Bike Guides

Have you been researching the nature of dirt bikes and whether they’re friendly to beginners? Well, we’ve got some good news for you.

It’s not hard to ride a dirt bike and it’s similar in many ways to riding a bicycle, except that you have power available at your handlebars. Someone who has never ridden a dirt bike before can pick up the skills in 2 to 3 rides including clutch control, acceleration, braking and effective cornering.

There are plenty of guides online that help people go from complete beginner to expert in no time, including children. There are even motorcycling schools that specifically teach people how to ride a dirt bike for the first time.

Dirt Bikes Are Easy

What you’ve essentially got is a bicycle with an engine below you. The steering and balancing work the same way but your top speed and the overall weight are a lot more, which adds some safety considerations and risks to the equation.

The additions are a clutch level which replaces one of the brakes (it’s now above the right foot) and the addition of a gear stick which is activated with the left foot. The right throttle is twisted which accelerates you forward pretty easily.

Some older dirt bikes might have a choke but these are becoming quite uncommon. These days, dirt bikes have become uber-modern and just about anyone can ride one, and if you’re riding on private property, you won’t even need a licence!

Essentially, it’s a myth that dirt bikes are hard to ride. Anyone who says so clearly hasn’t ridden a dirt bike in their life, or if they have, probably gave up in the first 3 minutes. The hardest part is clutch control and that’s pretty for most people to master after a few rides with some helpful friends.

Starting as a Beginner

If you’re worried about being out there and not knowing what to do, then our recommendation is to go along on a private tour. Simply get a few of your friends together and book a private tour on a relatively easy trail. Let the tour operator know that this is your first time riding a dirt bike and it’s really an orientation session for you.

Likewise, you might want to start looking at YouTube videoes. There are plenty of these around that help complete beginners like you understand the very nature of dirt bike control. You’ll soon realize that it isn’t as hard as you make it out to be in your mind.

You could also buy a cheap dirt bike and get an understanding about how they work. You can generally buy a good yet used one for about $2,500 which you can take on private property and simply ride around for a while when no one is looking. This is not just easy but fun and where you’ll get a hang of things.

Just remember to wear your protective gear when starting out because you will definitely have a crash at some stage. And you know what? Most crashes actually happen at low speeds. Once you’re up to speed, it becomes far easier to balance just like a bicycle, but your body position will be a little different.

21 Dirt Bike Riding Tips [#7 Is Awesome]

In Summary

While many people today who ride dirt bikes confidently started out as kids riding every weekend with their parents, don’t let that stop you from entering this sport. We welcome people all the time and there’s so much fun to be had!

Just get yourself some good protective gear and take it super easy. Find a quiet spot to get started and realize that it’s much like riding a bicycle, except you don’t have to pedal anymore.

There is more weight and width due to the engine and fuel tank, but the smile on the face is greater! Catch you out there.

When you have an old dirt bike and you want to paint the plastics as they’re tough to replace, what do you use?

Well, there are certainly some options for repainting:

To paint dirt bike plastics, it’s best to use paint designed exclusively for plastics with 2 to 3 coats applied. Before this, you’ll need to lightly sand back any heavily scratched areas and then use a high-quality paint such as Krylon Fusion spray can paint. This particular paint holds up well to the tough conditions that dirt bike riders face.

Avoid going for the cheap stuff that you find online or through hardware stores. This stuff will start peeling within a few rides and make your dirt bike look like a cheap machine, which means you effectively wasted your time painting it in the first place.

Paint for Dirt Bikes

Most modern-day dirt bikes don’t need to be painted for at least 10 years. Even then, most riders simply order the replacement plastics online and install them at home. Others actually just place some stickers off the top of their dirt-scratched paintwork. Thus, they cover up their spills on the tracks and can spend more time riding rather than worrying about how ‘new’ their very used dirt bike looks.

So consider this before you start painting your dirt bike. Do you really need to do it? Probably not. We actually like seeing dirt bikes which are a bit beaten up with scratches everywhere. They earn a ton more respect than that shiny show pony who rocks up with his polished dirt bike at the track. Can he actually ride fast and claim a championship win? Probably not.

There is a real trick to getting the right paint too. This is because of the Pantone color guides and very few paints actually lining up to the true colors of KTM, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki or Kawasaki. So you might find that you get two grades of the same color on your dirt bike and it looks….well….somewhat weird.

You won’t really need a primer or undercoat. Any popular brand such as Dupli or Performix does well. You’re typically going to spray paint this with a can instead of using a paintbrush. Get yourself some masking tape first and seal up all your exposed areas such as your seat that you don’t want stained. This specific paint is sometimes available at your local dealership though typically Amazon does stock it.

Again – question yourself as to whether you really need to paint this.

In Summary

Dirt bikes are meant to be ridden and experienced hard. Over time they always earn their fare share of battle scars and this includes scratches to the paintwork.

You can pretty much use any paint that is plastic friendly. Spend up for high quality stuff and keep to either black or white shades, but ideally black. Use this to cover up any unsightly stuff but focus more on improving your lap times and your skills on the track, rather than the judgement of what your dirt bike actually looks like.

