Unless you are under 5 feet, getting a 50cc bike for yourself would probably not be the best idea. With the fastest production versions clocking in at a measly 45 mph, you won’t be impressing anyone on the highway, and very much less so off the highway. For kids though, a 50cc dirt bike is perfect. So long as they are armed with the proper gear, they’d be fine ripping through dirt roads in one of these.
There is one place, however, where these little beasts have found a home with adults, and that’s in dirt bike stunts. In this scene, you’ll find adults unabashedly showcasing their latest spins and a bunch of other sweet tricks. With the bikes primarily meant for kids though, you will definitely discover some stunt prodigies, who actually tend to beat out the adults, to begin with. However, even if you pick a bike from the 10 best dirt bikes you can buy, you may need to ramp up the bike specs to be competitive against other stunters.
Stock bikes really wouldn’t cut it in professional sports, and with motocross, X-Games, and stunt events, tuning 50cc bikes has formed a cult around it.
You Gotta Start Early, And You Gotta Be Fast
Remember the 10,000-hour rule? Well, the older generation of motocross champions started honing their craft long before their youth. Legendary motocross champion Ricky Carmichael owned his first bike at the age of 5. And he took full advantage of the early start, seeking to beat out everyone he came across on the track. Having started out on a stock Yamaha 50 Tri-Zinger, Ricky went on to turn to performance bikes and having mastered that craft moved on to performance cars. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that he gets a rush from speed.
Current 50cc motocross sensation Jayden Smart got his first bike when he was 1 year old! By the time he was 4 years old, he was leveling kids 3 years his senior on the track. 7 years old now, he’s still making money moves in the 50cc motocross league, on his Cobra Jr 50. With future motocross legends kicking off their careers only months after having been introduced to the planet, the only chance anyone would have of offering any kind of competition would be learning how to rip through the track from an early age as well.
Champions Of The Kids' Motorcross And Their Bikes
Packing such little power, these kids sure do know to put on a good show for us.
2019 Loretta Lynn 51cc champion Gauge Brown took home the trophy with a Cobra CX50FWE.
This bike is endowed with a Cobra FWE Venom 50cc 2-stroke engine, with single-speed auto transmission. Other now well-known champions who jolted their careers using this bike are 2020 Monster Energy AMA 450cc Supercross winner Eli Tomac, Zach Osborne, and Adam Cianciarulo, the 2019 AMA 250cc motocross national champion. 2-time supercross champion Jayden Smart also owns a KTM SX-E 5 in addition to his Cobra CX50JR. This electric bike is KTM’s first electric minibike. Pop in a generator, and it will provide a gratifying ride experience for hours.
The Rise And Rise Of X-Games
Pre-ESPN, biking competitions went largely unnoticed, especially by the larger demographic of the US. Televised championships were mostly targeted at Motor GP and other larger competitions, up until 1995 in Rhode Island, where the first summer extreme sports were held and televised on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC. This event brought to screens all over the US insane stunts that have only gone on to become more ridiculous, such as the first televised double backflip by Travis Pastrana in freestyle motocross. The X-Games, held every year since their unveiling has gone on to maintain a 25-year streak of televised extreme sports, that have fueled the interest of kids all over the world.
A New Age Of Pit Bike Competitions
