Scott suggested I start a thread similar to his, chronicling the adventures of GixxerJasen (Me obviously) and JakobSmash (my son). So here we go.
We are a bit late in the journey so let's get caught up. Where to start? Jakob's first motorcycle? No. First two wheels? Yep, that's a good place to start.
Made the decision to start him on a glide bike. Great way to teach kids to balance a bicycle without training wheels. Still remember the first time I saw him glide down a hill with his feet hovering off the ground, great stuff.
What wasn't so great was that training wheels really teach the mechanics of using the pedals and standing and riding. I recommend to folks to get your kids one of each and let them play on both of them. The transition to his first pedal bike was more difficult than I'd thought it would be, but we got through it.
Able to use a bicycle, done! Time to start looking at motorized versions. Electric bikes weren't quite a thing yet aside from some cheap Chinese crap at the time, but we need to figure out what bike to get, so that involves the annual pilgrimage to motorcycle heaven, the Motorcycle Show. Got to get him to sit on a bunch of bikes.
He probably fit the little DR-Z50 best of all.
The Yamaha was a good fit.
He also had expensive taste and liked the KTM, but it didn't fit thankfully.
But the little Honda was a good fit too.
OldTLSDoug used to have a healthy collection of DR-Z50's for pit bikes but at the time he was flush out, so I went to the craigslists and found the Honda's to be more plentiful. And thus began a journey of "Free" motorcycles. I'd buy older bikes for cheap, fix the things that needed fixing, use them for a while and then sell them again for the same price as purchased, usually in better condition than I got them. Just always had to shell out the ever increasing cash needed to get to the next model.
Here we'd just dug birthday boy's first motorcycle, a Honda CRF50F out of hiding in the garage for his birthday. We are answering the zillion questions of "What dat do?"
First poser shot.
Time to get rid of some gremlins.
Old cracked fuel line and a crumbly air filter were the culprits. Ran really well after that.
We made the mistake of taking mom to Cycle Gear and she went way overboard with the credit card. This would also be the start of an expensive cycle as he'd outgrow gear almost before we could use it.
But he had a blast. Unfortunately due to many commitments like Soccer and other stuff, we never really got to ride as much as we wanted, but we did when we could.
He spent a lot of time riding in the sand at Trophy Club, and I really needed to install some confidence on that bike, it was definitely needed in the sand.
Meanwhile, Poser posted up on TWT that he had possession of a CRF70F that needed to be sold. I was still working Jakob through the throttle restrictor but he'd been too big for the 50 pretty much from the get go, so I snagged it. Ya'll, this is what a spoiled kid looks like. Also, this picture will be to blame when he suffers from MBS (Multiple Bike Syndrome) later in life.
The advantage of having the 70 was I could stop all that confounded running in the sand to keep up with him to pick things up, sort things out, and kick start the bike back to life. Also it was fun.
We made the mistake of letting mom try the 70 out and she instantly found the joy that I have on a bike. We'd eventually get her a CRF230F but her riding time would sadly be very short due to some medical issues that resulted in head surgery that left lingering intense nerve pain such that she can no longer wear a helmet. Won't have her story in here, because it sucks, and this is a post about fun stuff.
This is pretty much the end of the little 50cc saga.
We are a bit late in the journey so let's get caught up. Where to start? Jakob's first motorcycle? No. First two wheels? Yep, that's a good place to start.
Made the decision to start him on a glide bike. Great way to teach kids to balance a bicycle without training wheels. Still remember the first time I saw him glide down a hill with his feet hovering off the ground, great stuff.
What wasn't so great was that training wheels really teach the mechanics of using the pedals and standing and riding. I recommend to folks to get your kids one of each and let them play on both of them. The transition to his first pedal bike was more difficult than I'd thought it would be, but we got through it.
Able to use a bicycle, done! Time to start looking at motorized versions. Electric bikes weren't quite a thing yet aside from some cheap Chinese crap at the time, but we need to figure out what bike to get, so that involves the annual pilgrimage to motorcycle heaven, the Motorcycle Show. Got to get him to sit on a bunch of bikes.
He probably fit the little DR-Z50 best of all.
The Yamaha was a good fit.
He also had expensive taste and liked the KTM, but it didn't fit thankfully.
But the little Honda was a good fit too.
OldTLSDoug used to have a healthy collection of DR-Z50's for pit bikes but at the time he was flush out, so I went to the craigslists and found the Honda's to be more plentiful. And thus began a journey of "Free" motorcycles. I'd buy older bikes for cheap, fix the things that needed fixing, use them for a while and then sell them again for the same price as purchased, usually in better condition than I got them. Just always had to shell out the ever increasing cash needed to get to the next model.
Here we'd just dug birthday boy's first motorcycle, a Honda CRF50F out of hiding in the garage for his birthday. We are answering the zillion questions of "What dat do?"
First poser shot.
Time to get rid of some gremlins.
Old cracked fuel line and a crumbly air filter were the culprits. Ran really well after that.
We made the mistake of taking mom to Cycle Gear and she went way overboard with the credit card. This would also be the start of an expensive cycle as he'd outgrow gear almost before we could use it.
But he had a blast. Unfortunately due to many commitments like Soccer and other stuff, we never really got to ride as much as we wanted, but we did when we could.
He spent a lot of time riding in the sand at Trophy Club, and I really needed to install some confidence on that bike, it was definitely needed in the sand.
Meanwhile, Poser posted up on TWT that he had possession of a CRF70F that needed to be sold. I was still working Jakob through the throttle restrictor but he'd been too big for the 50 pretty much from the get go, so I snagged it. Ya'll, this is what a spoiled kid looks like. Also, this picture will be to blame when he suffers from MBS (Multiple Bike Syndrome) later in life.
The advantage of having the 70 was I could stop all that confounded running in the sand to keep up with him to pick things up, sort things out, and kick start the bike back to life. Also it was fun.
We made the mistake of letting mom try the 70 out and she instantly found the joy that I have on a bike. We'd eventually get her a CRF230F but her riding time would sadly be very short due to some medical issues that resulted in head surgery that left lingering intense nerve pain such that she can no longer wear a helmet. Won't have her story in here, because it sucks, and this is a post about fun stuff.
This is pretty much the end of the little 50cc saga.