[grayfoxx]

Hey all!

I finally convinced my wife to let me spend some cash on a toy for my sons and I. I'm 250lbs with two boys age 14 and 12 at about 100lbs each. We've been wearing out Craigslist for a couple months trying to size up the options. Initially I felt like a 150cc or 250cc would leave us wanting for enough power to rip the dunes. We will most likely ride forest trails and fire roads the most but will make a few trips to the coast and eastern Oregon dunes per year as well. I want enough power to climb dunes, shoot bowls, etc with myself and one boy on board. Even better with myself and 1 adult friend. I'm looking to spend $1500 at most so I know my options are limited. I can easily find 150cc buggies around and I missed out on a Kandi 250 that looked nice for $1200. I just ran across a Roketa 06 800cc 3cyl EFI locally that comes with a trailer, 2 sets of tires, sand and dirt and a winch. It needs some TLC as it has some rust on the tubing and the owner claims it needs a couple hoses and an ECU. Otherwise it looks sound. He is asking $1200 but he sounds like he might go down. I would start with an offer of 800.

I'm looking for the expert's thoughts on engine size for what I want to do, also thoughts on the Roketa 800. I'm feeling like I could get a lot out of that and with some luck and time invested I might have a $3k buggy on my hands for $1k or less. How hard is an ECU to find for one of these, things I should look out for?