Babies ' n ' bikes

[KATWYN]

Don't get this thread mixed up with "babes ' n ' bikes"....

A post in another forum got me thinking....

Has anyone on this KB forum got young kids?

Does anyone find it hard (especially the girls) to keep riding after kids?
How does it effect you guys? does it restrict your freedom?
do you get your kids into it??

[FROSTY]

stop riding bikes,not a chance. Baby bikie my 5 year old son rides with me everywhere and has done since he was strong enough to wear a lid
Ya just adapt to the situation.
In my case adapting meant buying an older slower worse handling bike and fitting a special riding seat onto it for him.
The easy path is to give up on bikes and cage it.That to me is a cop out.
As in another thread i even concidered a trike for awile -just to be safe for the lil blighter.
Hey don't get me wrong Im a realist too and I do own a car but the bike gets used as often as possible.

[merv]

All having kids did to me in relation to the bike was to quit competition after I completed the enduro season of the year that our first was born (end of 1984). Main reason was I took my wife and kid with me when I was doing all the lower North Island rounds. The problem was with me more than them, I wasn't getting enough sleep if the baby was keeping me awake and I felt too buggered. My last enduro was at Gwavas and I remember as I started thinking WTF am I doing here. Basically ended up making too many mistakes because of it. By then I thought oh well done enduros now and retired then and there and have just done trail, adventure and road riding ever since and when my competition licence lapsed mid 1985 I never renewed it.

My wife quit riding altogether when the kids came along and later trying to take her for a ride she just didn't like it - I think the old maternal protectionist instinct applied and she subconsciously must have thought a mother shouldn't be doing it - like who would look after them if she was injured etc etc?

Our kids are now grown ups (20 & 18) and my wife is starting to show some inkling of interest in bikes again. I'll just have to see what develops.

[FROSTY]

Maybee a quiet ride to a coffee shop in the hills somewhere Merv? Ya know just to ease her back into it. :niceone:

[riffer]

I have three kids - Jessica (6) and Zachary (3) live with their mother. We are currently fighting big time over my seeing them as she hates my wife and is doing the nasty family court thing.

Gini (my wife) and I have Tim, who is nearly 5. He is obsessed with bikes, cameras and computers just like his dad. He can't play guitar yet but I'm working on it.

My wife grew up with her father being a motorcycle traffic cop and there's been motorcycles in her family all her life. She's totally supportive about my love of bikes (unlike my ex). Tim will get a bike for his 6th birthday (hopefully). He's hankering for a PW50 as he loves dirt bikes.

[FROSTY]

good onya celtic--we just gotta get the next generation into biking aye dude :2thumbsup

[KATWYN]

Tim will get a bike for his 6th birthday (hopefully). He's hankering for a PW50 as he loves dirt bikes.

He's a lucky boy. I reakon the sooner they start riding a motorcycle the better,for confidence in general I reakon. At least they learn all about it at a young age and are prepared for "those" teen situations where they think they know everything when they jump on a bike for the 1st time.

[Motu]

Mine are 22,18,11 & 8,I had to turn the ''BSA'' room into what it was made for,sleeping in,and took the bikes out of the lounge so my first daughter could be born there...I kept the BMW gearbox bits all together so I had something to do if it got boring (it didn't) When she was 3 weeks old we took her to a motocross and on the way home I bought my first trials bike,a 1979 Bultaco Sherpa T,cause y'know,old guys with kids gotta slow down eh? My wife and I took her to every trial I rode back then,rain and shine,mud and mossies.Meantime I was putting a child/adult chair on my Norton Featherbed and we took her in it when she was 2 months old.

Somewhere I have a photo of the 3 of us on my wifes 1951 Tiger 100,our 2 or 3 yr old between us,one of the last rides my wife took on the bike she built herself from parts.Gradualy she stopped riding bikes and these days counts her rides in years between.

Another daughter,but I'm still riding bikes,got a bigger chair(the dreaded Ural/VW) and later I'm back to racing,but when my first son is born it's my last season.The girls grew up immersed in bikes,my boys haven't - they have only come to watch a trial once...they know what I do,if they aren't interested I don't care - they can do what they like,they know that.

My kids lead a life different from others of their age - homeborn,homeschooled and vegetarian,the product of parents who have never grown up...I hope they never do either.

[Jackrat]

The two best photo's I have of my dauther are one with her on the tank of an XR250 i had when she was 2 and another with her on the back of my Triumph TR6 when she was about 12.
She's 24 now and back in NZ for a few weeks.I'm gonn'a get a pic of her on the XS before she goes back.Having her never slowed me down but the Mrs got all protective about riding for a few years.Fair enough I guess.