If you’re building a mini bike or looking to swap out your current mini bike motor, choosing the engine is important. With so many options, picking the right engine can be overwhelming. Don’t worry, this article gives you a side-by-side comparison of the best mini bike engines, so you can decide which one is the one for you.
Best mini bike engines:
- Honda Clone GX200
- Predator 212
- Tillotson 212
- Ducar 212
All of these engines are a great option, but they each have their own unique advantages. If you want tested brand name reliability, the Honda GX200 is the one for you. If you are looking for a solid budget friendly option, go with the Predator 212. If pure power is your biggest priority, the Tillotson 212 is what your looking for. If you plan on modifying your engine to run at high rpm, the Ducar 212 is designed for exactly that.
Side-by-side comparison
| Engine | Honda GX200 | Predator 212 | Tillotson 212 | Ducar 212 |
| Brand | Honda Engines | Predator Engines | Tillotson | DynoCams |
| Engine Type | 4-stroke, single cylinder | 4-stroke, single cylinder | 4-stroke, single cylinder | 4-stroke, single cylinder |
| Displacement | 196cc | 212cc | 212cc | 212cc |
| Power | 5.8 HP | 6.4 HP | 9+ HP | 7.5 HP |
| Torque | 7.6 ft-lb @ 2500 rpm | 8.1 ft-lb @ 2500 rpm | 9-10.5 ft-lb @ 2500 rpm | — |
| Bore | 68mm | 70mm | 70mm | 70mm |
| Stroke | 54mm | 55mm | 55mm | 55mm |
| Oil Capacity | 0.63 US qt | 0.5 US qt | 0.63 US qt | 0.63 US qt |
| Fuel Capacity | 0.825 gallon | 0.9 gallon | 0.75 gallon | 0.95 gallon |
Honda GX200
It’s hard to beat a Honda. Honda has a reputation of producing quality products that are reliable and durable. Honda has built this reputation by using high quality parts and construction methods.
The GX200 is no different. However, with high quality comes a high price. The Honda GX200 is more expensive than the other engines on the list. The price is more than double than some of the other engines on our list.
Honda’s popularity makes finding replacement parts easy. Just keep in mind that there are a lot of manufacturers that make less expensive lower quality replacement parts for the GX200. So if you want to make sure your engine remains durable and reliable, you will want to spend the extra money for Honda parts.
If your number one priority is the peace of mind that comes with knowing you can rely on your engine to handle anything you can throw at it, the Honda GX200 is probably the one you want.
Predator 212
If you are looking for a more budget friendly engine, the Predator 212 could be exactly what you need. These engines have gained a lot of popularity over the years because of the low price and abundance of replacement parts that make them easy to upgrade.
The Predator 212 may not be quite on the same level as a Honda, but they have proven to be a reliable engine especially for the price. These engines will cost you less than half the Honda GX200.
At 212cc’s and 6.4 HP these engines give you a little more power than the 196cc engine that comes stock on most mini bikes. And, if that’s not enough power for you, a lot of manufacture’s offer kits specifically made for the Predator 212 to increase it’s performance.
Tillotson 212
For many mini bike and go kart enthusiasts the engine decision comes down to the Predator 212 or the Tillotson 212. If more power is ultimately what your looking for, then the Tillotson 212cc is the engine you want.
The Tillotson 212 packs a punch with 9+ HP and 9-10.5 ft-lb of torque. This makes it by far the most powerful engine on our list. This increase in power comes with an increase in price when comparing to the Predator 212. However, it’s still less expensive than Honda GX200 and comparable to the Dukar 212.
If this engine still doesn’t have enough power for you, there are plenty of parts available for upgrading the Tillotson 212. Because of their stock power and the ability to increase it, these engines have become a favorite among mini bike racing enthusiasts.
Ducar 212
The Ducar 212 was designed as a go kart racing engine. It is very similar to the Tillotson 212, but because of it’s racing design, it has a couple of extra features. At a middle of the road price, it is very comparable to the Tillotson 212.
First, the Ducar 212 comes with a factory installed governor that is preset to at approximately 5300 rpm. This may not seem like a very big deal, but usually the factory installed governor is set somewhere around 3600 rpm. The additional 1700 rpm makes this engine that much faster right out of the box.
The governor of the Ducar 212 can be preset at such a high rate because of the stock die cast aluminum PLV flywheel tested at 17,000 rpm. In comparison, other engines have a cast iron flywheel that starts fail somewhere around 5,000-6,000 rpm.
The aluminum PLV flywheel means you don’t have to worry about flywheel failure when pushing your engine at high rpm. For a full explanation on the dangers of a flywheel failure, check out our post What does a Governor do on a Mini Bike?
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