Dirt Bike FAQ

I can see your enthusiasm to suprise him, but honestly, I think he will be much happier to ride with you! I met my husband riding dirtbikes and it is one of our favorite things to do together. He loves riding and helping me and I love it when he does that too! If you really have your heart set on suprising him – firstly – I would be careful who you get to teach you ie: some other guy helping you behind his back might really backfire the suprise! Do you know any other girls who ride? I see that someone suggested that borrowing a bike at the track is easy – but I have to tell you, if some strange girl who has never riden before and I had never met before wanted to borrow my bike, I wouldn't let her and I would be a little miffed at the nerve of someone I didn;t even know asking me to borrow my expensive and breakable toy – that they could hurt themselves on and sue me for!
I am sure your boyfriend has friends who have girlfriends who ride so I would use that avenue. Hopefully one of them is the same size as you and has extra gear because you will need a helmet, boots, a chest protector, goggles, gloves knee guards and probably elbow gauds. You should have pants at least too as they really help prevent bad abrasions.
Maybe thats how you could suprise him is go and get yourself set up with gear and show him you are serious!

In general these mini dirt bikes are not street legal. You should ask your local police to check out if it's legal to ride mini dirt bikes in your city.

There is some good information on riding mini dirt bikes at:

http://www.mini-chopper-tips.com/mini-dirt.html

You can change the sprockets to gear it up for more top end speed but you will sacrifice low end power doing so. along with the jet kit you should be looking at air box mods for better air flow, aftermarket header pipe and muffler possibly an aftermarket cam. but then again why not just spend all that extra money on a bigger bike?

You could probably find something a bit more unique by shopping online but it is much more important to have a helmet that fits you properly otherwise it is not doing the job. Just look up your local directory and find what shops are in your area and go visit all of them.
That way you can try the helmet on and be sure it fits. Ask for someone with experience in fitting helmets to serve you. You only have one head!

My son was about 2 1/2 when he showed intersted in anything with 2 wheels. he was riding a bicycle by 2 1/2 without training wheels and a motorcycle by the time he was 4….

make sure he can hold the bike up by himself, that is the key factor…

honestly, 2 years old is a bit young in my opinion!!! start him out on a bicycle, when he has some balance on that, and can hold a motorcycle up on his own, give him a try…

balance is the issue, but make sure to put him in all the proper safety gear!!!

To shift the gears on a motorcycle there is something important you should learn from the service manual and that is just exactly how many gears your bike has. Most bikes have either 4 or 5 gears. Modern Sports Bikes have 6 gears.

First put the bike in neutral, it is half way in between 1st and 2nd gear. Squeeze the clutch ( found on left handle bar) before trying to shift. You will know you are in neutral if a green light is showing on your gauges or if the bike rolls freely with the clutch out. Once in neutral you can start the bike, but keep the clutch in. According to your bikes shift pattern (Standard or GP Shift) you then shift into 1st gear by pushing the shift pedal up or down. Slowly let out the clutch while simultaneously increasing your RPM's with the throttle. The bike should start moving forward and as it does, release the clutch completely, but stay on the throttle. Once the bike is moving you can roll on the throttle to increase speed. As your RPM's increase you will need to shift into a higher gear; to do this you will need to squeeze the clutch in again. Then according to your bikes shift pattern, go to the next highest gear. Now release the clutch and roll on the throttle. To down shift you squeeze the clutch and shift to the next lowest gear, release the clutch. Be sure to match your RPM's to the wheel speed on a downshift or your rear tire can lock up resulting in a high-side.

There are currently two shift patterns on modern motorcycles, standard and gp. Standard shift is well…standard, it will be found on most motorcyles. GP shift refers to the shift pattern used by professional racers. GP shift is reversed so that a rider does not have his foot under the shift pedal when needing to up-shift in a corner, it also makes for faster up-shifts. GP shift is primarily found on sports bikes and bikes intended for use on the track, but most sport bikes come with standard shift from the factory.

Shift patterns are set up as follows…

- Standard Shift (starting from neutral):

First gear is down 1

Neutral is up one and it is indicated by a green light on your bikes gauges. If you are not sure you are in Neutral ~ it is the only time when your bike will freely roll backwards when the clutch is not engaged.

Gears 2 ~ 4/5/6 are all up.

- GP or Reverse Shift (starting from neutral):

First gear is up 1

Neutral is down 1 and will likewise be indicated by a green light on your gauges.

Gear 2-6 are all down

Shifting gears on a motorcycle may seem awkward at first, but try it a few times in your garage or drive way with the bike off. Roll on the the throttle and practice using the clutch to shift up and down. If while riding you start going to fast or you feel as if you are not in control, pull in the clutch to disengage the engine from moving the rear wheel and apply brakes accordingly. Within a short time shifting through the gears will be second nature.

Yes.

If you try to take off in 3rd gear you're going to stall. Do it too many times and depending on your bike you're going to wear out the clutch faster/prematurely.

And check http://www.sportrider.com under the riding techniques section theres a article on "blipping" the throttle on downshifts.

Blipping the throttle on downshifts is just matching the RPM of the engine when downshifting with the clutch in upon release. It makes it smoother.

It isnt too difficult to do if you are a confident jumper and have a suitable jump. I nail the throttle as im approaching the jump face and I stand up and lean a bit to my left. As I go up the jump face I push down hard on the pegs with my legs to preload my rear shock while continuing to lean to my left. As I get airborn the rear of the bike unloads and pushes the rear wheel upward. At this point you just kinda whip the rear over by twisting your hips and applying downward pressure on the left bar and peg. Its kind of hard to explain..it just kind of happens as you practice. Good luck and wear all your gear.

Most sites that sell online have gear for small kids. Btosports.com has a range and also a sizing chart that would be helpful.

Make sure you spend the money on a pair of proper mx boots as I have seen some very nasty burns from kids not wearing the right gear. They only have to drop the bike and be pinned under it.

DO NOT get a Mountain bike if you wish to do a lot of jumping. A BMX 20" wheel bike is better. Of course, you can jump a Mtn Bike (MB) but you are risking quite a bit of damage. The larger wheels of a MB are more at risk for damage. Plus the gear system will give your problems. Stuff like "chain slap" or just the chain coming off from the impact of landing.Worse damaging derailleurs and such during any crashes.
Unless your are a very experienced rider Don't plan on using a MB for a "jump bike", you'll spend more $$$ fixing it than what the bike costs.
I've seen this kind of thing happen before when I worked at a bike shop. Use a MB for cross county off road riding and get yourself a BMX 20" wheel bike, with lots of spokes, for jumping. It will be cheaper in the long run.

Plus as far as MB's go I like good steel frames, full Cromoly.
They're cheaper and steel is twice as strong as anything else in your price range. Plus a steel frame MB will usually always have better parts on it than a aluminum frame MB. And for jumping wide rims for either BMX or MB's.

Finally. Change your handle bar to a very strong heat treated one, even on a new bike. DON"T be cheap here! If that thing brakes on landing… OUCH! … and prepare for major dentist bills. Lots of jumping, change handlebar every year.