Introducing kids to motocross

Don't push. They either like it, or could care less.

My $.02 is no training wheels on the PW. Don't put him/her on anything with 2 wheels and a motor until they can ride a regular bike. When we did it they didn't have those "balance" bikes they have now but I'd start with one of those, then a regular pedal bike to learn the basics. Once they understand balance, turning, braking and can skid, tip over, pick the bike up and start pedaling around again like it's second nature, then introduce the pw, probably age 4-5. More than once I've seen friends kids get on a pw or whatever before they have any balance or 2 wheel skills, crash and probably feel the most pain they've experienced up to that point in their lives, and then they're over it. Let them get the basic skills down on a regular old bicycle first. All I have after that is keep it fun and light hearted. If he or she isn't doing some jump some other kids are doing so what who gives a shit. Just tell them to have fun, they'll have their whole lives to try and go fast. It's hard not to want to push them because we love the sport so much, but I've seen a couple kids lose interest when the parents wanted the kids to ride, more than the kids wanted to ride. As long as you keep it fun they'll get hooked and you'll have riding buddies for life. Good luck and enjoy ! They grow up faster than you think !


All fun and innocent then before you know it they're doing this and making you shit your pants

Don't put them on a KTM or Husqy 50 straight up.

Get them golf clubs.

sumdood wrote:

My $.02 is no training wheels on the PW. Don't put him/her on anything with 2 wheels and a motor until they can ride a regular bike. When we did it they didn't have those "balance" bikes they have now but I'd start with one of those, then a regular pedal bike to learn the basics. Once they understand balance, turning, braking and can skid, tip over, pick the bike up and start pedaling around again like it's second nature, then introduce the pw, probably age 4-5. More than once I've seen friends kids get on a pw or whatever before they have any balance or 2 wheel skills, crash and probably feel the most pain they've experienced up to that point in their lives, and then they're over it. Let them get the basic skills down on a regular old bicycle first. All I have after that is keep it fun and light hearted. If he or she isn't doing some jump some other kids are doing so what who gives a shit. Just tell them to have fun, they'll have their whole lives to try and go fast. It's hard not to want to push them because we love the sport so much, but I've seen a couple kids lose interest when the parents wanted the kids to ride, more than the kids wanted to ride. As long as you keep it fun they'll get hooked and you'll have riding buddies for life. Good luck and enjoy ! They grow up faster than you think !


All fun and innocent then before you know it they're doing this and making you shit your pants

Nail on the head. Saw lots of kids at the track whose fathers push them finish up once they were brave enough to say no FU.

When i was a kid, i was in an environment where i knew nothing other than moto. No football, no baseball etc.. once i was 6-7 i was on an xr70. Every weekend we rode in the back yard. Today its the same. All i know is moto. Dont care about stick and ball sports whatsoever.

I was one week from being 4 years old when i got my JR50. I could not even ride a bicycle yet but the first time i got on the bike i rode it no problem. It was very obvious dirt bikes were my passion. Before i got my bike i constantly ran around cracking the throttle and making 2 stroke noises. It did not hurt that all my uncles and friend would ride in the field across from my grand parents house. I would watch for hours and stare at their dirt bikes parked in the garage.
Use to love sitting on them and going for rides where they would actually let me steer and turn the throttle. Remember this was before i was even 4 years old. My opinion on the matter is only by him a dirt bike if he shows interest. Putting him on a bike without any interest can and could possibly end up in a severe accident.
My kid just turned 1 last week and this is the approach i will be taking.

I agree with sumdood. None of my kids started untill they could ride a bicycle. Each was around 4 or 5 and it has worked out good for us. 2 are now racing and the 5yr old daughter rides her pink pw around the pits literally singing and laughing. Its so cute. Oh and I also agree on skipping the training wheels on dirtbikes. Also push them around on it at first and make them hit the brakes a few times, enough that its second nature to them. Saw each of my kids have close calls with a vehicle or building when first starting and grab a HANDFUL of brakes in almost a panic. Saved there butts and made me proud.

sumdood wrote:

