Sorry to hear that the new bike blew up on the first ride - especially since it ws your son's first experience with the bike.
I bought my son and EC200 when he was 14 and on our first ride discovered that the front brake hose was frayed and wouldn't maintain hydraulic pressure (my fault for not noticing when we bought the bike).
Obviously, not as serious as a bottom end issue, but I can appreciate how you both must have felt.
With that background info., let me encourage you to either fix this bike or replace with a similar one. The 200 Gas Gas was probably the best thing that ever happened to my son as far as helping him gain confidence and skill in his riding. The 200 is an outstanding bike and I'm confident that your son will be faster and have more fun on it than just about anything you could put him on. (More background; my son came off of a TTR 125 Yamaha when we got the 200. Now, two years later, he's on a 300 GG - though sometimes I think he wishes he was still on the wonderful 200).
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