My 7yr old gets her first dirt bike

 
Well, I picked up a TTR-50 for my daughter and was holding out to give
it to her birthday in June.  But... heck I could get hit by a bus
before then and never lived to see my daughter on a dirt bike, so I
pulled it out over the weekend and handed it over.  All of the
stipulations, must do well in school to ride it, must always wear a
helmet, etc.  Showed her how to stop, and we practiced a few times
with the bike off and me pushing her and telling her when to stop.  I
also showed her the kill switch and told her if ANYTHING goes wrong or
something isn't right and you get scared, press that button.

After some overcoming a little bit of anxiety about the noise, and
fear that it will go by itself, she finally got on it and did a quick
ride across the yard.  She had it figured out in about 5 minutes, so
off we went to the woods behind my house.

One of the greatest days of my parenthood was watching her ride the
bike for the first time.

Here she is on day 1:


She had a couple of wipeouts, one into the brush and another in a
corner.  It was always when she was first taking off... she was in
first gear and the bike pulled away too fast for her.  So I shifted it
into 2nd, and left it there. This made the take off more controllable
and gave her a little more top end without having to be in the power
band (if you call it that on a ttr 50).  That helped quite a bit and
now she was much more in control.

After letting her ride for awhile, I noticed this near vertical head
high dirt mound blocking a trail (to keep the motorcycles out I
guess).  Anyway, I said "watch this Katie" and I did a quick jump over
it in 2nd gear... when I jumped it on the way back over she waved me
down and said:

"How the heck did you do that!??!? Stop showing off daddy you are
going to hurt yourself!!"

Hah see I knew she was a smart little girl.

 
Good call. Why waste potential riding days?


An excellent primer for the first ride.


Isn't it COOL?
Congratulations, and by the way, kiss any spare cash goodbye.
It's way more than a fair trade.


Now you've done it.
In the 15 years since my daughter started riding, I've bought 3 used
bikes and 6 new ones, and only one of those has been for me. 2 growing
kids go through dirt bikes at about the same pace as shoes.
Watching the kids learn and grow has been an awesome experience. I've
enjoyed it immensely. Enjoy your ride.
Oh yeah, one thing: get yout girl some boots. If not real riding
boots, at least some sturdy high topped lace up hiking boots.
SOMETHING to cover those cute little ankle bones before something
really bad happens.

Tim H
Been there, done that, loved the experience

 vic20owner points to:


That is awesome.


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.

 
Frekin' awesome.. I really wish I had started my daughter earlier.
Good luck and I second the boots thing. In fact I won't let my kids
even start the bike without full gear. Pants, gloves, boots, CP,
goggles, elbow and knee pads, and even a neck brace.. We let her ride
once without them and now she has a permanant gash on her leg that she
hates when she puts on a skirt...  We got lucky, that's all it is...
Good luck and like they say, hold on to your wallet, or just give it
to her;)

Rowdy Mouse Racing, broke and loving it...

 Thanks guys, don't worry about the boots. She has them.  She also has
a chest protector, gloves, etc, but I didn't want to overwhelm her and
make her uncomfortable.  Right now she is riding so slow I would
actually be impressed if she managed to hurt herself lol.  Once she
gets a little more comfortable (and hooked on riding) it'll be easier
to get her in the boots.  Also, I now make sure she wears jeans... no
more sweat pants, although the engineers did a good job of keeping the
hot parts away from little legs. The heat shields on the pipe don't
get hot even after hours of riding.


Already got to use the bike as leverage when she started getting sassy
with me this afternoon lol.  She straightened right up.