Reasons or benefits of starting young?

Shawn_Smith
Edited Date/Time 12/18/2017 9:50am
Looking for some of your thoughts on starting to ride at a young age. Do you guys feel there are benefits of starting to ride at a young age. This could be either to pursue a professional career or simply to ride for fun.

Thoughts?
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305FC250
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305FC250 12/15/2017 5:54am
12/15/2017 5:54am
The younger you start the more time you have to develop skills to reach a high level of proficiency (on mommy and daddys wallet with no responsibilities of your own).... Is that not obvious?
Why do you think we don't see anyone who started riding at say 14 years old on factory teams?

On the side of riding for fun. It doesn't matter when you start as long as you're having fun.

Not really understanding what you're trying to ask here. It seems pretty cut and dry to me.
GeorgiePorgie 12/15/2017 7:06am
12/15/2017 7:06am Edited Date/Time 12/15/2017 7:17am
McGrath started late.....
Weston Peick started late....

Before this great questions gets ruined by the negative vitards complaining about mommy and daddy’s money....here is my thoughts on starting young. And I’m no pro. But I do pay my taxes and am a self reliant citizen....


Starting young you develop a special bond with your family that people outside the family won’t understand—teachers, neighbors etc....

Starting young teaches you that you won’t win everything in life without putting in some serious hard work. And even after the serious work has been put in you still might lose out. Great transition to real life skill.

Starting young shows you that nothing is handed to you on the track. Critical thinking begins on how to navigate a track, set up a pass...avoid pitfalls. Problem solving at a split second...Etc. critical thinking: another transition to real life skill.

Starting young teaches the kid that he/she has to depend on mom/dad/mechanic but that it all comes down to the single rider when racing. Great life skill....you depend on others but you still have to perform yourself to be successful.

START EM YOUNG! And don’t even focus on a pro career. Let the young focus on that if that’s where they wanna be.

I don’t think I’d be where I am today without family support and motocross as a large part of my young life.
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crusty_xx 12/15/2017 7:17am
12/15/2017 7:17am
You learn a lot quicker when you're young. Most of the movements and the feeling for the bike can't be taught, one has to develop that and it's a lot easier to do that when you're young.

Doesn't mean that it's impossible to become a good rider when you're starting the sport with 25 y/o...
Joel Smets started racing dirtbikes when he was 17 y/o and became multi times world champ
Matthias Walkner (MX3 World champ and top Rally rider) also started pretty late.
But those are pretty rare exceptions ofcourse
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dl117 12/15/2017 7:22am
12/15/2017 7:22am
my boy is starting over riding this year at 12, he rode since 2 on a crf, then a pw, then he bought another crf , told him if we sell pw he has that as seed money the rest of his life for dirt bikes. he sold it at 7 years old and bought another crf, then this summer and found a 04 yz85 needing a little tlc and bought that with the crf money. I paid for parts as long as he helped work on it. He has never ridden a bike with a clutch so he had one training session, then broke his arm in a BMX practice. Now winter is here he wants to hang up the BMX racing for a while and give some moto and flat track a try. Which helps me, I quit riding when we started traveling for BMX all over the country, now we get to spend some time motoing down together, told him its going to be tough to start this late but his BMX skills should translate when he gets comfortable.

So in my eyes, you can never start to late, just as long as you start and have asmile on your face

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Donovan759
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Donovan759 12/15/2017 7:39am
12/15/2017 7:39am
Tom White, who just passed away not too long ago, didn't start riding until he was 15 or 16. He was one of the best in the sport for a long time.
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WCRider 12/15/2017 7:49am
12/15/2017 7:49am
Not really rules about this subject. Starting young is good for the physical development in adequacy with the discipline and also, the capacity to be able to change more easily a bad habit.
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Skerby 12/15/2017 8:13am
12/15/2017 8:13am
I started at 12, and I went on to win a couple 250B motos, in my twenties.....at local races. It was all a blast though! Wouldn't trade it for anything; wish I hadn't broke my arm so bad.
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Acidreamer 12/15/2017 8:33am
12/15/2017 8:33am
The earlier you start the more time you have to get better. And the more time you get to enjoy the sport. Also learning is way easier when youre a kid.
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Falcon 12/15/2017 9:29am
12/15/2017 9:29am
Riding will be more natural and comfortable for anyone who starts at a young age. That said, I don't think there is an ideal age for it.
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Airick 12/15/2017 9:41am
12/15/2017 9:41am
Starting young makes sense, if the kid REALLY wants to ride. I bought my 4 yr old a crf50 (should have started on a pw) and he said he wanted to ride, but once he started it was obvious he wasn't ready, and subsequently scared himself and stopped riding for a few years. He's good now, but something to think about...
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BobKerr 12/15/2017 10:26am
12/15/2017 10:26am Edited Date/Time 12/15/2017 10:28am
The best thing about starting young is being fearless.

