Choosing the right motor to Power your Minibike can make a huge difference in your experience. A minibike with a powerful engine with good low-end torque is a joy to drive!

There are so many options available on the market, most of them being a clone of the famous Honda GX200. It can be a difficult decision to pick one.

We have made this list of what we consider to be the best motor to power a minibike for both kids and adults based on multiple factors like durability, build quality, and performance.

Kids should ideally have a less powerful engine while Adults can go a little faster. We also know that many like to modify their Engines so we have taken that into consideration.

The Best Engines for Minibikes

1. Predator 212 – Best Value for Money
2. Tillotson 212 – Best Performance Engine for Minibikes
3. Ducar 212 – Best Alternative to Tillotson (also slightly Cheaper)

1. Predator 212

Predator 212 is our choice for the most value-for-money engine for a minibike. They are really cheap for their quality and performance.

The Predator 212 can create a little more than 6.5 hp power and 3600 rpm out of the box. That won’t be an upgrade in power in comparison to your minibike’s stock engine. The only major upgrade from a minibike’s stock engine is in displacement (212cc instead of 196cc).

We didn’t choose this engine because it was an upgrade to your stock engine, we picked this because they are a cheap replacement to your stock engine with an option to upgrade in the future.

If you ever decide to make your mini bike go faster, there are always upgrade parts available online.

Let’s still talk a little about performance, when we compare Predator 212 to Tillotson 212, the Tillotson Engines produce more torque and power out of the box.

The Predator 212 can be modified to compete with the Tillotson 212 with parts that do not cost too much.

You can almost upgrade every single part of this engine and there are so many options that you can end up with an engine that produces more than 15hp power and 7500+ rpm.

There is no other small engine with more parts available than the Predator 212 because of its popularity.

2. Tillotson 212

Tillotson 212 is a well-built, powerful engine that will be an instant upgrade to your minibike’s stock engine (without any mods).

This engine blows away the Predator 212 and other honda clones in terms of performance. It can produce more than 9 hp of power without any modifications and can create 11.5 hp and 5400 rpm with a stage 1 kit. It can be further upgraded to produce more power with stage 2 kits.

The dyno curve of this engine speaks for itself. Your minibike will feel very smooth to drive due to high torque at low rpm.

The parts that the engine comes with are of high quality and will last for a long time. It weighs about 38 pounds, has a hemi head. It will fit right into your minibike if your current setup is using a Predator 212 or other Honda GX200 clones.

This is the best engine for anyone who’s looking for a more powerful engine and is going to make upgrades in the future due to their high-quality internal parts in comparison to Predator 212.

3. Ducar 212

You might never have heard of this one before. Ducar 212 engines are not as popular as Predator or Tillotson Engines but they are right up there in terms of performance.

Ducar 212 is made specifically for kart racing unlike Predator 212 which is made primarily for generators etc.

Ducar’s piston head is a flat top and has a hemi head. Very similar to the Predator 212 hemi but the parts are not interchangeable. Dynocam and OMBwarehouse sell performance parts for Ducar separate from Predator.

The Flywheel used in the engine won’t fail at even 17000 RPM!

Overall, Ducar 212 is a solid competitor of Tillotson 212 and is slightly cheaper than the tilly. Worth trying out if you’ve had a Tillotson before and want to try something new.