Question for Dads?

He was 22, just lost his training wheels.

Just messing with you but that was when he started riding with me. I wanted to get back into riding when he was young but I was worried about me getting injured and working etc.. He played Hockey instead. If I was you I would make sure he could ride a bike first.

7, long past training wheel time.......

put em in bmx for a couple years before ya strap a motor under his ass.

4.......he was riding his bicycle for a few months without training wheels, jumped on the PW50 and he has never looked back.

Yep, same training wheel rule for us.
He was done with those around 4 and got his first PW on his 5th birthday.

Started out with a Power Wheels Battery powered quad at 2 y/o. He destroyed that, we then moved to a 50cc quad at 3. When he turned 4 he mastered his bicycle without training wheels and was allowed to ride his PW50. He is currently 6 and rides a TTR50.

Both of my boys had battery powered quads first, then at 4yrs. old the learned throttle contol on a Suzuki LT50 quad for a few months. Then a 50cc bike after they rode the bicycle without training wheels. Really I did the bicycle thing for me because I wanted them to learn how to ride one sooner and the dirt bike was the reward. But I see kids that ride the 50cc class, hop off the 50 and hop on a bicycle with training wheels and ride around the pits.

My oldest girl that is eight, started on a PW50 at three. Rode that until six and got on a KX65. My youngest that is one just got one of those small battery powered quads to learn to push the throttle and turning skills. We do not ride every weekend so it is a slow go.

I bought my son a JR50 when he was 5, no training wheels. The good thing about most of the 50's out there is that you can regulate the speed via a throttle stop, you can usually lower the seat height as well. The first day he rode the JR50, he was practically having to push himself around since I had the throttle regulated so much. We just gradually "uncorked" the bike until we dumped the stops altogether. He's 9 now and just got a RM65 last Friday...now, we're learning how to do the whole clutch/gears thing.

Here's a Grandpa answer. The ex wouldn't let me teach my kids to ride until they were older.

With the Grandkids, we use the training wheels rule. It works great ! It also gets the training wheels off the bike sooner. I've got nine grandkid bikes in the garage now (from PW50's to YZ-85's, even have some older grandkids that own their own bikes). Nothing better than having kids and grandkids to ride with. Figgure to have great-grandkids to teach in about 10 years.

I got my son a 50 when he was 5.. he could ride without training wheels.. after a couple of days of riding in the yard I took him to the track to ride around the pits.. did great for about an hour until he started going faster.. didn't see the fence and ran right into it.. (it was one of those you see in parking lots with a pole and a metal wire between them) closed line him right off!! I ran over there and he didn't cry but wanted to.. didn't ride for 3 years again so we got him a 65.. too fast for him and he crashed hard again so he went to a KLX 110 for a year.. now he is back on a 65 and doing much better.. still finishing in the back of the pack but he is trying!!

[quote="Erik":33n931go]When did you get your son or daughter on a dirtbike for the first time. I'm thinking of not buying him a bike till he learns to ride a bicycle with no training wheels.

Any opinions?

Erik[/quote:33n931go]

That is a good rule to follow. You might also want to go with the PW when you do get the bike. My son was riding a bike without training wheels when he was four, or right around when he turned four, and we ended up getting him an XR50. He's a big kid for his age and the bike was still a little big for him. He's 5 now and he's just starting to fit it pretty good. Either way, as soon as we put him on it he could ride it no problem, but he was WIDE OPEN and the word "break" didn't even register! He has a bike now that has hand breaks so I'm hoping that will help him out with that breaking concept!

Late.


P

I used my three y.o. for cross training, he could ride a bicycle w/out training wheels but was just to little for the moto.

[img:39gsm9f4]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/TJ755/DSCN0549.jpg[/img:39gsm9f4]

Two years later, last fall.

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I did the "Get good on a BMX'er and we'll see about a scooter" and it seemed to not only motivate him, but made the transition to the PW very easy since he was already used to hand brakes.

Another piece of unsolicited advise I have is get him onto a 65 as soon as you can. Those 50cc race bikes are loud, obnoxious money pits.

[quote="SEEMEFIRST":2llc71zt]Another piece of unsolicited advise I have is get him onto a 65 as soon as you can. Those 50cc race bikes are loud, obnoxious money pits.[/quote:2llc71zt]
+ 1,000,000

[quote="SEEMEFIRST":14lwlcj1]I did the "Get good on a BMX'er and we'll see about a scooter" and it seemed to not only motivate him, but made the transition to the PW very easy since he was already used to hand brakes.

Another piece of unsolicited advise I have is get him onto a 65 as soon as you can. Those 50cc race bikes are loud, obnoxious money pits.[/quote:14lwlcj1]


We did the electric quad thing at 3, then the bike without training wheels. Got an XR70 at 7, rode that for about a year and a half, then the KX65/XR80 combo. He liked the 65, but I think he had his most fun riding the 80 around. He's a pretty smart kid, because one day he said he wished he had the engine of the XR80 and the suspension of the KX65 in the same bike!

My son is 12 and he is getting his first bike this year. Truth be told I am not looking forward to it, I have been trying to talk him into Karting or something else but he is set on a bike and unless I quit riding I feel like a hypocrite loading my bike up in front of him. He is a mature 12, and nothing is fast enough or no jump big enough for his bike. I am getting every piece of saftey item I can find and am keeping him off of the track for a long time.

