How old for kids to start riding?

[hart11b]

My daughter is 4 1/2 years old and about 44" tall. She can ride her bicycle w/o training wheels, and although I don't think she's ready for a 50 yet, I'm not sure when she will be.

Is there a good rule of thumb for how old kids should be to start riding? How old were your kids when they started riding?

I should say that she has pretty good coordination and is very adventurous.

[Rotax600]

Originally Posted by hart11b

My daughter is 4 1/2 years old and about 44" tall. She can ride her bicycle w/o training wheels, and although I don't think she's ready for a 50 yet, I'm not sure when she will be.

Is there a good rule of thumb for how old kids should be to start riding? How old were your kids when they started riding?

I should say that she has pretty good coordination and is very adventurous.

All three of mine rode by age 5. My youngest now 16 learned on a xr70 before a bicycle. He couldn't touch the ground but had it down in a weekend.

[HOT DAMN!]

Slap some training wheels on and let her rip.

[Charla]

If she's interested let her go for it!

Both of my boys started riding at around 5 after they were able to ride a bicycle without training wheels.

[dhally]

FWIW
I take a more cautious approach. I let my kids get good and expert on a bicycle before thinking about a motor. Kids don't learn easily to react and so may forget to let off the gas, brake, steer around an obstacle, etc. Also they learn to enjoy excersize with a pedal bike.

If all they can do is ride around a flat area, they will be annoying somebody and being unsafe unless you have a big pasture or a bike park you can go to. For instance, riding around a campground, riding around a vacant lot in a neighbor hood, riding down the shoulder of the road, etc.

Once they can go out on the trails, its all good.

[clapped_r6]

My three year old daughter can ride a PW50.

Not on trails yet, but in the backyard

[Gargoyle]

I started my son on a Honda z50 when he could ride a bicycle well. When he could ride his bicycle all around the yard standing up pumping the peddles up & down hills I decided he was ready to try the z50. He was 6 years old. I only let him ride around the yard that summer because he couldn't flat foot the Honda when stopped and he couldn't pick it up if he fell over on a hill. The next summer he was taller and stronger so I decided he was ready to try some trails. He did fine on a couple fire roads and in fields, so I took him to the power lines. Rocks, mud, ruts, streams, etc. Other than having no suspension on the little z50, and the ruts sometimes swallowed him whole, he did just fine. I don't think there is a perfect age to start them ... I think it has more to do with strength, height and coordination on 2 wheels.

[GB]

Let's try this in the Riding forum..

[mikerd400]

I put my kids (twins) on TTR-50s once they were good at riding their bicycles. I didn't push hard on the 50s. I didn't want them to get scared. I adjusted the throttle screw dwon and had them start off riding slow in a straight line, and then stopping the bike. Once they could do that, I would then have them ride straight, slow down and make a u-turn. Once they were comfortable at that, I put some small branches on the road (it was a dirt road) and had them ride over the branches. Once they realized the motorycle will ride over the objects, we then started playing more in the dirt.

Start off slow so she doesn't get scared of riding. I also put my kids in full gear. inluding elbow and knee protectors.

[450kid]

I'll put a different angle on it since I'm the kid and not the dad, haha. I started at about 5 or 6 and am 21 now. I started with bicycles and power wheels trikes, etc. I got to where I could do wheelies and jump curbs and all that fun stuff before my dad let me have a go on the Z50. I had one of the older, larger ones, I think it is a late 60's model. I will say though, I was fairly large for my age.

Thinking back on it, the way my dad did it probably encouraged me more than I realized at the time. He bought the Z probably a year or two before I was allowed to ride it. I remember constantly bugging him to let me try it. He would always say he had to finish fixing it up or something like that so it wouldn't hurt my feelings or anything. Finally when he let me have a go at it, I was overjoyed. He sat me on it in the back yard and explained how everything worked and let me at it. I hopped on, started it, clicked it into gear, and hauled ass straight into the wooden fence in the back yard! We picked it up, repaired the fence, hopped back on the Z and made laps around the backyard succesfully for a while. Next week he took me to the lake to try riding around the trails and I will always be gratefull to my dad for helping me get into bikes.

[Bliknêrs]

Great story!
I had the opposite: My son has had a bike since he was 3 and the only ones that wants to ride it now is his buddies when they come to visit, seems like he couldn't care less!
Doesn't bother me though, bikes isn't everyones cup of tea but I've often wondered if it would have been different if I made him wait? Maybe appreciate it more?

[]I)Money]

He's five. It's a little tall for him, but he's pretty much gotten the hang of putting one foot down. Or, picking it up...

[NJ-GS]

Why waste money on a kid's motorcycle. They likely won't appreciate it.

Buy him/her a cheap bicycle at Walmart, and spend the diff on more farkles -- or another bike -- for yourself.

[Sheep Shagger]

I taught both my nephew and son to ride as soon as they could ride a bicycle without training wheels, since they both showed a lot of interest. My nephew was about 5.5 and my son 4.5

This is my son, a few weeks ago age 6.


I have ridden the XR50 with him, since about the age of 2, so when it was time to go solo, he knew exactly how to ride, he took no explaining or training. At 4 he was pulling wheelies on the XR50 with me on the back.

[NordieBoy]

My nephews 4th birthday.

His 1st bike...


1st bin...