My grandson, at age 3, wandered over to the next door neighbor's, climbed onto a loader/backhoe, fired it up, and was moving the boom back and forth when my daughter, awakened by the diesel clatter at 5:30 am, found him.
I hope he doesn't lay hands on an RZR200 much before he's twelve.
How did they make an 180cc FI engine that slow? The app is interesting were I the target demo for this thing, alas I live in the land of small lots and high HOA fees.
At John's age, my childhood friend and I were tearing across my dad's farm on trail-oriented dirt bikes, about 100cc. They were probably capable of 40-50mph depending on sprocket size, and adjusted for today's inflation they'd cost about $3k brand new. The bike that replaced my trail bike was a 2 stroke 80cc motocross racer, and that really felt like a serious machine after the 4 stroke play bike. I was built fairly small for my age, probably less than 120 lbs, and the combination of a short wheelbase, even shorter powerband, and my size really made for an exciting ride. I still enjoy dirt bikes, but it has become a lonely hobby as most everyone who used to ride has moved on to high-dollar side by sides. I'm sure they're probably a lot of fun, but they certainly don't require the same level of craft that it takes to really hustle a bike off-road..
This was my thought as well. I bet John could really tear it up on an XR80 and have a lot more fun (also risk getting a lot more hurt I suppose). All for notably less money.
My three year old has really been recalcitrant about learning his little pedal bike, he knows pretty well the concept of how to use the pedals but prefers to push along with his feet. Yesterday I showed him a picture of a new Yamaha PW50 and told him if he learns to pedal and balance his bicycle that dad can get him one of those for Christmas. Wouldn't you know, pedaling along immediately lol
"White-tarsh proposition" Really.... $6,799... Going to take a lot of stimulus checks to add up to that. :-)
Anyway, let me propose an observation. I have been hanging around the condo here in Northern VA because Helen has had the flu (not the China Virus). While out on the balcony enjoying a smoke I have observed something that I really had not noticed before. There has been a steady stream of young people (18-30) driving up to the front of the condo in a wide varity of vehicles from last leg 20 year old Camarys to new Hundi's delivering Amazon pacakages, various food from $20 hamburger shops, Express Packages, and in the rate cases pets, along with the Lift drivers using their family cars as Taxi's. I guess ths is the gig economy. But I would bet the ranch these are contractor jobs with NO benefits and NO travel reimbursement. May I propose, this can not go on, young people become middle age people before you know it and what are they going to be doing the same thing when they are 30 or 40, I do not think so. This is the seedings of revolution if I ever saw one, how can they ever get ahead and there for become invested in the community? The only reason I noticed this is Helen's long time employer's oldest girl got married a few weeks ago and the wedding and reception was at a place called Skytop Resort in the mountains of Central PA. There were any number of young people working at the resort as bellmen, caddies, waiters, and such and they were all dressed like the guest, Polo being the outfit of choice. You could really only tell the summer help from the guest by their nametags. Now I may not be to bright but I would venture a guess that these young people work at Skytop or anyplace like that will not be delivering packages with their own car when they are 20 or 30 or 40 years old. Just a thought.
Jack just because some owner of an F250 or K2500 crew cab 4X4, buys his child a ATV does not make them white-trash, if that were the case every one of my neighbors back home would fall into that classification. Ok maybe you have a point, Never mind.....
I imagine that was a half tongue-in-cheek, semi-serious attempt to reclaim the power of a pejorative term, much like other marginalized groups have done over the past decades.
On paper, these seem like exactly what I wanted when I had outgrown my XR100. I imagine I'd be pretty disappointed with the speed of one of these compared to the Blaster and ATC200 that I was riding when I was a pre-teen.
It's the same problem I have with the adult-sized stuff. Coming from a Sportsman 1000, I can't imagine that the same ~100hp in something weighing 50% more being that much fun. A 200hp X3 or RZR may be a different story.
This is the kind of thing I swear I will never buy and then somehow end up with. I said I'd never get the kids one of those ride-on Powerwheels cars but found one super cheap at a garage sale. I also swore I would never get a trampoline, but go one for free on craigslist that I was able to put back into shape with a new jump pad.
But this would definitely be a bridge too far. We don't have space to use something like that and I never buy anything I have to trailer somewhere to use. But also, given this thing's size, it would have to be exclusively used as a toy. Unless one turns up for free somewhere, I'm out.
I drove one of these around for my Eagle Scout project. Had to tow a small trailer with lumber up a trail too narrow for a Jeep or truck. It was a lot of fun, and if I lived on a farm and not in a (slightly bigger than a) McMansion, in a neighborhood that frowns upon such frivol, I probably would have bought this instead of my Miata.
