CRF's Only Forums

My five year old daughter has begged me for almost two years now for a dirt bike, I kept telling her she had to learn how to ride a bicycle first, then I would buy her a bike. Well, we took the training wheels off the other day, and I spent a few hours, two days in a row. As long as she keeps a little speed, she can balance fine. But she's still weak in her legs to peddle a bike, so eventually it ends in a stall

But, it's a really good thing, the CRF50 doesn't need peddles. So I've decided to go ahead and buy her one. Likely on March 15 I will be waking up at 5:00 am to head down to Southern Honda in TN.

Any suggestions for helping her transition to a CRF? I can't wait to see the look on her face, plus her little brother gets to take it over when he's old enough (2 atm). Almost exciting as buying my own bike!

we want pictures from her first ride! they do make training wheels for the CRF50 too. i would recommend them as this bike is much heavier than the one she's learning on now. if she falls over it could serious injure her if she's not strong enough to control it or get the bike off of her.

http://www.crfsonly.com/catalog/product ... ts_id/1580

have fun...this is a great time and experience for both of you.

ken

crfsonly wrote:we want pictures from her first ride! they do make training wheels for the CRF50 too. i would recommend them as this bike is much heavier than the one she's learning on now. if she falls over it could serious injure her if she's not strong enough to control it or get the bike off of her.

http://www.crfsonly.com/catalog/product ... ts_id/1580

have fun...this is a great time and experience for both of you.

ken

Thanks, yea I'll probably be picking up some training wheels anyhow, my son loves to ride anything he can, so it wouldn't be fair to him. Better believe I'll get some pics posted too

Definitely use the training wheels. And make a short tether to attach to the rear of the bike.

We've had many a youngin' learn to ride in our group.

My grandson wouldn't stay off the 50's when he was a toddler...I posted a shot of him at 18 months - he loves dirt bikes!
http://crfsonly.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... highlight=

First thing we taught him was "HOT" - meaning you don't go touching the hot parts. Hasn't burned himself...yet.

Here's a shot of him on his first bike at 2...yeah it's blue, but it was a bargain.

I couldn't agree more! Use the wheels to prevent any injury that might discourage further attempts, and get some pics up! I WISH my parents would have gotten me started at that age, instead of me getting started in my 30's like I have. Thanks for the posts!

I just bought one for my son. He's going to be 8 in a few weeks. I have not given him the bike yet, but can't wait.

She's pretty excited about it, my son doesn't really care, I think mainly because he has to see it first. I told her today that we'd put some graphics on it, and maybe heat wrap the pipe. My wife said, "you'll just do that stuff cause you like doing it, she doesn't care if it has stickers and other things on it"

Of course I responded, "no... I'm just teaching her the right way to do it"

haha, best part is, I don't have to take a gas drinking truck on the 250 mile trip, it'll fit in the rear seat of our car

jmattor wrote:Definitely use the training wheels. And make a short tether to attach to the rear of the bike.

We've had many a youngin' learn to ride in our group.

My grandson wouldn't stay off the 50's when he was a toddler...I posted a shot of him at 18 months - he loves dirt bikes!
http://crfsonly.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... highlight=

First thing we taught him was "HOT" - meaning you don't go touching the hot parts. Hasn't burned himself...yet.

Here's a shot of him on his first bike at 2...yeah it's blue, but it was a bargain.

He looks right at home on it blue's ok, he'll grow to realize the quality that is Honda. The price at that dealership I use is right at $1000.00 out the door for a shiny new 07 model, I love that place.

I taught my son at 6 (already knew how to ride a bicycle) using Honda's material. They make a separate manual just for teaching youngsters how to ride. Basically it takes them through slow, progressively harder steps -till they are bustin' back flips over you Pick one up, have fun and make sure she knows that crashing is part of learning.

bosshaug1 wrote:I taught my son at 6 (already knew how to ride a bicycle) using Honda's material. They make a separate manual just for teaching youngsters how to ride. Basically it takes them through slow, progressively harder steps -till they are bustin' back flips over you Pick one up, have fun and make sure she knows that crashing is part of learning.

Oh yea, I've told her over and over, you WILL crash honey. You almost have to crash to get better. She's wrecked on her bike a few times and I walk up "wow, that was a nice spill there wasn't it?" unless she's really hurt, she laughs and jumps back on. I'll pick up a copy of that if I can find it down there, hope we're still scheduled in for this weekend.

This is my 8yo son. He just learned to ride a bike three weeks ago (our fault due to room and time issues) and has had the 50 for about a month. His boots were ordered tonight, finally found a pair that were affordable. Two panic dumps, one in the ditch and one into a concrete water main marker didn't make him flinch. He flipped it twice with the training wheels and I decided enough was enough and took them off. They were doing more damage than good once he worked up the courage to use the throttle, they dig in when going fast and not leaning properly. He knows "Stupid hurts" and the last two words a redneck ever says...."Watch this!" The latter resulted in a wobbling, weaving dump a few minutes after this pic. I bought a CRF100 just to keep up with him, the Rancher intimidated him a bit while riding. I used to have a Nighthawk, but not a dirtbike. I'm 37, 6'1" and 205lbs. The 100 is plenty enough for me, bravado and "watch this" went out the window about 15 years ago.

Beezer wrote:This is my 8yo son. He just learned to ride a bike three weeks ago (our fault due to room and time issues) and has had the 50 for about a month. His boots were ordered tonight, finally found a pair that were affordable. Two panic dumps, one in the ditch and one into a concrete water main marker didn't make him flinch. He flipped it twice with the training wheels and I decided enough was enough and took them off. They were doing more damage than good once he worked up the courage to use the throttle, they dig in when going fast and not leaning properly. He knows "Stupid hurts" and the last two words a redneck ever says...."Watch this!" The latter resulted in a wobbling, weaving dump a few minutes after this pic. I bought a CRF100 just to keep up with him, the Rancher intimidated him a bit while riding. I used to have a Nighthawk, but not a dirtbike. I'm 37, 6'1" and 205lbs. The 100 is plenty enough for me, bravado and "watch this" went out the window about 15 years ago.

Welcome to the site!!!!

Famous last words...I bet you have a CRF 450X before summer.

I bought my son a TTR50E. Main reason was the electric start. With the training wheels I originally bought one of the ebay frame mounted sets. I didn't like them at all. I ended up getting a set like Ken post in this thread. They connect to the pegs and worked much better. My Son is off the t-wheels now but I'm saving them as I have a 3 yr old coming up behind him. Once they're both done I'm going to make it into a pit bike...

Ease of use was about the only thing I liked about the CRF50's training wheels. After the initial getting used to the throttle, they seemed to hinder more than help. All I had to do was pull two pins, put the pegs back in place and put two other pins in. Simple and easy to remove and replace.

Hope your girl is enjoying her bike. I purchased a TTR 50 for my boy when he was 5 – He’ll be 7 in a few days. Although he was peddling a bike we also purchased set of training wheels. Much easier to learn the controls without having to worry about balancing. Much to Mama's displeasure they came off about one month later. I'd buy them again if I had to start over.

My best advise is to purchase a set of appropriate tires when your little one begins riding trails &/or tracks. The star cross minis cut the number of times John fell by about half - changing them was a bit of a pain though. Also, exhibit quite a bit of patience when it comes to shifting.

Recently upgraded to a 03 XR 70 and already eyeing a 88 bbk