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Twister Hammerhead 150 Go Kart is rated around 14HP.There are a few companies selling Chinese off road go karts that are decent quality. Some examples of companies selling decent quality karts include: Carter Brothers, Dazon, Kinroad, & TJ Powersports (whose name is changing to Hammerhead Off-Road, Inc). A few years ago, I purchased a Twister Hammerhead off road go kart made by TJ Powersports (aka Hammerhead Off-Road). Even with the better made Chinese go karts, there can be plenty of small problems to deal with. Nevertheless, I already have this Twister Hammerhead go kart and I plan to keep it. The kids really enjoy driving it and it is well suited to their size/weight.
Let it also be known that there are a lot of junk quality Chinese go karts being sold. Unfortunately, the old saying "You get what you pay for" seems to often be true. China is dumping a lot of junk quality go karts into the US, and unsuspecting buyers are dazzled by their pretty paint and relatively low prices. Only problem is that many of these low priced go karts are also LOW QUALITY. Many can quickly become scrap for the junk heap, because when some of these go karts break down (even minor things), you often can not get parts. Customer service or warranty support are non-existent on many of these machines. They are not such a low price or good deal when you look at it that way. The Twister Hammerhead off road go karts are towards the top of the Chinese go kart ladder in terms of quality. The Twister Hammerhead comes with a 150cc engine that seems to be rated somewhere around 12-14HP. The engine is based on the Honda GY6 design. There are many parts available for this engine, including high performance parts. My particular Twister Hammerhead came with an oil cooler and spin on oil filter. This was a nice touch. These small engines are fan forced air cooled and they have a big job of moving around these go karts and passengers, so the addition of an oil cooler is not a bad idea. The Twister Hammerhead has independent suspension in front and back that is actually OK. Shocks are not so great, but the suspension design itself is fine for a fun kart. Not what you'd want for a high performance off road machine, but fine for most casual recreational fun use.
Twister Hammerhead GY6 150cc Engine Even thought these Twister Hammerhead machines are some of the better made Chinese go karts, that does not mean that they are perfect. In my case, it was far from "perfect". Almost immediately, my stock muffler fell apart. TJ Powersports was very good to honor the warranty and send me a new exhaust system. That one also began to rattle apart, but after several attempts to get something to hold together, I finally modified the exhaust and came up with something that held together. Airbox design was poor and dirt was getting past the air filter, so I replaced the stock airbox assembly with a UNI filter and an Outerwears sock. I modified the carburetor and removed the electric choke that had a tendency to get stuck ON and kill performance. For easier starts, I added a primer pump to inject fuel into the intake for cold starts. Rubber boots and other rubber pieces disintegrated quickly - typical cheap Chinese materials. Electrical harness shorted out (poorly routed across a sharp edge) and killed the machine until I could find out why it died. Front shocks eventually went bad and became "pogo sticks" causing the front end to bounce badly on bumps. A used set of motorcycle shocks off eBay helped fix that. The front suspension bushings also wore out quickly, and needed to be replaced. There were many things that wore out or broke, but thankfully many of them were relatively small issues. I know how to work on my own equipment, so it was not that bad for me. To give this Twister Hammerhead kart some credit, it is still running and it has had a hard life around here. It has racked a LOT of hours of abuse (around 200 hours), and keeps running strong. I've done quite a few mods to it and the kids really enjoy driving it. Keep in mind that even with all the problems I had with mine, this Twister Hammerhead is one of the better made Chinese off road go karts. I pity the person who is not mechanically inclined (or motivated to learn) that buys one of the cheap junk brands of Chinese go karts! My advice is to save your money so you can buy something that is better quality from a brand that has a good reputation. In the past, I spent a lot of time tinkering on my Twister Hammerhead go kart to try to make it better and it's one of the better ones. Not everyone will want (or have the tools and ability) to work on their own machines as much. In addition to the Twister Hammerhead 150, there is also a larger 250 model that offers more power and speed. Below you will find a video clip of someone riding a Twister Hammerhead 250 with some performance upgrades.
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