Help! Finding Youth Mountain Sled

Pick up a used M5 or M6

x2, try finding a nice used m5 or m6 with a 144.....much more than a 144 for a 9 year old would be tough...then after a cpl year throw him on a m8 153......a transition from a z120 to a m5 or 6 is gunna be hard enough dont make it even tougher by addin a longer track.....just my .02

sled options

mountain cat 570 136"
powder special 500 or 600 136"
Phazer MTX 144"

You probably don't like the yamaha option, but they are light for a 4 stroke, virtually no maintainence, and you can pick used ones up for right around $4500.

Quite a few Indy Lite's have been modded to be more capable in the hills. A 144 for a 7year old is way too much. I was on a 440 Prowler 121 then a Summit 136 when I turned 12.

My little bro rode a 121x2 until he was 13year old simply because he didn't weigh a c-note and couldn't handle a 136 or 141 like he could his 121.
He doesn't get upgraded until he can transition fairly seemlessly to the longer tracks. Our 150s and 153's are a little much for him now at 16 but he's still only 110lbs. His 141 gets him going everywhere he needs to right now.

Sure he can "ride"our bigger sleds, but he can't handle them like his shorty. That's the biggest thing alot of people forget, I was riding my dad's Mach Z at 8 years old in 1993, doesn't mean I could actually ride it. I just followed everyone from place to place. All mountain riding, but not nearly as fun as when I was on my own leafblower with a 121.

For me, my dad kept me on smaller sleds for longer, this way I got everything I could out of the sled before moving up, this way I was ready for the longer track/more power/more weight instead of having to "grow"into my bigger sleds. I think it made me a much much better rider having to learn how to get my "little" sleds to the places others got their bigger sleds. When I was ready it was easy to keep the same style and aggressive riding that let me challenge myself and improve, instead of sitting there on something I was afraid of because it was too powerful/too heavy.

Granted, I upgraded more often than others when I reached a certain point, but at 15 I was 150lbs and riding a bigbore 800 with a 144 like nobodies business.
Infact I was disqualified from a hillclimb race one year because I recorded a faster time than "the adults" in the mod 800 class. I was still a junior racer and the rules used to be, run what ya brung(mostly our parents sleds) Now regulated to stock 600 and under. I still rode my 440 Race sled until I was 17 as a 144, and the 800 when we knew the 440 just wasn't going to cut it. Suprised the hell outta people when I'd pull up on a 440, one comment I remember was a guy that swore we musta had the sled airlifted into the area we were riding cause he couldn't believe something so small could make it to where we were.

My dad just reminded me that until I could sidehill and get a sled unstuck, I wasn't moving up in performance or length.....that sounds about right cause I did like to stray from the group and find tree wells and boondock pretty much every ride.

Just don't put him on something that will intimidate him to the point he only idles around the group and doesn't learn anything.

Here he is riding my dad's DragonCat and my Bomb, and then his sled.

M5 or a 1995 phazer lite

By brother bought one for his kid, for around $1700, they both are around 80 HP and have a top speed around 55-60mph

i kinda was thnkin a 144 would be to long but i wasnt sure if they made a 136 for the first years of the m.......what was the smallest xfire they made


sometin else u might wanna check out

http://www.snowestonline.com/forum/showthread.php?t=164581


prolly a touch to small

Fastrax has a 575 single that would work great in a F-Cat chassis for him. 100hp and lightened F-Cat would be easy to get around 350-375lbs.

Check out the sled that fabcraft built.
http://fabcraft.com/justinsummers.php
This is what i would want for my son.

What about finding yourself a 440 fan and stretching it out to a 136 if wanting to give him some length and a little more motor... would be an easy project and could easily get it done for under 2K. Have seen a few going for $1200-$1500 around here and a set of rail extentions and a 136 track would cost you another $500. Have seen a few done before and have turned out pretty good. Just my 2cents.

