Biking With Kids

The time finally came for my oldest son to take a ride on my motorcycle.  He’s been asking for a ride since he could talk, and at long last I felt he had the size and the maturity level to allow him to safely go for a ride around the block.

We outfitted him with:

• His mom’s motorcycle helmet.  It fits surprisingly well, apparently his head is the same size as a small womens.
• His mom’s Motorcycle Jacket.  We had to roll up the sleeves, but it worked.
• Jeans.
• Winter Boots.
• Motocross Gloves.  He uses them for his mountain bike.

The ride went great.  We took a 7 mile loop around a local lake that provided some fun corners and one stretch with speeds up to 50 mph or so.  He was a little nervous, and so was I, but it was a lot of fun.

Now that it was clear that we would be riding together again, it was time to get him some of his own gear.  We went to a local bike shop and found a bunch of gear on sale, we even found a mesh riding jacket that fit him really well.

The gear we bought:

• First Gear Extra Small womens mesh jacket. This is essentially the same mesh jacket that I wear (and love) every day. CE approved armor in the elbows and shoulders, and a back protector. The jacket is only a little big, and should fit for at least another year.
• Fox Comp S dirtbike boots.  Very rugged, good ankle protection.
• Shift dirtibike pants. These have hip padding and some knee protection. I would still like to find him some better mesh pants with CE armor.
• ICON leather riding gloves with carbon fiber inserts.  These were $80 gloves marked down to $20, a great find and quite protective.

Here he is on our second ride:

Our second ride took us on a 25 mile ride into town via some winding back roads.  The second ride went well, but I came to the conclusion that I will be looking into some blue tooth communicators soon.  I would like to be able to have the ride be a little more interactive.

The other item I am looking into is a belt that makes sure that the child rider will not fall off if he/she falls asleep or you have to make a sudden maneuver.  I read about this belt in the book Wheels.

I also saw a father and son using one while out on a ride one day:

Just this week I found another version of the belt called the “BackRider”.  The BackRider seems to be a similar but perhaps more rugged version of the Child Riding Belt.