we went on a ride this weekend. saw a kid around 8-9 y/o riding a 400 Kodiak Special Edition, with some type of seroiusly aggresive mud treads. It appeared to be his atv as i watched him and dad unload, and my 9 y/o son's jaw dropped and the bottom lip was quivering... " why can't I ride one of those?" Then kid brags about his riding through mud bog that no adults got through, making my son greener.

Then it struck me how not only dad was setting bad example, his son was setting an even worse example to all other kids around his age.

we were in a dry, loose dirt/gravel area. Mud tires don't perform aswell on that stuff. I just thought it was an accident waiting to happen. I see we're closer to ride regulations than we realize here. One only needs to read these forums to see what's happening everywhere else, and know it's "Coming soon to a town near you".

 

Which only illustrates why we need to to police ourselves, or the large Uncle will do it for us.

 

Went to my local drags twice in the last week and some egomaniac who was there let his son[10 or 11] race a new 450 I think it was a yzf, and I was blown away. Not only was it just plum crazy but even the people who put it on[the drags] did not say a thing. My son looked at me and said "he is to little for that dad" Once again I explained to my son what the deal was with small kids riding big quads and he is cool with it. We can only hope the kid doesnt get hurt and the parent reaches into his pants and finds his brain.

 

I explain and my son "listens", but I'm not sure he believes or agrees with me, especially when he turns around and some other kid is doing it. Then we talk about ..'you wouldn't jump off the bridge if he was'..., but what he's observing is just a bad example. And the young rider walks around bragging to the other kids and pretty much rubbing their faces in it. I wish I could find that video clip I saw about 2-4 weeks ago of the kid on the adult size quad that rides through a mildly bumpy area, loses control and then gets launched. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a vidoe clip must be worth a novel.

Draggin, what do you do to police someone like this? In their mind, our kids just aren't as skilled as their little Johnny, who dad figures is in the early stages of a pro career. we're just being paranoid, and his kid is fine cuz he's ridden Kodiak 100's of times. In this case, I think it was the son's quad, cuz it was only him and dad. And this is Canada, so we're not allowed to shoot 'em![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

You will find it unfortunate, but I have come across state regulations that specifically state that the guidelines/laws concerning age versus engine size do NOT apply for sanctioned events (ie racing). So whether they were making a wise choice or not, he probably was legal as far as the letter of the law....

 

confused,

I saw a boy about that age and his sister also around the same age riding double on a brand new Sportsman 500 back in may and my boy pointed out to me that they were too small for that machine.

Up here it is the norm for kids riding an adult size of a machine but it does not make it right though. I had just got done reading the article in Reader's Digest about the parents who let their son ride a fullsize quad and it roled over a killed him( I think this is the same story that was on the news a couple of months ago) and they were all shocked over how he got killed. When you let them on a adult size machine and let them go off to do as they please is border line to child abuse if you ask me. I know some kids mature and grow faster then others but there are alot of progression machines out there for the kids to ride.

My little guy has mastered( so he tells me) his machine but my wife and I are going to have him ride it for another season before we get the next size up, probaly around 80 to 90cc's. I want him to learn everything that there is to know about trail riding and etiquete(sp).

AlaskaBoy.

 

I don't know the answer... education is paramount, but unfortunitely, you can't unscrew their heads and pour the knowledge in.. and even if you could, sounds like the common sense bulb is burned out. The reaction will probably be more of a "mind your own business" deal... Are you going to get through to them.. probably not. With time being a premium these days, I'd sugest concentrating your time and efforts on the ones that you can get to listen... even if that means it is only your own kids. Trying to explain to a 12 year old that you are doing something out of love just doesn't seem to sit well with them.. but in this case.. you have to be the parent. It is hard, I know... both for the parent, and the child... but it pays dividends in the end. Case in point.. my 23 year old son. He was a rebel in capital letters, refused to listen, always doing things to **** his mom and I off, a total hard case in school etc. His mom and I had to virtually drag him to scholl every day, and get his assignments from teh teachers, then begin the every evening family fight to get him to do his work etc. Finally, he graduated High school.. the only one of his friends that did.. it was like a light bulb was turned on... he broke off all contact with them... got a very high paying job (Thanks to dad), started wearing a CLEAN shirt and tie to work, bought his own house.. etc... You would think he was a model citizen... He came to us one day and thanked us for being there kicking him in the butt all those years...He now sees why we did.. because we cared. It would have been easy to turn a deaf ear to his BS... but we didn't.. and he grew out of it..

Although your kids may not agree with the limitations they have placed on them now, hopefully they will at least respect the decision. There are a lot of kids that would like to be in their shoes right now... even with the limits... they are lucky to have a parent that is involved with them. Many don't have that luxury.

 

consider yourselves lucky. I'm in Nova Scotia, Canada and the entire sport is regualted. You aren't allowed to cross roads, you have to get off your bike and WALK it across!! You cannot park on a road, even if your out in front of your house. The police are allowed to come on your property and give you a fine if you don't ahve a helmet on. All bikes must be insured and registered which costs about $300 a year. You have to have written permission to ride on private land, even if you already have been given verbal OK. The cops sit in the woods with radar guns to get people speeding. This isn't a bad idea except there aren't any speed limits, so they pretty much can give you a fine if they "feel" you are driving to fast. All our old trails have been blocked off with large granite boulders because the rich people in the area don't like the noise, so we are now limited to where we can go. New trails are blocked off within days of being made. The government has "regualted" trails that we are allowed to ride on, but you cannot drive over 20km/r which is about as fast as I can run!! These regulated trails are also just dirt roads, no mudd, rocks, hills.......bogs, whatever. We aren't allowed to drive through rivers or streams or mud bogs because we will get fined for environmental damage. Whenever there is a rally, the police are there, checking registrations and giving out fines. It pretty much sucks........ If you are caught in the woods or at a beach on your bike off the regualted trails, they come and take the bike away and you get a big fine, plus you have to pay to get your bike out of impound.

Never come here to enjoy ATV riding, EVER!!!

 

wow man, that totally sucks!! you have an NDP gov't? I wouldn't own an atv under those circumstances. move out to BC, no regs whatsoever, and tons of great riding areas. only problem is BC means 'bring cash'. cost of living out here is pretty high, especially houses. talk about killing an industry. I wouldn't want to be an atv dealer out there.

 

yeah man, it friggin rots so bad, it wasn't like that a year ago, this just all started. I have gotten a fine for no registration, $160. And constantly harrased by the local police, which don't even know how to drive thier bikes and cause more harm than good, its pathetic. They are just bored and the only thing to keep them busy where the detatchment is, pretty much harrasing 4 wheelers