FWIW, my father-in-law agrees with your assessment between Polaris and Honda. They owned a 400 some acre ranch in southern Texas, and he bought 2 Polaris SxS's, 1 for each of them. After a couple years of the Polaris, he got mad at it for some reason and went and bought whatever the top of the line Honda's. 25k he said it cost. When they sold the ranch earlier this year, the buyer wanted all of them included. They left the Polaris machines behind, but the Honda moved to Tulsa with them. Now I'm trying to find time and a plan to go play with it somewhere.
" They are meant to prepare children for a life of meritocratic competition. By contrast, this little Polaris is just pure, stupid, ignorant fun. Imagine that!"
Hm .
When my son was 12 I got him a HONDA CT90 trail and told him if he rode it always with helmet and gloves etc. and never did the usual stupid things kids do, t was his to keep and enjoy as he saw fit .
I also told him that if he got stopped or the bike impounded, kiss it goodbye as I want it to be a teaching tool as well as transportation, not needing to ride the Ghetto Bus nor beg his friends moms for rides.....
It seems to have worked out just fine .
I'm sure John will do fine with this advanced toy and will learn from it .
"The sole purpose of the RZR200 is: for kids to have fun. And that’s how you know it’s a white-trash proposition, because the so-called elites don’t spend money on letting their kids have fun. $6,799 won’t cover a season of development youth soccer in Massachusetts, much less a season of coached tennis, but those activities are not meant to be fun. They are meant to prepare children for a life of meritocratic competition. By contrast, this little Polaris is just pure, stupid, ignorant fun. Imagine that!"
reminds me of this part of George Carlin's "You Are All Diseased" routine from 1999:
For what it's worth, there are plenty of parents in flyover country, even blue collar families, that treat their children in a similar fashion to our costal elites. They just (sometimes) pay less for college.
Don't use the term "elites." Elite means superior, or at least better. Our so-called "elites" aren't inherently superior, and therefore are more accurately called aristocrats, in the warts-and-all-but-noblesse-oblige European sense of the term.
At this point, it's a fairly safe assumption that a person using the term "elite" in this context is doing so in a fairly tongue-in-cheek fashion, usually from a populist perspective. No one that I know that either (a) actually looks up to/respects/kowtows to that group of people or (b) considers themselves part of that group would use the term.
O.B.T.W. SCREW 'helicopter parenting' ~ tell them how things work and what you expect and what he can expect if he gets cute or does things you tell him not to .
This will result in a child who's way ahead of the curve than other children .
Be aware this will also likely mean he'll be way ahead of you in most things by the time he's 15 .O. .
I wonder if they cheaped out on the batteries. I use a 2016 Polaris Ace for plowing my road in winter and it fires a 900 cc engine right up at zero degrees on the original battery.
My five year old son has already informed me he wants one of these when he’s older, and the three year old will be asking soon too so I better get saving.
How long have you had the Ace? A 2016 900 is the 48" wide model that they only offered for one year, right?
I'm looking for something my grandpa can ride and keep up with the rest of the family, despite his bad knees. We ride a lot of 50" trails, so a traditional SXS isn't really ideal. An Ace seems to fit what we're looking for perfectly, but there's seemingly not many around.
Yes, 2016 was the only year for the 900SP, the narrow body with the big engine (albeit restricted and less powerful than other 900s).
I’ve had it 2+ years now, it was a leftover new model that sat awhile on the showroom. At the start of the pandemic they were blowing them out. My original plan was to plow with my truck, but I got this Ace plus a plow for it for about what I would have paid for a truck plow installed.
It’s been a great workhorse for yard projects and plowing, plus taking my sons on low speed rides since they’re still small enough to ride on a lap. It will certainly keep up on most trails; I’ve had it above 60 mph without trouble on paved roads.
All in all I’d recommend it if you can find one, they weren’t ever very popular and the fact that the more powerful 900xc came out just the next year overshadowed the sp model, but there’s a lot to like especially if you ride the narrow trails.
My grandson, at age 3, wandered over to the next door neighbor's, climbed onto a loader/backhoe, fired it up, and was moving the boom back and forth when my daughter, awakened by the diesel clatter at 5:30 am, found him.
I hope he doesn't lay hands on an RZR200 much before he's twelve.
How did they make an 180cc FI engine that slow? The app is interesting were I the target demo for this thing, alas I live in the land of small lots and high HOA fees.
