Any advice for teaching a 5 year old to ride a quad?

[fastfredracing]

I am picking up a little 50 cc quad this Saturday, and I will soon begin my sons transformation from mommy's boy, to little gearhead cretan. We already have a helmet, the quad has an adjustable throttle stop, and tether, our insurance is paid up, and I have a nice place cleared out for me to sleep up at the shop in case he does get hurt.
Anything I am missing?
I plan on throttling it waaay back to just a crawl, until he can demonstrate that he can maintain control, and listen to, and obey commands.
We have a nice flat 3 acre yard that is relatively free of dangerous obstacles.
I am hoping he takes to it, as I have the Jones to do some riding again, and I think this would be a great Father-Son activity, plus, it will help plant the seeds for his future in motorsports.

[crustychief]

I taught my kids to use the brakes first, we didn't even start the engine until that lesson was down cold. At five, they will freeze up when scared.

[Zeke]

Go for it. He could get hurt climbing up the counter to steal cookies.

[nynor]

my advice: don't. my wife sees several ATV related accidents in the childrens hospital every week, or close to it. they are usually pretty nasty. i have a son and i plan on getting him into go-cart racing (if i can afford it), but i don't really want him on an ATV.

my .02

[911boost]

I got my daughter a CRF50F Honda dirtbike when she was 3. Yes, I had talked it over with the wife, kinda. Anywhoo.

It had a set of training wheels that bolted to the foot peg mounts, so it was very stable, like a four wheeler. Like yours it also had a screw that you could tighten to govern the amount of throttle that could be provided.

The first rule was that she never ever even sat on it without a helmet on. It became second nature for her. Then like Crusty has said, we worked on using the brakes. That was a little tough, since she had such small hands.

At that age, I would ride with her on the back, with her basically sitting on the front, getting used to how it feels. I don't have a big yard, but we would ride it camping, fairly often.

Fast forward to the summer she was five (she is now7), and she wanted to ride it by her self. I don't have a tether or anything for it, so what we would do is set up a course for her to ride that was a figure 8, with me in the center, so I was also pretty close to her. I had it governed still, so it wasn't like she was going anywhere too fast......until she figured out how to shift gears.

For the next two years, she became pretty comfortable on it, so for Christmas, she got all the motorcross gear, since she was tall enough to touch the ground. I was pretty excited to take the training wheels off. The first time we tried riding it in May of this year, it just didn't go well. She crashed a couple of times, and I could tell she wasn't comfortable on it. So I didn't push it at all. We put the training wheels on it, and she rode it for the next few trips.

Then on one trip she asked me if she could ride it without the training wheels. She hopped on, and just took off. It was a little sketchy when she turned for the first time, but she got the hang of it pretty quickly. I took the governor off, and she loves it. I have actually had to pull it out of the garage so she can ride around the court, and in the open space behind our house.

I also have a son, he's 4, and he started riding the 50 by himself this year. The first thing you have to realize is they are going to crash, it happens. What I have worked on with him if he gets scared is just letting off the gas. Based on the type of clutch it has, the bike stops pretty quickly.

Sorry for the long post, but good luck. I love wathcing them ride, and am looking forward to going with them when they get older (we have a couple of other dirtbikes and a Polaris Sportsman ATV).

Nynor, have you ever ridden on of the little 50 fourwheelers? We have countless friends that have kids that have grown up riding them. WIth the proper supervision they can be fairly safe.

Bill

[crustychief]

Here is Matt at 6 years old.

[A930Rocket]

Three acres sounds like fun!

It may sound like overkill going slow, but get him used to all the protective gear: helmet, goggles, shoulder pads, gloves, boots, pants and shirt. He'll look cool and it will protect him.

My kids were riding little 90's at about 7 and 9 years old. They had a blast with them, then moved up to a 125 and a 250 quad later (which I install a throttle govenor on).

Pix of them learning to ride in the backyard.

[john walker's workshop]

roll bar.

[LeeH]

With a 5 year old I think I'd have to add one of these.

[jyl]

Did you say 5 year old quad?

Somehow, I think I'd get him on a BMX bike. Develop his legs, his endurance, his balance, path to MX, and bicycles don't roll over on you and break your neck.

[artplumber]

I can't tell you the number of adults that I see that are majorly screwed up because of quads- usually at low speeds. Months in the ICU. Two wheeled dirt bikes seem much less likely to cause injury. Nothing like having a 16y/o donor to change your mind about these sorts of things.

[porsche4life]

Teach him about the brakes! I knew about the brakes on mine at that age and got in a BAD habit of just dropping my feet to stop... Which worked well until the rear tire sucked me off and under the quad... I had tire treads across my thigh for quite some time....

[Mark Henry]

My wife has a bunch of ATV head injury clients at her place of work, including a few in the adolescent ward. She works in a psychiatric hospital.
No, they will never get better.

Head and spine trauma from ATV accidents cost $3.24 billion annually, study finds

[Joe Ricard]

Find some traffic cones or anything that you can mark a course to follow. You can use them to indicate where to stop. (how close can you get to the cone without running it over).

[304065]

Helmet and a roll bar and this. . .

[Dana Norris]

As Sid implied do not put your feet down, until you come to a full stop.
My son and I learned this lesson the first weekend we had the three wheeler
in 1987. I was no beginner I started riding motorcycles in 1966.
Have fun, get all the proper gear do not let him ride un supervised until you are comfy
with that.

[cstreit]

Originally Posted by crustychief

I taught my kids to use the brakes first, we didn't even start the engine until that lesson was down cold. At five, they will freeze up when scared.

Yep. Brakes drill first.

My 4 year old would freeze up when he saw he was getting close to a tree.

[porsche4life]

Originally Posted by 304065

Helmet and a roll bar and this. . .

What is that, like 1/2 scale?


Very cool btw.

[HelmetHead]

As noted above, make sure he understands not to try and catch himself by throwing a foot out...bad idea on a quad. Turning is also tricky as the center of gravity is high and quads are easy to jack up on 2 wheels!
For sure, don't let Mamma watch the first few times.. You'll be sleeping solo!

[Rikao4]

worked the ER..
and having picked up both young & old in the boonies
be careful..

Rika