Bonneville America Forums Forums Rider Safety Forums Helmets and Gear Riding gear for kids

My just 8 year old son and daughter (yes they are twins) are begging to let them ride with me sometimes. While I have absolutely no problem with this, I do want to ensure their safety as best I can (and the wife won't let them on until I do). Does anyone know of any resources or suggestions for riding gear for kids (street helmet, boots, gloves, jackets, and anything else you might suggest etc)? Do any of you ride with your kids? If you have what has worked for you? How do they do on longer rides... it's the grip thing I am thinking about with long rides? What is your opinion about kids riding as passengers?

JT

I know a lot of bike shops that sell dirt bikes sell mini dirt bikes too for kids. Maybe something like that?

I have two young daughters, 11 and 13. They have both ridden with me many times. The older one has been riding for 4 years, she loves it. Get a good sissybar to keep them from sliding off the back, it also makes them feel more comfortable and safe. I got some nice leather jackets for both of them at Wilson Leather outlet store, on sale too, they outgrew them in a year, need some more now too. I always make them wear good shoes, the leather jacket, gloves (light leather ones are fine, from any farm store) and a ful;l face shield. Little skin will get scarred for life by small rocks, bugs etc. Not worth the risk.
I have never been on a ride any longer than about two hours with them though, they get bored by then and want to get off.
Be sure you have the safety talk with them and remind them EVERY time you ride, "Listen to me, do not lean, do not get on or off unless I tell you to do it, do not stick your arms out to the side, you are not an airplane, the passenger is also requireded to wave at every other motorcycle we see (by far their favorite part), Sit still, no squirming, go the the bathroom BEFORE we leave, pound me on both sides with both hands if I go to fast, if you want to go faster, pound me on both sides with both hands rapidly (I get a lot of that)"
The squeals of delight and the sh1t-eating grins they get are this father's joy. My oldest is destined to be a biker babe for sure. As long as it's on a Triumph, which she also agrees with.

My son is 9 (just turned 9 in July). I have been hauling him around on my bike for most of the summer. He does pretty good. I picked up an M2R full face helmet (MR 15 Jr). It was inexpensive, but it is DOT compliant and Snell certified. Knowing that kids grow fast, I didn't want to break the bank on a helmet I may have to replace once or twice a year. I originally got him a 3/4 face HJC helmet and goggles, but he didn't like the wind directly in his face. Currently he wears an extra heavy duty denim jacket and shoes with some ankle support. I still need to get him some really good gloves. He doesn't like to wear gloves very much. There is a big YamaHonZuki dealer that has a huge accessory department that includes all kinds of gear for kids (you could go broke real quick getting gear just for kids).

He does pretty good on longer rides now. I stared off just taking him on 15 or 20 minutes rides around the neighborhoods and worked up from there. A few weeks ago we took off for about six hours and he did great. I think the secret was that we stopped about every half hour or so for a minute or two. I can usually tell when it is time to stop, because he will start to wiggle around some (9 year olds were not created to sit still for very long), when we get going again he does great again. His grip is pretty good. Sometimes he wraps his arms around me (if its cooler out), but most of the time he clamps onto my sides.

Soren

Some offroad bike shops, ones that sell the very small 'starter' bikes carry smaller size real riding gear.

One thing to be careful about. Get helmets that are as light as possible that still give decent protection. Heavier helmets will cause a youngster to always go head first like the cap bombs they used to sell in novelty stores and add enough momentum to guarantee neck and spine damage.

Yeah, we have done some checking around. Unfortunately, most of the children sized clothing and gear we have seen in shops has been mostly for moto-cross... not great for street riding. I'm pretty convinced that we will have to bite the bullet for two leather jackets. It's just a no brainer compared to denim. I wiped out when I was younger and was just wearing a denim jacket, jeans, helmet, boots and gloves. Everything was fine except where there was only denim... millions of pieces of gravel and more than a few layers of skin later, I have learned a hard lesson. Leather may be expensive but it's worth it in the end. And, certainly worth it for my kids! I ride using Icon gloves, an Arai helmet, Redwing boots (it's the sz. 14 thing), and the classic black leather "jeans" and motorcycle jacket with inserts. My wife just said we need to go out and buy the same things just in their sizes. I just laughed... I got in trouble. I understood her point but it took me forever to find what I was comfortable in while riding and I'm not sure the twins can be patient too much longer.

We had them fitted and ordered helmets for them over the weekend... that was the easy part. We have some leads for good gloves as well. We don't particularly want to have to go into a Harley circus to find leathers for them, though.

My wife says breaking the bank is not an issue when it comes to the kids and I agree. It's just difficult finding the right gear that, as parents, are comfortable with.

For those of you that have taken your kids on long rides, a couple hours or longer, are there other precautions I should take besides what has been mentioned? My brother and 9 year old nephew ride often and he uses some kind of harness. My nephew's hands get tired of holding on or maybe he gets bored, or both and he has a hard time holding on after about an hour. I guess he has fallen aselep a couple of times, too. This is not the first time I have heard of these issues with kids. Do any of you know about these harnesses?

And, as parents, in your opinion would you rather your child wear leather or denim? And do you have any ideas of where to begin to look for motorcycle boots in kids sizes that are not moto-cross boots? Do you think leather and motorcycle boots for kids is just us being paranoid?

Thanks for the links, Soren. I'll check them out as soon as I'm done with this post.

Both of my kids have Levi's (the denim of choice in this family) jackets but but my choices were let them ride with them for now until we find something or die by my wife's hands and my kids grandparents (both sets) would find an out of the way place to bury me. I choose life. I gotta have that to enjoy the bike. And when I put the motorcycle part of my brain in idle, the point is beyond very clear.

As for kids falling asleep, my brother never thought his son would fall asleep on the bike because he never does while riding in the car. He was wrong. As my nephew keeps saying"... in the car I can read, listen to music, see really well, play my gameboy and look out the window and stuff but I usually fall asleep in the car when it's dark outside... there's nothing to see then. On the motorcycle, I can see mostly my Dad's back and that's all and I just get really bored when I ride with him for longer than a 1/2 hour or so. So I fall asleep or try not too. But it freaks me out when I do or almsot do because it scares me. I might tilt and scrape the road or fall off because when I sleep I can't hold on, too." I guess the point is he thought he knew his son well enough to know he wouldn't fall asleep and now, my brother just takes extra precaution. I'm thinking I will follow suit but would just like to know what is available for harnesses, retention for kids on bikes, etc. I guess I just need to take a little more time researching things on the internet.

I am looking forward to having time on the bike with me. I know, besides finding the right gear, the only other things I need to worry about are the other guy and not obsessing over the interest they are showing in my bike. In other words remembering that soccer, dance, basketball, children's theater and whatever else they are interested in need to be nurtured along with my bike nuturing time alone and with them.

JT