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I have been remiss in my parenting!

Discussion in 'Hangout Lounge' started by luvmy40, Jun 18, 2012.

  1. luvmy40

    luvmy40 Member

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    It became suddenly clear to me today just how much my kids have missed out on in their childhood.

    I cannot recall a time when I wasn't able to go for a ride on a motor bike of some kind. I had an electric "mini bike" before I could walk. By the time I was 5 there was a 5 HP minibike in the shed. I got my first "real motorcycle" around my ninth year(a Honda Elsinore 50cc)... you get the picture.

    I spent most of my childhood running on the trails in the woods and on the home made "motocross" track in the local empty field. I very literally cannot remember learning how to ride. I have just always been on two wheels.

    When my wife and I started our family the bikes were forgotten. There were more important things to spend money on, like diapers and baby food. Kris(my wife) kept urging me to get another bike but there was always something more important at the moment. So, my kids never got indoctrinated into the two wheel motor sports. I never rode again until about six years ago when I found my Seca(my first non HD street bike).

    My Son took his first solo ride on a motorcycle today. He's eighteen, newly graduated from HS and enrolled at YSU for the fall semester. I could not be more proud of him. I gave him my Seca as a graduation present but did not think about the fact that he had not grown up on a bike until about an hour ago, when I was trying to teach him everything that I had learned over the last 45 years.

    He did a very good job. Only one stall and no drops!( just runing around our 1/8mi. "Block"). He has a good head on his shoulders and does realize that he needs a lot more practice before really hitting the road. I am thankful for this! He will be attending the first basic riders course that I can get him into. In the mean time, I am looking for a good spot to take him and teach him the basics of low speed maneuvering and get him some stick time where I don't have to worry about the other idiots that are trying to kill him.
     
  2. mtnbikecrazy55

    mtnbikecrazy55 Active Member

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    Cool present, are you going to get another xj to replace the seca?
     
  3. tskaz

    tskaz Active Member

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    Best place to practice: school parking lot. It's summertime so they are virtually abandoned. I go there once a week to practice braking and low speed cornering, and I've been riding almost as long as you have.
     
  4. luvmy40

    luvmy40 Member

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    We'll see what happens. I'm diggin' on my Katana for the moment. I think there may be an R6 in my future. But you never know, A cruiser may be in the cards..


    The school parking lots aren't what they used to be. Too many parking curbs and very little open lot area.
     
  5. tskaz

    tskaz Active Member

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    Ah. Small town+football field parking lot=open space and two trees to deal with for me.

    I could also use the empty parking lot at the old wally world 5 miles away. Just keep an eye out for an empty lot.

    Also works well for an area to teach the wife how to be a passenger :lol:
     
  6. tcoop

    tcoop Active Member

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    Our HS parking lots have a driver’s course in them for drivers Ed. It's a great place to practice. I'm just like you had a bike when I was younger, didn't have a bike from age 20 until about age 44 (6 years ago).

    When my son was 15 we gave him a Honda Nighthawk 450 for Christmas. It was a mangled non-running mess and he was overjoyed to get it. He had it running by the time he could get his permit. Later that same year he traded it for an XS1100.

    We have a church with in a block from our home that he and his sister would go to practice (yes I would always go with them). He would even setup cones in the street and practice right out front, its a dead end road. (as long as the neighbor kids were not out).
     

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