At John's age, my childhood friend and I were tearing across my dad's farm on trail-oriented dirt bikes, about 100cc. They were probably capable of 40-50mph depending on sprocket size, and adjusted for today's inflation they'd cost about $3k brand new. The bike that replaced my trail bike was a 2 stroke 80cc motocross racer, and that really felt like a serious machine after the 4 stroke play bike. I was built fairly small for my age, probably less than 120 lbs, and the combination of a short wheelbase, even shorter powerband, and my size really made for an exciting ride. I still enjoy dirt bikes, but it has become a lonely hobby as most everyone who used to ride has moved on to high-dollar side by sides. I'm sure they're probably a lot of fun, but they certainly don't require the same level of craft that it takes to really hustle a bike off-road..
I had a 2 stroke 90cc Kawasaki MC1 when I was 12. It was seriously fast compared to my friends 4 stroke XR75’s and XR80’s.
This was my thought as well. I bet John could really tear it up on an XR80 and have a lot more fun (also risk getting a lot more hurt I suppose). All for notably less money.
My three year old has really been recalcitrant about learning his little pedal bike, he knows pretty well the concept of how to use the pedals but prefers to push along with his feet. Yesterday I showed him a picture of a new Yamaha PW50 and told him if he learns to pedal and balance his bicycle that dad can get him one of those for Christmas. Wouldn't you know, pedaling along immediately lol
"White-tarsh proposition" Really.... $6,799... Going to take a lot of stimulus checks to add up to that. :-)
Anyway, let me propose an observation. I have been hanging around the condo here in Northern VA because Helen has had the flu (not the China Virus). While out on the balcony enjoying a smoke I have observed something that I really had not noticed before. There has been a steady stream of young people (18-30) driving up to the front of the condo in a wide varity of vehicles from last leg 20 year old Camarys to new Hundi's delivering Amazon pacakages, various food from $20 hamburger shops, Express Packages, and in the rate cases pets, along with the Lift drivers using their family cars as Taxi's. I guess ths is the gig economy. But I would bet the ranch these are contractor jobs with NO benefits and NO travel reimbursement. May I propose, this can not go on, young people become middle age people before you know it and what are they going to be doing the same thing when they are 30 or 40, I do not think so. This is the seedings of revolution if I ever saw one, how can they ever get ahead and there for become invested in the community? The only reason I noticed this is Helen's long time employer's oldest girl got married a few weeks ago and the wedding and reception was at a place called Skytop Resort in the mountains of Central PA. There were any number of young people working at the resort as bellmen, caddies, waiters, and such and they were all dressed like the guest, Polo being the outfit of choice. You could really only tell the summer help from the guest by their nametags. Now I may not be to bright but I would venture a guess that these young people work at Skytop or anyplace like that will not be delivering packages with their own car when they are 20 or 30 or 40 years old. Just a thought.
Jack just because some owner of an F250 or K2500 crew cab 4X4, buys his child a ATV does not make them white-trash, if that were the case every one of my neighbors back home would fall into that classification. Ok maybe you have a point, Never mind.....
I imagine that was a half tongue-in-cheek, semi-serious attempt to reclaim the power of a pejorative term, much like other marginalized groups have done over the past decades.
You're fired!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A-Z5sRwgLM
On paper, these seem like exactly what I wanted when I had outgrown my XR100. I imagine I'd be pretty disappointed with the speed of one of these compared to the Blaster and ATC200 that I was riding when I was a pre-teen.
It's the same problem I have with the adult-sized stuff. Coming from a Sportsman 1000, I can't imagine that the same ~100hp in something weighing 50% more being that much fun. A 200hp X3 or RZR may be a different story.
the Billy Joel reference is one hell of a fine kicker.
This is the kind of thing I swear I will never buy and then somehow end up with. I said I'd never get the kids one of those ride-on Powerwheels cars but found one super cheap at a garage sale. I also swore I would never get a trampoline, but go one for free on craigslist that I was able to put back into shape with a new jump pad.
But this would definitely be a bridge too far. We don't have space to use something like that and I never buy anything I have to trailer somewhere to use. But also, given this thing's size, it would have to be exclusively used as a toy. Unless one turns up for free somewhere, I'm out.
Those side by sides are way cool but I feel like a medium crappy used jeep or truck would be more fun and the same money
I drove one of these around for my Eagle Scout project. Had to tow a small trailer with lumber up a trail too narrow for a Jeep or truck. It was a lot of fun, and if I lived on a farm and not in a (slightly bigger than a) McMansion, in a neighborhood that frowns upon such frivol, I probably would have bought this instead of my Miata.