As a kid, many of us really enjoyed seeing dirt bikes and wished that we could either get a toy or a real one.

For some of us, this happened. For others, we simply had to miss out. Now seeing our own kids enter this world, we’re more than often looking to get a dirt bike for them.

For now at least, we can get them a toy model to keep the dream alive! These life-like models are perfect as a present that your child will cherish for years to come. These toys are something that can be used at show-and-share at school or to inspire them to keep riding well into their adult lives.

Best-Rated KTM Kids Toy Dirt Bikes

These diecast models are those we have hand-picked for those who want something very high quality where the paint won’t fade or peel off in 5 minutes. Indeed these are replicas of the real bikes, which themselves are very high quality. We’re obviously massive KTM fans given Frontaer’s styling and color choices in our logo.

Here are the best options available. Here are KTM’s best model dirt bikes:

1. NewRay KTM 350 SX-F Dirt Bike Model

This is the most popular model on Amazon and one that many kids long to have. The best part? It’s priced more affordable than most models in the line up, so massive kudos for NewRay providing this.

It makes for an excellent collector’s piece and someone definitely worthy for that special part of your home. It’s at 1:12 Scale which is perfect for kids and adults alike.

2. Bburago Die-cast Model KTM 450 SX-F

The bburgago model replicate dirt bike toy featuring a KTM 450SX-F (2014 model) is slightly smaller than the NewRay, but it does come with a stand. These is a Red Bull model for ages 3 and older.

The reviews and ratings are very high on this particular bike, though it’s both smaler and more expensive than most other models here. Given it’s a limited edition, it’s one that we can recommend that you buy up before they run out of stock.

3. New Ray 450SX-F Cooper Webb Edition

If your kids are a fan of MX rider Cooper Webb, then this is the dirt bike to get. It’s a larger model (almost 2x bigger than the model above) at 1:10 scale and featured more modern colors.

The tyres are actually real rubber instead of pastic and it’s pretty evident that they put some thought process into creating the kids KTM toy dirt bike. It also comes with a stand if you don’t want to play with it.

4. Dakar Rally Motorcycle KTM Toy Replica

When riders get older, they typically turn their focus away from dirt bikes and onto enduro riding and wild adventures as it’s less taxing on the human body. This is where you’ll find the big-bore motorcycles competing in the Dakar Rally, and if your child is already into this…then they’ll really appreciate this toy.

This is a smaller 1/18 ratio motorcycle but quite popular. At this time of writing, they are actually out of stock but you may be able to go on the backorder list.

5. MXS Motocross Orange and Blue Figure for Kids

For a comedic-spin, we can’t forget to mention the MXS Motocross Bike Toy. This one is certainly the type of bike you actually play with, instead of just looking on the shelf.

You’ll find the rider to have realistic helmets and you can move its arms and legs around. It even has sound effects and genuine suspension designed to replicate the real bike, just at a much smaller scale! Included is a kickstand and removable helmet.

Final thoughts

Unlike the full-blown purchase of a real dirt bike, a toy won’t have much to think about. If there’s one tip we can share…is to look at reviews and quality. We’ve heard stories of handlebars coming loose and tyres falling off, so just check the reviews on Amazon to validate just how sturdy these are.

Generally speaking, they aren’t designed for regular playtime and are best for the shelf feature or bar area. Those that love dirt biking will appreciate the detailed carvings and realistic experience these toy KTM bikes bring, which only motivates us to get back out there on the trails!

Have you seen these interesting Cobra Motorcycles around? They make race-ready mini motocross dirt bikes for kids.

If your kids are serious about getting out there on the race tracks and nailing your competitors, then this is for you.

They have been around for a while with more than 20 years in business. They use their own components such as the frame, suspension and engine. You’ll find them in Hillsdale MI yet they do export to such countries such as Australia.

Note: We don’t have a commercial relationship with Cobra Motorcycles and so this unpaid review is unbiased as they come.

Let’s have a look at what they have.

Cobra Motorcycles Review

There are numerous bikes in the Cobra Moto Lineup all geared for the young rider aged 5 to 12. We’ve certainly looked at some of the best kids dirt bikes here at Frontaer and Cobra is pretty close.

There are 5 dirt bikes that Cobra sells towards the child-racer market:

• CX50P3 which is for the newest riders.
• CX50JR which is a more aggressive 50cc dirt bike
• CS50SRX King which has a larger seat height
• CX50SRX FWE which is insane as a 50cc power plant
• CX65 is their only 65cc dirt bike but a serious weapon

These have all won hundreds of championships each. Rider experiences speak for themselves as they are a serious bike beyond what Yamaha offers for the racer, and certainly you’ll find these bikes sitting side-by-side with KTM.

One of the best things about the Cobra dirt bikes is that their bikes are reasonably light despite having some serious calibre of parts and mechanics.

Parts and Support

One of the challenging things that come with buying from a smaller brand is parts availability. If something breaks – can you get replacement parts? This is one of the reasons why we don’t recommend Chinese dirt bikes unless you’re on a serious budget.

Fortunately, Cobra has some great parts availability and they ship out very fast. This includes North America and Australian markets so young riders are ready for the next weekend.

