Junior motocross

[scuzeme]

My 10 year old daughter has approached me about wanting to do motocross.
what do i need where do i start what sort of bike would be good for her as a beginner.

any suggestions would be helpful maybe you have some gear for sale too, let me know.

cheers.

[scott411]

has she ridden bikes before? because jumping straight on a motocross bike can be quite daunting. She is still elgible for Mini's

it may help to contact your loacl club, i know the Gold Coast Motorcycle club is pretty strong not far north of you, (based in foxten from momory)

also CLmintie on here would be a great sourse of info, his daughter has jsut started racing Motocross as well

[Nicola W]

If she has never ridden before perhaps the CRF70 or KX110 would be a good first bike to ride on? My 10 year old son started off on my CRF mini bike which had an 88cc engine when he was 8. Then 4 months after he progressed onto a KX65cc which he needed more time to get used to the bike than the first one. The 4 stroke just seemed easier to start on first. If you get enough bike time then as with everything practise makes perfect.

Do you know anyone who could let her have a little go on their bike? And then if you do buy a bike do you have some land to get her started on where she can take her time with no rush? If she likes riding and wants to race she will be eligible to race in the mini’s until her 12th Birthday.

It’s better to get 2nd hand clothing stuff to start with as she may not wish to continue. I’ve had first hand experience of that when my son had a bike at 6 but refused to get on it! We sold it (along with the new kit) and then he asked to ride my bike 2 years later! I’ll have a look to see if we have any spare stuff.

Good luck. Let us know how you get on.

[Reckless]

I agree with everything said Nicola 100%. Don't buy her anything to Powerful or that she "can grow into" and just go out and spend good quality Dad time trail riding together for the first year.
Good luck CYA out there soon.

[clmintie]

Right, where do I start?

I'll just ramble on about how we got into riding as a family..........Pick out what ever seems useful......

I have three daughters, one is eighteen and shows little or no interest in bikes (mad keen on fashion design and period costume for movies etc... currently at AUT and is as driven as KP... Oscar by the time she’s 35..so she says....) The other two are 12 year old twins and both are keen trail riders, but only Grace is into MX.

It all started a couple of years ago, we were on our way back from a camping trip and saw a sign for the Auckland MX Champs at Harrisville. Dad got permission for a quick family detour and an even quicker spectate, I wanted to show them that their dear old Dad did in fact have a life before they came along and it might be fun to see if I still knew any of the faces from ’92.....

To say they were gob smacked is an understatement. I wasn’t allowed to go till after the final race and they were rapt so many girls were there and racing, not just pit ornaments.... There was no other topic of conversation round the dinner table for some time. It was decided (by them) that Dad had to have a bike again (50th pressie) so I could take them riding and this would require them getting a bike also...(Boys just say “I want a bike..” Girls are much more devious.....) A mate had an old RM80 and riding gear the right size that his son had grown out of. So $500 later we were up at their school (with permission) and in very short time both of them were happily tootling round the playing field. A couple of sessions followed up at Woodhill in the old beginners area where we kept boiling the RM, too much slow riding and nearly all in 1st gear (quite fast is first gear on a MX’er) With the enthusiasm being exhibited , especially from Grace, the decision was made to get something more suitable and more reliable and to keep the weight as low as possible, we went for the CRF100 (I can’t fault this bike, beginner heaven...) The girls took turns at coming for a ride and soon it was obvious Grace was growing out of the CRF ability wise. The KX85 came next and now both girls come trail riding with me and Grace is getting into MX and cross country racing. Next step will be a KX125, which I’d already have, but for losing a rather substantial nest egg to useless investment companies.....Sophie can choose to keep the CRF or the KX85 when the time comes for Grace to move up. My only piece of advice is to keep the first year simple. I took them riding and didn’t take my bike so I could watch, encourage and teach without them trying to keep up, the Power rides at Wood hill were good for this. The KB Xmas ride at Kimmys was really good for Grace, who enjoyed the “clubby feeling of belonging"

One warning.... Grace has become obsessed, yesterday on the way to bed, she said “oh look, it’s Coops time...” (9.02pm)

[theblacksmith]

Go Grace!Dream BIG girl! See you at the top-and if we cant be there -your Dad will always have photos for us on KB.

[scuzeme]

OK i think its time to buy a bike and a CRF80 or 100 sounds like the way to go does anyone know of any good deals going? may consider a 2 stroke of the price of a CRF is a little high BTW i have looked on trademe.

Thanks for your advice guys.

[civil]

My 12yo daughter have been racing for the last few years and is moving on to a crf150r. She tried 2-stokes but did not like the need to ride then hard in the band to get them to up and go. Hence she has been riding and enjoying the 4 stokes. My son is different and he likes the band on 2 strokes.

This one is available

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/List...x?id=183911598

[ajturbo]

get her into bucket racing... she will come home clean...

[scuzeme]

Ok we have made a decision on a CRF70, no clutch or gear selecter smooth power and easy to ride.
Looking at a brand new 2007 model, Fox boots, pants, knee and elbow guards, body armour, shirt and gloves .
I think this is a good deal at around $2.8k

[clmintie]

Can't see how you can possibly go wrong with that...


You and your daughter are about to embark on an amazing journey together, good onya.....

[Nicola W]

Everything all in? Sounds good! Get a good helmet too! That’s certainly an item not to scrimp on! Exciting times are ahead.

I looked through all our kit and it’s not really fit for passing on! But that’s boys for ya!!

[scuzeme]

OK so i took my Girl Christanna out for her first ride on Sunday.
For someone who has only got on a little pocket bike 3 times i was quite impressed.

We took off down the domain and i got her to put all her gear showed her the controls front brake, back brake, throttle, kill switch.
I showed her how to mount the CRF70 by grabbing both handle bars engaging the front brake all sweet. Without the bike running we went over all the controls again and made sure she could operate them.
I started the bike up and engaged first gear (the bike has a centrafugal clutch so its not going anywhere at idle) after explaining that anything above idle makes the bike go forward i got her to hop on and told her to go for a blat working the front and back brakes.
After about 30minutes of reving the shit out of the bike and gaining confidence in 1st gear she grabs a big gob of front brake loses the front and cans off i see if shes alright and ask her if she wants to keep on practicing "yeah dad" as if its a dumb question shes off again

Long story short, within 3 hrs shes changing gear up and down and tryin to do jumps on the incline between to fields .
To say im a proud dad would be an understatement.

Where do we go from here as far as a club is concerned, i figure theres alot more people that can contribute to her learning good habits and having fun on the dirt than her road racer dad can.

[gsp0702]

All sounds good so far, and my lad would be dead jealous if he read that, but his mums not keen at present so will take some work to get her to agree I think. Anyway real reason I replied was because of your question on clubs I did some research as I was looking for somewher that Josh might be able to blag a go on a bike and see if it was as good as he thought. Anyway I came across two sites that should be of interest :-

http://www.silver-bullet.co.nz/event...ganising_club=

Good for whats on info.

and a local club sort of midway between Porirua and the Hutt valley over the haywards is :-http://www.kmmc.co.nz/


Cheers

Andy

[scuzeme]

Thanks Mate i have made some enquiries and its all good i think the 22nd Nov is their club day.
Really appreciate your post.