I love seeing Mason progress and have fun with his buddies.

I tried to bypass this one step, but after my friend Mike let my son Mason ride his sons mini KTM 50sx I knew I was doomed. If you follow me you know my Dad built Mason one bad ass PW50 that was faster, had more travel and had big bike break controls so when he was ready for the 50sx he wasn’t going to have too much to learn. Well folks that KTM mini 50sx is one bad ass machine and when your kids are ready no built up XR or PW can replace it. That you see is the problem, my son Mason was 6 years old when we got the bike just 4 months away from turning 7 and he was the perfect size but the amount of power was a considerable amount more then my sons mod PW. Mason is not some speed demon and he’s only raced 2 times so the few times a month it almost doesn’t justify a $4,000 motorcycle. Even with all his experience the amount of power he had was a lot to get use to. Once he got use to that power it was like a light switch went off and he was riding better then he had ever and having more fun on the KTM then he ever did on any of his PW’s. The adjustable shock height and upside down WP Forks help the bike handle great as Mason progresses.

We were now a month in of riding the bike and I had noticed a few things that I’d like to improve. I am a strong beliver that stock is best, but I knew I wanted to do a few things to the bike that would help not only me but Mason’s experience riding the bike. Pretty much everything I put on the bike was from Nihilo Concepts out of Florida.

Nihilo is for sure the leader in aftermarket mini bike billet products for KTM’s. The first thing I did was block off the oil injection with their block off kit. I didn’t do this for more power or performance I did they because I almost burned the bike down two times because I could not see the premix canister for the oil injection under the gas tank. I ride two strokes myself, so I have two stroke fuel and it was safer for me to have premix in Masons gas now. The next thing I changed was the chain adjuster caps. They are a thin piece of steel standard and will crush in over time so I put on the billet end caps from Nihilo. The stock axle nuts are fine but being able to use a nylock nut on the rear axle is a nice feature and Nihilo offers those so we put that on. Adjusting the clutch was a bit of a nightmare pulling it on and off to set it right for Mason, but once I added the Nihilo cover I was able to change the clutch adjustments with ease by just removing the allen bolt on the side of the cover.

Another nice part about the cover is they added a personal touch with Mason’s name and number engraved on it. When it comes to the bling we added a gas cap, fork guard bolts, chain guide, gripper seat cover, and frame grip tape that also match the other performance parts that are also orange anodized.

Each and every customer can personalize their case covers.

How a little guy or gal controls the bike is everything at a young age in my opinion. The bar bend and levers are really nice in production form but a few years ago Pro Taper came out with a smaller bar diameter so that little rider’s can control the bike better. This is brilliant in my opinion! After all of these years we have asked little riders to hold onto the same diameter grip that grown Men and Women hold onto. The Pro Taper mini bike kit comes in great packaging with a throttle tube, grips, and everything else to make your child’s bike rideable. Once installing the bars and throttle I utilized the Nihilo front brake lever because it is a better feel and more progressive for the little ones hands. Most 50 and 65 riders tend to use more front brake then back because they have more feel with it. It sounds silly but with power of the bike Mason was falling off the back of the bike so the Nihilo concepts non slip ribbed seat cover helped them stay over the bars when exiting turns.

I know all this work might sound crazy for a now 7 year old that doesn’t race and is a casual rider but it’s all getting comfortable and having my son confident when he is riding. Also my son was absolutely over the moon excited that he got to help put really cool anodized parts on his bike with his Dad. That’s something you can almost not put a price on when seeing your child smile and turning wrenches with you.

So should you get a 50sx for your 4-6 old? Yes but not until they can ring the guts out of a PW50 in my opinion and in most cases the kids that can do that will only be small enough for the Mini 50sx for a year or so. I’ll put it this way Mason got his KTM 50sx mini for Christmas and he will be riding a KTM 50sx very soon and my son is a small 7 year old, so he will only be on the bike for about 6-7 months. At the end of the day I am on a budget with my kids riding but I wouldn’t change buying this bike or after market parts for him because his riding progressed a lot faster once he started riding the KTM.