Is It Irresponsible To Ride A Motorcycle As A Parent?

[Sweeper]

Kel NAILED IT!

I'm riding with mine now.

[Bent]

It's irresponsible to operate any kind of machine whether it be a hand drill or a motorcycle if one doesn't know how to do it properly and safely. The best way to learn how to do that is to go to an appropriate school relevant to the machine. Motorcycles don't kill people, people kill people on the roads.

My wife told me she would be pissed off had I not got my latest one. No, she isn't trying to get rid of me....; )

Chill and go for a ride I say.

[TheStig]

Having ridden bikes since being a teenager; daily whilst in my 20's and done well over 150,000 miles riding bikes, it never occurred to me once since having kids that perhaps I should give up riding. Fact is I have more bikes now, since we started a family than before - although I don't get much time to ride them due to other activities I want to do. My wife knows I'm safe and don't take un-necessary risks and don't have a history of accidents, either on 2 or 4 wheels, it's never occurred to her (or any of my family) to suggest I shouldn't ride bikes, thankfully. If they did I'd laugh and refuse anyway. They sometimes say "ride safely" to which I reply seriously, "I always do".

I got my kids a CRM50 when our oldest was 5 years old. She now rides it on her own and her 4 year old brother can't wait to be able to reach the ground with his feet so he too can start riding. We're blessed with a home in the countryside surrounded by forests and a long driveway where they're safe, although I supervise when they do ride - just so I can be sure they're OK and give them pointers too. We take them on the beach and ride for miles together, me on a CRM250 with our smallest sitting on the tank, sharing the throttle control, our oldest riding beside me along the shoreline, as fast as she dare go. She's fallen off a couple of times (when chasing me on the dry sand after I warned her not to) but sand doesn't hurt!

Some here have said it's irresponsible NOT to teach our kids of the things that we are passionate about and I would fully concur. It was my father who gave me my first bike (A tuned Yamaha DT175) to ride on a beach as a teenager, as his way of sharing his passion for bikes and cars. Today my life is built around these passions which I too adopted and I have him to thank.
Just as my father did when I was a kid, I work on performance cars as part of my work and my 4 year old son takes a keen interest in mechanical things too.
Sure, you can skin your knuckles and cut yourself, get hurt, etc. using tools - We are building a full workshop at home & I'll give him all the opportunities to learn from playing with mechanical things as he gets older. 'm confident he'll know more than I do about these things in the end... it's not a bad thing to have skills & knowledge that others generally don't.

I think it would be irresponsible of me not to give our kids the opportunities to learn how to ride bikes well and later on how to build them too, if they're interested. My daughter isn't as keen but my son already is, I can see it in his eyes and his excitement each time I ride the CRM50 with him sitting in front. If I didn't teach him young and someday he went out on the road and killed himself, that would be a huge tragedy. So I prefer to give them the opportunities learn the required skills younger, and off the road at slower speeds. When he's 5-6 I have also promised my son a go-cart and we will take him racing once he's old enough. That way I know his passion, understanding and abilities will naturally grow. I don't care if he becomes a champion at young age, that's not the aim of introducing him to these things. I just want him to be safe. As he grows older he'll probably inherit my passion bikes and sports cars, so he needs to be able to understand them, I think.

Both my wife & I think it's a LOT more dangerous to allow kids to watch TV, play computer games, eat junk food & drinks, etc. Our TV isn't even connected to the wall. Each time we go out and find a TV they're mesmerized by the junk they see, so none of that crap in our home. Our kids are generally outside making things (Mess, usually!) climbing trees, getting muddy and just getting up to mischief which is what I used to do as a kid & loved it. On weekends when we can we take them camping so they get even more of playing in & around nature.

Getting back to adults riding bikes when they're parents, all I can say is - it's down to each individual. As someone with over 30 years experience I know I won't have a life-threatening accident on a bike as I never put myself in such dangerous situations (I ride defensively and treat every other road user as a potential danger for example), but it also depends on one's abilities, confidence, experience, etc.
I certainly wouldn't recommend a new parent with little or no experience and lack of sense to get on a bike as a new licence holder, I'd probably warn him of the statistitcs that say people of this category tend to have the most accidents on bikes but ultimately it's the choice of the individual of course.

[gig]

As said, that is up to each individual and situation. For some pursuing their passion for motorcycles, working on, and ridding, the thrill, meditation, speed, freedom, release etc.. may provide them what they need to be a good parent.

[duccmann]

Its my therapy. ...or you'd have to commit me to a looney house...well, maybe I should be there already. ....