The CB1100 Community Forum

I'd start a kid on a dirt bike first. No question or second thought.

I was training my 6yr old son to ride his bicycle without the training wheels and got him an electric Oset 16R trails motorcycle and within a day he was able to ride the bicycle and motorcycle comfortably in the neighborhood/grass/mulch areas with no training wheels. Waiting to take him to the off road park to train on the Oset bike but it appears to be very comfortable to learn to ride with multiple power/speed/throttle response settings

Oset has bikes for different ages / inseams and I was about to get the adult version myself

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(08-16-2020, 11:18 AM)E11even_Hunnit_imp Wrote: [ -> ]Agree. Also, dirt tends to be more forgiving for inevitable rookie mistakes that would otherwise happen on the road.

In middle school, I started on a 49cc "mini chopper" toy bike. This was due to the fact that 2 kids in their teens had just been killed on a 110cc "pocket-bike" 2 weeks prior and made the news, unfortunately that was the style I wanted. The thought was the steering radius wider and therefore more favorable on the "chopper" and also a small 49cc 2-stroke was more tame. My father was very anti-motorbikes, so it was either that or nothing..

Later learned gears and clutch on a buddy's TRX ATV. 5 Years later, and after having owned multiple manual cars, I came across a TTR125 which I would sometimes ride on the streets, without a helmet(not very smart) But the bike solidified my desire to ride and own a street legal bike

Fast forward 10 years and a handful of bikes later, and I'm one of the few young guys on this predominantly "old-guy" board

I want my kids to ride one day, or at least know how to. I truly feel it's a basic human skill to have, much like changing a tire, shooting a gun. Except, gasoline motorcycles as we know them may actually face extinction in the next 50 years. Unfortunate

We prefer ‘venerable’.

Much obliged to all who responded!

At the very least, I will inform the recipients of my advice in just how much of a minority it happens to be

(08-15-2020, 04:45 PM)rotor_imp Wrote: [ -> ]I was recently asked about the advisability of getting an 11-year old a dirt-bike. I advised against it, proposing a street-legal ride insted.

The argument ~for~ was primarily that it is advantageous for a kid to develop his motorcycle riding skills as early as possible, earlier than he or she can legally ride one on public roads. This, in principle, is not something I would disagree with.

However, I much dislike what seems to be the "culture" of youngster dirt-bike-riding milieu. More aggressive use of terrain, more "tricks", more abuse of the machine, more and more spills made less dangerous by more and more protective gear... It is the last item btw. that bothers me most.

Instead, (and especially if money was no object) I would get the 11-year old something like Honda Cub. It is no option for city-dwellers, but in a more rural setting there are usually back roads and lanes to ride on. Awareness of traffic and road rules, defensive tactics in the company of the plentiful idiots that cohabit public roads (in every jurisdiction I know) and cooperation with good drivers and riders and understanding that there are collisions which no protective gear will make you survive should come before the maximum machine handling skills. Those that develop an itch to try real motor-cross competitions when they are old enough to understand the consequences of their endevors are of course perfectly entitled (and have my encouragement) to do so.

I would be quite interested in opposing opinions.

I have the same concerns. I live in a small rural town. A lot of kids ride dirt bikes and four wheelers. Earlier this year, a 12-year-old boy was tearing down a neighborhood street on his dirt bike. He hit a 7-year-old girl who was riding her bicycle. Thankfully, she only suffered bruises, road rash, and a bent-up bicycle. The kid on the dirt bike rode off and hid until the police found him.

That's not an argument against kids on dirt bikes or about of lack of traffic enforcement. It's really about parents who didn't teach their child to ride responsibly. Too many parents want their child to ride WFO and be aggressive in order to win the local Junior Motocross on Saturday.

That said, I grew up riding dirt bikes. I still do. My kids ride dirt bikes. We learn to ride them legally and respectfully. There's nothing wrong (and a lot right) with challenging yourself and improving as a rider, on dirt or on pavement. What's wrong is breaking laws and hurting others.

thats a typical theme for overthere.....

cuz here it's forbidden drive on public ground without liability insurance.......or only a farmer has enough private space......



or

for the public road /space there are clear rules on how the vehicles must be built / constructed....for exmp. none of these ""toy bikes"" meet these requirements

or

we have no (more) space for driving wild in the nature....or better it's just forbidden....
there are very few little separate extra nature slopes where it is allowed



or

there is only one way to go: to learn the traffic rules with permitted vehicles

I can't imagine not growing up on a dirtbike in the fields and woods...and greasy in the garage learning how to repair by trial and error- self taught.

I can remember being very young, riding my cousins little Honda 50 as my first memory of a dirtbike / motorcycle. A bunch of us kids in a field taking turns while the adults were bbqing and drinking beer.

That led to my father surprising me with a used '78 Yamaha GT 80 as my first bike. I remember being estatic and climbing on it, felt soo cool, like Fonzy


Which led to a lifetime of motorized vehicles and working on them.


Here is one of the last dirtbikes from my late years of 'youth'- an '83 Yamaha IT 250. DG pipe and silencer, ported, bigger piston, oval bore on the carb for more WOT airflow without loosing velocity, hot rod, 'turbo-crank' (cut grooves into the crank to mix the air inside the case), kevlar clutch plates, stiffer springs..probably forgetting stuff.






If you feel a dirtbike is unsafe... quads are fun too. I bought a TRX 70 for my nephew when he was 4 or 5.

Him and brother and friends rode it around the yard all the time.. while us adults bbq'd and drank beer.



Here is my old quad- cams, full pipe, jet kit, full skid plates, hand guards, winch on front, rear rack with cooler for sandwiches and beer, spare gas can, tow strap. Spot light on the handlebar to allow light to move while turning unlike the headlight.








Here is my current dirtbike- heavily modified and made to look like the old kawasaki's I grew up with...even installed a kick starter. Same motor as the quad as luck would have it- but with an FCR flatslide carb from the factory.







I don't leave anything stock. bikes, cars, house.. tune my home theater speakers and subs with microphones and software as well as my TVs with a light meter and computer software.



But yea.... dirtbike is a good idea.

my son at 5 with his first dirt bike



my son at 19 with his first street bike 83 GS 1100E Suzuki



My son at 40 with his MT 10 Yamaha (he is an excellent street bike rider, better than me I would say)



My son's two sons at 7 and 5 with their first dirt bikes (The older one got his first at 5 and handed it down to his little brother when he turned 5 and the older brother got a new one)



Someday they will be street bike riders too I'm guessing. I like the training they are getting now, and they both LOVE riding

That's pretty much the exact little honda 50 I first ever rode a motorcycle on... !!!

I used to ride a 250 Honda Four-Trax I had in the sand-toy capital of Glamis, CA. I wanted my son to ride it, too. On his first ride, in second gear, he went into a bush, and burned his leg on the exhaust pipe. That was it, no more of that. He's never rode anything with an engine again, but he rides road bicycles in competition, or used to, anyway. I was working on a plan to get my Grandsons a Honda Grom to share in TX, but the deal fell through. My BIL, a really good dirt/street rider, got his boy on a dirt bike at a young age, and now he's a really good street rider, but needed cash and sold his bike.