My $.02 is no training wheels on the PW. Don't put him/her on anything with 2 wheels and a motor until they can ride a regular bike. When we did it they didn't have those "balance" bikes they have now but I'd start with one of those, then a regular pedal bike to learn the basics. Once they understand balance, turning, braking and can skid, tip over, pick the bike up and start pedaling around again like it's second nature, then introduce the pw, probably age 4-5. More than once I've seen friends kids get on a pw or whatever before they have any balance or 2 wheel skills, crash and probably feel the most pain they've experienced up to that point in their lives, and then they're over it. Let them get the basic skills down on a regular old bicycle first. All I have after that is keep it fun and light hearted. If he or she isn't doing some jump some other kids are doing so what who gives a shit. Just tell them to have fun, they'll have their whole lives to try and go fast. It's hard not to want to push them because we love the sport so much, but I've seen a couple kids lose interest when the parents wanted the kids to ride, more than the kids wanted to ride. As long as you keep it fun they'll get hooked and you'll have riding buddies for life. Good luck and enjoy ! They grow up faster than you think !


All fun and innocent then before you know it they're doing this and making you shit your pants

I agree with everything this man said. The only difference is that I went with the JR 50. Only reasoning was that I liked the fact that he learned immediately where the rear brake was (meaning the same place every MX bike has it), and the fact that he had to physically put the bike in gear with a shifter to make it move. But sumdood nailed it, essentially the same path I took. Congratulations on your little miracle, treasure every second! They grow so fast, mine is in college now ?

My son and nephew started right when they were 2 on a PW50 and KDX50 with training wheels. I got a lot of exercise running with a leash hooked to the metal bar under the rear fenders.

How do you say "no" to a 2 year old who unfolds the kicker and can barely say "start it daddy"? I have a CDL and drive over the road. The last thing I felt like doing was running on a leash after a long day smelling like a truck driver. But I did it every time (even in dirty jeans and work boots ) just to see them happy.

When he was 6 months we used to put him to sleep slow poking around the field on the 4 wheeler. When he was 1 he'd get up every day and want a ride before breakfast. It was funny how he'd get all excited and start running towards the garage for a ride.

My daughter just turned 2. All summer while she was 1, she begged to ride with me on my pitbike and Alta. If she didn't get a ride it would result in a meltdown. She'll be riding and wearing me out in the spring.

My advice is run with a Pw50 on a leash. You need the exercise anyhow if you're going to sit on your ass all day like I do!

1.Get your wife to buy into each new stage. She can make or break this any time she wants by steering the child away without you even knowing it. She'll have a much closer bond in the first few years. Do not skip this step.

2. Set the example with your passion. Don't force them to like it

3. Get them motorcycle toys (like Hotwheels type stuff) and show them how to play with them

4. Race them (running or walking) as much as possible so that they see it's fun to race and beat someone. Also, whenever they fall down, point out that it doesn't hurt to fall. This will give them the right attitude later on.

5. Strider ---> Pedal bike ---> PW/CRF 50. No training wheels. (The pedal bike is most important step. Get a high quality one that is designed properly. Cheap Walmart bicycles have the wrong ergonomics and make it very hard to keep your balance. Also, I see a lot people go to Stacyc instead of pedal bike. In my opinion learning to keep balance while pedaling side to side or pushing on Strider and learning with their body how power connects to foward motion and provides control is better for development than learning throttle control at 3 years of age.) The PDUB should come when they are ready or have mastered the bicycle. You try to push this too early and it will end it. One big fall and it can be game over.

5. Always make it about fun and spending time together; not trying to get better. Remember the learning cycle they are on. Just to stay upright they are trying to get better, every little hill is huge for them and tests their courage. And,more than anything in the world they want to spend time with YOU. So they already feeling a ton of pressure when you combine all that. So make sure it's fun or they'll walk away.

6. Find a friend, brother or cousin for them to ride with. That will make it way more fun.

My dad took me to a pro National when I was 3 at high point. I remember how awesome it sounded and how cool the riders looked. And consequently I Haven’t been able to stfu about dirtbikes ever since......

1) balance bike
2) pedal bike
3) pw50 - no training wheels
4) don't worry about what age they start racing. this is for fun. they will let you know where they are at.

Dad also said. Learn to ride bicycle with no training wheels and I’ll get ya a dirtbike. Training wheels were off that day.