I'm not sure when John Dowd started riding, but I believe the stories I've heard state that he didn't start racing until his mid-late teens.
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Giygas 12/15/2017 10:27am
12/15/2017 10:27am
In my opinion, you need to start young to get over that initial “fear” stage. I rode a lot as a kid, but didn’t start racing later in life. It’s been a great, rewarding journey, but I had to learn to get over that fear of sending it as a young man that had insurance, work, and sick leave on my mind. A kid does not have those distractions.
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WCRider 12/15/2017 10:33am
12/15/2017 10:33am
Joel Smets starting at 19 years old.
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kkawboy14 12/15/2017 11:08am
12/15/2017 11:08am Edited Date/Time 12/15/2017 11:09am
If you start Young getting drilled about winning and being a loser when you lose the kid will burn out.

If you start young and just have fun riding, not about winning, start young!
brightgrey
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brightgrey 12/15/2017 11:38am
12/15/2017 11:38am
Shawn_Smith wrote:
Looking for some of your thoughts on starting to ride at a young age. Do you guys feel there are benefits of starting to ride at...
Looking for some of your thoughts on starting to ride at a young age. Do you guys feel there are benefits of starting to ride at a young age. This could be either to pursue a professional career or simply to ride for fun.

Thoughts?
Seriously? There are absolutely ZERO benefits of starting to ride at a young age. It is common knowledge that all of the sport's top pros, including MC, RV, RD, and JS7, did not start riding until they were about 17, which is the min age required to turn pro. Here's a little fun fact, both RD5 and AC92 won the first race they ever competed in, which happened to be a 250 lites supercross race! Now I am not saying that was the first time they ever swung a leg over a bike, but think about it, had they been riding for longer than about a year at that time, they would have been either too burnt out to even want to compete in a race or they would have had too many injuries to continue. I think everyone here would agree it is definitely best to start them late and and at the highest possible level!
GeorgiePorgie 12/15/2017 2:03pm
12/15/2017 2:03pm
Js7 started riding at 17? Stopped reading your post once I hit that sentence. Sorry. Vitarditis is a real diagnosis. And it’s spreading!


Where’s my fact checkers?!?!


kkawboy14
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kkawboy14 12/15/2017 2:05pm
12/15/2017 2:05pm
Shawn_Smith wrote:
Looking for some of your thoughts on starting to ride at a young age. Do you guys feel there are benefits of starting to ride at...
Looking for some of your thoughts on starting to ride at a young age. Do you guys feel there are benefits of starting to ride at a young age. This could be either to pursue a professional career or simply to ride for fun.

Thoughts?
brightgrey wrote:
Seriously? There are absolutely ZERO benefits of starting to ride at a young age. It is common knowledge that all of the sport's top pros, including...
Seriously? There are absolutely ZERO benefits of starting to ride at a young age. It is common knowledge that all of the sport's top pros, including MC, RV, RD, and JS7, did not start riding until they were about 17, which is the min age required to turn pro. Here's a little fun fact, both RD5 and AC92 won the first race they ever competed in, which happened to be a 250 lites supercross race! Now I am not saying that was the first time they ever swung a leg over a bike, but think about it, had they been riding for longer than about a year at that time, they would have been either too burnt out to even want to compete in a race or they would have had too many injuries to continue. I think everyone here would agree it is definitely best to start them late and and at the highest possible level!
1 word: Jeff Ward

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305FC250
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305FC250 12/15/2017 2:26pm
12/15/2017 2:26pm
Shawn_Smith wrote:
Looking for some of your thoughts on starting to ride at a young age. Do you guys feel there are benefits of starting to ride at...
Looking for some of your thoughts on starting to ride at a young age. Do you guys feel there are benefits of starting to ride at a young age. This could be either to pursue a professional career or simply to ride for fun.

Thoughts?
brightgrey wrote:
Seriously? There are absolutely ZERO benefits of starting to ride at a young age. It is common knowledge that all of the sport's top pros, including...
Seriously? There are absolutely ZERO benefits of starting to ride at a young age. It is common knowledge that all of the sport's top pros, including MC, RV, RD, and JS7, did not start riding until they were about 17, which is the min age required to turn pro. Here's a little fun fact, both RD5 and AC92 won the first race they ever competed in, which happened to be a 250 lites supercross race! Now I am not saying that was the first time they ever swung a leg over a bike, but think about it, had they been riding for longer than about a year at that time, they would have been either too burnt out to even want to compete in a race or they would have had too many injuries to continue. I think everyone here would agree it is definitely best to start them late and and at the highest possible level!
The fact that two people already took this post seriously and one even had the audacity to call you the vitard genuinely makes my brain hurt.
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Mx391 12/15/2017 2:36pm
12/15/2017 2:36pm
GeorgiePorgie wrote:
McGrath started late..... Weston Peick started late.... Before this great questions gets ruined by the negative vitards complaining about mommy and daddy’s money....here is my thoughts...
McGrath started late.....
Weston Peick started late....

