Topic: My kids working out the finer points of wheelies

[Objectionableone]

Gotta start somewhere 

[heffay]

sweet!... i wish i had toys like that when i was a kid 

[Objectionableone]

Some fresh blacktop in the neighborhood and it was on!

[ElCheapo]

Wish I had one of those when I was a kid.  The old BMX had to do. And after crashing my uncles go cart and pinning it against my grandmas house and some how blowing all the fins off the flywheel after a super fast run to ruin (which he still has - about 30 years old now) that killed that possibility. Funny my grandma stood by in my defense after I destroyed that flywheel.  You know,, it was his fault. We now laugh about it.

I swear that thing went 50! Atleast. It was a crazy ride down the street while he hung on the back. I swerve hard into a parking lot, make a tight 180 and scream back out, narrowly escaping be bashed over by a car and then race 2 blocks down the street at light speed. LOL and turn into my Grandmas drive (gravel) spin out and pin that bugger right into the house like a bullet. 

[Paul]

Maybe we should have a poll....How young is too young, or when is old enough.
My young man is a bit of a nutter on wheels, Forgot the brakes one day and went clean and fast out over the garden wall, which is five feet up from the road. Came in and asked if I could get his bike back in....Lucky boy.
Latest one ...he fell on his scooter and the handlebar end caps were gone??, (I never noticed) Bars fell vertical and the poor child came down on them, cut / punched a tubular hole out of his upper and lower lip, Lifted it right off like a flap.
Then he says...after getting stitches and plastics..."Dad, I don't really want a Quad from Santa, I think I'd be afraid.....
10 Mins later   _____ 0-0...((I was denied motorised wheels when I was a kid, But that seems a cruel fate to deliver on him for my fear, even with all the gear, training and supervision..

[Gordon]

Considering all the trouble I was able to get into as a kid with just a regular old BMX, I have a feeling my kids will be at least 13 before they'll have anything with a motor.  But then my wife and I don't have any yet (enjoying it while we can), so we don't have to worry about that for a while. 

[dusterdude]

yea,i couldnt get anything close to a motorcycle when i was a kid.damnit

[ElCheapo]

Paul, it just sounds like he needs one of those cool full face BMX helmets. I can say if I had boys they would be on bikes as soon as I thought they would not do one of those funniest home video moves and careen across the street and slam into the nieghbors car.

Yes my youngest girls deserve the chance too, but I am not so sure they could do it yet. I got a Honda CB 450 Nighthawk for my 18 year old daughter. It came in as a cheap score so when she showed interest in it, I said it's yours. Paint it anyway you like. Just working through some of the mechanical details for the spring rides.

[Objectionableone]

So far , other than a scrape or two, no injuries, thank goodness. There have been plenty of accidents, highsides, loops, tanks slappers - check out the lack of plastic bodywork on the silver bike, it's all busted off.

Watching the boys set up a track and race around it is pretty exciting.  For me, better than Rossi and Hayden.

I didn't have anything to ride as a kid either, but I'm making up for it now. 

[cbjunkie]

i can say from the child's perspective the way NOT to go about it is to outright BAN the thought...it will A: make the kid resent you, B: make him run out and get one, C: make him afraid of them - then it may take forever for you to be able to share the experience with him...

just my two cents...

[Dennis]

We put my baby brother on a Yamaha mini-Enduro when as soon as we could con my mother into allowing it. I guess he was probably about 11. He doesn't even ride anymore.

I have his last bike here (which I had to rescue). It is a '75 Honda Elsinore Enduro purchased as a leftover in '76. He was 16 and couldn't buy it legally, when I found the title, it was in my mother's name.

[cafe69]

This is my first reply on this site, but after reading this it brought back so many good memories of my childhood and motorcycles, it just made my day!

Got my first bike (honda xr75) when I was 12, and my 2 brothers and I didn't even shut it off for 2 days! Spent lots of time camping with our little bike gang (all my buddies had something too) Would come home from school do my chores and homework and be gone till dark. Had great places to ride even had an old gravel pit for hill climbing. Man those were the days!!

I've been riding ever since and now my 2 son's are into the street bikes after a few years of dirt bikes and quads. Working on a 76 550 cafe for my 19 year old college student.

[Buffo]

My first bike was a 90cc italian made harley davidson. it had small wheels, maybe 12 inch, but it was an on/off road thing with a standard clutch shifter set up...My Dad brought it home for me when I was SIX (6) years old...I was told I was shifting between first and third in two weeks...

Maybe that was a little young...but I never got seriously hurt and I had a  great time...I love motorcycles...always have...I do remember "helping" maintain the bike...

as young as you can...each individual kid is different...hell...it is more dangerous sending your kid to get a gallon of milk at the corner market...maybe?

[heffay]

speaking of kids and gallons of milk...

when you were a kid did you ever attach plastic milk containers to your bmx handlebars and launch yourself into oblivion... or perhaps a river or lake?  man that was fun!

btw... the milk jugs keep yer bike afloat 

[Terry in Australia]

I bought a Yamaha Omaha 80 (long forgotten, couldn't even find one with Google) from a guy for 5 bucks when I was about 10, after learning how to ride on my big sis' Honda C50 scooter, I delivered newspapers on my bicycle and bought a go cart with a Royal Enfield 350 single cylinder engine from a mate, that's do a genuine 105 Mph! I bought my first SOHC 750 (a shiny new F1) when I was barely 18, and nearly killed myself on two occasions...............

I frightened my two sons too many times on the back of my bikes, then tried to teach them to ride on a Montesa King Scorpion 250 which was pretty much the end of their motorcycling experience. I'm hoping that one day they'll want to try again, but in a way I don't mind, it seems there's a lot more cars on the road than in 1969, and I couldn't bear the thought of them getting hurt. If it happens, it happens, and there's plenty of bikes in my garage for all of us! Cheers, Terry.