Kids onto dirt bikes - what age?

My buddy and I work with our kids fairly often on their 50s with training wheels. Both of them have just turned 3 and ride the wheels off of a strider. Get one. I take a bit of a different approach on the training wheels on the motorized bikes. I say run them. If the kid can learn throttle, steering, and brakes before his legs grow the extra 8 inches they need to touch the ground and hold the bike up i think that is good. I am trying to get my son tuned up on the controls instead of waiting until he can flat foot the bike and will have to learn all of it at once. My buddy has his boy riding without a "tow" at this point and the kid can go for hours without hitting anything and will ride it up into the garage, stop it with the brakes, and shut it off at the age of 3. Before the end of summer he will be riding without training wheels and will be doing the catch and release trick since his legs are too short.

 

My little bloke was on a strider at 18months.

10" pit pushy at 2.5
12" pit pushy at 3
Pw50 at 3.5
16" dirt jumper and a pw50 at 4
Ktm 50sx at 5
Racing dirt track on ktm 50 and 20" mtb at 6
Now 8 and on a 24" mtb and currently setting up a ktm 65 for mini supermoto.

Point is.. kids are far more adaptable and natural at riding then parents give credit for. Strictly no training wheels is the key to success imo. That and keep putting bigger/faster machines in front of them whilst they are mastering the current one. You dont need to rush them. Just make it available. The kids jump on the bigger/faster ones in their own time and usually before the parent expects them to.

Cheers.joe.

 

Strider at like 6 months..well that's when I bought it. Used it around 18 months, and at 6 yo they still use it around the house for indoor play. Both of my kids were able to ride a pedal bike a couple weeks after turning 3, and one learned in literally 1 minute, and the other one took like an hour(it probably was less, but between all the crying that her brother could do it, and she couldn't and then voila she did it, all smiles). Only kids in their class to ride without training wheels, and their friends have just gone to using scooters because they can't keep up with my twins.

IMHO, training wheels do more harm than good.

 

My son had a strider at one and almost learned to walk with it. We bought him a pedal bike last week (now 3) and kept the training wheels on so he could get comfortable with peddaling and you can see right away that he can't ride it. He's leaning and lifting the inside wheel trying to turn. I should've taken the training wheels off right away because now he's uncomfortable without them.

I told him that when he can ride the pedal bike he can have a dirtbike.

 

I think I read it here: the trick was to hold the seat, not the handlebars or anything, and let them pedal without the training wheels. One time of that up the driveway, and my son was good to go. like 10 times of that with my daughter and she was good to go. Eventually they'll start going faster than you and that's it.

 

Ya if I didn't let him try the training wheels he probably would have been ok. He's steering all crazy now on that bike when I tried holding the seat, put him on the strider and it's back to normal. I'm going to take the pedals/training wheels off it and make him go down the hill he likes on the strider so he can see it's the same and then add the pedals. Training wheels are going in the garbage where they belong.

 

Nathan went from his Strider to a pedal bike. He wouldn't even get on the pedal bike until I removed the training wheels.

 

If chronology held the answer, it would say "The age that allows him to reach the controls.
With a Strider, I imagine that would include reaching the ground.

 

Freakin Racer Dad...

 

I just have to get the yelling and bitching about everyone else is a cheater part down then we will really have something to offer the credit card companies.

 

3.5 years old??? NOW is the time. My daughter was pretty fearless at that age, but I made the mistake of waiting till she was 7 or 8 to get a pw50- by then she was scared of it, wouldn't even try to ride it. Only now at 16 has she shown interest in riding (getting ready to go thru the MSF class). Had I started her at 3, she'd be kicking all your asses on the track by now.

 

My marketing ploy is "She's a girl!"


(That should "trigger" somebody).

 

Are you assuming?!?!?!!?!

 

We gotta stop this line of discussion or off to the Dungeon we go...

 

From the joys of learning about kids dirt bikes to the dungeon by page two...just another day on the beeb

 

Sorry back on track.

 

Jake

What are you using for gear?

 

Work boots, gloves, goggles, and a helmet that fits (forgot the brand). Throttle screw set to a crawl speed- even i can let him get a ways out and run him down before disaster strikes.

 

Got it. When you get a minute, find out helmet brand and pass along. Tks.

 

Fulmer used to make a really small youth off-road helmet.

None of my big headed kids ever wore a youth helmet.