FWIW, my father-in-law agrees with your assessment between Polaris and Honda. They owned a 400 some acre ranch in southern Texas, and he bought 2 Polaris SxS's, 1 for each of them. After a couple years of the Polaris, he got mad at it for some reason and went and bought whatever the top of the line Honda's. 25k he said it cost. When they sold the ranch earlier this year, the buyer wanted all of them included. They left the Polaris machines behind, but the Honda moved to Tulsa with them. Now I'm trying to find time and a plan to go play with it somewhere.
" They are meant to prepare children for a life of meritocratic competition. By contrast, this little Polaris is just pure, stupid, ignorant fun. Imagine that!"
Hm .
When my son was 12 I got him a HONDA CT90 trail and told him if he rode it always with helmet and gloves etc. and never did the usual stupid things kids do, t was his to keep and enjoy as he saw fit .
I also told him that if he got stopped or the bike impounded, kiss it goodbye as I want it to be a teaching tool as well as transportation, not needing to ride the Ghetto Bus nor beg his friends moms for rides.....
It seems to have worked out just fine .
I'm sure John will do fine with this advanced toy and will learn from it .
-Nate
This paragraph
"The sole purpose of the RZR200 is: for kids to have fun. And that’s how you know it’s a white-trash proposition, because the so-called elites don’t spend money on letting their kids have fun. $6,799 won’t cover a season of development youth soccer in Massachusetts, much less a season of coached tennis, but those activities are not meant to be fun. They are meant to prepare children for a life of meritocratic competition. By contrast, this little Polaris is just pure, stupid, ignorant fun. Imagine that!"
reminds me of this part of George Carlin's "You Are All Diseased" routine from 1999:
https://youtu.be/r4D_bsqoogQ?t=317
And the Dosadi Experiment.
For what it's worth, there are plenty of parents in flyover country, even blue collar families, that treat their children in a similar fashion to our costal elites. They just (sometimes) pay less for college.
Don't use the term "elites." Elite means superior, or at least better. Our so-called "elites" aren't inherently superior, and therefore are more accurately called aristocrats, in the warts-and-all-but-noblesse-oblige European sense of the term.
At this point, it's a fairly safe assumption that a person using the term "elite" in this context is doing so in a fairly tongue-in-cheek fashion, usually from a populist perspective. No one that I know that either (a) actually looks up to/respects/kowtows to that group of people or (b) considers themselves part of that group would use the term.
"Oh, King eh? Very nice!"
O.B.T.W. SCREW 'helicopter parenting' ~ tell them how things work and what you expect and what he can expect if he gets cute or does things you tell him not to .
This will result in a child who's way ahead of the curve than other children .
Be aware this will also likely mean he'll be way ahead of you in most things by the time he's 15 .O. .
-Nate
I wonder if they cheaped out on the batteries. I use a 2016 Polaris Ace for plowing my road in winter and it fires a 900 cc engine right up at zero degrees on the original battery.
My five year old son has already informed me he wants one of these when he’s older, and the three year old will be asking soon too so I better get saving.
How long have you had the Ace? A 2016 900 is the 48" wide model that they only offered for one year, right?
I'm looking for something my grandpa can ride and keep up with the rest of the family, despite his bad knees. We ride a lot of 50" trails, so a traditional SXS isn't really ideal. An Ace seems to fit what we're looking for perfectly, but there's seemingly not many around.
Yes, 2016 was the only year for the 900SP, the narrow body with the big engine (albeit restricted and less powerful than other 900s).
I’ve had it 2+ years now, it was a leftover new model that sat awhile on the showroom. At the start of the pandemic they were blowing them out. My original plan was to plow with my truck, but I got this Ace plus a plow for it for about what I would have paid for a truck plow installed.
It’s been a great workhorse for yard projects and plowing, plus taking my sons on low speed rides since they’re still small enough to ride on a lap. It will certainly keep up on most trails; I’ve had it above 60 mph without trouble on paved roads.
All in all I’d recommend it if you can find one, they weren’t ever very popular and the fact that the more powerful 900xc came out just the next year overshadowed the sp model, but there’s a lot to like especially if you ride the narrow trails.
Watched the Youtube video and recognized the song. That violin player is a ringer, slumming beneath her station
I don't know, I hear the bass player has a better gig than she has nowadays! We can all agree the guitarist is a mess, though.
It was. The fiddle player is the lovely Alison Rainier, Patrick Long (not the Porsche backmarker) on bass, D'Marco on drums, me on guitar.