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on a pull-start Briggs and Stratton hard tail mini bike
and it's just the best fugging thing in the whole wide world.
A lot of Cobra riders graduated to Pro speed
The Shop
It may of been possible back in the day for raw talent like Dowd to make it to pro. But nowadays when you go to Loretta all these kids are gnarly. It will only get worse and worse really where the top 20 riders+ have been riding since 3-4 years old.
I figured if you related it to any other sport.... would any pro hockey player of picked up a stick at age 12? First time playing competitive soccer at 14, would he be FIFA bound?
Pretty common sense question if you ask me. The bond and technique you gain from riding young is priceless. Confidence in jumps especially.
The last thing i would worry about is a potential pro career for my kid when picking up a sport. 99,9% wont become a pro and 98% never have a shot at it. If becoming a pro is the mindset the kid will feel that and your just setting him up for failure.
I would suggest to start with fun. And always keep fun as the most important requirement for whatever sport your kid chooses.
After a while you can add things like goal setting. Imo goal settting, working hard for this, succeeding and also failing are an important part of the positive effects of a (individual) sport like motocross. However keep the targets big but somewhat realistic.
As for age: with todays battery playbikes for kids you can start at 3 if you'd like, but i'd say some where up to 5 or 6 it just stays "playing" in stead of a sport.
If your asking about fun local stuff I would just say get a trainer a few times a year. They will evolve your racing 10 fold real fast if you get the right guy. If you catch me somewhere u can get a ton of good info for cheap because I love teaching riders the frame. It's very easy for me to do in one class. I advise everyone reading this to invest atleast some time to being around a pro, and if you can find one that's current that knows how to explain stuff to slower riders or there friend latch onto what they say! Value in knowledge is your best upgrade. Even for some pros they need to invest in start classes. The race can be won or lost at certain races where start is everything.
Get serious early teens (if you want to bother)
There is a fair bit to of research in other sports how kids development of things like muscle memory doesnt happen until later in life.
Although they started young, none of these guys was great until they were older - RV, RD, ET.
It all starts on a bicycle. Almost all the skills carry over to motorcycles.
This is my 3 year old (at time of pic) who rides wheelies!
I am not in any hurry to have her on a Moto track but my deal with her since the beginning is that she needed to ride a bike without training wheels before she ever got on a motorcycle. It was good motivation for her to do it on her own and certainly provided an exciting goal for her. She reached that goal and the next day dad went out and picked up a pw.
Now she is 4 and riding her pw without any issue. If she wants to race she will. If not that's ok. For me it's really about the family time and learning little life leasons along the way.
My take on it is a bit different.. My son is a top level bmx kid - nag 1, factory team, etc. I have only allowed him to progress as I thought he understood the consequences of his actions. Basically, I didn't want my 5 year old to break his neck without understanding that meant he may never walk again. So, as he's grown & understood possible severity, I've released the reigns. Now it's anything goes, but there were a few years where I throttled him back & focused on skills / technique.
Pit Row
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