[quote="APLMAN":2failv0n][quote="SEEMEFIRST":2failv0n]I did the "Get good on a BMX'er and we'll see about a scooter" and it seemed to not only motivate him, but made the transition to the PW very easy since he was already used to hand brakes.

Another piece of unsolicited advise I have is get him onto a 65 as soon as you can. Those 50cc race bikes are loud, obnoxious money pits.[/quote:2failv0n]


We did the electric quad thing at 3, then the bike without training wheels. Got an XR70 at 7, rode that for about a year and a half, then the KX65/XR80 combo. He liked the 65, but I think he had his most fun riding the 80 around. He's a pretty smart kid, because one day he said he wished he had the engine of the XR80 and the suspension of the KX65 in the same bike![/quote:2failv0n]
best of both worlds...
[img:2failv0n]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/TJ755/DSCN0746.jpg[/img:2failv0n]

My oldest son was 5 and I bought a JR50 for him however, his 3 year old brother took off on it better then he did. I was not going to let him ride it at three but, I figured not to much could happen in an open field. My oldest does not want anything to do with it and my 3 year old, now 9 next month, is still riding and wants to turn pro one day. (Good luck to him is all I can say)

I started my son on the Power Wheels truck at 18mos, their quad at 2 years, and a Suzuki LTA50 for his 3rd birthday. My intent was to wait on the quad until after he could ride a bike without training wheels, but by his 3rd b-day we had moved to the mountains, and teaching a kid to ride on a gravel covered downslope didn't seem like a good idea. Additionally, the hill around my house was so steep that without studs in the tires, the electric quad woudn't go up them, but with studs in the tires, it would strip the gears in the motors within 3 laps around the house. By 4 he was on a bicycle, and at 5 1/2 I put him on a KTM Pro JR. At 7 a RM65 appeared in the garage, and at 9, he's still on it.

My daughter is 3 1/2, and shows only a passing interest in riding "vroom-vrooms" at this point. No enthusiasm for riding her bike without training wheels (and I now live in the city- yuck), so there's nothing on the horizon for her at this time. Each kid is different, but I cannot see putting one on a dirtbike with training wheels, that's where quads come in.

[quote="OW38B":11tjovw2]4.......he was riding his bicycle for a few months without training wheels, jumped on the PW50 and he has never looked back.[/quote:11tjovw2]
same here for my youngest boy and my duaghter well her reward for no training wheels was a bike it took us a couple of years to get it but she rode the crap out of that polini now she's moved up to a ktm 65 but the whole clutch and gears is a slow learning curve with her but she's gettgin better and she still want to try and race the 65 when she gets faster.
my oldest boy rode with out training wheels so i convinced him to try dirt bikes... he got the hang of it quickly BUT instead of staying where i told himn to ride he decided to hit the track and was doing fine until he washed the front end out in a sweeper( as in high speed) and wadded up pretty good, well needless to say after that he wanted nothing to do with dirt bikes but he does love to ride his 4 wheeler...

ps my 2 yo rides a 6 volt quad and when she turns about 3.5 we'll probably let her have her 1st ride on the pw 50 as she loves it when i take her for a ride on the dirtbike...

My kids were both riding two - wheeled bicycles at 3 and had them both racing PW-50's when they were 4 and change.

A piece of advice that KIP WILLARD (dad of Michael Willard - name drop) gave me years ago, as his

kids started riding just before mine - Place a PW-50 on it's side, laying down with one grip touching the ground.

See if your boy can pick it up - this is a good test to see if he is ready as it tests his strength and ability

to control and maybe push it off of him if he goes down.

Also, if you buy a PW-50 brand new, not only do they have that throttle limiter screw, but they also

come with a washer in the exhaust that barely allows the 50 to get out of it's own way....

[quote="Rupert X":1ob3u3ht]My kids were both riding two - wheeled bicycles at 3 and had them both racing PW-50's when they were 4 and change.

A piece of advice that KIP WILLARD (dad of Michael Willard - name drop) gave me years ago, as his

kids started riding just before mine - Place a PW-50 on it's side, laying down with one grip touching the ground.

See if your boy can pick it up - this is a good test to see if he is ready as it tests his strength and ability

to control and maybe push it off of him if he goes down.

Also, if you buy a PW-50 brand new, not only do they have that throttle limiter screw, but they also

come with a washer in the exhaust that barely allows the 50 to get out of it's own way....[/quote:1ob3u3ht]

I too used the "If you can't pick it up, you can't ride it" rule. My kid had to ride his sisters PW50 until he figured this out.
There he was with a brand new KX65, and he couldn't ride it. It sorted that out pretty quick.

My son is 14 and he is getting his first bike shortly, he really wants to ride. I waited until now because even though I started racing at 7, I did suffer a few years of burn out when I was in my late teens. In fact 95% of the kids I raced with no longer ride bikes at all.

I think if your kid is OK on a MTB, BMX or can shred a skatepark you get a good idea if they are up to MX.

My son has been riding since 4. Racing since he was 10. He is now 17 and still racing as much as our schedules & budget allow.

I made him learn to ride a two wheel bike (took 1 day) and that was 2 days before he turned 4. Got his first bike at 4, a crf 50. Now he is 6, lovin every minute of it. 3and1/2 year old little bro is just now starting on his two wheeler bike, eyeballing the crf every day!

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