Starter bike for a 6 y/o

I'm looking for advice on a good starter bike for my 6 y/o son for Christmas.  We live on a ranch with private dirt and gravel roads for him to ride on.

Is their such things as a governor on the smaller bikes until he learns some control?  What protective gear should we focus on since their seems to be tons of stuff out there?  I know helmet is required and would like to know what are some of the better brands to consider.

Thanks  

Welcome Riley

As far as bikes go...not sure about the governor, but they don't go very fast to begin with...bikes like the pw50 or the ttr50 are mellow and calm...KTM has some race-ready 50 bikes, but I don't think that's the route you really want to go.  

A helmet is a must...as long as it has two different forms of safety certification, it's fine.  a DOT rating is a legal must for all helmets in the states....Snell is generally the other safety rating system; their tests are more extensive than the DOT standards and most people look for that.  There's also ECE ratings which is a european standard, and although it's kinda new to the states, it's supposed to be as good as a Snell rating, just different testing means and standards that are to be met.  

When it comes to safety, it's the more the better....Boots are super important, as are chest protectors, knee guards, and elbow guards....chances of your little guy banging his knees and elbows are high, so I'd definitely look for those  
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"Only the desert has a fascination to ride alone in the sun in the forever unpossessed country away from man. That is a great temptation."
--D.H. Lawrence

csully

Thanks for the info.  I have been looking at the 50's but someone had told me they could reach like 50-60 mph on them, but surely they were mistaken.  I'll checkout the models you suggested.

I do remember the DOT and Snell ratings for helmets but its been awhile since I bought a helmet and I didn't know if mx helmets were rated the same.

As far as the safety gear I'm leaning toward the he can barely move from all the gear standpoint since it will be easier to learn to ride with it now then add it later.  With this kid I'm really hoping to make from Christmas to New Years without an ER trip.

Thanks again  

No problem  I'm sure he'll be super happy

Also, they make training wheels for those bikes too....so if that's something you think he might need, I think Moose Racing makes a few sets for them.

Good luck!  
.................................

"Only the desert has a fascination to ride alone in the sun in the forever unpossessed country away from man. That is a great temptation."
--D.H. Lawrence

Welcome riley. As sully says, the more the better.
My kids have it all and my grand son who is 4 now wears helmet, boots, chest protector, knee guards, goggles and riding shirt,pants and gloves. He is not allowed on his bike without his gear on. He dont mind because he thinks all that gear is cool. Makes him feel like a transformer.lol

As far as bikes go I would start with one of the 50's. The PW50 is like a auto where you dont have to shift. My grandson has the  cr50 which has 3 gears and I beleive this will last longer as he grows.
They all have a set screw on the throttle tube so you can control how fast the bike can go.
Right now we keep the cr50 in 2nd gear with about 1/3 throttle for the grandson. We can change it as he grows.  
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I love this dirt stuff.

mess a few people up by editing yur post and putting an extra 0 by the cr 50 lol  
1978 Yamaha 175 MX
Northern Ontario
Canada
31 yrs young
WHEELIES!
Yaaaayyyyyy!

there is no way way a 50 will go that fast. Go with the TTR50, it's got the e-start.  
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Lancaster, PA
2007 CRF250R
4 Stroke 4 Life!

the ttr-50 is a great bike,but the pw-50 is a lighter bike and when there little they need all the help they can get  
---------------- different toilet,same ***

spazmoso:
the ttr-50 is a great bike,but the pw-50 is a lighter bike and when there little they need all the help they can get

Agree. Ive seen kids try riding for the first time and the bike was to much to handle and they never got a a bike again. That dont mean they still wouldn't but as spaz says, they can use all the help they can get and if that means a smaller bike to start then that is they way I would go.

30 years ago I would size the bike to the kid. After seeing many kids not want to ride because its to hard I would now put a frist time rider kid on the easyest bike possable to start, just to get him to like it then move him up. If you do that then hes hooked for life.JMO  
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I love this dirt stuff.

Great info guys.  

We are looking at all the different 50 models and getting the gear together for the 6 y/o right now.


Now my problem is what do I do about the 3 y/o little brother.  Is he too small to start learning? He 35 pounds and a little dare devil on his bicycle and absolutely afraid of nothing.  We were originally going to buy him another battery powered something but I'm not too sure thats going to fly when he sees his brother's ride.  Plus sharing one will probably not work with these two. I have considered buying two identical 50s and let them both learn together but I'm not sure about the 3 y/o.  

Sounds like he'd do great on a bike.  
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Lancaster, PA
2007 CRF250R
4 Stroke 4 Life!

My grandson started at 3 years. We put training wheels on his crf50, the ajustable ones not the stright ones. We took them off this year. He is now 4 1/2. You just keep it slow at first because they will look down at the wheels alot till they get use to it.  
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I love this dirt stuff.

I got my son a pw 50 when he was 2. We got training wheels for it he is 3.5 yrs now and he is just now finally riding without having to keep looking at the wheels. a pw50 can work for both of your kiddos. My son is 42lbs and 3.5ft tall and pw50 is perfect for him. another bike is the suzuki jr50 its the exact twin of the pw50. We got a good deal on our we got it used for 300. best 300 bucks we've spent for our son.  

Have patience to because as socalimom says. They will look at the wheels for a while.lol  
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I love this dirt stuff.

My son started this summer riding at 4 he loves it but he has taken some good falls so I'm very glad he had good gear on the only thing that he don't have is pants and boots but he wears work boots and jeans. I got him a 03 PW50 for $450 great bike for the price but had some problems with it nothing expensive just frustrating and parts for it are cheap. If I had to do it over again I would buy him a CR50 or XR50. The price is a little more but what I've seen on the tracks they're a better bike. Good luck and have fun.