July 2006 ATV News - Youth Riders

Photo by Kippy S. Lanker

By Bill Stevenson, Managing Editor

The ATV industry always needs new consumers, sometimes just to replace those who are getting too old, broken or have decided to change hobbies. The easiest replacement is their children. Each year there are more youth oriented ATV products sold and more children being enrolled in safety classes. The main dangers young riders face are how they ride and their safety equipment.

“We work with the consumer product safety commission to come to a number of ATVs in use and ATV riders in the U.S., and the latest figure is 6.9 million ATVs in use and 16.3 million ATV riders,” reported Special Vehicle Institute of America (SVIA) Director of Communications Mike Mount. The numbers represent riders and ATVs in 2004. He says it is near impossible to determine how many riders are children, but he is confident there is more riding all the time. “It has gone up every year for the last ten years,” Mount added.

“Youth recreational sales are up in both the ATV and motorcycle segments,” said Kawasaki Motor Corp. Director of Product Planning Patrick Kelly. Three OEMs are reporting increased sales of youth vehicles with companies focusing on providing products to match the size of young riders. Suzuki offers the LTZ-50 and LT-80 ATVs for kids, along with apparel, helmets and other riding gear, according to American Suzuki Senior Communications Specialist Garrett Kai. KYMCO Vice President of Sales and Marketing Bruce Ramsey reported their sales of youth sized 50cc and 90cc ATVs are up as well.

A key to increasing the number of kids riding ATVs involves safety, from finding the appropriate sized machine to proper training. Kai indicated Suzuki is looking for ways to promote youth ATV riding. “One thing we need to do is maintain good rider training. That way they can have fun and continue to enjoy riding,” he added. Suzuki provides a free SVIA safety training course with every purchase of a youth sized ATV, Kai extolled. “We need to do everything we can to train kids properly. Nobody wants to see kids hurt,” he noted.

“Ultimately it is the parent's decision on whether a child rides an ATV. Too often, ATVs are used as baby-sitters,” Mount noted. He said the two largest reasons for youth injuries on ATVs are children being placed on machines too big for them and a lack of adult supervision. The SVIA offers half-day training courses throughout the country in an effort to help improve safety. He noted the classes are available for purchasers of ATVs and their family members. “If an adult goes out and buys a 500cc ATV and brings a child to be trained to ride it, we won't do that,” Mount added. The SVIA works on a three-prong approach to ATV safety, promoting enforceable state legislation, rider training and education and parental supervision, he stated. By reducing accidents, Mount said it encourages parents to allow children to ride ATVs and do it as a family hobby. “It's just a great product and a lot of Americans have found that out,” he added.

Accidents on ATVs affect everyone, from the enthusiasts to dealers. “I would imagine negative media coverage does not help sell ATVs,” Mount said. He reported that 92 percent of fatal ATV accidents were caused by one or more areas riders are warned about: not wearing a helmet or protective gear, riding on a public road, riding under the influence of drugs or alcohol, carrying a passenger on a single rider vehicle, youth riding an adult sized ATV, unsupervised youth and not taking an organized training course. “We've trained 661,729 people since inception of the SVIA in 1989. We average more than 200 classes a week at roughly 925 active training sites across the country with about 2,100 licensed instructors,” he said. In 2005, they trained 45,330 riders to use ATVs safely.

Another factor to increasing the number of youth riders is constructing quality, appropriate sized ATVs that are available at an affordable price, noted Ramsey. “When you're talking about youth product, it's a hard sell to have a guy pay a lot of money for a product that will be outgrown in a few years. Unfortunately, this means low cost Chinese product is what's going to encourage growth in the youth market,” he said. The threat of low cost products is when the ATVs are substandard quality and prove to be unsafe, unreliable and unsupported. “It affects those new to the sport, as even a single bad experience with the product can turn people off from the whole sport,” added Ramsey.

Everyday there is another media story about an injury accident on an ATV. When children are involved or it is fatal, the story gathers more attention. It is the kind of attention that makes enjoying ATVs harder to do. It drives some people to close riding areas and enact unreasonable laws, sometimes prohibiting children from riding. Safety seems paramount to encouraging new young riders, inspiring more adults to ride and promote overall growth of the ATV industry.

Editor's Note: We contacted most of the OEMs to determine how sales of youth oriented products were doing in 2006. Most did not respond. We appreciate the help provided by KYMCO, Suzuki and Kawasaki.