ARE YOU PEOPLE FOR REAL! a m5 or m6? jesus give your heads a shake, this kid is 7 years old!!!! he doesnt need anything with more then 50 hp. i drove a yamaha bravo till i was 12, then a indy 500 supertrack, at 13 and i still had a hard time starting it once and a while.


and getting him ridin lessons? wow you cant just spoil a kid like that. when i wanted a more powerfull sled i bought a 1991 indy 650, then at 15 had a 900 fusion then at 17 i have a crossfire 800.

anything over 50 hp is WAY to much, yea you might say he can handle it, but seriously think about it a 9 year old driving a 100-120 hp sled, does that make any sense at all?



IMO bravo trapper best thing you can get, at 9 years old he wont even be strong enough to lift the back end of a bravo up.

Both my boys ride (Mid sized) Ski-doo 300 freestyles. They are 8-11. My 11 year old will be moving into a M5 or M6 next year. The freestyle is light and easy to carve. Not a lot of power but a good sled to learn how to ride off trail and will go though fairly deep snow. But we are not riding in the mountians with them, just the hills at low elevation.

Here is one some guys put a 136 on and my son on his.

XFIRE800 said:

Pick up a used M5 or M6

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triple650 said:

ARE YOU PEOPLE FOR REAL! a m5 or m6? jesus give your heads a shake, this kid is 7 years old!!!! he doesnt need anything with more then 50 hp. i drove a yamaha bravo till i was 12, then a indy 500 supertrack, at 13 and i still had a hard time starting it once and a while.


and getting him ridin lessons? wow you cant just spoil a kid like that. when i wanted a more powerfull sled i bought a 1991 indy 650, then at 15 had a 900 fusion then at 17 i have a crossfire 800.

anything over 50 hp is WAY to much, yea you might say he can handle it, but seriously think about it a 9 year old driving a 100-120 hp sled, does that make any sense at all?



IMO bravo trapper best thing you can get, at 9 years old he wont even be strong enough to lift the back end of a bravo up.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the negative rep??

find a 370 change the track great t'ween sled . can also add elect start. daughter went in order kitty cat, 120,370,600 ps,m6, acouple yrs on each still riding the m6,at almost 16

Less power has got me into trouble more times than having to much. I would get a 141 m6, with a after market skid, PC track, some kind of better boards, a custom shorty seat like a polaris seat so he can touch, I would hack out tons of weight until it was well under 400lbs. Then I would gear and clutch it to top out around 50. After he gets the feel of it, I would add power. If your worried about speed just gear it lower. I would much rather my kid rode a sled I could get on if I had to, or if it got nasty they have what they need and last but not least something that wont get stuck and easy to get unstuck. The rest is how you teach them.

Easy guys, i was riding a 03 snopro 440 at 10 years old, and i went from a kitty cat to a 2000 Zr 500 and when we went out west it was a MC 800 144 granted i couldnt start these sleds at 10 which my father liked. i made due. i bumped up to a brand new M7 at 15 and now at 18 im riding a M8. ive never been afraid of a sled cause it has too much power, i just learned how to use the power wisely granted it may have cost me a few brusies and a lot of $ in parts but i learned how to ride. im not afraid to go anywhere and ill go anywhere anyone else can go. i push my sled to the limit every time i ride, thats the only way to get better...just a FYI give your son a little bit of input on it, see what he likes and dis likes. i wish my dad had done that for me, he may not like the feel of one sled to another. i found myself more comfortable learning on the mountain cat chassie over the snopro chassie, much more stable. so get his imput too, it will mean a lot to him.

My son 6yrs old rides a 1985 yamaha bravo and loves it it will go 55mph but I have it clutched to go slower than that I got it for $475 on craigs list been a real solid unit 2nd year on it I think you can still get a brand new one utility though 250 cc

X2 on the freestyle 300's that Ski-doo made. My son started on a sno-scoot and now he is on a freestyle. He is 6 and it is a little big...but he rips on it and it is very smooth and forgiving.

I know a 500 might be a bit much, but so is 1200 Turbo's, but they still get built and rode.

I would lean towards a old F5 with the 13.5" track and modifying it to a DD light and a 141 X 1.5"-1.75" and make it as light as possible.

Would love to get involved in a project like this, as I also have 4 kids and have to start figuring something out also.

I am hoping the need chassis coming out will have a 500 available in it.