Friendly advice for newbie

[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?

[OLDKID]

I thought JERSEYDEVIL would have chimed in on this one , he plays with the Bigger Buggy's . Welcome .

[JERSEYDEVIL]

Tom Syc , probably knows more about those than i... it is not something i would purchase, i am currently working on a joyner 800 for a customer and it has been giving me fits. i do not like the manual stick shift setup on these bigger buggies and from my riding experience CVT is the way to go. not only that but roketa is done so parts might be hard to come by, not only engine parts but chassis parts. there are some similar style buggies still for sale from joyner or bms but not tomany people will know what will cross reference to that buggy. this wouldnt be a big deal for me, cuz it wouldnt be the 1st time ive scrapped a discontinued set up and fabbed my own. but to the avg guy w/no tools or welding exp...that might be a big deal..... as far as info SYC would be the one to know.

[tkeagle]

I would not say I'm an expert. But do have experience in the 150 class.
I'm around 250. My wife is 100lbs. But have given rides to friends that are 200lbs.
both of us in the 150cc buggy. Trail riding does great, even with the heavier weight.
We have a pretty steep, and big hill we go up and down all the time, and gets around fine.
Granted, top speed might be 30 mph at best with that much weight. But we not there to race. Kids love it. Fast enough so they can have good fun in it. But me knowing top speed with them might be 35mph.
My 12 year old son, loves taking other kids out for a ride. Even taking out some of the adults. Parents kind of shy about letting my son giving their kids a ride. But when I tell them, the top speed is only 35 mph. They seem to be much more at eas with it. Sounds like it's going 100mph. But I show them on trail Tech, what the top speed was for that ride. upper 20's most of the time, then they just let my son taking out all day.

Yes, I would love more power. And why I got, and working on a FL 350. But their isn't any time that we go out the farm, that I don't bring out the buggy, and give it a good run while we are out there. I don't think I would get rid of it, even had offer to get something bigger. It's a good, safe size, for kids and adults. And pretty sure if had something to big, might have much bigger problem having my friends let their kids go play with it.

With talk couching, my son will take a kid out. Show him the trail to follow. How fast they allowed to go around corners. What not to do. And makes sure they are strapped in good. Then Devan will let the other kids take the buggy for a few spins. Some parents get a little nervous about that. But them knowing it's not a (fast) buggy, will allow it. Then after a few runs, the kids are taking turns the rest of the day.
Just some FYI. not sure if that helps any. I'm a believer in the 150's. so easy to mod, and work on.
As far as Dunes. Not sure. Never been there. But sure someone on here has.

[grayfoxx]

Originally Posted by tkeagle

I would not say I'm an expert. But do have experience in the 150 class.
I'm around 250. My wife is 100lbs. But have given rides to friends that are 200lbs.
both of us in the 150cc buggy. Trail riding does great, even with the heavier weight.
We have a pretty steep, and big hill we go up and down all the time, and gets around fine.
Granted, top speed might be 30 mph at best with that much weight. But we not there to race. Kids love it. Fast enough so they can have good fun in it. But me knowing top speed with them might be 35mph.
My 12 year old son, loves taking other kids out for a ride. Even taking out some of the adults. Parents kind of shy about letting my son giving their kids a ride. But when I tell them, the top speed is only 35 mph. They seem to be much more at eas with it. Sounds like it's going 100mph. But I show them on trail Tech, what the top speed was for that ride. upper 20's most of the time, then they just let my son taking out all day.

Yes, I would love more power. And why I got, and working on a FL 350. But their isn't any time that we go out the farm, that I don't bring out the buggy, and give it a good run while we are out there. I don't think I would get rid of it, even had offer to get something bigger. It's a good, safe size, for kids and adults. And pretty sure if had something to big, might have much bigger problem having my friends let their kids go play with it.

With talk couching, my son will take a kid out. Show him the trail to follow. How fast they allowed to go around corners. What not to do. And makes sure they are strapped in good. Then Devan will let the other kids take the buggy for a few spins. Some parents get a little nervous about that. But them knowing it's not a (fast) buggy, will allow it. Then after a few runs, the kids are taking turns the rest of the day.
Just some FYI. not sure if that helps any. I'm a believer in the 150's. so easy to mod, and work on.
As far as Dunes. Not sure. Never been there. But sure someone on here has.

Thanks for the input Oldkid. I ended up buying the Roketa 800cc project. I couldn't pass it up at $1100 with a trailer and spare set of aluminum wheels with sand tires. Stripping it down for paint now and working on fixing an ECU issue. I would still like to get a 150 or 250 to have another, smaller buggy more appropriate for kid fun without worry. I will be teaching my boys to drive stick in this thing and letting them go for it but we only have two seats so another one is needed

[SYCARMS]

The 150 will do fine but severely suffer on the dunes. I know of a few people who built 250 engines for the dunes in Oklahoma but ended up getting something bigger since the power was not there. It takes more horsepower than a 150 or 250 engine to run the dunes. The 800 would be the way to go.