I need some tips regarding riding and children

[Steve Butters]

i cant really speak from experience, but i think a person should have atleast a year or two of single riding experience before having a passenger of any kind, especially a small kid...i wont even let my fiance ride with me, im confident in my riding, but i dont have much experience and i believe i should have more seat time before having somebody else at risk with me

[vroddave]

ok ok . Here you can take my advise as a golden ticket. Just Kidding. Anyways I have and still ride Bailey with me on the bike. No I don't have a belt for him to attach himself 2. as others have stated landing on him if anything were 2 happen not a good idea. I started riding him on the tank around the niehborhood when he was 4. I did this for 2 yrs. on his 6th birthday he went for a ride on the back to the whiteHall 4th of july parade. But he also had his own dirtbike and gear, and crashed several times. Now he has his own full face gloves and a very nice leather mesh padded Jacket. And is with me about 1 or twice a week. still not more than about a total of 10 miles. He loves bikenites @ hooters. But i do believe that 4 yrs. old is a little bit 2 small to be on the Back. Florida Rocks

[Artmageddon]

ok ok . Here you can take my advise as a golden ticket. Just Kidding. Anyways I have and still ride Bailey with me on the bike. No I don't have a belt for him to attach himself 2. as others have stated landing on him if anything were 2 happen not a good idea. I started riding him on the tank around the niehborhood when he was 4. I did this for 2 yrs. on his 6th birthday he went for a ride on the back to the whiteHall 4th of july parade. But he also had his own dirtbike and gear, and crashed several times. Now he has his own full face gloves and a very nice leather mesh padded Jacket. And is with me about 1 or twice a week. still not more than about a total of 10 miles. He loves bikenites @ hooters. But i do believe that 4 yrs. old is a little bit 2 small to be on the Back. Florida Rocks

I never meant that you He was strapped to you, but I thought he had a bungie with two handles that wrapped around you that he held onto just to extend his grip. Wasn't attached to either of you. Did I make that up or see it somewhere else?

Something like this:

http://pitposse.com/ourapabeha.html

Edited March 22, 2010 by Artmageddon

[Scruit]

Revive old thread for my input...

I've been riding for seven years. My boy is 6 1/2 and starts grade school this August. I'll be riding to and from work as much as I can now that I won't have daycare duty any more. He will take the bus to school and I'll pick him up from latchhkey in the evenings.

I'll be picking him up on the bike under the following conditions;

- rear seat / cissy bar with arm rests.

- he's tall enough to reach factory pegs with ease

- weather good

- distance will be 2 miles on a mix of 25 and 55 mph roads

- full gear: helmet/leathers/boots

- he wants to do it, not because I want him to do it

[Lost]

My 8 and 9 year old both ride. I have a back rest and side bags so they sit in a bit.

The biggest thing I have found is shoe laces. Make sure they are very short and tucked into their shoes.

Don't ride with them too long, both of mine fall asleep back while riding?????? no idea

[alienpi]

Don't ride with them too long, both of mine fall asleep back while riding?????? no idea

+1

[drew95gt]

I agree with what has been said, it is a decision that you need to make as a parent based on the childs level of understanding and the ability to follow rules while being a passenger. That said...I am a parent of two little girls, my soon to be 3 year old bugs me constantly to take her for rides on the bike and I won't let her. I told her that when she gets a year or two older I will get her a mini dirt bike of her own and that when she can ride that then she can go with me. Also, she is tall and smart for her age...as in she knows how to start my bike from watching me do it and knows where the horn and throttle are and how they work...I have a feeling I will have a hard time keeping her off of bikes when she gets older. She has it in her blood I think...I ride, her grandpa rides, and her great grandpa rides. My first time on the back of a bike was when I was 5 btw, and I remember being real scared at first so take it easy if and when you take your little guy out.

Edited May 23, 2010 by drew95gt

[AndyJ]

Those belts that attach the kid to you scare me. I wouldn't want to have them stuck to me in a crash; I think they'd get hurt far worse than falling on their own. My son and I had an incident on a snowmobile last winter, and I somehow ended up on top of him while we were sliding. I had my faceshield up, so my eyeport was packed full of snow, couldn't see a thing when we stopped sliding, and thought I killed him for a second. I got up and saw him standing there laughing his head off. He's 10, weighs about 125, and is used to impacts from football, so to him it was no big deal (that plus the 12-14" of snow rather than pavement).

He's been riding with me since he was 8, farthest he's gone is maybe 25mi but he wants to go to Vintage Days on a bike rather than via cage this year. He knows to keep feet on pegs, rules for getting on/off, etc, and we have some hand signals for slow down, I need to stop NOW, etc .

I think a lot of it will depend on the specific kid, they're all different with maturity and ability to follow rules.

[Titanium Cranium]

I started riding my son when he turned 5 (lived in Arizona then and the minimum age for a child to be out of a car-seat is 5). I was also a fairly new rider but I was very confident in my riding ability. If I wasn't sure of my abilities I wouldn't even consider riding my kid. I started him off on short rides to his school and back and occasionally to my brothers house about 7 or 8 miles away. He did great and had logged thousands of miles on the back of my bikes. For about the first year I did have him ride on the front seat with me (still behind me though) because on my Gixxer it had him fitting snug between myself and the rear seat. I was confident in my riding ability and his ability to follow my instructions. He's even gone for a hot parade lap on my bike at California Speedway before an AMA event at age 9 I think and never had a problem. If you're going to ride your 4 year old, first I would STRONGLY urge you to log plenty of miles yourself first to be confident in your riding ability, and start off with very short rides. I would strongly urge you to check with your local law enforcement agency about age requirements because they should be able to let you know of any issues with it. But use sound judgement in your decision to ride or not ride you kid.

[swingset]

I waited until my daughter was 13 and I had many years under my belt before considering it. I wanted her to be sure of it, able to be a good pillion, and also mature enough to understand the consequences.

She took her second "big" ride with me today, had a great time.