Another KLX-er Into the Fold
#1
10-20-2007 | 08:49 PM
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Another KLX-er Into the Fold
Since getting our bikes (dad and I) in April 06 my brother has been riding pillion on dad's Magna and has said every now and then that he'd like his own bike. He's 16 now and has been riding our fully automatic Sportsman 500 quad for a while, still makes me nervous, guess I'm just a bit overprotective sometimes but he does pretty good. I've mentioned taking him out to let him try the bike but mom would shut that down before I even finished usually.
So today after he got done his chores I came downstairs and threw him my gloves and said put your helmet on if you want to try the bike. I got a frown from mom but she didn't dispute it being that she's with him when he's practicing for his driver's license in the car and knows he's a quick learner.
He was pretty wobbly at first and had a hard time keeping his head up and not looking at the controls but we got past that. To start with I had him just feel the clutch engagement, no throttle, just work the clutch until the bike starts to move. Then I had him walk it a bit while slipping the clutch until it was all the way out, which sorta worked but too much going on and he was all over just going 4 feet.
So I resorted to the bicycle method, I had him keep his outriggers out and I pushed until he was coasting enough to get his feet on the pegs. We made a couple laps around the yard that way so he could get a feel for how the bike would move as he turned and such. So we went back to getting the bike going with just the clutch. He was getting that pretty good so we would do passes up and down the yard, no throttle just letting the clutch slip until it had a head of steam and just got him to balance.
Fast forward about an hour and we worked up to using the throttle with the clutch to get going. I think he probably would have given up if the bike was a kicker but with the wonder's of electric start it was no problem. We did some monkey see monkey do routines as well, I'd have him watch me work the controls and listen to how the motor runs while taking off and then have him try it, which worked really well.
We worked up to starting and stopping drills and then into making turns and then turning both ways in circles and then doing a figure 8 circuit around the yard. Every couple passes I'd stop him and ask him how it felt and give him a few pointers/things to try to smooth it out.
I was damn proud of how well he took to it, for never having driven even a quad with a clutch he picked it up pretty well. Sure he stalled alot but to be able to move and use the clutch and have to balance at the same time is no easy task. I didn't have him try to shift this time out as he was pretty happy to just putt around the yard. I asked him to give it some more throttle every now and then and he was very smooth and got up to ~10 mph at the most, all the time I made sure that he was comfortable with what he was doing. He said that he wasn't used to something revving up and it didn't feel right. So I took over for a minute and showed him that 1st gear will exceed 25 mph well below redline. I think he was worried about revving the bike but he seemed more at ease when I explained that nothing he could do will hurt it.
In the 2 1/2 hrs we were outside he covered just over 4 miles, which is quite a few laps considering our yard is only 250 feet side to side.
In that short time he went from shaking like a leaf and sweat pouring down his face (@60 degrees and breezy) to a huge grin every time he went by.
Sorry for no pics but I didn't want to make him more nervous with a camera, maybe on our next session I'll get some pics. I'm thinking that if he picks it up and actually wants to ride more I might sign us both up for the MSF course maybe for his b-day present in June. I think I'm a fairly competent rider but I'm sure I could pick up something from the course as well, the insurance discount is nice but its under $100 per year to have full coverage on the thing so that's secondary to the potential skills building the course offers.
So today after he got done his chores I came downstairs and threw him my gloves and said put your helmet on if you want to try the bike. I got a frown from mom but she didn't dispute it being that she's with him when he's practicing for his driver's license in the car and knows he's a quick learner.
He was pretty wobbly at first and had a hard time keeping his head up and not looking at the controls but we got past that. To start with I had him just feel the clutch engagement, no throttle, just work the clutch until the bike starts to move. Then I had him walk it a bit while slipping the clutch until it was all the way out, which sorta worked but too much going on and he was all over just going 4 feet.
So I resorted to the bicycle method, I had him keep his outriggers out and I pushed until he was coasting enough to get his feet on the pegs. We made a couple laps around the yard that way so he could get a feel for how the bike would move as he turned and such. So we went back to getting the bike going with just the clutch. He was getting that pretty good so we would do passes up and down the yard, no throttle just letting the clutch slip until it had a head of steam and just got him to balance.
Fast forward about an hour and we worked up to using the throttle with the clutch to get going. I think he probably would have given up if the bike was a kicker but with the wonder's of electric start it was no problem. We did some monkey see monkey do routines as well, I'd have him watch me work the controls and listen to how the motor runs while taking off and then have him try it, which worked really well.
We worked up to starting and stopping drills and then into making turns and then turning both ways in circles and then doing a figure 8 circuit around the yard. Every couple passes I'd stop him and ask him how it felt and give him a few pointers/things to try to smooth it out.
I was damn proud of how well he took to it, for never having driven even a quad with a clutch he picked it up pretty well. Sure he stalled alot but to be able to move and use the clutch and have to balance at the same time is no easy task. I didn't have him try to shift this time out as he was pretty happy to just putt around the yard. I asked him to give it some more throttle every now and then and he was very smooth and got up to ~10 mph at the most, all the time I made sure that he was comfortable with what he was doing. He said that he wasn't used to something revving up and it didn't feel right. So I took over for a minute and showed him that 1st gear will exceed 25 mph well below redline. I think he was worried about revving the bike but he seemed more at ease when I explained that nothing he could do will hurt it.
In the 2 1/2 hrs we were outside he covered just over 4 miles, which is quite a few laps considering our yard is only 250 feet side to side.
In that short time he went from shaking like a leaf and sweat pouring down his face (@60 degrees and breezy) to a huge grin every time he went by.
Sorry for no pics but I didn't want to make him more nervous with a camera, maybe on our next session I'll get some pics. I'm thinking that if he picks it up and actually wants to ride more I might sign us both up for the MSF course maybe for his b-day present in June. I think I'm a fairly competent rider but I'm sure I could pick up something from the course as well, the insurance discount is nice but its under $100 per year to have full coverage on the thing so that's secondary to the potential skills building the course offers.
#3
10-21-2007 | 01:17 AM
Senior Member
1st Gear Member
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 443
From: Pitt Meadows BC Canada.
RE: Another KLX-er Into the Fold
Brings back memories of teaching my son to ride, now i cant keep up ,
when he looks back on learning to ride years from now, it will be you he remembers.
when he looks back on learning to ride years from now, it will be you he remembers.
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