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I got a Ural sidecar rig to take my 5 year old grandson for rides on farmroads and picking him up at school, could avoid really busy roads doing that. My now 3 year old granddaughter really wants to ride, but she has a different father and he says never. My daughter snuck her on a short ride with my Harley sidecar rig and the little one loved it, but since that's not likely to turn into more, was probably a cruel tease. Bonus with taking the grandson along, he can push when I get stuck. Tip: don't leave the key in the ignition when posing the kids for photos, I had about 15 anxious minutes when he took off with his Mom in the sidecar on a dirt farm road. She thought it was funny and told him to keep going. 7 years old then, that's a photo she took in my sig pic.
My daughters were young and rode on the tank. Grandkids had to wait until their third birthdays for rides around the neighborhood. Around here Five is the legal age for motorcycle passengers, so by the time they turned five they were ready for rides on real roads/speeds.
Whats even more fun is teaching them how to drive. When my daughter was 11 I took her camping in the mountains of west Wyoming. Out on a 2 track road I asked her "honey, do you want to drive the jeep"? I put it in 4 wheel drive low range and 1st gear. She had a bear getting the clutch out but then was off to the races, at 3mph. When the oldest grandson got his learners permit. I took him to a nearby residential subdivision under construction. I had him drive all through it in our van - backwards and without the backup camera. From then on out he had confidence and found handling vehicles to be much easier. This past Christmas next in line middle grandchild turned 15. A beautiful friendly athletic girl but a little short on confidence in driving. We got 6" or so of snow. I took her to a near by junior high with a big empty parking lot and said "sweetie, lets learn how to cut cookies.......". We had fun.
My step son was 7 when he went around the block on my Shadow Ace Tourer. The next year, my wife bought me the Road King (both had/have sissy bars). The RK has adjustable passages foot pegs so he went out with me to run quick errands. Now, he can't wait to go out for "lunch rides" on the weekends. He wore a full face helmet, leather jacket, gloves, and boots every time.
My son is only about 4 months old. I have a ways till he can. I lit it up when he and mama were outside - his eyes got real big and he jumped, but had a smile after he got used to it. Hopefully that’s a good sign.
My son was 6 when I put him on the back of my 200 hp ZX12R Ninja. Somehow he survived without a TourPack.
I will never forget the look on my Mother in law's face when she came up to visit us, and my little son told grandma that he had ridden on the back of that big sport bike many times...I thought she would never talk to me again LOL.
Last edited by NorthWestern; Jan 5, 2020 at 10:08 AM.
My step son was 7 when he went around the block on my Shadow Ace Tourer. The next year, my wife bought me the Road King (both had/have sissy bars). The RK has adjustable passages foot pegs so he went out with me to run quick errands. Now, he can't wait to go out for "lunch rides" on the weekends. He wore a full face helmet, leather jacket, gloves, and boots every time.
Just an aside...always wanted a Shadow Ace Tourer when I was a newer rider. Thought they were great. Started on a 750 Shadow Ace in 2002. When it was time to upgrade the next year they were discontinued and Honda was pushing the VTX which I didn't like. Hence became a Vulcan rider for the next 13 years. Now a happy Glider.
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