I think the kid will show all the motivation. You don’t have to do anytning as a parent except introduce them and give them a small task to see if they’ll accomplish it for a dirtbike m....

I have a 3yr and 5yr old daughters. Both know how to ride their PW50 but neither of them really care for it. I encourage it but don't push. But what I do promote is them to come to the races and such with me, work on the bikes together etc... At the very least they are not afraid of bikes and if they don't like it now, maybe they'll come around in the future.

That being said, I am both excited and bummed that they don't really care for bikes. It allows me to go and experience things that I might have never done before. Both my daughters love ballet, dancing, art and swimming. So watching them learn is equally the same as in learning too.

I grew up with 5 siblings and even though my sisters and brothers all have their motorcycle licences and know how to ride, they never got into it like I am.

mikec265 wrote:

My son and nephew started right when they were 2 on a PW50 and KDX50 with training wheels. I got a lot of exercise running with a leash hooked to the metal bar under the rear fenders.

How do you say "no" to a 2 year old who unfolds the kicker and can barely say "start it daddy"? I have a CDL and drive over the road. The last thing I felt like doing was running on a leash after a long day smelling like a truck driver. But I did it every time (even in dirty jeans and work boots ) just to see them happy.

When he was 6 months we used to put him to sleep slow poking around the field on the 4 wheeler. When he was 1 he'd get up every day and want a ride before breakfast. It was funny how he'd get all excited and start running towards the garage for a ride.

My daughter just turned 2. All summer while she was 1, she begged to ride with me on my pitbike and Alta. If she didn't get a ride it would result in a meltdown. She'll be riding and wearing me out in the spring.

My advice is run with a Pw50 on a leash. You need the exercise anyhow if you're going to sit on your ass all day like I do!

I myself started riding with training wheels, but not the nice big ones they have now when i was just over 2 my dad tells me (i dont remember anything before the age of about 5 or 6) and he had to take them off right away because he could tell they were making it harder for me to ride.

I put some training wheels (the new bigger, better ones) on my recently turned 4 yr old daughter's pw in the summer and did the leash thing. It worked really well and although it is a pain running around following her, she had a blast and I cant wait until spring so we can get her riding more. My son will be 2 in January so i will most likely get him on the pw next summer as well. They both always ask to ride and/or ride with me on my bike or when I cruise around on the four wheeler or pit bike so I think its safe to say they are hooked. For Christmas I got my daughter all new plastic for her pw among other things. I feel that when you have a parent that is very passionate about something, no matter what it is, kids naturally also get into it as they want to be like their parent. That is how I got into moto and I believe that is how my kids will get into it. If they don't though, I will be bummed but still support them in anyway I can with their own passions.

I was able to do it! My 3 year old is hooked this morning on the way to daycare he was going through pictures on my phone and asked when we were going to monster mountain again? This is the route I went at his 1 year birthday I got him a strider bike and had to take the seat off cause he wasn’t tall enough. I also let him ride it around in the house which kept him on it morethis also lead to repainting the walls this year from him bumping into them all the time ha. When he finally got good on it as in ride down a slope with his feet up he got a clearly bicycle which is very pricey but it was longer then a normal kids bike and the seat is way lower he is 29 weeks at this point. We had a church just down the road with a very very slight down hill I took him to it and he would coast down it and try to pedal which he was just learning the motions. Fast forward to his 3 year old birthday he got a Stacyc bike he jumped on it a week earlier in the local motorcycle shop and whiskey throttled into some bikes ha but he had the balance! Now he can ride any track and has awesome form of gripping with his legs cause of the stacyc ergonomics. Now he is 3 and half he is getting a pw50 for Christmas and we’re going to monster mountain for a week of riding and couldn’t be happier!

kage173 brought up a good point about getting your wife involved too. I bought mine an RT180 and luckily for me she got hooked too. Hope you got some chee$e set aside for this moto life you seek hahaha.

