klondike300

Myself and my buddy took his 11 yr old son, 10 year old nephew and his 15 yr old half brother out on their first off road. 11 yr old with first multi-geared bike. Raleigh M30. 10 year old with older bro's single speed bmx (augh) and 15 year old with a Pacific dual suspension. (ugh). Anyway, took them out to some local timber company land. They let non-motorized groups use the land for free as long as it doesn't get trashed and the idiots quit building North Shore stunt stuff out there. The land is crisscrossed with fire roads and singletrack through both clear cuts and woods. Did a total of 8.5 miles by the end of the day. Lot's of stopping for water and showing them some techniques for riding over stuff and getting them to get the butts of the seats going downhill. Lots of walking uphill for them though. 15 year old is a MX racer and rode with his MX helmet all day. Good bike handling skills but needs to learn how to transfer to mtn bike. Once I got him to raise his seat to a decent height he did really well on the flats and uphill and realized it didn't get in the way of downhill. He was also behaving the best I've even seen him. He was high fiving the younger ones and talking non-stop how much fun the downhills were on a mtn bike. Must have found something he really likes doing so he was much nicer to younger bro. Hmm, maybe we're on to something. All kids needs bikes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh wait, that's nothing new.
Overall, kids had a great time, still had energy to beat on each other like boys do at the end and they can't wait to go with us again. The 11 year old said his legs felt pretty good the next day but might be a couple of days before he gets back on.
Going to look for a bike at the local shops swapmeet this weekend for the 10 year old. Plus see if I can find some camelbacks at discount and some riding gear like gloves, short's etc. Can't stand seeing a kid without a good bike and gear. I guess that's the bonus of being a DINK. I get to be the cool guy buying them stuff Mom and Dad might have a harder time spending the $$$ on but the folks get all the benefits of hanging with their kids more.

CranxOC

Awesome story! We need a lot more of this...everywhere!

Dirtbike

Great story, just dont let them ride pacific or releigh. Friends dont let friends ride pacific. Get some quality bikes (Specialized, Trek, Giant)

mtnbiker66

Go talk to your LBS and tell them what you are doing they should help you out.I started a middle school bike club this year and it's been great.The LBS's in the area have been great at helping us out.PM me if I can help in any way,your doing a great thing by giving the kids a chance to ride.I just got in from a ride with my kids, the forth in three days.You can't beat it!

anthonaut

Sounds like you've got a future downhiller on your hands!

forum*rider

Nice job klondike! Glad the kids(and you and you're friend) had fun!


One tips for finding camelbaks, find a used pack(just the pack not the bladder) and wash it. Then just go out and find some bladders on sale.

Thats great that you're helping them out getting bikes since the parents might not be able to afford it.

Raiyn

Nashbar has a bunch of the smaller packs on sale right now

Maelstrom 

Congrats. Passing on the joy is my favorite part of this. I am trying to spread it myself (not on kids though haha)

a2psyklnut

I take my son who's about to turn 5 on the trails with me. He rides his BMX bike with little problems. The climbs are a little tough, but so is he.

I'm thinking of building up a 20" mtn bike for him, but all the suspension forks available are junk, or REALLY expensive.

If I can't find a decent fork, I want to build up an X-Small frame (11.5") with a short travel fork. I'll probably lace up some 24" wheels to it to not mess up the geometry too much.

All the production bikes I've found in 20" are so frickin heavy. A bike for an 8 year old doesn't have to be built to withstand the punishment of a 250 lbs man on it!

I'd love to become friends with a frame welder and start building ultra-light XX-SMall and X-Small frames for kids. Kinda like a BMX Mini or Junior but with vee brakes and with disc tabs(for upgrading), 8/9 speed (single chainring) and a suspension fork. Price point about $400.00

klondike300

Pricepoint has some hydration packs for $15. Probably pick up four of them if I don't find anything at the swap meet.