Before this great questions gets ruined by the negative vitards complaining about mommy and daddy’s money....here is my thoughts on starting young. And I’m no pro. But I do pay my taxes and am a self reliant citizen....


Starting young you develop a special bond with your family that people outside the family won’t understand—teachers, neighbors etc....

Starting young teaches you that you won’t win everything in life without putting in some serious hard work. And even after the serious work has been put in you still might lose out. Great transition to real life skill.

Starting young shows you that nothing is handed to you on the track. Critical thinking begins on how to navigate a track, set up a pass...avoid pitfalls. Problem solving at a split second...Etc. critical thinking: another transition to real life skill.

Starting young teaches the kid that he/she has to depend on mom/dad/mechanic but that it all comes down to the single rider when racing. Great life skill....you depend on others but you still have to perform yourself to be successful.

START EM YOUNG! And don’t even focus on a pro career. Let the young focus on that if that’s where they wanna be.

I don’t think I’d be where I am today without family support and motocross as a large part of my young life.
Well said!!
jorgechavez 12/15/2017 3:16pm
12/15/2017 3:16pm
Pretty sure John Dowd didn't even ride a dirtbike till he was like 16
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kzizok 12/15/2017 3:47pm
12/15/2017 3:47pm
GeorgiePorgie wrote:
McGrath started late..... Weston Peick started late.... Before this great questions gets ruined by the negative vitards complaining about mommy and daddy’s money....here is my thoughts...
McGrath started late.....
Weston Peick started late....

Before this great questions gets ruined by the negative vitards complaining about mommy and daddy’s money....here is my thoughts on starting young. And I’m no pro. But I do pay my taxes and am a self reliant citizen....


Starting young you develop a special bond with your family that people outside the family won’t understand—teachers, neighbors etc....

Starting young teaches you that you won’t win everything in life without putting in some serious hard work. And even after the serious work has been put in you still might lose out. Great transition to real life skill.

Starting young shows you that nothing is handed to you on the track. Critical thinking begins on how to navigate a track, set up a pass...avoid pitfalls. Problem solving at a split second...Etc. critical thinking: another transition to real life skill.

Starting young teaches the kid that he/she has to depend on mom/dad/mechanic but that it all comes down to the single rider when racing. Great life skill....you depend on others but you still have to perform yourself to be successful.

START EM YOUNG! And don’t even focus on a pro career. Let the young focus on that if that’s where they wanna be.

I don’t think I’d be where I am today without family support and motocross as a large part of my young life.
Damn good post!
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Shawn142 12/15/2017 6:31pm
12/15/2017 6:31pm
To me it comes down to size. As a small kid on a little bike, you're close to the ground going slow speeds. You lean balance, throttle control, and other basics while risk is minimal. Then keep stacking that knowledge gained as you move up.

When trying to teach an adult they started on a big bike with enough power to hurt them. Just falling over can result in all kinds of injuries and usually does. And it just seems more difficult for an adult to make movements second nature. They are often jerky and awkward for a while. Yea it can be done, there are even 2 or 3 examples of late starters being pros. But after going through the process I would consider MX a very dangerous sport for an adult to pick up. The risks are just so much higher.
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109 12/15/2017 8:45pm
12/15/2017 8:45pm
GeorgiePorgie wrote:
Js7 started riding at 17? Stopped reading your post once I hit that sentence. Sorry. Vitarditis is a real diagnosis. And it’s spreading! Where’s my fact...
Js7 started riding at 17? Stopped reading your post once I hit that sentence. Sorry. Vitarditis is a real diagnosis. And it’s spreading!


Where’s my fact checkers?!?!


Looks like a 17 year old on that PW50 tho
Rockinar
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Rockinar 12/15/2017 8:55pm
12/15/2017 8:55pm
Only advantage to starting young is you will only miss some school when you get injured instead of missing mortgage payments. You won't be riding as a career so starting young does not matter for that.
brightgrey
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brightgrey 12/15/2017 9:56pm
12/15/2017 9:56pm
GeorgiePorgie wrote:
Js7 started riding at 17? Stopped reading your post once I hit that sentence. Sorry. Vitarditis is a real diagnosis. And it’s spreading! Where’s my fact...
Js7 started riding at 17? Stopped reading your post once I hit that sentence. Sorry. Vitarditis is a real diagnosis. And it’s spreading!


Where’s my fact checkers?!?!


109 wrote:
Looks like a 17 year old on that PW50 tho
clearly photoshopped
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KennyT 12/16/2017 12:13am
12/16/2017 12:13am Edited Date/Time 12/16/2017 12:13am
Starting them young 40 years ago was great. Since the sport has turned into 60’ triples then it would be best to wait until their 30....so they can start out on vet tracks

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