So you’re curious about riding a dirt bike at home in the backyard. It’s exciting and could be possible.
You’re legally permitted to ride your dirt bike in your backyard or anywhere on your private property, provided it doesn’t interfere with the enjoyment of your neighbours. Avoid having a loud dirt bike and be mindful of smells and roosting on the side fences. The most common reason why you can’t ride is complaints to local authorities.
The main focus is on being respectful to those next to you. You won’t have too much fun riding in a backyard anyway and should focus on finding open country in which to ride, either government land or private land.
Riding Dirt Bikes in Backyards
Your backyard typically isn’t the best place to ride a dirt bike. Most areas are just too small to get up to a decent speed. Typically it’s best for children under 12 to learn how to ride dirt bikes as beyond that age, you’ll often just grow tired of it pretty quickly.
It’s certainly a great place to learn slow-speed riding as well as doing small jumps. These skills are helpful to hone in. You’ll develop better brake and clutch control which will help on the tight technical tracks, so clearly some benefits here.
Keeping the Neighbors Happy
Probably the biggest hinderance is your neighbours as riding dirt bikes in backyards is just so loud. You can alleviate this by:
- Only riding between daylight hours, preferably 9am to 3pm.
- Not upsetting their dogs in the process
- Put a very good muffler on your dirt bike
- Avoid creating dust for your neighbors
- Supervise the kids so they aren’t too ambitious
- Wear your riding gear including a helmet
One of the best ways, however, is to get an electric dirt bike. These are near-silent and are becoming increasingly popular in the United States, Australia and Europe.
By having an electric dirt bike, you have almost no smells, sounds and the maintenance is much less. Calls from authorities will become much less likely which is a win for everyone!
In Summary
Riding a dirt bike in a backyard is a novel idea for kids. As for adults, you’ll get bored pretty quickly unless you have a lot of land to work with.
Seek out some local riding spots for genuine fun where you can open the throttle. Yet if you still want to ride your dirt bike at home – keep the neighbors and noise issues in mind!
