The next generation of us

NICE. I'll bet the little guy has the time of his life. Though my son loves riding on the back of the bike, he is a little apprehensive about riding a bike on his own. Last year we got one of the 12V jeeps from Toys "R" Us that seats two and he and his sister were driving it around in the driveway and he got a bit carried away with the throttle. The Jeep came with a parental remote so that you can shut down the power to the motor but by the time he lost control and I hit the kill switch he was too close to the house. His momentum carried him straight in to the corner of the garage (made of brick naturally) and he experienced his first car wreck. No major damage to the occupants (the Jeep has a max speed of 5 mph), but it did scare the crap out of my son. Ever since then he is a little apprensive shall we way about the driver seat. Now, he always lets his sister drive instead (she is 3 1/2) and laughs his head off while they go around in circles until they get dizzy. KIDS!!! Gotta love em.

 

My Goddaughter, many years ago..............


My Daughter, about a year ago, she's a lot bigger now............


Damnit dad, I can't reach the bars, I'll just ride here.......

 

It's not sad. The kid is like most kids. They pay far more attention to what you do than what you say. If you have good habits, he will pick them up. If you have bad habits, he will pick them up. Just like the gear habit. Good job Dad.

 

Zoom-zoom, kids get over their fears. My son would ride around the yard with me on my dirt bike sitting in of front me holding onto the gas cap when he was 3-4 years old and he loved it. Over one winter, the next summer he was scared to get on it with me. No clue why. Was even scared to get on the pocket rocket. I think at the young age of 3-4 they have no fear of anything. In a very short time some things just scare them....I can relate. I think it's because he learned to ride a 2 wheel bicycle at 3 1/2 and wrecked a few times...he learned 2 wheels are dangerous. He's 6 now and just found the nerve to get on the back of my Suzuki GS500 but did not want to try the VFR. He likes to ride around the neighborhood streets just fine. I don't want to take him out on the main roads quite yet as he is still a little young.

If fact last year he had a slow speed wipe-out in the grass (I'm still running behind holding the rope) on his pocket rocket last summer. He went over the handlebars and busted the wind screen off. He jumped back up and yelled YEA! WOO HOO! THAT WAS COOL. LOOK I TOTALED IT! He got right back on.

 

Hey Long. I had been looking forward to meeting/ riding with you...... But than this avatar of you dry humping the dinosaur replicas showed up, and well, I don't know, I may have to take your kid's side.ound:
John
P.S. hope your healing quickly!

 

Hey Kizer

I'm sure he'll get over his fear of trying to ride on his own. I think things will get a lot better as soon as he takes the training wheels off his bike. My wife and I know he can ride without them because we have bent the arms up a bit so that they only touch the ground when he goes around corners but when he is riding straight the wheels are at least 3 inches off the ground, so it is obviously a security blanket thing and he will let us know when he is ready.

My son Liam just loves his "Daddy Time" when he and I get to go for a ride and I enjoy dropping him off at school on the bike. Since we are only three blocks from the elementary school he goes to we don't get to go really far and he has yet to exceed 50 mph for more than about 20 miles when we go out on the weekends. I think the longest ride we have done together was the end of last year in October and we went about 50 miles total. The difficulty will occur when his sister is old enough and tall enough to ride. The rules here state that the passenger must be able to reach the passenger footpegs while sitting on the passenger portion of the seat, though oddly enough there is no age limit set. My daughter still has a lot of growing to do before she will able to touch the pegs so my son's "Daddy Time", for now, shall remain undisturbed by his sibling. LOL


Hey Metallican

Love the photo of your god daughter sitting in the tail pack of the (Harley) I assume. She has the right "lounge back and enjoy the ride" attitude going on. Of course in some states that might be considered child abuse, unless you give her an air tank so she can breathe in there with the lid closed. LOL

 

Zoom, that's really cool you take your kid to school on the bike. I bet he thinks he's big stuff in front of the other kids. We also live blocks from our elementary school. I can't wait to take him to school on the bike. He can touch the rear pegs fine but he can't reach around my fat gut to lock his fingers yet. I don't trust him to hang on at any real speed. I thought about looking into one of those passenger hook-up harnesses for him but don't know it it's worth it as he'll out grow something like that real quick.

On a side note we built a ramp with a couple bricks and a board in the back yard tonight (for his bicycle)....like father, like son. If I can just get him to stand up when hits the jump.

I need to post some videos of him doing his version of a CAN CAN or a NOSE GRAB on his power wheels. Friggin' hilarious.