Their team is also friendly and happy to help riders with technical know-how. There is content on YouTube and you can literally phone them up to get your questions answered as soon as possible.

What Could Improve

As we said, we’re quite unbiased in this review. What could really improve here is their social media content which is lacking. We’d also love to see more dealers on their list so parts can be closer to riders. Imagine being able to drop buy the store and pick up parts on the spot.

Likewise – we’d love to see an 85cc dirt bike in their range. We imagine this would be a weapon just like the 65 2-banger. Hopefully in a few years this is developed!

Otherwise, they’re doing an excellent job at what they do best. And that is to bring seriously powerful bikes to the next generation of motocross racers and fitting the gap that KTM has left wide open.

Overall

Cobra has done very well to get a motorcycle brand for young riders off the ground. It’s a challenging market when KTM and Honda have a strong foot-hold. Let’s not forget that parents typically don’t have the cash to outlay for expensive motocross bikes.

Not only has Cobra made their bikes accessible, but they are seriously powerful! Here at Frontaer, we’re looking to see more of these on MX tracks in the near future.

If you have a 2 stroke dirt bike and you’re mixing fuel, then it’s both a frustration yet something you really need to get right.

Like one of those necessary evils, it’s certainly necessary if you’ve got a two banger and need to keep it in tip-top condition. While we know it needs to be done, a lot of dirt bike riders get confused and go searching online for the answers.

The best 2-stroke fuel ratio is the one recommended by your manufacturer, though 40:1 is considered to be standard for modern-day 2-strokes. KTM, Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki have their fuel-to-oil ratios published online and in the user manuals. Failing this, your local dirt bike mechanic can provide some guidance and recommendations.

It’s generally safer and easier to simply call up your local dealership. Even if you didn’t buy the dirt bike from them, you’ll find them to be accommodating and able to provide a clear and concise answer.

2-Stroke Fuel Ratios

The premix ratios recommended by leading dirt bike manufacturers is one based on racing your dirt bike. At full capacity, your dirt bike obviously operates at such an intense pace as opposed to cruising around the ranch and doing jumps.

Therefore, we can say that the extra oil is just an overkill yet if you’ve got the funds, then go right ahead! Then again, manufacturers have the caruretor setup for this right mixture of petrol, oil and air. Changes of any notable ratio will require you to make some changes to the carby and jets to accommodate properly.

40:1 as we mentioned at the top of this article is ideal for the casual rider. Yet don’t get too worried if you’re putting too much oil in, as you won’t really damage it that much. You could cause some fouled plugs. This is mild compared to completely seizing your engine or prematurely wearing it out.

Ratio	OZ per Gallon	Millilitres per Litre
50:1	20	2.56
40:1	25	3.2
32:1	31	4
25:1	40	5.12

Again, individual bikes will have their ratios mentioned by their manufacturer. They can also vary year on year as the engines are upgraded or revised.

Professional Recommendations

You should consider that this task gets easier the more you do it. Yep – the first time that you mix oil and petrol, it feels a little weird. “Am I putting in too much or too little?” among other questions that might be running through your head. That’s why professional recommendations are a wise idea.

To mix 2-stroke dirt bike oil, follow these steps:

1. Get yourself an oil measuring cup. There are several available but our #1 recommendation is this one on Amazon.
2. Place the measuring cup on a flat and stable surface. Add in the required oil and fuel and mix together.
3. Add the mixture into the fuel tank. Don’t start your dirt bike right away as you’ll want to allow some time for the oil to mix properly through your fuel tank.
4. Properly rinse the measuring cup. If you leave it with residue oil/fuel mix, then, unfortunately, dust and other foreign particules can stick to the insides which can then leech into your fuel tank later on. Trust us – that causes real havoc!

The first time is the most concerning, but it gets easier and easier. Like popping that first wheelie, it just takes practice.

The 2-Stroke Oil Dangers

Now, some things that you definitely don’t want to be doing is buying cheap 2-stroke oil. This is a really bad idea and a quick pathway to the premature death of your engine. Get yourself premium oil. Yes – it costs more, but so does a rebuild!

Next – don’t go mixing different manufacturer oils together. Chances are that you’ll start clotting up your engine which isn’t what you really want mid-way through an epic run through the forest. Just use up your old oil then do a full drain before trying a new brand.

Finally – don’t forget the petrol! Don’t skimp on this and go for high octane gas/petrol like 95 or 98. 91 octane just isn’t enough for a performance-driven bike that’s designed to be revved hard and perform even harder.

Understanding the Basics

It’s hard to know sometimes how to read ratio charts properly. While we provided a chart above, what does this mean in plain and simple English? Well, it’s pretty simple.

50:1 means that for every 50 parts of petrol you have, you need to add 1 part of oil. You need to take into account the volume of your fuel tank.

Let’s say your 2 banger holds 10 litres. Well, you mix your fuel at say 50:1 then you have 200 millilitres of oil to add. Ratios are based on millilitres as opposed to gallons or ounces as it’s more tricky.

Finally – if you’re too worried, then get a buddy to help you out. There’s nothing shameful to ask for help to get the ratios done properly. What’s more shameful is a full engine rebuild!