Concerns with Influencing Your Kids towards Street Bikes?

Does anyone who rides street have any concerns about influencing your kids in that direction? I ride both dirt and street. And, my kids have grown up riding dirt. I go back and forth on this issue.

This is going to sound snarky, but we're not talking doing drugs or joining the tea party here (oh behave ). Why would a migration to street riding be a bad thing for anyone? Or a migration to dirt for that matter. They ride, they enjoy...all good, right?

Nwpa - to be clear, I love motorcycles and most of the people I know who are involved with them. That's not the issue. Do you have kids? Have you ever experienced the loss of close loved one from a motor vehicles crash? Have you ever looked at the street bike statistics for young adults? If you are not a Dad, then I don't think it's possible for you to understand this concern
I never would have understood.

If you don't want your kids to ride street , then YOU shouldn't either. You're being a hypocrit.

Agree. That is part of the issue I'm wrestling with. I'll give up the street side if I decide I want to stop influencing them towards it.

In the Hurt study, riders who grew up riding dirt were statistically under-represented in crash statistics.

I'd say to get them into an ERC and have them read some instructional books before taking them out on the road with you. If you feel they're vigilant enough, and skilled enough, turn them loose with their streetbikes. When they turn 16 or 18 or whatever, they're going to go off on their own and do their own thing anyway. That's what young ADULTS are supposed to do.

Teach them to wear the gear, teach them to keep aware and keep their head in the ride whenever they're on a moto, and that if they want to ride like a goon (over 75% capability), do it on a closed course. The public roads are no place for 80%+ goon riding if you aren't ready to kill yourself or somebody else.

Well, Having talked to my father, (Who is my reason for riding now) While he said he's always been and still is nervous about me riding, he NEVER once thought about telling me no, or Hanging it up so I wouldn't ride--His exact words were

"You can't live life scared, I lost one son (Unrelated to Motorcycles), but I don't let that cloud how I treat you, If you're a Christian or just believe in god, then Riding a bike or not isn't going to determine when it's your time."

Teach them about riding, teach them about gear--Let them learn from their mistakes that ALL OF US made as noobs, teach them that the speed of the bike is only going to be equal to the twist of ones wrist.

...unless it putt-putts off of a cliff in Middle-Of-Nowhere Utah or something.

:eek1


Dirt can be dangerous too. LIFE is dangerous. It's so dangerous that nobody comes all the way through it alive.

My mom and my stepdad got me into riding street. Neither of them ride anymore. My stepdad passed away from a heart attack just a few short years after retirement. My mom doesn't like that I still ride, street OR dirt, and she still rides her quad around her farm without a helmet. She also understands that even if I live my life curled up on the couch in a fetal position, surrounded by doctors and fluffy CE-approved pillows, I STILL won't live forever. Besides, that's no kind of life to live...afraid to do anything, except cower in the house.

There are all kinds of things to fear in life. From living a lot of my life in Chicago, unarmed, and as a diminutive non-gangmember of unintimidating presence, I tend to be very untrusting of people. I've had to force myself to have anything to do with anybody. Sometimes, you have to make a conscious decision like that, to stare the world in the face and say, "Bring your best, or bring your worst, but just bring it. I choose not to live my life in fear.".

I'm starting to not take you seriously. Maybe you should think about how your father feels and stop riding all-together?

My son is 24.

You didn't take the question seriously. You responded like there's no reason to be concerned, which is ridiculous. You brought up drugs. Statistically most drugs are probably safer for a young adult than riding a motorcycle.

What's scary is YOU'RE serious....

My youngest son grew up racing motorcycles and quads on dirt, and me and his 3 older brothers all ride so I knew as soon as he could he would be riding street bikes too.
When he was 13 I bought him a Ninja 250 and began taking him with me on my country rides, we are fortunate to live on a great riding road with lots of hills and curves.
He rode the Ninja until he was 15 when I got a good deal on a CBR600RR, so I moved him to that and continued riding with him making sure he learned good judgement and technique.
He got his license in June and the picture below is him and two of his brothers less than a week after he was legal, he couldn't wait to go to the Dragon with his brothers and I on our yearly trip.
He still has the 600 but also has an FZ1 he got a few months ago, he rides all the time, and of course it makes you a little nervous when they are out riding but just take the time to teach them right and get them the experience they need.

<a href="http://s774.photobucket.com/user/madmike1973/media/1951839-129Slayer_zps3c240c9a.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/m/madmike1973_1951839-129Slayer_zps3c240c9a.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 1951839-129Slayer_zps3c240c9a.jpg"/></a>

Other things should scare you more. I dunno what else to tell you. Motorcycles are pretty dangerous, particularly for young people.

There's always the question of "what if something goes wrong" when I take my daughter out for a ride on the motorcycle, but I combat that with how much fun she's having, the time that she's spending with me, and wearing good gear. I'm careful while I ride, talk about why we wear helmets, and while driving in the cage we talk about safe driving. She's 6. I work at educating her and hope that she doesn't become a statistic. Even though it would come close to destroying me if anything were to happen to her I refuse to have her live in a bubble.

My mother refused to let me have a motorcycle as a teenager but I was rappelling, going down zip lines, shooting guns, and doing other dangerous stuff. :huh My father would take the time to educate us and teach us properly before we did that stuff.

I am not going to buy my kids a street bike ever, but they will have an assortment of dirt bikes.

After they are out of the house, they can do what they want.

But 16 year olds can barely drive a car, let alone a bike.

By the time I was 16 , I was already riding for 9 years. Don't wait.

My daughter is also 6 and goes riding with me, only around town. I feel exactly the same way as you. I am not trying to judge anyone for any decisions, but I am rejecting the idea that these are easy decisions to make.

Sorry, but you sound like you're still 16.

In my limited experience I've ridden around 50,000 miles of street and maybe a 1,000 of dirt (all single track/gnarly trail/two-track combined). Learned on the street. I've done just fine on the street but crashed twice in the dirt, first crushing my foot, then a twist fracture in my leg (not fun).

So in my experience, the dirt is not as deadly, but definitely harder to learn and more chances of being maimed. A bad street accident is far worse, no question, but if you are a weekend rider, occasional tripper, then I'd say street is safer. This also assumes you aren't a fuckwad and have half a brain and leave your ego behind when riding street.

I'd agree with others that learning dirt makes you a better street rider, but that doesn't necessarily mean dirt is safer. YMMV and all that jazz. Also, telling a teenager you can't do something just makes them want to do it more

So we're excluding all young adults. I mean, there have been studies on this stuff. Young adults have less than half a brain that is all ego, and extremely stupid decision making skills.