I have only ridden on road. Live in WV. Time to venture off asphalt. Also son is going to be 13 in two weeks, want to buy him a bike. Looked for used for past three months, everything I have seen has been beaten on. So looking at new. He had a cheap Chinese 50cc bike that would hardly ever start, as a first bike a few years back. He sat on KLX 140L, good fit. CRF 150F - too tall for him. Thinking of KLX 140L CRF125 TT125 Leaning towards kawa, as it seems too have a little more motor. I am new to dirt, so welcome any comments. Key feature would be able to take abuse of new rider, and not getting bored with it. I bought myself a 2008 KTM 450, so we can start exploring together. Thanks in advance for any comments.
The KLX 140 is a pooch. The Honda 150f is king of the play bikes for good reason. He'd get more years out of the Honda. I raised three boys from 50cc thru open class motocross. If he can scootch his ass to one side to get a foot down, he'll be fine. Let him learn at his own pace. He will fall, but they pick up the stops pretty fast after they tip over a few times. Get bark busters!
Take any lessons along with MX school trainer. Very important to learn the correct position on the bike. Than retrained will be very difficult. This will help prevent stupid injuries. Support Villopoto purchase KLX140
Fitting on a dirt bike isn't the same as a street bike, hardly anyone can flat foot both feet on a modern dirt bike. The 150 play bike isn't really big, it's in the supermini category. It is on the Ballsey side in a super mild class. I'd think he'd take much longer to grow out of it, and if he can plant one foot solid it's not too big. If he can get toes on both sides down, that's about where most full sized adults are on normal dirt bikes. How big is he? Athletic kid?
My son is the same age as yours. He's been racing MX since 5 and currently rides a YZ85. In general at that age I would buy something he can grow into unless he's already had his growth spurt. It's a great age to begin riding dirt bikes. I would lean to the MX bikes for youths.
I'm not a real fan of the honda 150f. I have seen beginners struggle on them because they are heavy. Those first couple rides can make or break the entire experience. Buy or borrow a bike he will be comfortable on right away. The good thing about used beginner bikes is they don't depreciate. If you buy the smaller bike you can sell it without losing money and buy him something bigger. Scratch that, didn't notice you were buying new. If buying new, buy him a crf150r. Easy to ride and high performance.
Assuming you are talking about the large wheel versions (16" rear, 19" front) I would get which ever one is the least expensive and plan on moving him up to full size wheels (like the 230cc models) as soon as he's ready. If they're all priced similarly, and you have access to good dealers for all the brands, I'd get the Kawasaki for the larger engine.
I owned and raced the Kawi 140 in mini sumoto. It is a crappy bike all around. The air cooled CRF150 would pull it by about five lengths on a short kart track straight, and they ain't fast either!