 

OHHHHH Yes. When we show up in front of the school on the bike Liam is definitely the popular one. All his classmates say how cool it is that he gets to ride to school on a motorcycle. Since my son has an autism disorder, one of the ways that helps steady his mood and start the day off feeling good is that he gets to ride on the bike. He can behaving the worst day at school that you can imagine and if I show up to pick him up from school he is instantly in a happy mood. My son's autism disorder is not as bad as what most people think of autism (someone sitting on the floor, drooling, and uncommunicative) but he does have significant trouble with social situations, eye contact, sudden changes in routine, and following instructions. Any chance to get on the back of the bike though and you would swear he is happiest kid in the world, which he is when he is on the bike. Whenever we go for a ride on the bike Liam is a great little passenger and he knows that he must hang on tight and that I need to feel the pressure of his grip on my sides. He can't really wrap his arms right around me, but he does reach most of the way around and sometimes puts his hands in my pockets and tries to tickle me. I have told him that I need to be able to FEEL him hanging on and if I don't then I will stop and ask if he is ready to go home. Typically we don't venture far from home and instead just go to the local park or just toodle around in town. His big ride last year was with his mom and sister following behind in the 1998 Tahoe so that if got too tired and wanted to get off he had the opportunity for a break. I'm not sure who looks forward to the father/son rides more, my son or myself but I bet it is a close tie.

I'd love to see the video of son's escapades on the bike. I bet they would be just awesome and as video's with kids in them usually are, I bet they are also hilarious. Kids really do have very little fear during the younger years. As they get older (like me) the fear doesn't necessarily disappear (I have been known to jump off a 4500 ft cliff whilst attached to a hang-glider) but the fear is tempered somewhat with an understanding that certain things may be better left on the "bucket list" shall we say.

 

My kids have always been around bikes and generally if they have to go somewhere with me its on the bike. My younger daughter learned to ride on an old beater SR250 that I had, she wants to get a scooter but I wouldn't be happy letting her loose on the roads. I've always thought that kids, especially girls should be exposed to bikes so that when they are older they aren't impressed by guys with bikes and end up getting themselves into stupid/dangerous situations.

 

Yeah, that's the trunk of my RHM's 2011 Road Glide, helluva barca lounger massive machine that thing is, but he still scrapes boards hangin with me in the twisties!! I'd have put her in my saddle bags for a shot but I think she was a bit too big to lay in there comfortably.

 

Hey Tink

I'm gonna hazard a guess and say BOTH. After all your site name is tinkerinwithstuff so wrenching I would guess he'll come by naturally. As for the riding part, well, if he wrenches on it, he will at some point want to ride what he has fixed. My son Liam changes the oil on my Viffer almost all by homself. I remove the lower fairing cowls (only because I don't want them accidentally dropped) and then Liam performs the oil and lube. He allows me to supervise but if I so much as offer to help loosen a bolt, well, all hell breaks loose. He does allow me to check his work once he is finished to make sure the filter is tight enough and the oil pan bolt is good and snug cause lets face it, he's only 5 and it can be hard to snug up the oil filter with hands that small. I don't know about you guys but using a 4L jug to fill the crankcase through that little filler hole on the fifth gen is hard enough to do for an adult (with a funnel of course) but my son manages to do it without a funnel and rarely spills a drop. When he finishes he is so proud of himself and has such a big smile on his face when he asks if we can go for a ride to make sure the bike works ok and that there are no leaks. LOL

 

Damn......even John decided not to hang out with me out:

I feel much better now, hope the Doc let me ride soon cause I am tress out with driving.

 

I love the support for this thread. Thanks guys keep it going. Ill post more pics of my future viffer soon.

 

Awesome topic... I have taken my son (6) on a few short rides around town. Nothing fast and not too far. His first milestone was when we went fast enough to get into 2nd gear. He counts the shifts now and tells me at a stop which gear I was in. We still stay in town and yesterday I surprised him when I picked him up from school. Once the buses left he spotted the bike. He was in heaven!

Cool story Zoom-Zoom on how you found something positive to start your boys day!!

 

Here is mine

On a peewee 50

 

The gang

Taking my boy to school

 

The Biker Kids

While I was outside doing a bit of preventative maintenance on the bike today the kids wanted to get a few photos of them on the bike. My son Liam wanted to be the "Driver" and his sister Chantal wanted to be the "Pas an gerrr" as they like to say. I can only imagine what I will have to say the day my son comes up to me and asks if he can take his sister for a ride on the bike. Hmmmmm, well hopeflully I have a few years to go before that happens. Oh NO, worse thought, what about the day he says he is going to take his Girlfriend for a ride on the bike!!!!!! Oh GOD, I don't think I will ever be ready for that day. Or perhaps the day that my daughter's boyfriend shows up on a bike and asks to take her for a ride............. Aw Crap, I just don't know what I will say to that one!!

 

You get her her own. So when that day comes you can just say "don't let him get ahead of you" lol