I'll be honest — I thought I was buying Kyler a bike he'd be bored with in two weeks. He'd been begging for a real electric dirt bike since the first time he watched me rip my Sur Ron Light Bee with the eRide Pro upgrade around the trails at McCain Valley OHV. But I didn't want to drop full adult-bike money on something he'd outgrow before he learned to handle it. So we landed on the Rawrr Mantis Mini — and somewhere between his first lap and his tenth, I realized I'd made exactly the right call.
That was over a year ago. The Mantis has since been to McCain Valley OHV, Bass Lake, Big Bear, and half the fire roads around North Park that I'm not technically supposed to tell you about. Kyler has never once asked to stop riding. If anything, the problem now is getting him to stop so I can eat lunch. His little sister Riley, on her Mondraker F-Play 24S e-MTB, will not let him live it down if he calls it a day first. Such is family trail life.
What Is the Rawrr Mantis Mini?
The Rawrr Mantis Mini is a purpose-built electric dirt bike designed for younger riders — typically kids ages 6 to 14, depending on size and confidence. It's not a toy. It's not a scaled-down adult bike with the power stripped out. It's a genuine e-dirt bike with real suspension, quality components, and enough power to actually teach a kid how to ride trails instead of just parking lot circles. Kyler's hits 45 mph when he opens it up. That's not a toy.
- Top speed: ~45 mph (adjustable — start slow, earn each speed mode)
- Weight: ~54 lbs — stable on trail, light enough for kids to manage crashes without getting pinned
- Battery life: ~2 hours of real trail riding per charge
- Motor: brushless, quiet enough that you can actually talk to your kid on trail
- Suspension: front fork + rear mono-shock — real trail geometry, not toy geometry
What Rawrr got right is the power delivery. It's smooth. Kyler didn't get bucked the first time he opened the throttle, which matters a lot when you're watching your kid learn. The bike builds power instead of surging, and that made those early sessions way less nerve-wracking for both of us.
Trail Riding With a Rawrr Mantis Mini: What It Actually Looks Like
The first real trail session at McCain Valley, Kyler wasn't going full throttle yet — but he was grinning hard enough that I could see it through his helmet visor from twenty feet back. These days I'm the one running to keep pace. The Mantis at full speed is not something I expected from a kids' bike.
After a few sessions we started doing full trail loops together. At McCain Valley OHV, the beginner-to-intermediate dirt paths are perfect for the Mantis — loose decomposed granite, mild elevation changes, occasional water crossings that Kyler now hits with zero caution. The bike handles all of it without complaint.
One logistics note: the Mantis is not a long-range cruiser. Plan sessions around the 2-hour battery and bring a charger for full days. At Bass Lake we pack an extension cord and charge at the trailhead during lunch. Once you have that rhythm it's no big deal.
Big Bear was where things leveled up for Kyler. The summer skills areas there gave him room to work on drops and berms without the consequence of being deep in the backcountry if something went sideways. Watching a kid clear his first real jump on an electric dirt bike — that's a dad memory I'm keeping.
Why We Chose the Rawrr Over Everything Else
The kids' electric dirt bike market has exploded. Before buying, we looked at cheap imports, scaled-down adult bikes, and other purpose-built options. Here's what pushed us to the Rawrr:
- Actual customer support. Rawrr answers the phone. When we had a question about the battery connector six months in, someone called us back same day.
- Solid build quality. The frame welds, fork, and brakes don't feel cheap. Kyler has crashed this bike many times (he's nine) and nothing has bent from normal use.
- Adjustable speed modes. Starting at a capped low speed and increasing it as he earned it was the right way to teach trail riding. He rode better because each speed setting was something he worked toward — and now he's at the top end.
- It looks like a real dirt bike. Confidence is a skill. A kid who feels cool on their bike rides better.
The Rawrr Mantis Mini sits in a sweet spot: more capable than toy-grade electrics, less overwhelming than full-size options. When Kyler outgrows it, he steps straight onto a Sur Ron Light Bee without missing a beat — and when that day comes, he'll want to read up on battery upgrades before he strands himself four miles from the van like his father did. And Riley, for the record, is still dominating us both on her Mondraker.
What We Were Wearing
Kyler's first real trail session on the Mantis was also the first time he wore a shirt from our e-moto collection on the trail. The Kyler Braap shirt started as an inside joke after a session at McCain Valley where he talked so much smack about passing me that I had to memorialize it somehow. It's one of our best-sellers now, which tells me I'm not the only dad in this situation.
That's always been the Stoked approach. The trip came first. We didn't design an e-moto shirt and then go find a kid to put on an electric dirt bike. Kyler was already ripping around McCain Valley when the design idea clicked. The shirt is the artifact of the adventure.
Browse the full e-moto shirt collection — every design came from a real ride with real people in real places.
— Jeremy Curran, Stoked Clothing Co. Dad, eRide Pro rider, and the guy who's been out-ridden by his nine-year-old — at 45 mph — more times than he'll publicly admit.