Thread: How old

I am sorry to hear about him. I think 13 is too young to ride motorbike, let alone to race. I don't even think he is eligible to apply for a motorbike driving license.

You know I have to say I am so glad I have girls. It would stress me to no end to watch my sons go off on motorcycles and dirt bikes. Unfortunately I was quite the tomboy and I am hoping my girls don't turn out like that because I jumped on the chance to hop on either lol!

I have to say that accidents happen at any age. If the child knows how to be safe then I think he or she is old enough. The 13 year old must be pretty good if he is racing with an older class of people.

Yes, accidents do happen at any age. He has been racing for a few years now. He also has all the safety gear that he can use. Unfortunately, it was just a bad day for him. He is already back on the bike with casts on his wrists. He can't be stopped.

Here in Australia kids can start roadracing at 9 and dirt riding much younger. By 13, they are usually teaching the youngsters. I totally disagree about it being too unsafe - if you watch these kids ride around and see the skills they have you'd see what I mean. The difference I can see is the set up. The roadracer kids start off in non-competitive racing, have learning days dedicated to them, and most importantly, they ride amongst similar ages and machines only. We have two age groups 9-12 on 70cc machines then 12-15 years olds on 80cc bikes. They cannot mix with adults until 16. To me, that is the part that I might question in your friend's situation, however, if your friend's boy is half as skilled as the lads I've watched, it probably wasn't an issue.

Check some of them out on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MlXExLfH6g


Just remember, kids can hurt themselves in so many ways just by being kids. Ask anyone who works in an emergency department. A kid I know has just recovered from a coma after deciding to skateboard down a hill - that simple. He fell off and wasn't wearing a crash helmet. At least when bike racing, they learn discipline, bike control, awareness etc. They wear full protective clothing and have first aid on hand. And as an added bonus, I'll bet they all turn out to be much better drivers/riders when they hit the streets.

Hope your friend's son gets better soon and gets back on the bike if thats what he loves doing.

My son is almost 16 and is just now getting interested in dirtbike racing. A few of his friends race and he thinks he might like to start too. So, right now, he is trying to decide if he wants a dirtbike or a car for his 16th birthday.

That's a tough one because you want your kids to experience as much of life as possible but at the same time you don't want to see them hurt. If you look at other competitve sports like say gymnastics 13 would be really old to start but for anything motorized to me 13 seems reasonable.

i agreed with you