Is It Irresponsible To Ride A Motorcycle As A Parent?

[burnes45]

Saw this article in a Bike Bandit news letter [http://www.bikebandit.com/blog/post/is-it-irresponsible-to-ride-a-motorcycle-as-a-parent?roi=echo3-33595218033-34381152-9ed1836cfbd05595fa0e7f9e76cf4003&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=promo_BBNews&utm_source=Fri_032516_BBNews&utm_content=irresponsible_to_ride_parent]

I worked for a Honda motorcycle dealer when my daughter was born and only had a motorcycle for transportation. Got a job at an Acura dealer sold the bike and got an '88 Integra. Did not get a street bike again for 25 years, after my children were on there own. Never thought about it being irresponsible to ride just kind of worked out that way. Did ride some trials and dirt bike riding.

Interested to hear others thoughts on this.

[jhenley17]

I have life insurance. Also, I bought a VFR over an R1. People die all the time doing "acceptable" things, I believe being very aware of your surroundings is what keeps you alive as a motorcyclist. Yeah, i get nervous when I see a bad rear-ending accident every week on my way to work, but I can still minimize my exposure to those risks. Not to mention, death and dismemberment isn't exactly unheard of in my line of work.

[TheJay]

Life in and of itself is dangerous. As I see it, we only have a very short time on this orb,so we may as well be happy. We all take risks on a daily basis that can endanger our lives. Weather that's riding a bike, or our choices in diet. It's a personal choice, but as for myself, I never gave it a second thought. Too many people have died in purely mundane, everyday activities for me to second guess every decision in life. YMMV of course.

[PairOfAces]

Yes.

[keef]

No.

[rangemaster]

Depends. Have life insurance (I carry extra, my avatar explains why). I've done more dangerous things than ride a motorcycle. Manage the risk. Be conservative on the bike, wear the gear, always. Besides, when you show up for your kids sporting event in gear carrying a helmet, you are instantly the "cool dad".

[Cogswell]

A number of my friend's wives tell me it is. I suppose it depends upon one's point of view and perceptions of various types of risk.

[digitallyhip]

No. There are risks all over, and part of our job as parents is to help our children to learn about acceptable and unacceptable risk, about managing risk, and about living one's life rather than going through the motions.

If riding gives you joy; if riding helps you to calibrate your brain (that's me); or if riding is simply important to you, you should do it.

If it's not important to you, don't do it because that is bad parenting.

[zRoYz]

Rant engaged................if I had my way every so called professional that sprouts this & that is wrong should be shoot. I'm in my 50's & growing up we didn't need pushbike helmets, we made ball bearing billy carts, we climbed trees, etc & kids weren't dying left right & center. I live in NSW Australia & it is known as the nanny state because we have so many laws idiots have made to protect yourself your lucky your allowed to walk on the streets. The world has changed so much with the insanity of terrorism that no one is really safe so people need to live there life's the way the see fit, not the way authorities tell us to live them because they still haven't worked out they can't protect us from the insanity in the world.

Now as to the op question, you have kids that's great but your still an individual & you need your release from the mundane & if that release is riding a motorbike then if you have a loving family they should understand that. There are zero guarantee's you won't chock on a chicken bone eating a family meal, but on saying that there is a thing called self assessment. I was young when I had my first child (wasn't planned) & at the time I road everywhere like it was a race & I new my will power to curb that was pathetic. I sold my bike & didn't ride for about 10 years until both my kids were old enough to understand dad was doing something he enjoyed, the added bonus was I was also older & the race mentality had changed to thinking about when to really open the throttle, not like my young brain the only throttle position was full bore.

Life these days is a risk, it's just the times we live in, live your life because you only get one go at it.

[MBrane]

I took my son for his first ride as soon as he could keep his feet on the passenger pegs. He was 5.

Last time he rode with me was a couple years ago. He got his drivers license a week ago. He doesn't ride with me anymore. 6'4" 250lbs. I'm not getting a Goldwing just to give him a ride.

He's a lot more level-headed than I was at 16 so I don't worry much about him.

[Dutchy]

No.

As a parent it is irresponsible NOT to persue what makes you happy, whole and balanced.

If you don't, how can you be the best parent that transfers wisdom and lust for life to your child?

If our son can learn only one thing from me then that would be "be your own man that make his own choices in life"

[Rice]

I bought my first bike at the ripe 'ol age of 32 - One year after I had my firstborn.

Having ridden ever since and two kids later, I can tell you from a personal experience, that it is more detrimental to a child to have a father who is frustrated at not being able to have his fun, then the potential of losing a father to a motorcycle accident.

Of course, I must qualify this by saying that, if you are the type of person who cannot control the right wrist, you should probably take the above risk calculation with a grain of salt.

