to work. Buy him a high end bicycle (it's worth it) after the strider. Spend some time getting him up on that w/out the tw and then move him up to motorcycle.

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.

thorns wrote:

Good replies thanks everyone, love the pics of kids excited with there bikes!

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.....

Hoseclamp wrote:

I vote to start with no training wheels. Im on my 3rd kid riding, started the first 2 on training wheels cause it seemed like the right thing to do. But with the 2nd kid I saw some problems that they caused and decided I was gonna skip the training wheels with the last one. Glad I did as she is now ripping around on 2 wheels just fine. We never had a strider but started them on very small bicycles early. If you can ride a bicycle, you can ride a PW

kage173 wrote:

I agree. Training wheels just confuse them in how it is all supposed to work. Buy him a high end bicycle (it's worth it) after the strider. Spend some time getting him up on that w/out the tw and then move him up to motorcycle.

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.

My son had 0 issues with going from training wheels to none. The first day I took them off he was ripping around no problem at all. So I disagree with your guys' opinion 100%. The biggest obstacle with kids learning how to ride a dirt bike is brake and throttle control. It's not balance. They should have the balance to do it from learning from strider bikes then regular pedal bikes. It took my son a little bit of time to figure out the hand brake because it was totally new to him whereas the balance came easily due to the similarities between riding his bicycle and strider bike. You can let them get used to using the brake and throttle more adequately with training wheels.

Hard to argue with that smile

PW50 is the only choice for starting Mx. A good used one is $600 and will be worth $600 after all your kids have had hours of fun on it.
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.

my little guy is 7, he has been riding the PW (Pierce's first bike) for 2 years now and loves it. this year i tried to get him started on a KTM 50 and it's still too much bike for him. there's a big difference between getting the PW moving versus the KTM. that and i think the noise of the KTM bothers/scares him.

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

What kind of helmet would y'all recommend for a 3 year old? The local powersport place I've been going,
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

agn5009 wrote:

My son had 0 issues with going from training wheels to none. The first day I took them off he was ripping around no problem at all. So I disagree with your guys' opinion 100%. The biggest obstacle with kids learning how to ride a dirt bike is brake and throttle control. It's not balance. They should have the balance to do it from learning from strider bikes then regular pedal bikes. It took my son a little bit of time to figure out the hand brake because it was totally new to him whereas the balance came easily due to the similarities between riding his bicycle and strider bike. You can let them get used to using the brake and throttle more adequately with training wheels.

Fair enough. I do agree with you about braking. That was a very new concept to my son and he still doesn't love it, particularly the hand brake.


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.