It’s hard to find a kid in the western world who doesn’t enjoy seeing motorcycles cruising up and down their streets.
If your kid is 5 or older, now is a perfect time to get them into dirt bike riding. Kids can ride 50cc dirt bikes right up to 125cc dirt bikes, and there is a developing industry of electric dirt bikes.
In this guide, we’re going to show you how to get ’em into the fun sport.
Getting Kids into Dirt Bike Riding
It’s best to keep your kids off social media and into genuine fun out there, just as how we had when we were growing up.
Just remember that it isn’t hard. Getting a child to learn dirt biking is much much learning how to ride a bike. In fact, it’s much easier if they can already ride unassisted.
Creating Enthusiasm
Let’s say your kids aren’t that keen that. Perhaps they’re worried about hurting themselves or the noise scares them a little.
One of the best ways to really get them interested in the sport is through taking them to MX tracks and events. Seeing other riders doing cool tricks and showing off their bikes, then kids generally find a lot of joy and entertainment. This makes them a little more engaged and interested in riding their own bike.
Another way is to find some friends who have kids already in the sport. Making friends with other dirt bike riding kids is a great way to create buy-in and get your kids.
Choosing a Bike
There are various kids dirt bikes that you can get started with. They are relatively inexpensive especially as Chinese motorcycles have become more developed and reliable.
You can buy a relatively good machine for under $1,000. To save some extra money, look at Gumtree and Craigslist where you’ll find Japanese and Euro brands like Yamaha, Honda and KTM.
Their enthusiasm can be diminished by buying a petrol-driven dirt bike. We personally got an LPR bike here in Australia but the Stacyc 16″ is becoming hugely popular in North America and Canada.
Choosing Gear
Safety is paramount when riding dirt bikes. Unfortunately, some parents miss this completely and let their kids go riding with anything they want, or simply miss the mark.
You can spend a fortune on dirt bike gear but your child will need an upgrade every 2 years. This can then make it quite an expensive sport for you to keep maintaining.
Just like finding a used bike, you can typically find used gear online that has been hardly used. Then again, avoid the cheap new gear that you’ll find on Amazon. The better quality stuff will not only survive better and protect your child in a crash, but they’ll get up and start riding again and not start to create hatred towards dirt biking.
Where to Ride
There are literally hundreds of places to go riding. Places that are legal for kids to go with their dirt bike. These are typically MX tracks, paid-to-ride areas (owned by private owners) as well as private property. You can certainly let them ride on your private property as long as it doesn’t annoy the neighbours.
You can ask your local council or get connected with some Facebook groups or forums. This is where you’ll find others who share the same passion and even create some lifelong friends. You could even ask around your local school and figure out who has their kids already into the sport. Sometimes your kids will already know the kids who are riding bikes…because it’s all they talk about all day long!
In Summary
Riding dirt bikes doesn’t have to be something reserved for parents alone. In fact, there are parents who become dirt bike riders only because their kids showed immense interest!
It’s certainly a family-friendly sport that you can do year-round and is seriously a lot of fun. Once they’re kitted up with the right gear, it’s no more dang