My nephew is 11 and has around 3 years of "inconsistent" riding. Maybe 30 hours in total. So not a lot. He has moved from a crf110f to a crf125f and now onto a docile kx85 with flywheel weight which is a very manageable easy to ride bike it's in current state, as he has grown.
He has been riding a lot more track lately. As a newish rider you want to support them developing good habits and riding technique from the start, however there are so many areas of focus that it would be overwhelming, even for the basics like: getting comfortable with keeping feet on pegs in corners, keep head over the bars, ride standing up, grip with your legs, body positioning on seat in turns, looking far enough ahead to plan your lines, ride on the balls of your feet, keeping elbows up, weighing the outside footpeg, etc. etc.
Which areas do you focus on reinforcing as they develop that will positively impact them and which ones can be left until later in their development when they have made others become habit? Obviously, you want them to have fun and not be criticizing every time they go out. And realistically, no low experience 11year old rider I know is going to remember to focus on everything, heck typically once they get out there riding, they forget to focus on a single one, except maybe standing.
Thoughts?
As soon as possible. A good technique is a safer way to ride.
Just leave out the racing things like starts and focus on a god standing and sitting position on the bike. After that you can start to think about jumps.
But it’s never to early for technique training.
Technique is best if taught from the beginning. Its difficult to change improper techniques
What would be considered the or some of most fundamental technique/s to begin teaching a new rider that they can build on?
Great question. Depends on the kid. To much info and he may hate riding. I say stick to standing up as much as possible. I wouldn't even bring up keeping feet on the pegs.
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Day 1.
Standing up, riding on toes, straight legs more bend at the hips, flat back. Eyes up.
Foot placement: no toes pointing down below the pegs…etc. Balls of their feet on the pegs. How to use the rear brake effectively and without stomping.
Proper hand pavement and NOT holing on too tight. Elbows up a little bit.
Teach them to stand up as soon as they’re ready/confident and stable enough.
There are so many important fundamentals/basics that you can tech them right off the bat and you’ll be helping them out SO MUCH in the long run.
Early on I had people like Tom and Tipper Webb teaching me VERY important fundamentals on my Schwinn BMX conversion circa 1971…still using those lessons in my 60s.
Just be prepared for a nephew not to listen to you, but someone else saying the same thing will be gospel.
Never to early for proper technique, some kids are more receptive than others
We focused on technique on the Stacyc around the yard and it seems to have finally transferred to pw50. Also really harped on feet positioning after Reynard emphasized it to me. My 5 year old has style and technique for days compared to his old man 😂
Great topic and question. My son plays competitive ice hockey, basketball, and soccer. These are screenshots from videos from his first race on Friday night. Though his technique is far from perfect I try to explain it how he understands. He relates best to a 3pt position in basketball or hockey.
An athletic position is an athletic position. It’s a a good base I feel.
I am far from a riding coach. And like I said his technique is no where near perfect. But his head is over the bars, balls of his feet, in an athletic position. I feel this is a good base to build off of. He’s been riding for a month.
You sound like a badass uncle bro. Trust you're own judgement on how much to feed him.
Positioning is a key skill- but can be hard for younger ones to grasp. Teach him to grip with his legs/knees, light grip, and look far ahead.
This. Every kid is different and you know him better than we ever will. You'll be able to sense how much he can handle.
Take his clutch lever off and his seat as an exercise. He won't be able to lock the rear brake or he will stall and will figure out on his own to be comfortable standing up. Forget about the height of the elbows. Leave that to the Instagram coaches...
Unlock the hips!!!! Kidding..
In all seriousness, immediately. Doing anything incorrectly over and over only reinforces it. My boys are 8 and 9 years old, riding 110s. Fortunately both are big Jett fans, try to mirror his body positioning and love discussing all thing Jett. I use it as an opportunity to break down the technique in their language. Then when riding they try to do their "best Jett impressions." Only during this game will they (a) intently listen to my criticisms and (b) willingly/immediately practice proper technique.
Body positioning.
Head up looking 50+ feet in distance to read the terrain not just in front of your front wheel when its to late to prepare and correct.
Levers lower and elbows up in a smooth line from levers to shoulder.
twist the throttle like opening a door knob not dropping your arm.
Butt a couple inches above the seat in a Crochet position Flexible to float on the bike as the bike moves around below you.
The basics should be right away. Chest up, eyes on the horizon, learn to stand up and maintain a strong, confident posture. Other things like how to hold your leg out for turns, dragging front brake in ruts, brake taps on jumps, and other specific techniques can wait til they’re needed. The core fundamentals should be right away. Don’t distract him with advanced techniques til he needs them.
Just get tell them to stand all the time. Even around corners.
Pit Row
I told my kid to stand up once, and he did it around the entire track for all 3 laps
We practice a full lap standing on a regular basis. When he was younger I stole Big James' tactic and took the seat off. One time in a race his seat actually DID fall off and it didn't bother him at all. Lately I've been taking the clutch lever off (125) and it's helping him carry more entry speed since he knows he can't just fan the clutch to cover up for mistakes.
Once the boy is ready to race, start practice is massively important. It's so much safer getting top 5 starts than being mid-pack in all that chaos.
Day one.
Kids are really good at mimicking what they see. Have him watch videos etc and when not on track or playing in the parking lot dirt piles have him watch local fast kids in certain sections of the track......and you can just add some of your comments. Easier to explain when u have a reference for him to look at in real time.
The OP has great thoughts but if he's like most kids he won't listen lol. (mine doesn't)
Just a suggestion, but much like golf where there can be so many aspects to fix in a persons swing, it can get to a point where a coach tries to fix everything at once then gets nothing fixed. There's just too much to remember. I would start with no more than 2 things at once, sometimes best to just focus on 1 thing at a time. My advice would be to focus on the foot position and standing. Once that is pretty solid (he does it without thinking), I would focus on elbows out. I don't buy into the straight legs, "drop the heels" stuff personally. That's about as unathletic position as ever thought up and a future knee/ankle/achilles injury waiting to happen. I do believe in having Knees back with slight/micro knee bend, riding on balls of feet, with toes pointed in but that is more for down the road. Start with just 1 or 2 simple things and commit to it so he's unconsciously competent at it. Then move to the next thing.
I agree with TbonesPop here..
What I see REALLY making a difference though is who the kid is riding with.
How often do we see kids riding EXACTLY like their parent (dad mostly) ?
Spend time riding with them, that's what is all about anyways. If you are a decent rider, they will be too.
If you aren't very good, having the kid spend time with others that are good can really help.
move em up to a 450 by day 3, backflip to mulch day 4
Have him show you where the apex of a corner is.
That for rough purposes could be his spot to sit. If he seems to get it.
A good coach once said your seat is the gas button. Once you sit, youre throttling out of there .
If he grasps these three parts of he corner, the rest of the riding advice will have some context for him to apply them.
We warm up doing one lap standing and feet on, then one lap free ride. Then repeat. It teaches them to use the throttle avoid falling over.
Drilling between standing and free let's them apply the skill they just struggled through into they're own natural riding. Then they buy in.
Make sure you explain to learn the drills at say, 60 percent their normal pace. Drills work best when the track is quiet and safe and there aren't too many eyeballs.
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