starting age

[TP thunder]

what age do you think i should buy my boy a motorbike. He is 2 1/2 and rides a two wheeler push bike with trainer wheels. I rekon i'll be taking those off by the time he is 3.

 

[Y2Z]

youngest ive ever seen race was a 4 year old, had a little PW 50 and he wasnt to bad on it.

 

[Racer#213]

i'd say once he can ride a 2 wheeler w/ out training wheels, and can control it to if he's gonna hit a tree he will turn and not panic and go into it.

 

[Senior KX Rider]

My youngest was 2 1/2 the first time he rode his JR. He did not show a lot of interest right away and did not ride a lot till he was 4

 

[Vytas]

Both of my boys started right around four.  Both rode a JR50 prior to riding a bicycle w/o training wheels.  If you get something soon it is a good idea to let them sit on it and go over things - Like how to stop;  How to go; different parts of the bike.  Worked for me.  Good Luck.

 

[KTM Mike]

I think it all depends on the kid. Both my kids started at age 5, and as it turned out that was to early. My oldest was not ready at all - ended up scaring him off from bikes for good (so far at least up to age 12) - now he will only ride a quad! My youngest started out great, then seemed to loose interest - and now at age 10 is finally starting to become more interested. There is no magic formula!

 

[Skitspuce]

Started my son on his 5th b-day. Never ridden a bike without training wheels, but took to the JR50 perfectly. Couple of horrific looking crashes from panic-freeze, but kids crash like rubber chickens, nothing broken.

 

[hp500efi]

My two oldest boys started at age 5 & 6 and that was on a Honda Z50. This was in early 1998. A few years later, they graduated to a XR80 and today they are riding a TTR-125L and KX65.

If the kids are interested in riding, that is a good age to start. I started out with my big butt on the back of the 50 with them so that they felt comfortable and that made a big difference. My youngest Son did not show a great interest in riding at that young of age so I let it be. Now that his bigger brothers are riding very good, he now wants to ride and is getting better at it.

 

[GT3Jay]

I just started my oldest on a pw50, he is 4. After several hours of stop and go's and crashes, he is getting the hang of it. He learned to ride his bicycle without the training wheels at the same time. In retrospect, I think he would have picked up the motorcycle quicker if he had already learned to ride the bicycle w/out training wheels.

I think the decision will vary from kid to kid. In my case he had already worn out the training wheels on his bike and had worn out one of those electric quads. Best of luck, it is a lot of fun..... enjoy it.

 

[94ruck]

Mine started at 3.5 years. We went over the controls before every ride and if he missed something he couldn't ride. He is now 13. He likes to MX and we race Hare scrambles. he is the fastest in practice but doesn't fair well in the races. He has won several important MX races in the past but we race more hare scrambles now for a less risk factor(I have seen way too many broken up kids). I think that my son doesn't like to push himself and he slows when he tires. I have not triedto make him the next RC or Lafferty. i want him to enjoy motorcycling all of his life. We do go playriding and camping alot. he always hangs with us through the gnarliest terrain and is always the first to want to ride. Who knows...as long as he has fun!

 

[willtygart]

I asked Tony Alessi one day how to turn your kid into a great rider. I wasn't into MX myself but my son was really into it and I wanted to support him. Tony said to let your child dictate the pace always. Don't hold them back and don't push them to hard. Always offer praise and hold back the negative. I have tried to live that and it seems to work.

 

[TP thunder]

awesome cheers guys

 

[200Proof1]

I say it all depends on the kid. My son was riding his bicycle w/o training wheels at 3 & jumping ramps at 4. So on his 5th b-day we got him a PW50, he took to it with no problems & by 5 1/2 he was racing it & braking the shocks on it trying to get big air on the jumps. He just turned 8 & is racing a KTM Pro Sr, which he has broke the frame 6 times now by jumping 50' tabletops & 65' doubles.

I personally wouldn't put a kid on a motorcycle til he can ride a bicycle w/o training wheels.

 

[Jasle]

Both of our sons rode a bicycle before they were 3 without training wheels. The older one we bought a pw when he turned four. The younger one is just 3.5 now and rides the PW50 without training wheels. The trick for us was to attach a rope to the back hoop under the fender. I'd run along behind him and act as his brake should he need my help. He couldn't squeeze the brake hard enough to stop himself. Several times he crashed out and scared himself off the bike for a few weeks. Now he wants to ride all the time. He still just puts. Big brother Flies. Hits big doubles and does not break his frame because he is on a Cobra. (snicker , snicker, wink, wink sorry had to jab at those KTM riders. Seems everyone that rides them fairly hard breaks frames. Its about the only think bad about the bike. Both Cobra and Polini use 7/8" frames and they don't break very often.)

 

[mxchamp85]

Im just a fourteen year old, but i've seen enought kids at races to know that you cant start them unless they want to. Motocross is supossed to be fun, not forced upon you. I would say start your kid when he/she feel comfortable. I know that its hard to take advice from a kid, but that advice may be more benificial than asking people specific ages. Dont force motocross upon your kids. It would be better if they pick it up later in life and enjoy it, then scaring then at an early age, and have them never want to ride again.

 

[Chili]

Originally posted by mxchamp85
I know that its hard to take advice from a kid, but that advice may be more benificial than asking people specific ages. Dont force motocross upon your kids.

I know that it's hard to take advice from an adult, but that advice may be more benificial than making assumptions. No where in TP Thunder's original post does he make any reference to motocross.

 

[jcramin]

My son started riding on my street bike with me when he was 2 and got his own dirt bike when he was 6. My daughter turns 3 in November, she will have a new XR50 under the xmass tree.

J

 

[Jasle]

jcramin, the xr50 has a pretty tall seat heigth for a little one. The jr and pw50 are both lower inthe seat. Not a big deal when they are on training wheels but makes a huge diff when they want the wheels off.

 

[jcramin]

BUT, the XR50 has more aftermarket ADULT parts for when she does out grow it ...... :)

J

 

[Jasle]

is that for when she grows or when you want to ride it? 8*) I know I had a blast riding my kids xr!

 

[jcramin]

HONESTLY ??????????? When she out grows the XR50 I will buy her a new bike then the XR50 WILL BE MINEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee I cant wait.

LOL

J

 

[Wolf]

My son started when he was 3.5
He rode a bike w/o training wheels at 3. We started him on a JR and he is now on a Husky jr. Hitting jumps, small doubles, blowing up motors...
His sister, now 4, shows very little interest so far.