[JayTx]

Uuuum, let me ask my 85 year young Dad who still rides a CBR 600F back in the Netherlands for 25,000 miles a year.

I was infected at age 4, and now ride all over the USA, 52 years later.

Or is it irresponsible to deliberately make your self unhappy in the presence of kids aqnd show them you give up what you love?

"If you do not have a dream, you might as well die"

George Foreman at the occassion of becoming world champion heavyweight, age 45.

[Mikey]

Only if you choose to be an irresponsible parent, such as not wearing proper gear, being a hooligan in front of your children.

[Rob916]

In short,

No .

does depend oh how you ride in my opinion .

choices .

does not matter in/on what you roll,

if life decides to cut it all out from under you,

it will .

[JZH]

It is a legitimate question to ask. But there is no "correct" answer.

Ciao,

[VFR4Lee]

No.

The irresponsible comes in how you ride.

Just don't ride like a jackass.

[FJ12Ryder]

Well, you might be irresponsible if you also didn't have the chance to die of something else. If motorcycling was the only thing that killed parents, then you'd sure be irresponsible to ride. But last time I looked there's a whole boatload of thing that will kill responsible, and irresponsible parents alike. I figure it's your choice. I've ridden since before I had a license and still at it nearly 55 years later. The only time I've not had a bike was when I was in the service, another thing I hold against the Army.

[AJS]

I bought my first bike (dirt bike) when I was 45. I bought my 9 year old daughter an xr70 at about the same time. We learned together. She has had 5 bikes since then and now rides and races a KTM 200. I got my first street bike when I was 57. I bought her the 04 VFR at about the same time. We took rider safety classes together. Now we ride both street and dirt. This passion has been the best parent/child bonding experience that I could have imagined. Now, she is a more skillful rider on pavement and dirt than I am.

[spud786]

I rode before kids, during kids and after kids, Heck I rode when my wife was in the Hospital having kids, she was wondering when I'd show up, priorities , ya know!

[RobF]

It is a legitimate question to ask. But there is no "correct" answer.

Ciao,

This is probably the best short answer, but I'm longer-winded than JZH, so:

I have a wife and school-age kids. Ignoring a brief dalliance with an '83 CB750F a decade ago, The 6th Gen I purchased last year put me back in the saddle for the first time in over twenty years. Before I bought the VFR, I did a bit of safety research in an attempt to quantify the relative risk of motorcycles compared to cars. On a per-vehicle-mile basis, street bikes are approximately 20 to 30 times more dangerous than a passenger car.

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812148.pdf

I think it's fair to say that motorcycle riding is genuinely "dangerous" in the following two senses:

1. The relative death/injury rate for motorcycling is substantially higher than for most other common hobbies: golf, fishing, woodworking, camping, etc.

2. The absolute death/injury rate for motorcycling is high enough that most of us have friends or acquaintances who have suffered substantial injury.

Given the above, I think it's fair to say that when we ride as parents, we are undoubtedly taking a small but real gamble against our commitments to our family.

When I attempt some self-evaluation regarding my merits as a parent, I go with the old "on-the-plus-side" vs "on-the-minus-side" mental model. In this framework, I easily put "motorcycle habit" on the minus side. (That might be different if motorcycling was something I did *with* my family as some people do.) Even over there on the minus side, though, it's not the top of the list of my parenting vices, which also include: time-sucking Internet distractions, chronic grumpiness, inattentiveness, general laziness, a detestation of birthday parties, etc.

I will say that my primary fear as a dad is not that I will kill myself while motorcycling, but that my son will acquire from me my motorcycle habit and then encounter the kind of tragedy that sometimes finds young men on fast machines.

It's also possible (for people who are not me) to ignore all this and take an optimistic outlook. Many, many people ride for a lifetime with barely an incident. But these are the thoughts that occasionally trouble the mind of a parent who rides.

[zedXmick]

Yes

[superfunkomatic]

I love it and have passed on the passion to my 3.5 year old son. Will he ride with me? If he wants to. Will he ride his own bike some day? If he wants to.

No drinking while riding (or illicit substances). There aren't many activities that give me the same clarity or presence of mind as motorcycle riding/touring, downhill or cross-country skiing, or hiking/backpacking. All these activities are inherently dangerous, or at least perceived to be. The risk/reward ratio for me is worth it. I've been places, met people and seen things I would never have if I hadn't taken up riding. It's changed every aspect of my life and free time - for the better.

[panamawing]

Ride when you can! Life is short!

Getting crazy on the waltzers but it's the life that I choose

Dire Straits - Tunnel Of Love Lyrics

[YoshiHNS]

I'll probably take a break from street riding when I have kids. Hopefully I'll be able to do other riding like track days, MiniGP, or dirt riding. Needless to say, the bike(s) will be staying, and I look forward to riding with my future children when they are old enough and able.