My son's 1st cross country ride.

[ChipBeck_imp]

Gentlemen,

When my son Charley was 12 months old and barely walking I bought him an electric quad to ride. At age two he received a Honda Z50 Mini-trail with training wheels and a governor on the throttle. It took a couple years before he mastered that little bike without training wheels. As he grew up riding with me in the dirt a succession of Honda's rode with him. XR70, XR100, XR125, and now a CRF250X. He has always wanted to ride on the street and that made me nervous as I only have one child and he's as much of an adrenalin junkie as I am. Still, I told him that if he graduated from Texas A&M in 4 years or less I would buy him a new Ducati (his dream ride) which isn't exactly the best starter street bike. I decided to buy that Ducati a year early with the stipulation that he could only ride it when he was with me until I had his diploma in hand. This gave me a few months (when he was home from Texas) to teach him street survival and road riding technique.

Two weeks ago he completed his final classes earning a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in Finance from the Mays School of Business at Texas A&M and I signed the title over to him. He loaded one of my Cortech bags up, strapped it to his passenger seat, and took off from our home in Scottsdale, AZ headed for California on his first solo motorcycle trip. First LA where he stayed overnight with friends, then up the coast all the way to Crater Lake in Oregon.

I made a similar trip right after I graduated from college on a Harley Davidson Sportster. Charley says he's enjoying the best riding of his life and having a blast. Start them young, give them the best training you can, and pray for their safety every night. Cheers.

Chip

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[emptysea]

Congratulations to both of you. I hope to do something similar with my own son in a couple of years. Great pictures, too.

[Pterodactyl_imp]

Great story and photographs. It is a source of joy, pride and fear to see the fledglings fly from the nest for the first time.

Cheers

[immgunn_imp]

Great posting. Thanks.

[the Ferret]

awesome. Chip.... hard to watch them ride off, and relieved when they return. You hope what you have taught them sinks in, and they heed the warnings.

Our son's share similar histories and my son always wanted a Ducati as well, and ended up with a Monster, to share the garage with his FZ-1. Now his son ( my grandson) is getting to the point of being ready to ride a training wheel equipped mini. Maybe next year.

Great pics

[redbirds_imp]

Wonderful to see the young ones try out their new wings Chip. Congrats to you and your son.

[Rick Froscheiser_imp]

Very kool. Great pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[EGAlvarez_imp]

Those pictures are making me miss my old air cooled Monster! Congratulations to both of you. I can't imagine the stress involved with seeing my son ride off on a street bike on day.

[the Ferret]

Eddie.. Watching them right off not so bad, waiting for them to come back is the tough part

[rboe]

Not the best time of year - for this area - to ride; once he hits the coast though.....