My kids were born around it. It's just what our family has done. I'm third generation moto in my family. So naturally the kids were drawn to it. They've been going to the track since before they could walk. With that said, we bought them both bikes but never pushed it on them. We have introduced them to everything else so far from basketball, football, soccer, baseball and gymnastics for my daughter. They have interests in all the other sports, but always come back to moto being first choice. We don't push it on them at all. If they don't want to do it, that is totally fine with me! I hope they want to, but I won't be too upset if they don't want to do it when they get older.

If they want to do it on their own, you won't have to encourage them, and if they don't, I wouldn't push it. My daughter has been watching moto since she was a baby and now she's 4 and we watch it together all the time.She's been to two nationals at Hangtown and had a blast. She loves anything with two wheels. She saw make-up to mud, and said "Daddy I want to race and fall down and get up and try again." That tugged the heartstrings for sure.
I won't ever push her into racing because of the danger. But if she is hell bent on doing it, I'll help her. I'm already coaching her on Strider bike technique. Kids naturally gravitate towards bikes and excitement and motion.

Typically kids replicate their parents up to a certain age. Keep it fun.
1. Strider
2. Pedal bike
3. Stacyc
4. Pw50

Thanks for all the recommendations! Like most of you said the main thing I'm focused on is making whatever they're into as fun as possible and fully supporting whatever they end up following. Really like the idea of the balance bike. Hopefully they enjoy it, but either way I'm looking forward to enjoying my new title as Dad.

Bicycle until they have good balance and then plenty of time in a field or yard to get the confidence up.

Don't make the mistake I made taking my daughter to a mini cycle track. Z 50 w/ fat tires on a just watered mini track with other kids and her first crash there and she was over it.

Fast forward 2 years and she is now riding my KLX110 in the yard again. I blame myself.

i have a 6 month old boy, and i am here nor there if he gets into moto,

with the injuries i have had, the deaths of friends, and friends disabled due to this sport makes me think golf could be quite fun,

but in saying that, the sport has also given me some unbleiveable highs with racing, meeting great people and travelling the world watching racing, so that side of it is a big up,

ill go with what is above, stider bike first, then pedal bike, and then onto a jap 50, and then keep going if he is keen to it,

Mine was on a Stryder at 12 months, and had a Stacyc at 2 years. He was riding his Stacyc with zero help, full throttle before his 3rd birthday. He’s 3 1/2 now and I’m currently working with him to learn how to ride a pedal bike. Too early to tell if the sequence I’m doing it in is ideal, but he had throttle control and balance before 3 so can’t be too bad.

My daughter had zero interest in riding. At age 6 I bought her a XR50 and after much cajoling she rode it. Twice. It meant about as much to her as an old pair of shoes in the garage.

My son started riding a quad at 3, a KTM 50 at 5 and it just snowballed from there. Today he works at the local motorcycle dealer, is stupid fast on a track, and is just a moto head. That said, from a long term standpoint, I wish he saw golf as something awesome, but he thinks it's gayer than Liberace in a feather boa. I think he'd make millions every year for several decades.

Good luck.

first of all, congrats! My wife and I are having our first kid in April, and we found it its gonna be a boy. Im pumped, shes less so. Anywho, her and I are fans of opposite NFL teams, but she gave me a choice. I can either choose to try and influence him to be a fan of my team or try to influence him in moto. I chose moto and let her get to pick the team (at least until he's old enough to decide if he likes football or his own team). I don't have any plan to push him into moto, but you bet your ass ill be introducing it to him as early as possible to have him grow up with it. I've always wanted to be a moto dad, and since I was always a bitch when it came to riding (still am) I hope to live vicariously through him. As long as its what he wants to do, there definitely wont be any pushing him to do anything he didn't want to, just like my parents never pushed me into anything.

As far as the parenting advise goes, the best thing you can give them is your time. I've been around trucks my whole life, and my dad is still driving at 77 years old and 50sum years of experience. Use the video talk apps. I would suggest trying to get a dedicated run that gets you home more. If you can work on your own truck, you may even consider being an owner operator for one of the better companies like Landstar. I own a chemical tanker company, but I have plenty of experience with van and flatbeds too. Feel free to PM me if you are looking for a more family friendly company. I don't have a position for you, but I know a lot of people and companies. I'm at the point where I will only hire old school owner operators with e-log exempt trucks, or a well experienced team to pull my trailers.