Hell, now I want to go to KTM world for a play day!

It's all good, I had fun. Sold My bike once he out ran me lol. If ya racing, your gonna spend money, that's what ya can't recoup. Protective gears a must. Just his helmet was $400. Add in the Suzuki 85l, a Honda cr125, a Yamaha yz125, a ktm 150, and a kawai 250f and the wallet takes a pop.

I second getting a 2 stroke if ya follow through.

I completely disagree with the 4 stroke suggestion. I had a ttr-125 when I was 11 until I was 13 years old. At 14 my dad my bought me a YZ-125 2 stroker. The 2 stroke was so much more fun than the 4 stroke. If you get your son a 2 stroke in the beginning and then you decide to upgrade to a 4 stroke then it's much easier to adjust to the difference in power. my .02

I don't keep up with motocross much anymore, but it seemed guys were trending towards the 4 strokes (just like boats) the last time i watched.....

Well i wasn't sure what to say lol, but I agree some what, I ran bikes for years, and traveled over to Florida with my buds and raced on several occasions, it was great, and I was purty good BUT would I do all over again? Hmmmm that's tough, I have a few fractures in my spine (caused me to have scoliosis now) pretty much destroyed my right knee, which ended football for me, and numerous other injuries, but the scoliosis kept me out of the military, but they let mentally unstable transgenders in (ain't that a biotch) Anyways i guess my answer would be yes, I would do it all over again

Very few 2 stroke bikes even made anymore. Honda doesn’t even make one. Suzuki and Kawasaki both make small 65-85 2 strokes. Yamaha makes them up to 125. KTM and Husky are about your only big manufacturers that make a full line of 2 strokes. 4 strokes these days are a lot different that 4 strokes when we were kids. The powerband is different than a 2 stroke, but there is a reason all the motocross guys went to 4 strokes.

KTM are great bikes. But, damn if I would pay that much more for a bike before I knew my son wanted to stick with it.

If your son is just getting on a bike, id lean towards a 4stroke to begin with. He needs to learn throttle/clutch control, especially in the woods.. A 4stroke like an XR or TTR is more forgiving when you grab more throttle than you want. A snappy 2stroke will jump all over him in a hurry.

Not to be a wet blanket, but ask me why I have limped since the age of 14.

No kidding. I made the mistake of going out to the KTM website to look at specs on the new bikes... now I have the fever again. The problem is, as others have started, it can be a little rough on the bones - especially old ones. My wife would probably shoot me anyways and some of best time to ride is during my favorite hunting time. We bought a house up on Monte Sano mountain recently so I did start mountain biking again. Riding off some of these trails and jumping rocks on a full suspension mountain bike is the closet thing to dirt bikes I've experienced in a while. That'll have to be good enough. Riding back up the mountain is a different story.

My boy jacked up the spine, broke an arm, and 2 really bad concussions. After all that, he'll still hit a 85' jump without hesitation.

I have a crf 250 and my son has a crf 100. My son just turned 12 and I am about to sell his and upgrade. I have owned most all makes in 4stroke and 2stroke. I would start him out on a 4stroke.

Yamaha still makes a yz250 they make a yz65 now also

I can still remember when Yammerhammer came out with the YZ465. Holleeeeee Cow. My last dirt bike was an 81 IT250. It was the enduro model with a headlight and more low-end than a YZ. Awwwww good memories.