Best age to teach my son to ride in the dirt

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hotzuk
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Best age to teach my son to ride in the dirt

Post by hotzuk »

Hey everyone,

I do not know if this may be the appropriate forum for this post but I figured that I would give it a shot. I took my two year old son to the Toronto Motorcycle show. He absolutely loved the bikes, especially sitting on all the little 50cc bikes offered by the manufacturers.

It got me to thinking, what is the appropriate age to start training in the dirt. The various small 50cc manufacturers offer lowering kits for the bikes as well as training wheels. I always see these bikes for sale pre-owned for like 1/2 the cost. I was thinking of getting him one for his third birthday (in September). I realize that much of this depends on how mature the child is as well as their physical build. All opinions are appreciated
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Post by socalrob »

Lots to consider.

A friend that was really into racing carts got his son a bike at about age 5, son went out and promptly broke his leg on the first trip and was pretty put off by the whole thing. They've moved since, & I'm not sure the kid ever got back on. He had all the safty gear, but at that age things like legs & arms are pretty thin, & things like boots are comparatively heavier (like maybe us wearing 25 lb boots), so that may have contributed to the leg break.

My son's small for his age, I picked up a Honda CRF80 for him at age 12. Its taken him some time to feel comfortable on it, now he loves it. Even at age 12, it took him some practice to be able to start it, and the CRF80 has a real clutch & gears, which also took a fair amount of time to learn. If I had it to do over I would 100 percent get a starter bike without a clutch & with an electric starter (I'm thinking Yamaha). And shorter than I think he needs. Was a real pain to get off my bike, start his, get back on mine, start mine. Every 3 minutes.

If your kid is average size, say 60 lbs, & can ride a bicycle, I'd say thats a good time to start. One thing to consider, what my mom has told me, is to dole out the "freedoms" to kids a bit at a time, so they always have something to look forward to. Give too much too early, what have you got to give later?

BTW, at the dirt parks I see most really young kids on really little ATV's, but not sure thats legal either. I see the moms on them alot too. Another thing to consider is communications. I just picked up 2 chatterbox units so we can communicate, like REMEMBER TO USE THE REAR BRAKE GOING DOWN HILL!!!.

Here in Cali used kids dirt bikes are so hard to come by they command pretty premium prices, only a few hunderd less than new sometimes.

I will say that getting a bike for my son & one for myself has been very cool. Just the 2 of us out riding (he has 2 sisters & a mom that are very much into horses, which fortunately means I can spend any amount on dir/street bikes & not feel any guilt, as it will never cost as much as horse stuff) has been great, the after ride diners are great chances to talk, & I'm pretty sure that he will remember these bike outings the rest of his life. I know I will.
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Post by rph802 »

FWIW, I think I started riding dirt bikes around 8 or 9 years old. It was a little Honda with a kick starter. It was a biatch to start but what was the riding worth?? I'm not a big advocate of teaching on clutchless and electric starters. Its like teaching a kid to drive with an automatic tranny. If they cant master coordinating all the functions in the driveway or parking lot, how will they be able to deal with it on the road or trail?? Gotta master the fundamentals.

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Post by socalrob »

I'd only say that the basics are throttle, stoping, & not falling over. Once they master those (especially the concept of front & rear brakes), then the clutch & kick starting can be mastered. I was thinking of an electric start clutchless bike for maybe 3 to 6 months max. But IMHO it would make those first months alot easier. You can't buy a 4 stroke bike with a clutch for a kid under about 4'6" anyway. Not sure about the 2 strokes.

But thats just from my personal experience.
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Post by riceburner »

I started at 9 on a Puch Magnum X (TOP bike - still have it and it's my first project bike when I get my own house. :D)

I'd say the best way would be to make sure your kid is proficient on a bicycle first - off-road so he's aware of grip levels (I learnt on woodland and a large gravelled area - you SOON learn about grip!). But the best thing is to NEVER push him - remember - it's HIS toy - not yours.
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Post by R4R&R »

I started my son around the age of 5 on a Honda XR50. Everytime I would go to a dealer to buy maintenance supplies he would always jump on the little 50s. I told him when he learns to ride his bike without training wheels we would get one. Wouldn't you know the first time I took the training wheels off his bike, he asked when we were getting the dirtbike. Mom wasn't thrilled but she got over it. He never really broke anything from riding it but they need a lot of open space to get comfortable with the controls. A backyard with trees and other hard obstacles is not the proper place to teach them how to ride. Every kid that tried that thing would hit the throttle and get that 'death grip' and freeze - while heading towards some large un-moveable object. They need the space to get over that initial 'whollyschitt' feeling. After that I wasn't too concerned with him. It wasn't fast enough for him to get out of control too quick, and I taught him to be cautious.

Since the little 50, he moved up to a 90cc Polaris ATV and lost interest (he's too much into other kid sports and we didn't really have anywhere convenient to ride). No regrets, and at least he has some basic mechanics of motorcycle riding under his belt. He does still like to ride on the street with me (he's 11 now).

Back to the original question, I know they have training wheels for those little dirtbikes but I would wait until they can control a normal bicycle on two wheels.
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Thanks for the great info

Post by hotzuk »

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the great info. I was thinking to let him get his balance on a bicycle with training wheels first and then "let him loose" on the dirt.

Hey, I found a guy who is selling a 2003 Suzuki JR 50 with the training wheels. If I can get it for say $500, I might just snatch it up, clean it up good and put it down until he is ready. Can you tell I am excited to get him riding :lol:
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Post by Capt. Blackadder »

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Post by DJ Downunder »

You don't have to spend much on kids for them to have fun..and learn the drift.. :D...I could watch this kid again and again...I want a go.. :D

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Post by DK »

My brother and I got our first dirt bike when I was 12 and he was 9. It was a 1974 Suzuki TM75, a 2 stroke, but quite mild which made it a great bike to learn on. After a couple of years, we "graduated" to a 1975 Suzuki TM100 that had to be ran at much higher revs to have any power. But we quickly learned that trick and off we went! We really had no problems at that age and we rode nearly every evening after school. There were a lot of kids in this age group back then with similar bikes and everyone seemed to do well.

What a great time we had on those bikes. It's been 30 years and I still have the TM100 in my garage. Oh the memories. :D
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Post by sjbmw »

I got my kid a used Yamaha BW-80 when he was 6 years old. 2 fat tires, 3 gears but no clutch. When he was 9, we traded up to a Honda XR with a clutch. He is 12 now, and a real log jumper.

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Post by scottybooj »

we have a Honday Z50 just waiting for my 3.5 year old. Now only to convince me wife its ok........ :?
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